Coinbase

With over 300 cryptocurrency exchanges available online, it isn’t easy to know the best one to use for trading. No doubt, Coinbase is known amongst one of the most trusted crypto exchanges. But it’s easy to get confused among Coinbase, Coinbase Pro, and Coinbase Prime.

The same Coinbase Global entity owns all three, though these platforms offer different features and are aimed towards a different set of audiences. So, let’s find out the difference between these exchanges and which one best suits your needs.

Let’s get started.

What is Coinbase?

Coinbase is a simple, easy-to-use, regulated cryptocurrency exchange for buying, selling, and storing cryptocurrency. The exchange offers a simple user interface targeting the audience who are just starting with crypto trading. That’s one of the reasons the exchange boasts of over 43 million verified users on its platform.

However, Coinbase comes with its own set of shortcomings. First of all, trading fees on Coinbase are comparatively higher than most exchanges. Coinbase charges 0.50% per trade and an additional 1.49% for bank account or Coinbase Wallet purchases. Furthermore, the exchange charges 3.99% for credit card purchases. Another thing, Coinbase also reserves the right to track how users spend their cryptocurrency. In essence, Coinbase is an excellent trusted platform for crypto trading, especially for newbie crypto traders. However, behind its simple interface and instant transactions, it has a few downsides, such as high trading fees and lacking advanced trading features. There comes in the picture – Coinbase Pro.

What is Coinbase Pro?

Coinbase Pro is targeted towards more experienced traders and investors. It is an insured digital asset exchange packing advanced features and a bit of complexity. It offers a comparatively lower trading fee than Coinbase. Like Coinbase, it also provides FDIC insurance on a wallet balance of up to $250,000 USD. It was founded in 2016 as the Global Digital Asset Exchange (GDAX) before it was renamed Coinbase Pro.

Coinbase Pro also allows users to buy or sell cryptocurrencies and deposit and withdraw their assets to a separate wallet or another exchange. The platform also offers trading features such as Stop order, Limit order, Time in force order which Coinbase lacks. Coinbase Pro also gives access to their API keys allowing users to trade even more efficiently by integrating third-party apps such as – HyperTrader.

The charges in the Coinbase Pro are – 15% Maker fee and 25% Taker fee. Besides that, it charges 0%-0.50% purchase and trading fees, a $10 wire transfer deposit fee, and a $25 wire transfer withdrawal fee. Coinbase Pro traders can use a credit/debit card to deposit or withdraw from the platform.

Coinbase Prime

Coinbase Prime is mostly for institutions, typically trading desks at banks or asset managers. It was built for asset managers, corporates, hedge funds, high net worth individuals, endowments, family offices, private wealth managers, etc. It serves as an institutional-grade solution for corporate companies looking to add and manage digital assets as part of their corporate treasury strategy.

With the Coinbase Prime, institutional investors will have access to a diversified liquidity pool that underpins all Coinbase products (including Coinbase and GDAX). The Coinbase Prime comes with OTC trading, algorithmic orders, margin finance, and an advanced market data product. If you are an organization looking at boosting your finance, Coinbase prime is the best option. The margin finance feature means that a progressing institution can outsource its share to increase its finance. The organizations and individuals will purchase these shares based on the reputation of the company. With OTC block trading, Coinbase Prime also supports buying and selling of shares in the stock market.

In summary, Coinbase Prime is a corporate-level platform that allows its clients to grow their finances by making a pool of shares. It provides companies the avenue to make money with Coinbase.

Final Thought

At this point, you might have gotten a rough idea about Coinbase, Coinbase Pro, and Coinbase Prime. In essence, Coinbase is more of a brokerage, which serves as a crypto wallet that you can use to buy and sell cryptocurrencies. Coinbase Pro, on the other hand, offers a wider range of cryptocurrencies and features aimed at experienced traders. Last but not least, Coinbase Prime as a platform is aimed at institutions and corporate bodies.