Coinbase: Reviews, Specs, Pros & Cons

Those interested in buying Bitcoin, Ether, Ripple, and other cryptocurrencies can look into Coinbase, a licensed exchange where you can buy and sell many different cryptocurrencies.

We've decided to include all the most important things in this Coinbase review: reviews, fees, tariffs, available cryptocurrencies, security of this crypto platform, etc.

It is not difficult to do this, you just need to follow 4 simple steps:

• Sign up;
• account activation and verification;
• account replenishment;
• Trade any of the 17 cryptocurrencies.

What is Coinbase all about?

Coinbase is an online cryptocurrency broker and exchange. As such, it is possible to buy a variety of cryptocurrencies on this platform, including the 10 most popular and largest on the market.

Another section of the platform, Coinbase Pro, provides the opportunity to trade cryptocurrency, i.e. make a profit due to the difference in cryptocurrency rates.

Coinbase has existed since 2012, it is the oldest cryptocurrency broker, which is currently also one of the most popular along with Bithumb and Binance: the number of Coinbase customers exceeds 35 million people from more than 100 countries around the world.

One of the main advantages of Coinbase is the convenience of registration and the platform itself, which makes it possible to trade on it even for those who have never encountered cryptocurrencies before. The platform offers a variety of payment methods, including bank cards and bank transfers.

Coinbase's security is ensured by the availability of appropriate accreditations and licenses (we'll talk about this in more detail below).

CFDs are complex financial instruments. The use of leverage is associated with high risk. 70.8% of retail investors lose money when trading CFDs with this partner.

Available Cryptocurrencies

The availability of an extensive selection of cryptocurrencies is also an undoubted advantage of Coinbase: according to reviews, this broker definitely has no fewer currencies than Bitfinex or Binance. Interestingly, there were once only 4 cryptocurrencies on Coinbase: Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ether, and Litecoin:

However, now the number of cryptocurrencies is truly huge and includes even not very large projects such as Filecoin, Band, Maker, and Compound.

Perhaps you have not even heard of such cryptocurrencies, and this is logical, since their estimated value is quite small, but the growth potential is much higher.

Here is the full list of cryptocurrencies available for trading on Coinbase:

At the time of this writing, there are 42 cryptocurrencies listed on Coinbase. At the same time, the platform claims that it is constantly adding new assets, but it does it quite selectively, so in general, not so many cryptocurrencies are added.

Many assets are also offered by the Coinbase Pro platform, which will be discussed below.

CFDs are complex financial instruments. The use of leverage is associated with high risk. 70.8% of retail investors lose money when trading CFDs with this partner.

Coinbase Fees

First of all, it should be said that Coinbase is one of the most expensive cryptocurrency exchanges. Below, we talk about the different types of fees that are charged on this platform. It should also be noted that there are platforms with lower fees, such as Poloniex.

Fees for depositing and withdrawing funds

The first fee you will face is the conversion fee (in the event that you do not deposit funds in US dollars, but in the local currency - for example, in rubles). However, it is important to note that such a fee is not charged in all cases.

So, if you make a deposit with a bank card, then the funds are credited to the account instantly (after passing verification), but in this case, your payout will be 3.99%. For example, if you deposit the equivalent of $500 in rubles, you will have to pay $19.95.

However, when depositing funds via bank transfer, no fees will be charged (the trading fee will still remain, but more on that later).

As for the withdrawal fee, it is also absent for bank transfers, but for withdrawals to a bank card, the commission will be 2% (minimum $0.80).

Overall, the fee structure here is quite complicated, as many Coinbase users have pointed out: user Coinbase reviews confirm this. Therefore, we will also provide some simple examples below to make it easier for you to understand this topic.

Trading Fees

The fee for trading on Coinbase is charged in the same way as, say, the commission for trading stocks with the respective brokers, with the only difference being that it is not fixed.

The standard fee is 1.49% "one-way", i.e. you are charged this percentage when you buy cryptocurrency and then sell it.

Here's an example.

• Let's say you bought $1,000 worth of Bitcoin.
• Since the funds were deposited via bank transfer, you were not charged any additional fees.
• However, you paid the purchase fee, which was 1.49%, i.e. $14.90.
• Let's say a few months later the same amount of bitcoin is worth $1,500.
• You liquidate the position (sell), and thus pay 1.49% again, but not from $1000, but from $1500, i.e. $22.35.

Overall, the 1.49% one-way fee is much higher than many other leading cryptocurrency brokers.

So, there are no trading fees at all on Capital.com, and only 0.5% is charged when depositing funds, which is quite small compared to 3.99% on Coinbase.

The worst situation on Coinbase is with trading small amounts, since the commission is just fixed.

For example:

• If the transaction amount is less than $10, the commission is $0.99;
• With a trade amount from $10 to $25, the commission is $1.49;
• For a trade amount of $25 to $50, the commission is $1.99;
• If the transaction amount is from $50 to $200, the commission is $2.99.

At first glance, not so much, but if you look at the percentage, it turns out that if you buy $11 worth of Bitcoin, you will give $1.49, that is, almost 15%!

