So Many Exchanges out there

[SatHunter]

This is newbie talk, so don't kill me. I want to learn, but it seems so complicated.

I want to  - sell BTC for ETH, and then sell that ETH for more BTC than I started the trade with. Sounds like a simple way to start, yet I know it won't be.

My biggest concern is that there are so many exchanges. How the heck do I know which ones will pay me after I make an exchange? I know I have to check their reserve balance, but what else should I look for?

[passwordnow]

Just trade on popular and reputable exchanges then. For centralized exchanges, there's a lot of them: https://coinmarketcap.com/rankings/exchanges/
And for the decentralized exchanges: https://coinmarketcap.com/rankings/exchanges/dex/
Well, I guess the other factor that you have to check is about the feed back of the others on how good or bad they are.

[Oshosondy]

You can use instant exchange like changenow or changelley, but you can be asked for KYC at anytime.

You can use centralized exchange like Binance or Coinbase but they are centralized and you will have no privacy, I will not advise this though but it can be used.

You can use decentralized exchange like localcryptos if you only want to trade bitcoin and ethereum but if you want to trade more, you can use hodlhodl.

[ololajulo]

How the heck do I know which ones will pay me after I make an exchange?

If I got the question right, U want to know exchanges that will release your token when u make trade? This has not been problem on most and top exchanges and not a major problem. Have not had that problem except on decentralised exchange when I trade scam token that might withdrawal other tokens.

[Johnyz]

My biggest concern is that there are so many exchanges. How the heck do I know which ones will pay me after I make an exchange? I know I have to check their reserve balance, but what else should I look for?

Go for the top option, Binance and other top exchange will give you a good guarantee that your money will be safe and this is also advisable to every newbies to just use a good platform for their trading activities. Not all exchanges are worth it but sometimes if you have altcoins that is not listed on top exchange you have no choice but to deal with it or wait for the moment that tokens can be listed on major exchange.

[DoublerHunter]

You can use instant exchange like changenow or changelley, but you can be asked for KYC at anytime.

You can use centralized exchange like Binance or Coinbase but they are centralized and you will have no privacy, I will not advise this though but it can be used.

You can use decentralized exchange like localcryptos if you only want to trade bitcoin and ethereum but if you want to trade more, you can use hodlhodl.

^ This instance exchanges are expecting there is a huge fee to them so I think this is not good advice at all.
Binance is my first pick because they are trusted for how many years of holding the fund and they are also the cheapest withdrawal fees in all exchanges.
This is very risky to a newbie because this is like trading, just apply the basic technique in trading, just buy when the price is low and sell when the price goes up, this is probably a safe method of making a profit than the trading which is very risky.
However, CEXs is prone to hacking just be careful, if you will not trade on the exhcnage that you have chosen, move right away your coins to the non-custodial wallet.

[goaldigger]

My biggest concern is that there are so many exchanges. How the heck do I know which ones will pay me after I make an exchange? I know I have to check their reserve balance, but what else should I look for?

Looking at your post history looks like you already have the knowledge about this but for the benefit of this question and since you’re considering yourself as a newbie, I can only suggest to you Binance platform since you’re talking with the top coins, I’m sure its available of Binance exchange and you can trade it though I think KYC is already needed on Binance. If you are not ok with KYC, then Kucoin is also a good alternative.

[Hypnosis00]

My biggest concern is that there are so many exchanges. How the heck do I know which ones will pay me after I make an exchange? I know I have to check their reserve balance, but what else should I look for?

If you are using a legitimate exchanger like Binance, Kucoin, and many more...you can really expect better trade and certainly receives your money after.
You may also consider these things as your preferences upon choosing;
 * volume
 * market review/feedback
 * transactions fees

For me, it was not necessary to know their reserve balance for as long as they are legit as this never be an assurance that they can pay us back or sends our money to us.

[crzy]

Choose the best and choose what’s convenient to you.
If Binance is not available in your place, try other options that is also on the top exchange list. Consider the KYC as well, some exchanges are already asking for this one. If you can’t trade yet, that’s ok its better to hold those good coins for now while you are still learning how to do this properly.

[Smartvirus]

This is newbie talk, so don't kill me. I want to learn, but it seems so complicated.

I want to  - sell BTC for ETH, and then sell that ETH for more BTC than I started the trade with. Sounds like a simple way to start, yet I know it won't be.

My biggest concern is that there are so many exchanges. How the heck do I know which ones will pay me after I make an exchange? I know I have to check their reserve balance, but what else should I look for?

Just a thought and a question to suit it...
Are you truly a newbie? Like, its a Sr.member account that dates back to 2015 and have got probably all the merits airdroped upon the launch of the merit system. In fact, you zero out in the last 120 days! Well  that isn't the issue here so, let's get to the exchanges.

I still like yo count you to be experienced and as such, you should know that the most popular onces often goes. Binance is the most recommended but, you ought to watch out for KYC and T&C as the exchange might have a restriction on your nation and as such, you might be bridging a policy by mare opening an account and withdrawals might be unsuccessful.

