September 5, 2021

Coinbase Pro Review

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Coinbase Pro is Coinbase's advanced crypto trading platform with lower fees and expert-level features. But is it safe and legit? Read on to find out.

5-point scale (the higher, the better)

Pros and Cons

  • Low fees
  • Advanced trading features
  • Analytical tools
  • Too advanced for beginners
  • Privacy concerns

Bottom Line

Affordable expert-oriented exchange from a well-known name in crypto trading

While Coinbase is known for its user-friendliness and higher fees, Coinbase Pro is the opposite.

Coinbase's advanced platform has much lower fees. And they've done away with some of the handholding you'll find on the original Coinbase app.

Find out how much more advanced it is and how low the fees are, below. Plus, see how it compares to other popular platforms like Binance and Robinhood.

What is Coinbase Pro?

Coinbase is a San Francisco-based company that was founded in 2012, offering the ability to use bank transfers to buy and sell Bitcoin.

Since then, they've expanded to offer more than 60 different cryptocurrencies and stablecoins, along with other useful features for crypto traders through their popular mobile app and desktop site.

For many, Coinbase is the first cryptocurrency exchange they come across when searching for a place to trade, and with good reason. They've done an excellent job of designing a platform that is intuitive and easy to grasp.

Originally called GDAX, Coinbase Pro was renamed in 2018, and is Coinbase's professional trading platform. With an interface far more similar to traditional investing tools, Coinbase Pro offers significantly lower fees than Coinbase, appealing to those who understand enough to use it.

Pros and Cons of Coinbase Pro

Liking the sound of Coinbase Pro so far? Review these quick pros and cons to determine if this platform is right for you, then dive deeper into the features below.

Pros

  • Lower fees than standard Coinbase
  • Advanced features for experienced traders
  • Suite of high-quality features and analytical tools
  • Good for trading at high volume (due to lower fees)
  • Supports a decent number of coins (60+)
  • Opportunities to earn rewards (educational tools)

Cons

  • Likely too advanced for beginners
  • Some concerns about privacy
  • Offers fewer altcoins
  • Customer service can be slow

What Cryptocurrencies Does it Support?

Coinbase Pro allows for trading of more than 65 cryptocurrencies, with more added on a regular basis:

  • Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, Litecoin, 0x, USD Coin, Basic Attention Token, Decentraland, Kyber Network, Chainlink, district0x, Maker, Civic, OMG Network, Dai, Zcash, Augur, Stellar Lumens, EOS, Tezos, Algorand, Dash, Cosmos, Orchid, Compound, Enjin Coin, Band Protocol, Numeraire, Celo, UMA, Loopring, yearn.finance, Uniswap, Balancer, Ren, Wrapped Bitcoin, NuCypher, Filecoin, Aave, Bancor Network Token, The Graph, Synthetix Network Token, Storj, SushiSwap, Polygon, SKALE, Cardano, Ankr, Curve DAO Token, Internet Computer, NKN, Origin Token, 1inch, Tether, Ampleforth Governance Token, Cartesi, Tellor, Mirror Protocol, iExec RLC, Polkadot, Dogecoin, Enzyme, Gitcoin, Amp

Where is it Available?

Coinbase Pro is available in the following countries:

  • Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Canada, Cayman Islands, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic*, Ecuador, Ghana, Guatemala, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan*, Kenya*, Kuwait, Mexico, Mongolia, New Zealand, Oman, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Serbia, Singapore, South Africa*, South Korea, Taiwan, Tunisia, Turkey*, Uganda, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Uzbekistan

And in Europe:

  • Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guernsey, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Jersey, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland

*Indicates a USDC trading restriction

Coinbase Pro is not available in Hawaii.

Features

In the sections below, take a deeper look at the features and tools that Coinbase Pro has to offer.

Exchange
The exchange is what sets Coinbase Pro apart from regular Coinbase. Visually, Coinbase Pro has a much more complicated appearance, similar to traditional stock investing platforms. This may be intimidating to new traders, especially compared to the easy interface at Coinbase.

It supports candlestick and line price charts, EMA12 and EMA26 Overlays, and more granular time scales. It shows a live order book and trade history, and it represents purchase options as trading pairs (like BTC - USD) rather than individual coins.

Coinbase Pro supports market orders, limit orders, and stop orders, while Coinbase has simpler "buy," "sell," and "convert" functions.

Most importantly, it has much lower fees (more on this later).

Debit Card
In a partnership with Visa, Coinbase plans to release a debit card that will enable users to spend their crypto directly while earning cash back. While it isn't available yet, you can join the wait list here.

It will be accepted anywhere Visa debit cards are, will have no annual or sign-up fee, and offer up to 4% cash back rewards on purchases.

Storage
A standalone app that lets users store their cryptocurrency, the Coinbase Wallet also lets users manage their private keys directly on their devices. It does not require a Coinbase account to use, and is available anywhere in the world.

