Forex trading in South Africa is growing month in and month out. Today, South Africans are the most active traders on broker sites. While these brokers mainly focus on Forex, many Brokers in South Africa Offer other trading instruments including stocks, indices, and cryptocurrencies. For this and other reasons, interest in trading cryptocurrencies continues to grow.
As interest in cryptocurrency trading grows, so does the number of crypto trading platforms. People need to consider many factors to select the best trading platform among the thousands that exist. These include:
- Fees charged by the Platform.
- Security of the Platform.
- Liquidity on the platform.
- Collection of property.
- The reputation of the trading platform.
Today, we are going to take these factors into account and list some of the best cryptocurrency trading platforms in South Africa.
Binance
Binance Probably the first choice for a crypto trading platform for many traders. Started in 2017, this company has quickly gained a good position with many crypto traders today. This broker is committed to keeping clients’ funds as safe as possible. In addition, Binance operates an insurance program called SAFU. SAFU is a safe asset fund for users. Traders on this platform can trade with peace of mind with security being a top priority.
Additionally, Binance has a large selection of crypto assets on its platform. In total, Binance lists 387 different coins to invest in. This vast collection of trading tools attracts many investors, giving the platform the highest liquidity of any crypto exchange. As a caveat, Binance supports a wide range of local currencies, including the South African Rand. Therefore, customers in South Africa do not need to convert their funds once deposited.
Earning a trust score of 9.9 on Coinmarketcap and Coingecko and a trust score of 10 on Coingecko, Binance ranks first among all exchanges on both Coinmarketcap and Coingecko. As it stands, Binance has a great reputation among traders and critics. Additionally, it has relatively low fees, with holders of BNB on the platform paying low fees. The more BNB a customer holds, the lower the trading fee.
coin base
coin base Ranked second in both Coinmarketcap and Coingecko. On Coingecko, this exchange has a trust score of 10, while on Coinmarketcap, it has a score of only 7.8. In terms of reputation, it is the second ranked exchange in the world. Naturally, this attracts traders to this exchange. As such, this exchange has the second-highest liquidity among crypto exchanges.
In terms of security, we have to mention an unfortunate incident from 2021. Coinbase was hacked due to a flaw in its account recovery system that affected more than 6,000 accounts. However, Coinbase quickly fixed the security issues and fully refunded users. While there is a history of hacking, it’s good that the company is quick to fix any vulnerabilities and refund customers.
Unfortunately, this exchange does not support the South African Rand. Therefore, customers in South Africa will need to convert their funds into one of the supported currencies. However, Coinbase allows customers to invest in a total of 245 different coins. Diversity is something to behold on this platform. Moreover, the fees on this platform are also not extraordinary. Coinbase Fees A flat 1% transaction fee In all cryptocurrency transactions.
KuCoin
KuCoin supports more than 45 different local currencies, including the South African Rand. This is a plus as they do not have to trade in another currency. They can easily deposit and start trading the 812 crypto assets listed on KuCoin. The exchange also has incredible liquidity due to the high daily trading volume on the platform.
In terms of reputation, it is a top 10 exchange on both Coinmarketcap and Coingecko. On Coinmarketcap, it ranks fourth with a trust score rating of 6.9. On the other hand, it ranks fifth on Coingecko with a trust rating of 10. This is a great reputation and shows that the platform is widely accepted as a top-tier platform.
Unfortunately, KuCoin has been hacked before. In 2020, the company was hacked and it lost $281 million. The company froze deposits and withdrawals to minimize losses and went on to recover more than $200 million from the hackers. However, fees at KuCoin are industry standard between 0.005% and 0.10% per trade, and a 20% discount on trade fees is offered when using its token, the KuCoin Token.
eToro
eToro Primarily a multi-asset broker that allows investors to trade both real cryptocurrencies and CFDs on cryptocurrencies. This gives investors some diversity and variety to choose from. However, it is important to understand that trading CFDs carries many risks and many accounts lose their funds in such markets.
