Best Canada Crypto Exchange (September 2023)
Cryptocurrency is a wildly popular investment asset right now, and a lot of businesses are cashing in on that trend. If you want to jump on the cryptocurrency train yourself and start investing, then it can be really tricky to figure out how to start.
The simplest way to start trading cryptocurrency for Canadians is to use a cryptocurrency exchange platform that is either based in Canada or is a global cryptocurrency exchange with support in Canada. The problem is that there are so many crypto exchanges on the market, and they all have different features and fees, which can make it difficult to find the best exchange for you. But we’ll tell you everything you need to know in our Best Canada Crypto Exchange guide!
Best Canada Crypto Exchange Platforms
It’s so important to choose the best Canada crypto exchange because depending on the platform you choose, you could pay too much, or wind up with an extremely complicated user interface. You could also lose tons of money in some cases. People lose millions of dollars due to scams and hacks every year, so security and privacy are incredibly important when it comes to choosing the best Canada crypto exchange.
That’s why we’ve chosen exchanges that are safe, easy to use and have low fees for our best Canada crypto exchange list.
Here are the best Canada crypto exchange platforms, in no particular order.
What to Look For When You’re Trying to Find the Best Canada Crypto Exchange
Sure, reading our best Canada crypto exchange guide to get an idea about which crypto exchanges to research first is a good place to start. But we don’t recommend just choosing one of the exchanges on our list and signing up right off the bat without doing any research on it.
In fact, we feel that you should research each exchange on this list and more. Here’s some of the things you should look for when you’re trying to find the best Canada crypto exchange.
Fees
Find out how much it costs to buy and sell on each exchange you consider. If the rates are high then it cuts into the profitability of any trade you make.
User Interface
It’s important to find an exchange with a simple user interface, especially for beginners. If you’re new to buying cryptocurrency then you want as few obstacles as possible in doing so, and an overly complicated interface can really make the experience difficult. Even experienced investors don’t want to deal with complicated interfaces when they’re making trades.
Deposit and Withdrawl Options
Make sure that the deposit and withdrawl options meet your needs. Ideally there should be a variety that includes things like bank transfers, crypto deposits and INTERAC e-transfers. You’ll need to know whether there are fees associated with withdrawls and deposits, as well, as these also interfere in trade profits.
Regulation
Find out if the exchange has been licensed to operate, and if it has any types of asset protection in place, like insurance. No exchange in Canada has Canadian Investor Protection Fund (CIPF) security, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have adequate licensing and protection in place.
Account Security
It’s a good idea to move your coins off the exchange to a wallet, so you’ll need to know whether you’re getting a custodial or a non custodial wallet key. If you have a custodial wallet, that means you don’t have access to your keys and can’t move your cryptocurrency assets, while a noncustodial wallet means you have full control over your keys and can move them at will.
Other things to check up on are whether the exchange uses cold storage to store your coins, as well as their policies on account security, insurance and privacy. If they seem lax in their security measures or you don’t feel comforted enough by them, then move on to another exchange.
Advanced Trading Tools
If you’re an advanced trader then you’ll need more advanced trading tools. In fact, if you plan to gain experience and skill as an investor, then you’ll eventually need more powerful tools to meet your skill level.
Some things to look for are different order types, charting tools, an OTC desk, a live order book, and more. These tools likely won’t be important to you and you may not even know what they are as a beginner, but once you gain some experience and become a more advanced investor they’ll become more important to you.
Customer Support
Customer support is incredibly important any time finances are involved, especially when you’re spending hundreds or thousands of dollars per transaction on the platform. So, it’s important that the exchange you choose has good customer support.
You don’t want to encounter a problem and then have to wait days (or weeks) to get a response from someone about it. Find out how easily customers can contact customer service and whether they’re available 24/7.
Supported Coins
There are more than 10,000 cryptocurrencies currently, and it’s hard to determine which ones might take off and become wildly successful in the future. So, because of that it’s a good idea to choose a crypto exchange with a large number of supported coins so that you have the best chance of diversifying your investment portfolio.
Custody Options
If you want to transfer your cryptocurrency assets to a wallet on another platform, then you need to ensure that the exchange you choose allows for that. What you want is called a non-custodial wallet.
This means that the exchange gives you full access to and control of your wallet keys so that you can trade and transfer them as you see fit. There are lots of exchanges out there with custodial wallets, but it’s not hard to find a non-custodial wallet if that’s what you want.
What About the CRA?
The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), which administers tax laws for the Canadian government, can track cryptocurrency transactions and trades. It depends on how well you’ve obscured your individual activity whether they can track what trades and transactions you’ve personally made, though.
If you buy one cryptocurrency on an exchange platform and then sell it on that same exchange, then they can easily track that. But if you buy it, then move it to several different wallets before selling it on another exchange, that’s harder to track.
Just remember that any time you make a transaction of more than $10,000, exchanges are required to record and submit them to the CRA. We don’t recommend trying to hide cryptocurrency transactions from the CRA, but if you make a transaction of less than $10,000 then it’s difficult for the CRA to track it themselves.
Best Canada Crypto Exchange Conclusion
Because of the widespread uptick in interest in cryptocurrency assets, of course everyone wants to know about the best Canada crypto exchange platforms. To find the best Canada crypto exchange for you, you need to find out what’s important to you (like low fees, mobile apps or security), and take into consideration things like the transparency of the exchange’s business practices, reputation, and regulation.
But now that you’ve read our guide, you’re equipped to get out there and do some research and choose the best Canada crypto exchange for you!
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