[sheenshane]

Ask yourself first before picking an exchange that you want.
First,

• Are you willing to go KYC compliance?  then, a centralized exchange is good to go
• Is the exchange allowed in your place?

Choosing an exchange platform where to entrust our fund is quite hard to do, always prefer the legitimate exchange that supports various coins to trade.
Check always the minimum balance that they allow to withdraw because there are some exchanges that required a quite big amount before you can initiate a withdrawal.

[logfiles]

You can use instant exchange like changenow or changelley, but you can be asked for KYC at anytime.

Not good advice for a newbie. Changelley and changenow can easily block funds, and they have quite a number of scam accusations, not forgetting he will incur huge fees when using instant exchanges. So profits would be ripped apart.

It’s better if he can use on exchange, let's say he buys and sell ETH on Binance using the ETH/BTC trading pair. So he won't have to worry about withdrawal fees and transaction fees. All he would care about are the trading fees.

[Wexnident]

If you're willing to go past the KYC requirements, then I'd suggest going for well-known exchanges such as Binance. Check beforehand though if the exchange is allowed in your country, then feel free to try it out imo. Binance themselves has a guide afaik on how to start trading so you can easily get info on how to trade and stuff like that. As for the legitimacy, I'm pretty sure a lot of users here can vouch for it and there haven't been that many issues about them afaik. Just make sure the Binance siter you're visiting is the right site and not some bogus site made by others.

[VanityWallets2015]

You can see at the right side of the trading panel the greens and reds, green prices are the prices and volume that wanted to buy and red are the offers and the value of what they wanted to buy and you can try to look at this https://coinmarketcap.com/rankings/exchanges/ to look for good exchange in terms of volume.

[Jawhead999]

https://coinmarketcap.com/rankings/exchanges/ to look for good exchange in terms of volume.

I don't think the good exchanges determined only from the volume, because if you sort the exchanges only looking by the volume, you will see bunch of unknown exchanges appeared. They might use manipulation in order to get a high volume trading, it's better for looking the exchange score and do your own research to gather more informations about the reputation, pairs, features, fees etc.

[Crypto Library]

You can do this by using any good exchanger. You can use Binance as the best exchanger or I will personally suggest to use FTX exchanger. The FTX Exchanger has the lowest transaction fees. You can easily do this by going from these centralized to trading options.

[danherbias07]

This is newbie talk, so don't kill me. I want to learn, but it seems so complicated.

I want to  - sell BTC for ETH, and then sell that ETH for more BTC than I started the trade with. Sounds like a simple way to start, yet I know it won't be.

My biggest concern is that there are so many exchanges. How the heck do I know which ones will pay me after I make an exchange? I know I have to check their reserve balance, but what else should I look for?

Any known exchange will pay up or they will be in big trouble if you have the proof that they don't.
You are trying to do the trading method to make a profit or accumulate more Bitcoin using the pair ETH/BTC and vice versa. That's a problem, imo.
The most popular method used now is BTC -> USDT or a Stablecoin that you prefer -> ETH then backward. It makes easier for them to identify if there are profits made because it's in whole numbers while with the BTC/ETH pair you will be looking at a lot of decimal points that may become confusing for a newbie.

[Potato Chips]

Check their reputation. How much money you should entrust also depend on this.

1. The longer they have been in business the better.
2. Plus points if their team and where are they located are publicized.
3. Make use of the forum when researching, learn who is reputable or not (post history, trust history) cause they are unlikely to write fake feedbacks (not meant to say you should blindly trust anyone). Try to look if the exchange has an account in the forum as well to see if there's any scam accusation about them.
4. A reputable exchange would also be mentioned by reputable news outlets.

Lastly, make sure to read the TOS and privacy policy. I know you feel lazy to read it but it's important to know the risks before getting into something. You can check https://kycnot.me for a list of no mandatory to no kyc at all exchanges.

[maydna]

As the other said, look at https://coinmarketcap.com/rankings/exchanges/ and check one by one from the top 50 exchanges list. We can't suggest one exchange because that will relate to your feeling of comfortably using the exchanges. Perhaps, we can suggest Binance, Bisq, FTX, Changelly, Changenow, or else but if you don't feel comfortable using the exchanges, that will not work for you. It will be no problem if you register on many exchanges just to check what is inside the exchange and get a comfortable feeling.

[Yamifoud]

As the other said, look at https://coinmarketcap.com/rankings/exchanges/ and check one by one from the top 50 exchanges list. We can't suggest one exchange because that will relate to your feeling of comfortably using the exchanges. Perhaps, we can suggest Binance, Bisq, FTX, Changelly, Changenow, or else but if you don't feel comfortable using the exchanges, that will not work for you. It will be no problem if you register on many exchanges just to check what is inside the exchange and get a comfortable feeling.

It is time-consuming checking all of the top 50, I think checking only at least out of the top 10 we already found good and trusted exchanges.
But I suggest for OP to consider first those exchanges that are very popular in the market like Binance and Kucoin. And besides, we don't need to use different exchanges for a trader, 1 exchanger is good enough for as long as we are already satisfied with their fees and services. Having an active customer support is a big factor when choosing them.