In terms of trading volume, different currencies, liquidity, and market supply, Coinbase and HTX Global are two of the most successful cryptocurrency exchanges.
Given that both platforms are consistently ranked among the top 20 cryptocurrency exchanges, we felt it would be instructive to compare Coinbase vs HTX Global and learn more about the strengths and weaknesses of each exchange.
About the Exchanges
Coinbase
As one of the earliest cryptocurrency exchanges on the market, Coinbase was developed with the intention of educating a wider audience about cryptocurrencies. Based on metrics such as the amount of web traffic it receives and its trading volume, this cryptocurrency trading platform is also the second-busiest exchange worldwide.
The platform was launched in 2012 by Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam. Headquartered in the United States, Coinbase services crypto investors in more than 89 million countries worldwide. The major cryptocurrency exchange’s parent company, Coinbase Global, Inc., is a wholly digital enterprise that performs all of its corporate operations online.
In addition, more than 3,700 people are working for Coinbase Global Inc., which assists cryptocurrency investors in trading Bitcoin and alternative cryptocurrencies easily and securely.
HTX Global
Known for his expertise in the field of computers, Leon Li founded HTX Global Ltd in Beijing in 2013. The trading platform’s status improved dramatically due to Li’s ability to include cryptocurrency usage in regular life activities. These days, HTX is frequently cited as one of the top options available for crypto investors from anywhere in the world.
There were several bumps along the road, though. With China’s increasingly restrictive stance toward crypto trading, the company felt it had no choice but to move its operations elsewhere. HTX was forced to relocate its headquarters to Seychelles. During the course of its history, the company has opened up operations in Singapore, Hong Kong, Canada, Japan, Brazil, Australia, and South Korea.
HTX Group has created not one but three separate online platforms: HTX Global, HTX Korea, and HTX Japan, in an effort to reach a wider audience of cryptocurrency investors.
The HTX exchange works in a manner that is comparable to how other cryptocurrency exchanges do their business. On this platform, users can buy and sell cryptocurrencies, and the site makes income through the fees associated with these transactions.
Pros and Cons
Coinbase Pros
- One of the easiest-to-use cryptocurrency markets available;
- A large pool of available funds;
- Cold storage for 98% of the funds;
- Coinbase Pro users can take advantage of reduced trading costs;
- When buying crypto on Coinbase, you can use your credit or debit card;
- Support is available by chat and phone round-the-clock.
Coinbase Cons
- A transaction cost structure that is difficult to understand;
- A lot of personal details are necessary to set up an account.
HTX Global Pros
- A user-friendly platform;
- Allows users to keep a large portion of their money in cold storage;
- Offers minimal trading costs and no deposit fees;
- Provides 24/7 live customer support and a vast knowledge base;
- Supports over 500 cryptocurrencies and more than 50 fiat currencies.
HTX Global Cons
- An unregulated trading platform.
Coinbase vs HTX Global: The Crypto Exchange Comparison
Opening an Account
Coinbase
Coinbase adheres to a variety of regulatory and security requirements, one of which is the Know Your Customer (KYC) protocol. When you establish an account on the platform, you will be required to provide private data and supporting documentation to verify your identity.
Submitting a valid government-issued photo ID is one such example. This includes a driver’s license, state ID, passport, or visa.
Remember that a U.S. passport is not an acceptable form of identification for Coinbase. To clarify, US passports are not accepted by Coinbase since they do not provide information about the customer’s state of residence.
HTX Global
HTX gives its users access to trading accounts for all of the exchange’s supported trading instruments. For instance, if you engage in spot trading, you will be required to have a spot trading account. Similarly, if you engage in margin trading, you will be required to have a margin trading account.
After completing the registration process for the trading platform, you will have access to the HTX Global dashboard, making it much simpler to manage your investment portfolio.
Speaking of the registration process, a HTX trading account can be created with minimal effort. To finish creating your account, follow the on-screen instructions and go through the secure authentication process.
Main Features
Coinbase
Traders, companies, and dApp creators may all benefit from Coinbase’s financial services, which are all accessible via the platform’s intuitive interface. To assist traders in getting the most of their crypto deals, this crypto exchange provides a number of specialized technology solutions.
The popular Coinbase exchange, which enables crypto exchanges, is the first of these capabilities. You do not need foreknowledge or expertise in cryptocurrency trading to use the Coinbase platform to purchase, sell, receive, trade, or exchange cryptocurrencies.
Although novice traders may like the simplicity of the standard Coinbase platform, they will be put off by the site’s higher trading costs compared to those of the premium Coinbase Pro platform.
Coinbase Pro is based on the same framework as the discontinued GDAX trading platform and provides traders with a thorough analysis of market fluctuations that can help them find the best possible entry and exit points.
In the bargain, the trading costs per transaction for Coinbase Pro customers are reduced by 0.50%. These fees are calculated following the maker fee/taker fee model.
