For most of internet investors, the process of buying and selling crypto tokens feels like gambling. Meaning that there are no 100% legit currency exchanges with the unified terms of service and transaction verification procedures. Even experienced traders can use some tips for finding a perfect place for them.

The exchanges themselves can be found via specified rating websites like «Crypto-rating» or «Nomics». Any electronic bitcoin trading platform where investors can buy popular or niche coins can be sorted by the following metrics:

• user rating;
• open date;
• number of tokens available for exchange;
• a number of transactions per day or week.

But these websites often miss the major categorization of any crypto exchange out there. It is being the type of relation between users and the presence of a supervisor. More information about centralized and decentralized exchanges is below!

Trust your coins to the company

Similar to real-world finance solutions centralized bitcoin exchanges act as a third party between buyers and sellers. Some people call it intrusive while others see it as a way to add an additional layer of safety. This approach is pretty much similar to how real-life banking works. The company offers services that help with access and manipulation of funds. Look at the most prominent players in that category:

•       Binance;
•       Coinbase;
•       Kraken;
•       Bittrex;
•       Kucoin.

The main reason to use websites that supervise every transaction is to trade in a much safer environment compared to peer-to-peer trading. Handling your funds in the hands of a trustworthy company guarantees the transaction will be completed. The major convenience offered by them is the ability to save a separate crypto wallet to increase the speed of operations even further.

The major problem stated by real stock traders when it comes to crypto is various wallets, research papers say. While using a cold wallet traders must memorize a long string of characters. This can result in a loss of all funds stored there if the «password» was forgotten. So centralized exchanges offer various recovery programs to make sure investors always have access to their actives.

The original idea

In the opposition to the aforementioned category, decentralized bitcoin exchange owners talk about safety and security too. From their perspective trusting your money to a random exchange is a recipe for disaster. Coins should always be stored on the wallet you and only you have an access to. Such decentralized systems help with that:

•       peer-to-peer trading;
•       rating system;
•       registration-free.

It definitely impacts the speed of individual transactions. So traders who take advantage of the fluctuation of the market may find it difficult to do their work. These websites will be ideal for making regular bitcoin transactions while staying anonymous:

•       Shapeshift;
•       Idex;
•       Bisq;
•       Balancer;
•       Airswap.

It may be hard to make the choice between those 2 types of crypto exchange services for a regular trader. While moving relatively small sums between different coins centralized exchanges offer a much more comfortable experience with a small risk of a scam any day. For secure transactions that better be made under the radar of decentralized sites suit perfectly.