Review: Is Poloniex the Best Cryptocurrency Exchange?
Poloniex is international crypto-to-crypto exchange based in the US. They are a popular and secure exchange and is considered by many to be a premier cryptocurrency exchange for traders.
Benefits
Poloniex uses the Taker/Maker system
- Sellers are the Makers
- Buyers are the takers
- Makers are charged less with a discounted fee
Regular exchange
- Swap coins around based on the current market exchange rate
- Stop-limit trade function
- Basic order book with transactions history
- Basic buy and sell trades
- A large number of trading pairs including BTC, XMR, USDT, ETH, more…
- The design is easy to use and great for newbies and traders alike
Margin trading
- Buy and sell functions combined with the stop-loss and leveraging
- Borrow and lend cryptocurrency to other users
- Especially great for experienced market traders
- Leveraging and loans
Countries Supported
Worldwide except for countries where cryptocurrencies are banned. This is a good reason to say Poloniex the best cryptocurrency exchange. There are a lot of great exchanges out there that a lot of people don’t have access to.
Buy & Sell
Poloniex’s specialization is crypto-to-crypto trade. So you’ll need to buy your cryptocurrencies with fiat elsewhere. Then, move the coin to Poloniex.
Poloniex supports transactions for about 50 coins.
Buying
- Select the exchange tab
- Choose your cryptocurrency from the displayed chart
- Scroll down to the Buy and Sell options
- Enter the number of coins you want to buy
- Click Buy Button to complete the transaction
Selling
- Select the exchange tab
- Select your preferred coin
- Enter the number of coins you want to sell
- Click the Sell Button to complete the transaction
Stop Limiting
- Set the highest and lowest price for that particular coin.
- The coin will be purchased automatically if the value moves to be with your high-low range.
- Selling is the same
- When the value of the coin drops within your set high-low range it will be sold automatically.
Fees & Currencies
The exchange rate is determined by the platform’s coin evaluation and the type of order being made.
- Taker fees: 0.05% – 0.25%
- Maker fees: 0% – 0.15%
- Lending: 15% of the interest rate
Safety & Security
Poloniex has full control of all private keys to all the wallets. They claim to store deposits in cold storage.
Unfortunately, they do NOT offer a password manager, email encryption or API message tools. They only offer two-factor authentication.
In 2014. Their security was breached and about 12% of BTC user deposits were stolen. Poloniex eventually reimbursed all the funds lost.
They’re concern about their lack of transparency, company physical location and ownership.
It’s recommended that you only store what you are using on Poloniex and only while using it. If you have coin that won’t be used, store it elsewhere.
Verification
Level 1
- Provide your name, email and country.
- Daily deposit and withdrawal limit of $2,000 worth of cryptocurrency.
- Exchanging, trading and lending has no limit.
Level 2
- Increases daily limits
- Provide a phone number, postal address, physical address, date of birth and a passport ID.
- Deposit and withdrawal limit of $25,000 worth of cryptocurrency.
Level 3
- Increases daily limits
- Limits over $25,000 crypto
- Contact the support team
User Experience
Quick Guide
Create Account
- Click Balances tab
- Click Deposits & Withdrawals
- Select the coin you want to deposit
- Click Deposit
- Copy/paste the address of the cryptocurrency and send
- Track on the same page
Customer support
Many users have complained that support takes an excessively long time to respond.
You can contact support via the contact page. They also offer an FAQ that will help with most questions.
Feedback
Some users have reported difficulty withdrawing their funds.
Some have reported prolonged approval wait times.
Final Verdict
Is Poloniex the Best Cryptocurrency Exchange?
GOOD
Poloniex exchange has some nice features. It has a huge market for Bitcoin and Ethereum, and they support the latest cryptocurrencies and lending services.
Unfortunately, they don’t support FIAT currencies, they have relatively poor security, withdrawal and customer support issues, and a lack of transparency all need to be considered before joining the exchange.
Final Verdict: Despite all the issues, I still have to give them a GOOD rating. I may be biased here; let me know. But, they have some features/benefits, which I think are great. I recommend only adding what will be used and moving to another location that’s not in use.