Coinbase also offers Coinbase Vault for added security. It features offline storage, time-delayed withdrawals, and multi-user authorization requirements to make sure no one but you has access to your coins.

Borrow
Coinbase users can take crypto-backed loans against the value of their Bitcoin.

  • They charge 8% APR, due monthly.
  • $10,001.00 is the minimum you can borrow, and requires a BTC deposit equivalent to $25,002.50.

Rewards
Coinbase wants you to know more about crypto. Users can earn cryptocurrencies like Amp, The Graph, and Stellar Lumens while you learn more about them. Their videos and take quizzes typically take 1-3 minutes. You can earn about a dollar a minute.

Fees to Look Out for

The fees are one of the main things that set apart Coinbase and Coinbase Pro, as you'll see in the chart below. If you're trying to choose between the two, give this the most consideration, along with the interface, of course.

Unlike Coinbase, Coinbase Pro operates a Maker-Taker structure for their transaction fees, which range from 0% to 0.50%.

Pro Pricing TierTaker FeeMaker Fee
$0 - 10K0.50%0.50%
$10K - 50K0.35%0.35%
$50K - 100K0.25%0.15%
$100K - 1M0.20%0.10%
$1M - 10M0.18%0.08%
$10M - 20M0.18%0.08%
$20M - 50M0.15%0.05%
$50M - 100M0.15%0.05%
$100M - 300M0.10%0.02%
$300M - 500M0.08%0.00%
$500M - 750M0.06%0.00%
$750M - 1B0.05%0.00%
$1B - 2B0.04%0.00%
$2B +0.04%0.00%

In addition to discounts for higher pricing tiers, from $0 - $10k to $1b+ over a 30 day period, users get a different price depending on whether they are placing an order that can be filled immediately (a taker), or one that cannot be immediately matched with an existing order (a maker).

At the lower pricing tiers both makers and takers get the same rates, however those in the tiers higher than $50k will pay less as makers.

Additionally, orders placed for Stable Pairs incur a fee of 0.00% and 0.01% for the maker and taker respectively.

With no spread and much lower transaction fees, as well as free deposits, users can save a lot by choosing Coinbase Pro. While it isn't the lowest-priced exchange available—some are commission-free or offer even lower fees than Coinbase Pro does—it is on the cheaper end of the spectrum.

If you can get used to the more advanced trading platform, the fees alone make the switch to Coinbase Pro worth it.

Security

Because cryptocurrency is so vulnerable to loss or theft, exchanges like Coinbase Pro have to take security very seriously. Here are some of the measures they take to keep your crypto safe.

  • Insurance
    • Coinbase has secured independent insurance for coins lost to cybersecurity breaches or employee theft up to $250,000
    • FDIC Insurance covers USD balances up to $250,000 through pooled custodial accounts at one or more banks

  • Cold Storage
    • Coinbase stores 97% of user funds offline in cold storage
    • Vault: Users can opt to store their coins in Coinbase Vault, with 48-hour time-delayed withdrawals, multi-user authorization, and cold storage

  • Two-Factor Authentication
    • Using SMS or Google Authenticator

  • Address Allowlisting
    • This feature allows users to choose which wallet addresses they'll allow withdrawals to

  • Biometric Login

If you value privacy: According to publicly available records, Coinbase has made or attempted to make arrangements to sell user data to the U.S. Secret Service, IRS, and DEA. In the past, they are known to have blocked CoinJoins—anonymizing Bitcoin transactions, and they have made efforts to tie blockchain addresses to specific identities.

How it Compares

Binance US
Binance US is the American branch of Binance, one of the most widely used exchanges in the world. Their trading platform is similar to Coinbase Pro and offers many of the same features.

In addition to limit orders, they support margin trading, which Coinbase Pro does not. They support roughly the same number of coins, and charge comparably low fees.

Ultimately, it shouldn't matter too much which you choose if you're just interested in trading. Coinbase has more additional services, and Binance may offer slightly more trading tools. If you're interested in privacy, however, you may want to choose Binance.

Robinhood
While Robinhood is primarily a stock trading platform, it does offer limited cryptocurrencies. If you're only interested in trading a few of the popular coins to take advantage of market changes, Robinhood may be the choice for you.

This is especially true if you plan to trade frequently, as Robinhood is a commission-free exchange. However, you can't withdraw your coins, meaning you can't spend them, and they only offer 7 coins (at time of writing).

If you want to withdraw your coins, or buy anything other than the most popular coins, consider Coinbase Pro.

Bottom Line

All things considered, Coinbase Pro is a solid crypto trading platform with plenty of useful features for crypto enthusiasts. It offers relatively low fees and a wide variety of coins.

As long as you're okay with their policies regarding user privacy and you feel comfortable with a less beginner-friendly platform, Coinbase Pro might be right for you.

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Jeremy Harshman is a creative assistant at CreditDonkey, a crypto comparison and reviews website. Write to Jeremy Harshman at jeremy.harshman@creditdonkey.com. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook for our latest posts.

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