Bitstamp Review

Bitstamp is a cryptocurrency exchange with options for both retail and institutional traders. But is it the right platform for you? Keep reading to find out.

	Buy and Sell Crypto Get Deal
	Overall Score	3.7
	Cryptocurrency Trading	4.0
	Mobile App	5.0
	Commissions and Fees	4.0
	Ease of Use	4.0
	Research	4.0
	Safety	4.0

5-point scale (the higher, the better)

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Pros and Cons

• Expert Trading Platform
• High Liquidity
• Reasonable Fees

• Not Beginner-Friendly
• Somewhat Limited Range of Coins

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Bottom Line

Moderately-sized crypto exchange with reasonable fees and oriented toward expert traders

Bitstamp is a longstanding crypto trading platform that caters to experienced traders.

With low fees, high liquidity, and decent coin selection, Bitstamp is popular with high-volume traders.

But is Bitstamp the right exchange for you? Read this detailed review to decide. Plus, see how it compares to popular exchanges like Coinbase.

What is Bitstamp?

Founded in 2011 by Nejc Kodrič and Damijan Merlak, Bitstamp is a cryptocurrency exchange based in Luxembourg, with locations in the UK, U.S., and Slovenia.

They have a relatively long history in the world of crypto. In fact, they were considered an early European competitor to the unfortunate Mt. Gox.

Bitstamp was acquired by Belgium-based company NXMH in 2018.

The platform offers trading for a range of cryptocurrencies, catering to traders of all levels, with an emphasis on pros and institutions through their proprietary API. They offer a desktop site and a mobile app.

What Cryptocurrencies do They Support?

Bitstamp supports trading the following 32 cryptocurrencies and stablecoins:

• Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether, Ripple, USD Coin, Uniswap, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Chainlink, Polygon, Stellar Lumens, Dai, AAVE, The Graph, Maker, Algorand, Compound, Sushiswap, yearn.finance, Synthetix, Basic Attention Token, Paxos Standard, 0x, Curve, OMG Network, UMA, Kyber Network, Gemini Dollar, Audius, Ethereum 2.0, Ethereum 2.0 Rewards, Euro Tether

Trades can be made in USD, GBP, and EUR. Deposits can be made in the following currencies, but may incur an exchange fee: AUD, CAD, CHF, DKK, HRK, JPY, NOK, and SEK.

In addition to fiat purchases, they have trading pairs for the following coins:

• Bitcoin, USD Coin, Ethereum, Tether, Pax

Where are They Available?

Bitstamp supports instant credit and debit card purchases in all EU member states, in most states in the U.S., and the following countries:^[1]

• UK, Switzerland, Norway, Monaco, Montenegro, Serbia, Turkey, Andorra, Moldova, Gibraltar, Iceland, Greenland, Liechtenstein, Isle of Man, Faroe Islands, Åland Islands, San Marino, Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Argentina, Brazil (post-Liveness only), Israel, South Africa, Chile, Kuwait, Cayman Islands, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, India, Puerto Rico, Peru, Madagascar, Mozambique, Dominican Republic, Curaçao, Dominica, Jordan, the Bahamas, Bahrain, French Polynesia, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Réunion, Jamaica, Paraguay, Brunei, New Caledonia, Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Sint Maarten

Trading

Bitstamp is a dedicated trading platform. However, they do not offer some of the frills users now expect from exchanges.

They support a moderate number of cryptocurrencies compared to other exchanges. For example, at time of writing, Coinbase offered over 65 and Binance over 250.

They fall within the top 20 exchanges worldwide by volume according to Coingecko^[2], meaning they can offer a fair degree of liquidity to support larger trades.

As far as their interface goes, it's better suited for experienced traders, with a range of potentially useful market data and charting features that may intimidate or overwhelm novice investors.

They recommend that beginners take advantage of the instant buy feature, which is the simplest way to buy cryptocurrency at the current price.

They support four order types, including the following:

• Instant
  
• Market
  
• Limit
  
• Stop

The most common way to fund Bitstamp accounts is via bank transfer. UK users are able to make instant deposits via ACH transfer.

Bitstamp is a custodial exchange, meaning you can either leave your coins on the platform or transfer them off into a wallet of your choosing.

As far as institutional traders go, they offer support for:

• Brokers
  
• Neo Banks
  
• Fintechs
  
• Banks
  
• Hedge Funds
  
• Prop Traders
  
• Family Offices
  
• Aggregators

Fees to Look Out for

Bitstamp operates a tiered fee schedule based on 30-day trading volume, as you can see in the chart below.

Other fees to keep in mind are:

• Variable spread is an undisclosed amount
  
• SEPA withdrawals are 3.00 EUR (deposits are free)
  ACH deposits and withdrawals are free
  
• In the UK, Faster Payments withdrawals are 2.00 GBP (deposits are free)
  
• Card Purchases incur a 5% instant service fee
  
• International wire deposits incur a 0.05% fee, no less than 7.5 EUR/USD or 5 GBP, not exceeding 300 EUR/USD or 250 GBP.
  
