Bittrex is one of the largest currency exchanges currently available on the online environment, often making it into the world’s top 3 exchanges. This Seattle- based company has been operating since 2014 and currently trades just under $300 million in 24 hours.
Bittrex founders
The company was started by Bill Shihara, who was a former security engineer at Amazon and Blackberry, along with Richie Lei, Rami Kawach, and Ryan Hentz. Shihara gathered a team comprised of employees that have over 50 years of combined experience in security and software development from companies such as Microsoft, Amazon, Qualys and Blackberry.
Fees, Trading, and Volumes
Trading fees on Bittrex are a bit pricier in comparison with the industry average. There are also no incentives or rebates for high-volume trades for takers and makers. A 0.25% fee is charged on all trades.
The exchange has faster withdrawal times and reliable order execution when it comes to handling high volumes.
Bittrex does not support leverage and margin trading. Only spot trading is available for all coin listings.
Security
Bittrex’s security is definitely its selling point. As we mentioned earlier, the company’s founding team is comprised of computer security experts that have decades of combined experience. The CEO, Bill Shihara, was motivated by past experiences regarding security breaches and reality issues by exchanges and users and was determined to provide a more reliable service. It goes without saying that the team prioritizes security in all of its decisions.
Almost three years after its launch, Bittrex has yet to experience a breach or lost the funds of any of its customers.
The exchange has implemented a multistage wallet strategy that stores 80% to 90% of their customers’ funds safely online. Regarding the authentication process, a two-factor authentication is required for all withdrawal and API calls, if this feature is not activated, there will be enforced a limit on the customers’ withdrawals who do not have 2FA set up.
What can you trade on Bittrex?
The platform has a variety of altcoin pairs that can be traded. It currently lists hundreds of coins and cryptocurrency trading pairs, the site showing over 450 BTC pairs.
There are over 250 altcoins that are available for trading against Bitcoin, Ethereum, and fiat currencies in USD Tether and BitCNY.
Bittrex constantly updates its altcoin list, adding new promising coins and delisting the ones that are inactive. While some pump-and-dump coins have by-passed the vetting process, the platform is aiming to raise the quality of its altcoin list. Here you are bound to find a freshly completed ICO, a new blockchain launching or a recently resulted coin from a fork.
Users can purchase bitcoin, Ethereum and USDT only via bank wire transfer, as there are currently no offers that trade fiat pairs. For this option to be available, you need a “enhanced verified” account along with a purchase amount worth a minimum of $10,000.
The site has 11 USDT trading pairs. USDT is a cryptocurrency asset that is issued on the Bitcoin blockchain and a USDT is backed up by the U.S. dollar held in the Tether Limited’s reserve. The USDT is tethered to the actual price of the US dollar and is designed to act as a stable currency that give traders additional options.
Sign up process
The registration process is pretty straightforward, especially if you’re just interested in trading. You will need to provide your name, email address, date of birth and phone number, information which will then be verified. You can trade by using a basic verified account in less than thirty minutes.
Additional verifications require more details and give the user more options.
Types of accounts
Basic accounts. These accounts require users to submit name, email address, date of birth and phone number (as we specified above). These details will be verified through public records, but if this process fails, you will need to start an enhanced verification. Basic accounts that have two-factor authentication enabled cam withdraw up to 3 BTC per day.
Enhanced accounts. These accounts require the users to send scans of their ID along with selfies of them and their ID. Enhanced accounts that have two-factor authentication enabled cam withdraw up to 100 BTC per day.
Customer support
There have been cases when certain accounts have been temporarily suspended pending completion of a review. This action has been sharply criticized by users on online web chats and forums.
Bittrex has responded very little regarding the matter, saying that only 0.1% of accounts have been affected by suspensions, bans or closures.
In spite of its high-security features, the exchange has very disappointing customer support. Many users complain about the speed of response when it comes to solving support tickets, verifications, customer service issues and follow-ups on accounts that are being reviewed.
Conclusion
Bittrex is a very good exchange for beginner traders looking for a secure platform on which they can trade a variety of cryptocurrency. But considering the frozen accounts situation and the online outrage from customers, it’s best to approach this exchange with caution.