Note. Trading fees on Coinbase Pro are significantly lower. We will talk about this in more detail in the corresponding section of our article.

Cryptocurrency Conversion

On Coinbase, you can convert cryptocurrencies directly, i.e., for example, exchange bitcoin for ether not through dollars or other real currency, but immediately one for another.

Thus, it will be possible to avoid unnecessary transactions and, accordingly, commissions.

However, there will still be a commission: in the form of a spread of 2%, i.e. Coinbase will simply increase the rate of the purchased cryptocurrency by 2%. As a result, the commission is also quite high.

It should be mentioned that, in turn, the Libertex platform does not have a spread. This is a good reason to take a closer look at this platform, especially now that Coinbase is not available in Russia.

CFDs are complex financial instruments. The use of leverage is associated with high risk. 70.8% of retail investors lose money when trading CFDs with this partner.

Coinbase Buy Limit

On Coinbase, you can purchase up to $10,000 worth of crypto daily, and that, of course, should be more than enough. However, before handling such amounts, you will need to pass verification by uploading a copy of your passport or driver's license.

In addition, there is a separate limit on purchases through bank cards: the limit is $750 for the first transaction, and then increases as the documents are verified.

Coinbase Pro

Coinbase's main website serves as a regular purchase of cryptocurrencies and resembles a traditional stock broker: an asset is purchased for a period of several months or years for the purpose of long-term investment.

However, for experienced traders who want to engage in cryptocurrency trading, i.e. short-term operations, there is the Coinbase Pro platform. On Coinbase Pro, you can trade both pairs that include real currencies and purely cryptocurrency pairs.

• A real currency pair contains one regular currency and one cryptocurrency: for example, ETH/USD consists of ether and the US dollar and reflects the corresponding exchange rate.
• A cryptocurrency pair consists of two cryptocurrencies: for example, BCH/BTC is the exchange rate of Bitcoin Cash in relation to Bitcoin.

At the same time, in both cases, speculation on exchange rates occurs, i.e. such trading is very similar to trading on Forex.

The Coinbase Pro platform features a variety of tools and capabilities. Firstly, pairs can not only be bought, but also sold, i.e. speculated on a decrease in the exchange rate.

Secondly, there are different types of orders: stop-loss and take-profit orders to limit risk, and limit orders, which are activated when the pair reaches a certain rate.

On Coinbase Pro, you can also use third-party programs for automated trading (the so-called "robots"), for which you just need to get an individual API key.

Finally, Coinbase Pro offers a variety of analytics and charting tools. In this aspect, however, the platform is significantly inferior to the market leader MT4.

CFDs are complex financial instruments. The use of leverage is associated with high risk. 70.8% of retail investors lose money when trading CFDs with this partner.

Coinbase Wallet

After buying crypto on Coinbase Pro, there are two options for how to store it.

First, you can withdraw cryptocurrency to your own wallet, which can be a mobile app, a computer program, or a hardware wallet. In such a case, the user is solely responsible for storing the currency.

The second option is to store your crypto on Coinbase, which also has two types of wallets: a web wallet and a mobile wallet.

Coinbase Web Wallet

The most convenient way to store crypto on Coinbase is through a web wallet: in this case, the funds simply remain in your Coinbase account. However, this method is also the most vulnerable: if a hacker attack is carried out on the exchange, there is a risk of losing all funds.

Such attacks have already happened more than once on different exchanges, although this has never happened to Coinbase yet.

However, there is no need to worry too much, as Coinbase is guarded by various security measures.

Offline Storage

98% of all customer funds on Coinbase are stored offline, in hardware wallets (the remaining 2% must be stored online to ensure liquidity). As such, it is almost impossible to steal these funds by any means.

Two-factor authentication

Two-step authentication (confirmation of login with another device) on Coinbase is mandatory for all users.

Most often, such authorization is provided by a special secret code that is sent to the user's mobile phone in the form of an SMS.

In addition, when logging in from an unfamiliar device, Coinbase will also require email confirmation. So, hacking someone's account is almost impossible.

Withdrawal protection

Even if someone manages to hack into your account, it will be very difficult to withdraw funds from there, since withdrawals are only possible to the same card or account from which the funds were deposited.

Theoretically, an attacker can try to transfer money to a third-party wallet, but even in this case, you will need to enter the code from the SMS, so if you have the phone with you, the hacker will not succeed.

In addition, you can enable confirmation of the withdrawal via email, which will also provide additional protection.

Freezing of funds

After confirming the withdrawal operation, the money is not immediately transferred to the selected account, but is frozen for two days.

So, even if the scammer manages to bypass all possible security measures, you still have two days to cancel the withdrawal request and inform Coinbase about the hacked account.

Coinbase Mobile Wallet

The mobile wallet provides the user with full control over the purchased cryptocurrency.

It is a mobile application for Android or iOS devices and gives you the ability to store currencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum Classic, Litecoin, and all cryptocurrencies based on the ERC-20 token.

The essence of the work is the same as with other mobile wallets: you log in using a PIN code or fingerprint, after which you can send cryptocurrency to and from the wallet. The transfer procedure is simplified with the help of a QR code scanner.