• International wire withdrawals incur a 0.1% fee, no less than 725 EUR/USD/GBP.
  
• Crypto deposits are free of charge
  
• Crypto withdrawals incur a fee that varies by coin. You can find the full list of rates here.

They have minimum trade requirements of:

• 20 EUR/GBP/PAX/USD/USDC/USDT in EUR/GBP/PAX/USD/USDC/USDT-dominated trading pairs
  
• For Bitcoin-dominated trading pairs, the minimum is 0.0002 BTC
  
• For Ethereum-dominated pairs, the minimum is 0.005 ETH

Security

Bitstamp employs a range of security features to keep your coins and your data safe.

• Two-Factor Authentication
  
• KYC and AML - Bitstamp complies with KYC (know your customer) and AML (anti-money laundering) regulations
  
• Multi-signature Protection - On hot wallets
  
• Cold Storage - Majority of crypto stored offline
  
• Crime Insurance - To cover loss of stolen funds

How Do They Compare?

Bitstamp vs Coinbase
Coinbase is one of the most popular exchanges with beginners, and for good reason. Compared to Bitstamp, their interface is easily accessible, quick to understand, and makes trading easy to execute.

They offer a range of educational options, including some that will pay users to learn more about crypto.

Coinbase offers a wider range of cryptocurrencies than Bitstamp as well. The only advantage Bitstamp has to offer over Coinbase are its lower fees.

However, Coinbase Pro, its expert-oriented platform, charges rates similar to Bitstamp's, with a similar interface, but with all of the other perks that Coinbase has to offer.

		CoinbaseRobinhoodeToro
	Bitstamp	Coinbase
	SPECIAL OFFER Buy and Sell Crypto - Learn More	SPECIAL OFFER Earn $5 in bitcoin on your first trade on Coinbase - Learn More
	Benefits and Features
Stock Trading	No	No
Options Trading	No	No
Cryptocurrencies Supported	BTC, ETH, USDT, XRP, USDC, UNI, BCH, LINK, LTC, MATIC, XLM, FTT, DAI, ALGO, AAVE, GRT, MKR, COMP, CHZ, SUSHI, ENJ, YFI, SNX, BAT, OMG, PAX, AUDIO, ZRX, CRV, UMA, ALPHA, KNC, GUSD, ETH2, ETH2R, EURT	200+
Countries Supported	Over 50	Over 100
Fiat Currencies Supported	USD, GBP, EUR, AUD, CAD, CHF, DKK, HRK, JPY, NOK, SEK	USD, GBP, EUR
Digital Wallet	Yes	Yes
Transaction Fee	0.0% - 0.50%	Greater of Minimum Flat Fees or Variable Fees (1.49%+) by Location and Payment Method. Minimum Flat Fees: < $10: $0.99 $10.01 - $25: $1.49 $25.01 - $50: $1.99 $50.01 - $200: $2.99
Copy Trading	No	No
Limit Orders	Yes	No
Margin Trading	No	No
Spread	Yes	0.50%
Crypto Loans	No	Invitation only
Bank Account Purchase Fee	No	1.49%
Mobile App	Yes	Yes
ACH Transfer Fee	No	No
Wire Transfer Fee	SEPA Withdrawals 3.00 GBP; International wire withdrawals incur a 0.1% fee	$10 ($25 outgoing)
Crypto Conversion Fee	No	up to 2%
Other Fees	Card Purchases incur a 5% instant service fee	Instant Card Withdrawal: up to 1.5% + minimum fee of $0.55
Address Allowlisting	No	Yes
Anonymity	No	No
Biometric Login	No	Yes
Cold Storage	Yes	Yes
Maximum Trading Amount	No	Unlimited
Two-Factor Authentication	Yes	SMS or Google Authenticator
Withdrawal Limit	No	$50,000 / day
	Buy and Sell Crypto	Earn $5 in bitcoin on your first trade on Coinbase Buy and Sell Cryptocurrency Learn Crypto, Earn Crypto
Bitstamp: Pricing information from published website as of 09/08/2021. Coinbase: Pricing information from published website as of 04/13/2021.

Bitstamp vs Kraken
Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has a lot to offer to expert traders, with nearly twice as many coins to trade as Bitstamp has and appealingly low fees.

While their interface is not particularly beginner-friendly, it does not pose a significant increase in difficulty from Bitstamp's own trading platform, and they offer a slightly wider range of options including futures and margin trading.

The biggest challenge facing potential Kraken users is the difficulty involved in funding one's account, which typically requires a wire transfer and may take as many as 5 business days to complete.

There are free, near-instant options available, but only for holders of their Business Pro memberships.

