Exchanges & Trading

Where you trade determines what you pay, what you are exposed to, and whether you can get your money out. Exchange coverage is also where crypto media is least trustworthy, because affiliate commissions flow from exactly the recommendations readers are looking for. We handle that by publishing the rubric and the relationship.

The section covers three things. Exchange reviews assess venues against a fixed, published set of criteria — fees, available pairs, KYC requirements, jurisdictions served, custody model and security history — so two reviews can actually be compared. Trading fee comparisons put real costs side by side, including the spreads and withdrawal charges that quietly cost more than the headline maker-taker rate. Derivatives and futures covers perpetuals, funding rates and liquidations, where leverage turns an ordinary move into a total loss.

Our commitments here are specific. The scoring rubric is published with the review, so you can see why a venue scored as it did. Any affiliate relationship is disclosed above the article body, not in the footer, and never moves a score — if the rubric produces a poor result for a partner, that is what we publish. As of now we have no affiliate partnerships at all, which is stated on our affiliate disclosure page.

We also cover the parts of the industry that lose people money: security history matters more than a slick interface, and an exchange that has been breached, halted withdrawals or operated without a licence has that in its record permanently. Custody is the question most beginners skip and most regret skipping.

None of this is a recommendation to trade, and derivatives in particular are a fast way to lose everything. See risk management before you size a position, and our methodology for how our figures are produced.