Bitcoin Forum

I would like to share my thoughts about trading Bitcoins in Europe. While the majority of the people trade in USD, there are plenty of traders who would prefer trading EUR. So, for this reason, I was testing a lot of different exchanges and now I choose only 3 where I do all of my trades.

I want to emphasize 3 major exchanges I am trading on - Bitstamp.com, EXMO.com and BTC-exchange.com. The first one is chosen because of a high liquidity and easy to use in Europe, it had 24mln. EUR volume in the last 24hours. It means that there is plenty of space for liquidity. While EXMO is very good for higher prices and liquidity. In addition, to what there is a very informative and good chat over there, where you can talk to others. Finally, BTC-exchange is chosen because of its structure and arbitrage opportunities. In order to be a customer of their exchange, you have to become a customer of bank MisterTango which is a partner for exchange, so deposits and withdrawals are instant. This bank is crypto friendly, so it means you can open and use a bank account and additionally you can trade BTC/EUR and catch VERY good arbitrages.

Talking about fees, I cannot emphasize huge benefits for any of them because it looks more less the same, but still BTC-exchange has the lowest fees - 0.00% for makers and 0.01% for takers.

Please, let us know your opinion about your best exchanges!

It all depends on the payment methods you're willing to use. Coinbase Pro, Kraken, Coinmama, BitPanda, Bitonic are all good options.

I like Bitonic because of how fast they process payments. If you do any order before noon, you'll have it in your bank account a few hours later (depends how fast your bank is). It's also very easy to use, no account registration needed. Especially If you're selling bitcoins, you don't even need to go through verification.

I've also experienced dealing with Coinmama since they starting allowing selling BTC for SEPA, It may not be as easy to use as Bitonic but it's still a very good and easy website to use.

You have several options for trading BTC/EUR and your choice will depend on your preferences. I’d advise you to try one from these 3 platforms: Bitstamp, EXMO, or CEX.IO. They all are European-based cryptocurrency exchanges that means EUR deposits via any kind of payment method is easier than using other platforms. Those who use SEPA payment will be happy.

Personally, I prefer Cex because of high security, diverse payment methods including SEPA, and easy to use interface: https://cex.io/btc-eur. I can compare this platform with Coinbase in terms of usage. It’s great, and I didn’t have any problems with it. The only thing is long registration. The limits of deposits and withdrawals depend on the level of verification. It says about compliance with regulations and strong security.   

I'm using Kraken for SEPA transfers in EURO, not a single problem so far. Like with Bitonic, SEPA transfers take 24 or less. If you request before 11.00 am you get it at 6.00 pm. And I know a lot of EU citizens also use Kraken for convenience. Too bad I'm KYC verified with Kraken otherwise I would switch 100% with Bitonic.

Agree with OmegaStarScream – it is really important to make clear which payment methods are suitable for you. BTC is available on most if not all platforms, so you really have a wide selection of platforms. Also, it is important to know where are you from to give any advice, as the same exchange can operate in my location but be unavailable in yours.

It's probably a good idea to also mention that you can't withdraw crypto from etoro. It's essentially just a CFD platform. If you're only interested in trading then it might be useful to you and some other people, but being able to withdraw crypto is an extra peace of mind in case you for whatever reason can't withdraw fiat.

I have read about their interest to offer crypto withdrawals for quite some time now, but I don't think they will go that far unless there is so much demand that it leaves them no choice but to do so.

Concerning Bitcoin & Etoro it isn't CFD anymore, they claimed to really own the bitcoins and they planned to become a real place to exchange cryptocurrencies.

Despite all the marketing in Europe from Etoro about Bitcoin trading, I saw a video 2 months ago that in fact, Etoro doesn't even use EUR but USD (your account is in USD), there is currency conversion once you send EURO (with FX fees btw, and 50 pips for the deposits and 250 for the withdrawals, average brokers charge 1 pips)  so I don't know if it's something new or the poster above doesn't know this. The withdrawals can takes days or even weeks.
There is no book order and the spread is very very high compared to what we're used to seeing.

A lot of hidden high fees that a newbie won't really see and won't understand clearly. That's how the platform makes money and that's why it targets the mass with commercial videos to attract newbies.

There are many options. Other forummers have mentioned that you should note which payment methods are interesting to you. This is a wise thought. Well, if you want to pay with Mastercard/Visa, CEX seems to be great for trading in Europe. If it is not advanced enough for you, check https://cexbro.com/. It is an analog with more features. It should operate in most if not all European countries.