CFDs are complex financial instruments. The use of leverage is associated with high risk. 70.8% of retail investors lose money when trading CFDs with this partner.

Coinbase Mobile App

With the help of the Coinbase mobile application, you can carry out the same operations as on the website: buy, sell, and convert cryptocurrency, replenish your account, and withdraw funds.

The app is very user-friendly and has a high rating, with a 4.7 out of 5 rating on the App Store based on 875,000 reviews and a 4.5 out of 5 on Google Play based on 230,000 reviews.

Ease of Use

A lot of people have commented on the convenience of Coinbase: user Coinbase reviews say that it's almost perfect for those who have never traded cryptocurrency before.

The ease of use compared to platforms such as Phemex and Binance is also noted. You can open an account on Coinbase in just a few minutes by entering your personal data, and if you don't have a ready-made copy of your passport at hand, you can do it with a photo directly in the app, while verification is usually instantaneous.

The same can be said about depositing funds and the trading process itself: everything is very simple, you just need to select the desired cryptocurrency and enter the amount you plan to invest.

Before the transaction, you will see all the necessary data: the cryptocurrency rate, all commissions and the purchase amount. Once the transaction is confirmed, the cryptocurrency will be immediately credited to your Coinbase wallet.

CFDs are complex financial instruments. The use of leverage is associated with high risk. 70.8% of retail investors lose money when trading CFDs with this partner.

Resources & Options

In terms of resources for trading, Coinbase can hardly be surprising with anything, since the platform was originally designed for beginners, as well as for those who just buy cryptocurrency for the long term.

Coinbase Pro offers much more features: various types of orders, risk management tools, chart analytics.

However, even on the regular Coinbase platform, there is one interesting feature: a recurring purchase. For example, you can set up the platform so that every Friday, $20 worth of bitcoin is automatically purchased on your account.

Deposits and withdrawals on Coinbase

We have already touched on this issue a little when we talked about commissions, and now we will tell you in more detail.

Coinbase is an accredited platform, i.e. it has the right to legally carry out money transactions. This is a rarity among cryptocurrency exchanges, they mostly operate without a license.

That being said, when it comes to depositing and withdrawing funds, it's not that simple. Let's try to figure it out.

Debit Cards

With a Visa or MasterCard card, you can instantly purchase cryptocurrency on Coinbase; In this case, the withdrawal will also be made to the card.

At the same time, only cards with 3D Secure technology are supported, other cards are not accepted for payment.

Wire Transfer

You can also credit funds using a bank transfer using Coinbase details, in this case, you need to carefully rewrite or copy the transaction number, which will be displayed on the screen during the transaction.

Bank transfer takes from 1 to 3 business days, so this method is not suitable for instant deposits. On the other hand, as we remember, there is no fee for bank transfers, and 3.99% for card payments.

Curiously, withdrawing funds by bank transfer can take even less than a day.

Please note that at the moment the instructions described below are not available on the territory of Russia, but in any case, you can familiarize yourself with it.

PayPal

It is not possible to deposit funds via PayPal on Coinbase, but you can withdraw funds to this electronic wallet. On the other hand, only profits can be withdrawn.

So, for example, if your deposit on Coinbase was $500, and after some time the amount increased to $1500, you will be able to transfer $1000 to PayPal, and the remaining 500 - only to a card or bank account.

Credit Cards

Previously, Coinbase had the option to pay by credit card, but now there is no such option.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit on Coinbase is only set for a bank transfer through the SWIFT system. In this case, it is $1000, and the minimum withdrawal amount is $500.

CFDs are complex financial instruments. The use of leverage is associated with high risk. 70.8% of retail investors lose money when trading CFDs with this partner.

Accreditation & Licenses

Even those who don't know much about cryptocurrencies have probably heard about the constant hacker attacks and fraudulent schemes in this area.

This is largely due to the fact that most cryptocurrency exchanges operate without a license.

As a result, the total amount of bitcoins and other digital currencies stolen from various exchanges is already estimated at billions of dollars.

Luckily, there are exchanges out there that are responsible when it comes to security, and Coinbase is certainly one of them.

For example, in the United States, the Coinbase exchange is accredited by the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Office (FinCEN), and in the UK, it is licensed by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

In general, it must be said that Coinbase became the first cryptocurrency exchange to receive the right to operate in the British market. Such permission is very difficult to obtain.

Finally, Coinbase also has insurance against funds stolen during a possible hacker attack, but we are only talking about the exchange's own funds, and not about customer accounts.

Contact Details & Support

With a customer base of 35 million people, it would seem that Coinbase should have great customer support, but this is absolutely not the case.

First of all, it is impossible to talk to support by phone, there is only an automatic telephone service, with the help of which you can block the account in case it is hacked.

Secondly, chat is also possible only with a bot, and if you need human help, then the only option is to send a request to the support service.

In general, you will not get real instant support under any circumstances.

Resume

There is no doubt that Coinbase is one of the best cryptocurrency brokers out there (35 million users can't be wrong).

The main advantages are a very simple interface, the ability to top up your account with a card, and strict security measures.