As more and more cryptocurrency trading platforms enter the market, it becomes increasingly difficult for cryptocurrency investors to determine which one is most suited to their own trading methods.
In this Binance vs Poloniex review, I’ll evaluate two of the most popular crypto exchanges.
About the Exchanges
Binance
The cryptocurrency market on Binance is the most extensive one currently available. It is ideally suited for first-time crypto investors who wish to avoid the competitiveness and difficulties of entering the market via smaller exchanges with lower trading volumes.
This massive international fintech corporation, established by Changpeng Zhao, is currently at the pinnacle of every significant crypto area, covering the most versatile trading features, payment options, market capitalization, turnover ratio, number of verified traders, and integration of both fiat and cryptocurrencies.
In addition, you can participate in P2P trading, staking, various investment methods, simple cryptocurrency exchanges, and more complicated trading techniques, such as futures trading and margin trading, with up to 100 times the leverage. You will also be able to make the most of every deal because the platform provides exceptionally low trading fees compared to its competitors.
Last but not least, the Binance exchange grants its users the ability to conduct crypto trades in complete secrecy, making it an excellent option for those who would rather keep their identity a secret.
Poloniex
Poloniex was founded in January 2014 as a decentralized exchange (DEX) for digital money. It is headquartered in Delaware, USA. Tristan D’Agosta, a musician and co-founder of the media firm Polonius Sheet Music, established the company.
Poloniex experienced a cyber incident in March 2014, not long after its start, and lost about 12.3% of its Bitcoin holdings, or about 50,000 USD at the time. Subsequently, the exchange’s management admitted the heist and promised to compensate impacted consumers in full for the 97 stolen bitcoins from D’Agosta’s profits.
Despite a shaky start that led to a temporary increase in fees, Poloniex was the very first online marketplace to list Ethereum Classic in 2016, which catapulted it to the forefront of the cryptocurrency market (ETC). The Ethereum Merge was scheduled for September 2022, and Poloniex was prepared to support any Ethereum hard forks that may arise in the wake of this enormous blockchain overhaul.
Since adopting ETC and the subsequent hard forks stemming from the Ethereum network, Poloniex’s popularity has been on the rise again.
Pros and Cons
Binance Pros
- The biggest and most active market for trading crypto;
- Appropriate for both novice and seasoned traders;
- Funds can be stored both online and offline,
- Two-factor authentication (2FA) is encouraged;
- Offers a venue for peer-to-peer trading as well as an NFT market;
- Provides an OTC trading desk for high-volume traders;
- Boasts the most altcoins, trading pairs, and payment options of any exchange.
Binance Cons
- Unauthorized by the relevant financial authorities;
- Has regulatory problems in a number of countries;
- Does not offer a live chat feature;
- Provides a customer care service that is, mildly put, average.
Poloniex Pros
- Low trading fees no matter how much you trade;
- No fees to deposit crypto;
- There is no backing for fiat money;
- Provides 100x leverage for futures trading;
- Backs over 350 active cryptocurrency projects.
Poloniex Cons
- An unsupervised market;
- Offers only the most fundamental orders;
- There has been a history of security issues on the platform;
- Simplex rates are really high;
- Customer service quality could be better.
Binance vs Poloniex: The Crypto Exchange Comparison
Assessing two marketplaces side by side is the most practical and efficient method for evaluating and understanding their respective advantages and disadvantages. Here are the details.
Opening an Account
You need to be at least 18 years old to join Binance and live in a jurisdiction where this crypto exchange is lawful to offer financial products and services. If you provide proof that you satisfy these requirements, the platform will allow you to register a trading account.
You can register for a Binance account via the mobile app or a computer interface using only your email address or phone number. On Binance, you don’t have to go through the identity verification process (called KYC). On the other hand, if you complete it, you can raise the daily limits for deposits and withdrawals of fiat currency.
To this end, it shouldn’t take more than several minutes to complete the process of validating your identity using a selfie, an ID provided by the government, and account validation. The next thing you need to do is put money into your trading account.
Going back to Poloniex now. To complete the Poloniex registration form, all you need to do is provide an active and operational email address. After that, you can immediately start trading cryptos by utilizing this user-friendly site. You are not required to reveal any personally identifiable information because this exchange does not adhere to the Know Your Customer (KYC) standards.
The Wallet feature, which also serves as a central location for managing your crypto assets, is available to you as soon as you complete the registration process. Through this feature, you can start trading cryptocurrencies and depositing them into your account.
Main Features
If you’re seeking a trading platform that can spoil you for choice, your search might end with Binance because it has the most trading pairs out of any exchange. Binance is a great place for crypto trading enthusiasts to get their feet wet in the market in a simplified and easy way, and it also features many valuable capabilities aimed at seasoned investors.
Poloniex, too, is worth considering in this context, as it’s also a trusted platform for buying and selling cryptocurrency. It functions like any other marketplace, connecting buyers and sellers of digital assets.
Accordingly, Poloniex provides numerous trading venues for investors of varying skill levels. The exchange section of the platform is where seasoned traders conduct their business in real-time, while newcomers can start with the simplified buy/sell section.
Furthermore, this website offers a wide range of cryptocurrencies for purchase, sale, borrowing, and lending. You can also engage in margin trading, set up stop-limit or spot trading orders, deal coins with futures contracts, and access the exchange’s APIs.
Supported Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin is only one of over 600 cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, tokens, and digital assets available on Binance. To put it another way, no other exchange comes close to matching this one in terms of the number of different trading pairs it offers.
On Poloniex, you can also purchase and sell a broad variety of prominent and less popular cryptocurrencies. But you need to make sure that any cryptocurrencies Poloniex sells are accessible in your country before purchasing through this marketplace. This is because different countries have different rules about how to regulate cryptocurrencies.