Last but not least, the Coinbase site offers a unique, amusing, and informative incentive scheme called Coinbase Earn that allows traders to acquire free cryptos. With this functionality, you can test your knowledge of a particular currency by taking a quick quiz after seeing a short film that provides background information.
If the result is satisfactory, Coinbase Earn will award you some free coins from the cryptocurrency you just studied.
HTX Global
HTX Global is a cryptocurrency exchange that serves customers all around the world. An abundance of investment and passive income options, as well as trading instruments accessible to those with varying levels of expertise, are available on the site.
The HTX Lite trading platform is a great way for newcomers to get their feet wet in the crypto market. The HTX Lite edition is tailored to new traders and those who aren’t confident in their ability to use the platform’s more advanced trade features, providing them with a simpler, faster, and more accessible trading experience. Using this exchange platform, even crypto trading newbies can easily buy, sell, and trade cryptocurrencies.
If you belong to the category of more experienced traders, you can benefit from the margin and futures trading markets, mining pools, or maybe even take a crypto loan to increase your investment capital.
HTX Earn provides platform users with digital asset management functionalities, which include a variety of options for investing and managing their assets to cater to their specific requirements. For instance, depositing your digital assets in a Flexible or Fixed Deposit account will earn you interest at a fixed rate each year.
Increased investment profit and greater financial freedom are two benefits that crypto investors enjoy from HTX’s Flexible Earnings. You can take advantage of this feature to transfer funds into assets that pay daily APY without having to lock your money up in such financial instruments for any set time period.
Fixed Earnings, on the other hand, are a type of investment instrument that provides an annual percentage yield but cannot be withdrawn until the period expires. So, if you’re looking for a greater APY, the Fixed Earnings functionality will provide you with a better return than the Flexible Earnings financial vehicle offered on HTX Global.
In addition, HTX gives its members various alternative ways to make passive income through staking cryptocurrencies. When you make a crypto deposit into your HTX Earn account, you will be able to get interest rates starting at 0.1% all the way up to 88%.
How long you lock in your assets on the HTX blockchain and what coin you choose to stake will influence your profit potential as a ratio.
Supported Cryptocurrencies
Although Bitcoin (BTC), Litecoin (LTC), Ethereum (ETH), Dollar Coin (USDC), and Dogecoin (DOGE) are the cryptocurrencies that receive the most attention and trade volume on Coinbase, the platform also accepts over 150 additional altcoins and tokens.
With a wide variety of digital currencies to choose from, HTX Global is a safe bet for finding the ideal token for your trading strategy. HTX is compatible with more than 500 different types of cryptocurrency. They include Bitcoin (BTC), Tether (USDT), Ripple (XRP), Ethereum (ETH), Cardano (ADA), Dogecoin (DOGE), and Litecoin (LTC), among others.
The range of fiat currencies that are supported on this platform is almost as extensive since it covers nearly every major fiat currency, such as US Dollars, Canadian Dollars, Euros, and Australian Dollars, in addition to over 40 other globally used currencies.
Payment Methods
The country of residence greatly affects the payment methods users can use on Coinbase. This is because different countries have different rules about how they can offer financial services on a national and international level.
You can make a deposit to your Coinbase trading account via a wide variety of methods, including direct deposits, wire transfers, fast cashouts to bank accounts, instant ACH transfers, PayPal, Google Pay, Apple Pay, credit cards, and debit cards issued by Visa or Mastercard, and many more.
It is important to know that Coinbase Pro does not support the use of credit cards to make cryptocurrency purchases. The only accepted forms of payment for Coinbase Pro are bank account transfers, wire transfers, and wallet transfers.
Similarly, HTX accepts a wide variety of payment options for account funding, including wire transfers, virtual currencies, SWIFT, credit/debit cards, and the AdvCash payment processor.
Coinbase vs HTX Trading Fees and Limits
Coinbase Trading Fees
The platform levies no additional fees when you deposit into a digital wallet using Coinbase. Moreover, there is no fee associated with making deposits of US Dollars into your account. Still, the exchange will charge you a one-time, flat fee of $0.99 to $2.99 for each transaction that adds up to $200 or less. This is to cover the costs of processing.
If you spend more than $200, the fee will depend on your chosen payment option. To be more specific, a fee of 1.49% of the transaction cost applies to payments made from a Coinbase USD wallet or a U.S. bank balance, while a rather hefty fee of 3.99% of the transaction cost applies to payments made using PayPal or a debit card.
HTX Global Trading Fees
HTX Global provides users with a wide variety of trading options at costs that are among the most competitive in the business. When trading with more complex financial instruments, the fee is determined by the type of order you execute, considering whether you initiate a new order or accept one that has already been opened.
This trading platform charges a flat 0.2% fee on all trades, whether you’re buying or selling Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency. The maker and taker fees for each deal are anywhere from 0.0362% to 0.0462%, and the experienced traders are the only ones that pay them.