		KrakenBinance US
	Bitstamp	Kraken
	SPECIAL OFFER Buy and Sell Crypto - Learn More	SPECIAL OFFER Buy and Sell Cryptocurrencies - Learn More
	Benefits and Features
Stock Trading	No
Options Trading	No
Cryptocurrencies Supported	BTC, ETH, USDT, XRP, USDC, UNI, BCH, LINK, LTC, MATIC, XLM, FTT, DAI, ALGO, AAVE, GRT, MKR, COMP, CHZ, SUSHI, ENJ, YFI, SNX, BAT, OMG, PAX, AUDIO, ZRX, CRV, UMA, ALPHA, KNC, GUSD, ETH2, ETH2R, EURT	56
Countries Supported	Over 50	Over 170
Fiat Currencies Supported	USD, GBP, EUR, AUD, CAD, CHF, DKK, HRK, JPY, NOK, SEK	USD, EUR, CAD, AUD, GBP, CHF, JPY
Digital Wallet	Yes	No
Transaction Fee	0.0% - 0.50%	0.00% - 0.26%
Copy Trading	No	No
Limit Orders	Yes	Yes
Margin Trading	No	Yes
Crypto Loans	No	No
Bank Account Purchase Fee	No	0.5% + $0.10
Mobile App	Yes	Yes
Wire Transfer Fee	SEPA Withdrawals 3.00 GBP; International wire withdrawals incur a 0.1% fee	$4 - $35
Crypto Conversion Fee	No	1.5% or 0.9% for stablecoins
Other Fees	Card Purchases incur a 5% instant service fee	1-time address setup fees for first-time deposits of many cryptocurrencies, varies by currency
Address Allowlisting	No	Yes
Anonymity	No	No
Biometric Login	No	Yes
Cold Storage	Yes	Yes
Two-Factor Authentication	Yes	Google Authenticator or Yubikey
Withdrawal Limit	No	Depends on verification level. Cryptocurrencies - Beginner: $5,000 / day; Intermediate: $500,000 / day; Pro: $10,000,000 / day; Fiat Currencies - Express: $9,000 / day; Intermediate: $100,000 / day; Pro: $10,000,000 / day
	Buy and Sell Crypto	Buy and Sell Cryptocurrencies
Blank fields may indicate the information is not available, not applicable, or not known to CreditDonkey. Please visit the product website for details. Bitstamp: Pricing information from published website as of 09/08/2021. Kraken: Pricing information from published website as of 04/13/2021.

Bitstamp vs Binance

		BinanceBinance US
	Bitstamp	Binance
	SPECIAL OFFER Buy and Sell Crypto - Learn More	OFFER Buy and Sell Cryptocurrency - Learn More
	Benefits and Features
Stock Trading	No
Options Trading	No
Cryptocurrencies Supported	BTC, ETH, USDT, XRP, USDC, UNI, BCH, LINK, LTC, MATIC, XLM, FTT, DAI, ALGO, AAVE, GRT, MKR, COMP, CHZ, SUSHI, ENJ, YFI, SNX, BAT, OMG, PAX, AUDIO, ZRX, CRV, UMA, ALPHA, KNC, GUSD, ETH2, ETH2R, EURT	600+
Countries Supported	Over 50	Over 180
Fiat Currencies Supported	USD, GBP, EUR, AUD, CAD, CHF, DKK, HRK, JPY, NOK, SEK	AED, AUD, AZN, BGN, CAD, CHF, CLP, COP, CZK, DKK, EUR, GBP, HKD, HRK, HUF, IDR, ILS, ISK, JPY, KES, KRW, KZT, MXN, NGN, NOK, NZD, PEN, PHP, PLN, RON, RUB, SAR, SEK, THB, TRY, TWD, UAH, UGX, USD, UYU, VND, ZAR
Digital Wallet	Yes	Yes
Transaction Fee	0.0% - 0.50%	0.10% - 0.02%
Copy Trading	No	No
Limit Orders	Yes	Yes
Margin Trading	No	Yes
Spread	Yes	0.01% - 0.92% depending on cryptocurrency
Crypto Loans	No	Yes
Mobile App	Yes	Yes
ACH Transfer Fee	No	No
Wire Transfer Fee	SEPA Withdrawals 3.00 GBP; International wire withdrawals incur a 0.1% fee	Free via SWIFT from USD to BUSD
Crypto Conversion Fee	No	No
Other Fees	Card Purchases incur a 5% instant service fee	25% fee discount for holding BNB; tiered discounts based on 30 day trade volume
Address Allowlisting	No	Yes
Anonymity	No	No
Biometric Login	No	Yes
Cold Storage	Yes	Yes
Maximum Trading Amount	No	Maximum order amount varies by currency
Two-Factor Authentication	Yes	Google Authenticator
Withdrawal Limit	No	2BTC / day for unverified accounts; 100BTC / day for verified accounts; Wire Transfer: $7,500,000 / day
	Buy and Sell Crypto	Buy and Sell Cryptocurrency
Blank fields may indicate the information is not available, not applicable, or not known to CreditDonkey. Please visit the product website for details. Bitstamp: Pricing information from published website as of 09/08/2021. Binance: Pricing information from published website as of 04/13/2021.

Bottom Line

Bitstamp is a dedicated trading platform that focuses specifically on catering to intermediate and advanced traders, to the potential detriment of the entry-level audience.

If you're already comfortable trading on a platform that won't be holding your hand, then you may do fine with Bitstamp, but beginners may prefer easier-to-use platforms like Coinbase or Gemini.

References