In terms of liquidity, this broker site has one of the largest user bases with over 28 million registered users by 2022. High liquidity keeps fees low and orders execute quickly. Furthermore, eToro sources its assets from liquidity providers, whose liquidity can be high. For crypto assets, eToro charges a variable spread received from its liquidity provider and a markup of 1% as a trading fee to eToro. A markup widens the spread by reducing the selling price and increasing the buying price.
In terms of security, this company is regulated in multiple jurisdictions, including by the FCA in the UK, CySEC in Cyprus, and ASIC in Australia. In general, regulated brokers have some of the best security features on the market. This is because regulators require them to provide top-level protection of client funds.
Regarding the availability of trading instruments, there are a total of 92 crypto assets listed and available for trading. Some of the popular crypto assets available on eToro include Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Binance Coin, Cardano, Solana, Polkadot and Tron. While there is a ton of assets out there, brokers generally can’t compete with an exchange in terms of the number of coins listed.
ok
Ranked seventh on Coinmarketcap, OKX is notable. OKX has a trust score of 6.3 on Coinmarketcap and 10 on Coingecko. It shows a good reputation among traders. It is a top choice for South African traders as it supports the South African Rand. Hence, customers in this region can make deposits and start trading immediately. This is always a plus as it saves customers time and conversion fees.
Fees on OKX depend on the tier the trader is in. Levels are determined by the trader’s OKB balance and asset balance or 30-day trading volume. As an example, Tier 1 traders have a balance of less than 500 OKB and an asset balance of less than $100,000. Such merchants pay a 0.080% maker fee and a 0.100% taker fee.
Furthermore, OKX’s liquidity is quite high which means order execution is fast. Moreover, it keeps prices very tight when no major event or news affects the market. With a collection of 363 different coins to invest in, traders are spoiled for choice with this exchange.
In terms of security, OKX claims that its servers cannot be hacked or even physically compromised. This is because they use cold storage techniques and encryption algorithms to keep their system security tight.
The Kraken
Kraken is another crypto exchange that ranks in the top 10 on both Coinmarketcap and Coingecko. It has a trust score of 9 on CoinZeco and 7.6 on Coinmarketcap. These are two of the top cryptocurrency data aggregator websites in the world. A top 10 ranking on both websites is a big deal. Furthermore, Kraken has achieved excellent trust scores on both websites.
Additionally, Kraken has a large number of listed coins with 222 different coins available for trading. Obviously, diversifying one’s portfolio is not a problem with this crypto exchange. Moreover, this exchange has great liquidity due to high daily trading volume. Therefore, customers can expect fast order execution.
Notably, Kraken has never had a major hacking incident. The Company takes the protection of user funds very seriously. This is one of the reasons why many traders trust Kraken as their choice for a business partner. Another reason Kraken attracts a high number of traders is its reasonably low fees. Fees for this exchange depend on the trader’s trading volume per month with the highest maker fee at 0.16% and the highest taker fee at 0.26%.
Unzip
Uniswap is regarded as the best decentralized cryptocurrency exchange in the world. It ranks first among all decentralized crypto exchanges on both Coinmarketcap and Coingecko. There are currently over 900 crypto coins to trade on this platform. Additionally, this exchange has high liquidity as many traders come to trade on the top decentralized exchange.
Uniswap was built with top encryption technologies to protect user assets. However, it is important to know that decentralized exchanges carry a greater risk of losing assets. This can happen not only through hack attacks but also by scammers on P2P systems.
Uniswap may charge slightly lower fees than some centralized and other decentralized exchanges. Uniswap charges a 0.3% fee for swapping tokens. Fees are divided by liquidity providers in proportion to their contribution to the liquidity reserve.
As it stands, it seems that crypto trading in South Africa is here to stay. With thousands of exchanges and brokers in the market, it is essential to select a trading platform with the best trading conditions. This is the only way to ensure that you have a pleasant trading experience, whether you make a profit or not. It is also very important to remember that this is a very volatile market and you should only invest money that you can afford to lose.