If a trader transacts a lot of the native token of the exchange (the HUSD) over the course of 30 days, they can benefit from even lower trading fees. HTX’s digital currency, HUSD, is an ERC-20 token developed on the Ethereum network.
Compared to other coins, HTX’s native token stands out because of its greater decentralization and stability. More specifically, the HUSD is a stablecoin pegged directly to the value of one US dollar.
In addition, this trading platform does not charge a fee for deposits. However, the withdrawal cost for each supported cryptocurrency depends on the current status of the coin on the blockchain. This implies that you’ll have to pay a different blockchain fee for each currency you use in a transaction.
How Safe Are Coinbase and HTX Global?
Coinbase employs banking-grade encryption to protect customer funds and information and the cryptocurrency exchange’s infrastructure and assets. Around 98% of clients’ funds and private keys are locked in cold storage vaults on this supervised marketplace.
Furthermore, there’s two-factor authentication through SMS or Google Authenticator. Coinbase Pro adds an extra layer of security by allowing you to specify withdrawal addresses for your cryptocurrency assets. If you use a whitelist to control access to only certain addresses, you can rest assured that your funds will be protected from hackers.
When it comes to HTX Global, this trading platform has established various bank-level security procedures, as fraudsters know that massive, uncontrolled crypto exchanges are a prime catch.
For this reason, the platform has integrated several safeguards to make the trading process more secure, including multi-signature cold wallets for client assets, a two-factor authentication (2FA) protocol to prevent unauthorized access to account information, as well as SMS and email notifications to alarm the authorized user in the event of a security breach.
While registering with HTX, users are not required to give any personal information, making anonymous trading possible. However, when trading high-risk items or withdrawing large sums of money, HTX maintains the right to request private information from its customers in order to comply with the ATF (Anti-Terrorism Financing) or KYC (Know Your Customer) protocols.
On the downside, HTX does not fall under the legally constituted money business category. As there are no legal protections, uncontrolled marketplaces like HTX need greater caution on behalf of the traders in most cases.
Customer Support
US and international Coinbase.com customers have access to live, 24/7 telephone support. Customers can reach the service via a toll-free number or a regular one.
You can also get in touch with the exchange’s support staff via a live chat feature available on the page at all hours of the day. Lastly, you can submit a support request by email or communicate with Coinbase’s customer support staff through one of the platform’s social media sites.
One of the aspects of HTX that we really enjoyed was the learning section on the platform. You can find articles that are both extremely educational and instructive on all of HTX’s capabilities and a plethora of learning materials relevant to all things blockchain, which can empower you to trade crypto with increased clarity on the matter.
HTX Global provides its traders with a dedicated customer service team around the clock to answer any queries regarding the platform, its services, or their accounts. You can get in touch with the customer support service by calling them, sending them an email, engaging in real-time online chat, or submitting a ticket using the form provided on the webpage.
Mobile Trading
Besides having mobile software for trading on the go (available for both iOS and Android platforms), Coinbase also has a mobile app, the Coinbase Wallet, for holding your virtual currencies.
The Coinbase mobile app is user-friendly, functioning similarly to the web interface. Using this application, you can exchange cryptocurrencies, stake them, and do a lot of other things.
One of the most important advantages that HTX offers is a free mobile trading app that comes equipped with sophisticated trading tools and an appealing user experience. This software allows you to do nearly anything on the HTX platform.
HTX’s mobile app is also available on Android and iOS devices.
How Do Coinbase and HTX Global Compare to Other Crypto Exchanges
CEX.io, headquartered in the United Kingdom, was one of the first cryptocurrency exchanges to launch in 2013. The CEX.io exchange is quite similar to Coinbase and HTX in a number of respects, including its user-friendly interface, extensive cryptocurrency offering, support for fiat currencies, and wide range of payment options.
The extensive list of certifications and standards that CEX must adhere to and the safeguards used on this trading platform show that CEX.io cares deeply about the security of its customers’ funds and private information.
So, we have no problem recommending CEX as a safe, reliable, and easy-to-use alternative to Coinbase and HTX if you’re looking for a place to buy or sell cryptocurrencies.
Conclusion
Both Coinbase and HTX Global offer an overwhelming number of options for their customers, including a wide range of cryptocurrencies, payment, fiat currency options, and many financial tools. In our Coinbase vs HTX comparison, however, it’s obvious that Coinbase offers a more streamlined and intuitive user experience.
Still, comparing cryptocurrency exchange fees is just as crucial when deciding which one to use for building your investment portfolio. In our Coinbase vs HTX review, we’ve identified that HTX has the lower trading fee ratio between these two exchanges, which comes to 0.20%.
On the other hand, Coinbase’s trading costs come in at a distant second place, with a trading fee of up to 3.99%, and that’s rather hefty, you’d agree.