Bittrex: The Cryptocurrency Exchange
Bittrex is a U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange founded by a team of security experts, Bill Shihara, Richie Lai, and Rami Kawach, in 2013 and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington. Bittrex has claimed to strive in providing its client base high-level security, speed, and stability – but has it kept to its word over its years of operation? And is it better despite incidents of the Bittrex suspending user accounts without any sort of notice prior? Bittrex is also known to have poor to minimal customer support?
In this review, we will look into the details and also the main issues that have been of concern to several of its clients.
Trading Platform and Services
Bittrex’s trading platform provides simple, streamlined operation. That is, to allow its clients to execute standard spot trading orders with a vast array of cryptocurrencies. However, Bittrex does not offer any options for margin trading, and hence, no leverages.
Bittrex’s trading platform fits the bill as it holds together automated trading features and technical charting tools seamlessly in a cohesive and professional package.
Its automated trading features options such as stop-loss, good ‘til canceled (GTC), and instantly buy and sell buttons that make for a conventional trading experience for Bittrex’s clients.
As of writing this, Bittrex’s trading platform has been highly commended by its users for its lightning-quick loading times and low probabilities of software lags or hangs.
Fees
As simple and streamlined as its services are, Bittrex also applies the same idea on its fees, though some may consider it to be higher than the industry’s average.
Bittrex charges a 0.25% flat commission on all of its trades.
Additionally, there are no rebates for higher-volume trades or incentive models for takers and makers.
Security
In terms of security, Bittrex is by far the superior – boasting a long and clean record of not being hacked. Of course, this comes off as no surprise as its founders all have impressive backgrounds in computer security. It’s the platform, with the utilization of the latest and effective of technologies available, Bittrex’s operations is indeed a formidable system to breach. Besides, Bittrex also has a stable record of properly managing client accounts and has never had any incidents of lost or ‘untracked’ funds.
Bittrex also provides maximum security of its clients’ funds by offline by employing an elastic, multi-stage wallet strategy that can protect up to 90% of its total amount.
Other security measures feature a two-factor authentication (2FA) from the identity-verified client (personal or corporate) for withdrawals, and Application Programming Interface (API) calls. Should a client not have an activated account or a 2FA set up, a limited withdrawal system would be issued upon them.
Currencies and Payment Methods
Bittrex’s U.S. Dollar trading, depositing, and withdrawal services are fully available for its identity-verified clients who use the trading platform almost anywhere in the world or within the following 40 states/territories in the United States:
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Florida
- Georgia
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Missouri
- Mississippi
- Michigan
- Montana
- Nebraska
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Puerto Rico
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Texas
- Utah
- Washington State
- Washington, D.C.
- Wisconsin
- West Virginia
U.S. Dollar deposits and withdrawal can only be transacted through bank wire transfer. Accounts that are not eligible for U.S. Dollar trading will still be opened to services and use stable coins like USDT (Tether).
Bittrex also supports over 400 altcoins that can be traded against Bitcoin, Ethereum, U.S. Dollar, and USDT.
Bittrex also strives to maintain a considerably high quality listing for its digital coin offerings overall. Bittrex carefully screens any new, upcoming altcoins before being added to their list of offerings. Experts would carefully vet these altcoins’ source codes and would remove coins that have been inactive for a long period.
Bittrex also reviews all altcoins from impending hard forks or airdrops thoroughly before providing full support and debiting clients’ accounts. Once it is confirmed that the network is stable enough, several coins birthed from hard forks will be opened to the market for trading purposes.
As we have mentioned above, Bittrex’s trading platform is supported in almost all countries except for North Korea, Iran, the Crimean region, Syria, and Cuba.
Any person or entity with economic sanctions levied against them by the U.S. government, or any major financial authority is also fair game to be subjected to no service.
Customer Support
Despite all its by-the-books approach to its services, Bittrex has a lackluster service when it comes to customer support and dealing with any issues that arise.
According to public opinion, Bittrex tends to suspend open accounts without prior notice and would neglect any to provide a form of response or assistance requested by its clients. These incidents have drawn sharp criticism on the company – especially from clients who have had their accounts frozen.
With this being a serious issue, though, only a small fraction (0.1%, to be exact) of Bittrex accounts have been affected by suspensions, closures, or full-on bans.
One of the best methods advised to clients to avoid such inconveniences is to have all credentials in hand, should the need arise.
Apart from that, Bittrex’s website does offer a Frequently-Asked Questions (FAQ) page and an e-mail ticketing system for support. However, response time for its ticketing system is very slow, and comparing it to its top-notch security, Bittrex support is way further from a big letdown.
Competitors
Bittrex, by public opinion, is often compared to Binance due to its large listing of altcoins on offer. Though Binance’s swift and easy verification process and its low commission and trade fees (0.1% compared to Bittrex’s 0.25%) can place Binance as the more appealing of the two options.
The only aspect that separates Bittrex from Binance is its service for USD deposits and withdrawals for verified accounts. Unless this is something you are looking for, Binance seems to go better across the board as the better alternative.
FAQ
• Is Bittrex regulated?
Bittrex is not regulated under any securities laws by the U.S.
• Is Bittrex insured?
Unfortunately, it isn’t insured by the FDIC.
Conclusion
Bittrex, on its better qualities, is an otherwise excellent exchange platform that features security and cutting-edge technology for first-time traders looking to trade cryptocurrencies. However, due to its actions of freezing or suspending accounts and lack of customer support, one would be advised to reconsider their decision.
Though, keep in mind that Bittrex’s isn’t the first exchange to lack of customer support. In fact, it is very common for exchanges (especially the cryptocurrency-dealing ones) around the world to sacrifice customer support and satisfaction in order to leave room for expansion in other areas of the company’s services.
Should you choose Bittrex, however, caution is advised. Deposits should only amount to how much you are willing to lose and not one that you can’t afford being separated from for long periods of time.