Payment Methods
On Binance, you can use crypto to fund your account. In this case, if your daily trade volume is less than 2 BTC, you won’t have to disclose any personally identifiable information during the registration process.
If you intend to finance your Binance trading account with a debit/credit card or bank transfer, you will be required to undergo a Know Your Customer (KYC) procedure.
Similarly to Binance, Poloniex is able to take all major credit and debit cards if you wish to make a cryptocurrency transaction through the platform. This is made possible with a third-party payment service provider such as Simplex, which processes your transactions in EUR fiat currency.
Poloniex doesn’t accept fiat deposits. Because of this limitation, the platform’s trading rules might be harder to understand for people who haven’t bought their first digital currency yet.
Trading Fees and Limits
When determining the cost of your trades on Binance, the platform considers both the amount of Binance Coin (BNB) you have on hand and the total volume of your trades over the past 30 days. The transaction fee for purchasing or selling crypto is typically 0.5%, and the spot trading cost is generally 0.1%. Other fees, such as those for making withdrawals or those associated with a certain deposit method, may also apply.
Binance, as should be obvious, provides prices significantly lower than the competition. If you hold onto your Binance Coin (BNB) tokens, you can also take advantage of the substantially lower maker fee/taker costs (as few as 0.000% and 0.0517%) and keep a larger share of your revenue.
Let’s take a look at how Poloniex manages this one segment of the market. In contrast to other exchanges that use a flat charge model, Poloniex employs a maker-taker fee system. In defence of its strategy, the company says it incentivizes a good amount of liquidity, which means it is easy to trade one asset for another.
Poloniex’s costs are transaction-based in most cases, which means that users are required to pay whenever they execute a deal on the platform. However, you will move up to the following fee tier when your 30-day trading volume reaches a certain threshold, reducing the maker/taker fee.
How Safe Are Binance vs Poloniex?
From the standpoint of a novice user, Binance and Poloniex are the best trading venues for any investor, as they offer a wide variety of digital currencies and many trading options. In the bargain, these two markets can provide high leverage levels because no official banking authority monitors them.
Even though Binance and Poloniex each have their own security and regulatory problems, they have both made real efforts to prevent future security breaches by using some of the best security mechanisms, such as SSL encryption, two-factor authentication, cold storage for deposited assets, and more.
Still, the large user base, notably on Binance, which has over 30 million daily users, shows these platforms haven’t lost their traders’ trust.
Customer Support
We are now moving into a territory where to be completely honest, neither Binance nor Poloniex shines. To begin with, each website provides a detailed Help section loaded with informative articles and frequently asked questions (FAQs) to teach you about the cryptocurrency market and the exchange specifically.
On the other hand, judging by the aggregated feedback that users have posted on Trustpilot, it takes quite a while to get an answer from a trained representative from the Customer Support center at either Binance or Poloniex.
Therefore, rather than waiting for an answer via email, which could take several days, you should give some of their social media channels a go in the hope of getting in touch with them more quickly.
Mobile Trading
To the best of my knowledge, the Binance app functions as a centralized cryptocurrency trading hub that can be readily used on the go. The application gives users access to a wide variety of tradable cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies, simple and direct trading tools that make it possible to create extra passive earnings on top of the trading profits, applications for crypto loans, and a great number of other forms of financial instruments.
If you’re someone who is still learning the ropes of the crypto market, I fear that the profusion of cryptocurrency exchanges could make it a bit more difficult for you as a newcomer. Because of this, Binance developed Binance Lite, a stripped-down version of their original Binance app.
As for Poloniex, trading is simple and convenient because it can be done directly from a mobile browser. In addition to this, the company provides a mobile app for mobile platforms such as iOS and Android, which grants you even greater flexibility.
Long story short, you will have speedy and uncomplicated access to Poloniex’s order book, diagrams, market dynamics data, and a history of your most recent transactions through the application.
Last but not least, you don’t have to pay a dime to use either of these mobile applications because they are both available for free download on the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store, respectively.
How Do Binance and Poloniex Compare to Other Crypto Exchanges
I have a few additional suggestions if you need help choosing between Binance and Poloniex.
Binance vs Poloniex vs Coinbase
It’s true that Coinbase has much higher trading expenses than Binance and Poloniex. But in all honesty, Coinbase is an excellent starting point for trading cryptocurrencies, despite its fees being greater than those of other exchanges because it is geared toward inexperienced traders.
Poloniex and Binance, on the other hand, cater primarily to seasoned traders and work with a wide variety of highly volatile products.
Hence, if you are a newbie trader, it may be prudent to pay a little extra for a globally recognizable service known for its simplicity of use and quick transaction processing.
Binance vs Poloniex vs Kraken
If you read the part on safety in this article, you should be able to guess what I mean when I say that Kraken is the most secure cryptocurrency exchange available in the industry.
Kraken, praised for its 24/7 human security guards and exceptional client service, ensures that its clients will never be exposed to any form of financial loss when making cryptocurrency investments through the platform.
In fact, Kraken is the sole crypto trading platform that has never had any of its security measures compromised, in comparison to the unregulated Binance and Poloniex.
Conclusion
The price-to-value ratio is an important indicator of whether or not a cryptocurrency exchange provides satisfactory service for its fees. Due to the fact that it has cheaper trading expenses, Binance is the superior choice of the two exchanges in this circumstance. Ultimately, as it supports more fiat and digital currencies than any other exchange, Binance is the crypto trader’s heaven.
Nevertheless, a large number of coins being offered on a trading platform does not necessarily signal that the exchange is of better quality. Yet, certain investors enjoy having an abundance of options, and Binance provides a vast selection of cryptocurrencies and trading markets.