Bittrex Review and Comparison

By: Ofir Beigel | Last updated: 5/4/20

Bittrex is a US based cryptocurrency exchange that has grown in popularity in recent years. In the following post, I will review the exchange, its services and also the main issues you should be aware of.

Bittrex Review Summary

Bittrex is a veteran US exchange that has put an emphasis on the security of its users. The exchange’s trading platform is highly praised for its speed and stability, and indeed the exchange has never been hacked in all of its existence.

On the downside, Bittrex seems to be suspending user accounts without prior notice and offer minimal customer support. While the trading platform is solid, I would use it with caution.

That’s Bittrex in a nutshell. If you want a more detailed review about Bittrex keep on reading, here’s what I’ll cover:

1. Bittrex Overview

Bittrex is a US based exchange founded in 2013 and headquartered in Seattle Washington. The company was founded by Bill Shihara, Richie Lai and Rami Kawach, all three previously worked at Microsoft.

Bittrex Security

Bittrex claims to put an emphasis on security by employing the most reliable and effective technologies available. The founding team, which comprises computer security experts with over 40 years of combined experience, prioritizes security in all its development decisions.

Bittrex has in place an elastic, multistage wallet strategy that always keeps 80%-90% of funds safely offline.

Meanwhile, on the customer side, two-factor authentication is a must for all withdrawals and API calls; if it’s not activated, a limit on withdrawals is enforced for customers without 2FA set up.

Bittrex has achieved the rare feat of never having suffered any breaches or having lost any customer funds.

2. Bittrex Services

Bittrex has one main service it provides which is its trading platform. The platform lists a wide variety of currencies and allows for standard spot trading orders to be executed.

The current trading engine seamlessly glues together automated trading features, such as stop loss, good ’til canceled (GTC), and instant buy or sell, with all the standard technical charting tools a trader needs.

Clients continually commend the exchange’s trading interface for its quick loading times, with no incidences of hanging or lags. There is no option for margin trading on Bittrex.

3. Currencies and Payment Methods

Identity verified customers (personal or corporate) operating outside the United States or in one of the following US states/territories are eligible for US Dollar trading, deposits, and withdrawals:

Alabama , Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana ,Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, Mississippi, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington State, Washington, D.C., Wisconsin, West Virginia.

USD deposits and withdrawal are done through wire only. Accounts that aren’t eligible for USD trading can still use stablecoins like USDT (Tether). Over 400 altcoins are available for trading against Bitcoin, Ethereum, USD and USDT.

Bittrex makes an effort to add up-and-coming altcoins after carefully vetting their source codes and delisting inactive coins. While some pump-and-dump coins have managed to slip past the vetting process, Bittrex’s goal is to raise the quality of the overall coin listings.

Hard Fork Coins

Bittrex carefully reviews all coins from impending hard forks or airdrops before providing full support and debiting customers’ accounts. Often, as soon as the networks are stable enough, several coins birthed from hard forks are made available to trade.

4. Bittrex Fees

A 0.25% flat commission is applied to all trades.

Trading fees are slightly higher on Bittrex compared to the industry average. Additionally, there are neither rebates for higher-volume trades nor incentive models for takers and makers.

5. Supported Countries

Bittrex is opened to customers worldwide except for North Korea, Iran, the Crimean region, Syria, and Cuba as well any person with economic sanctions levied against them specifically by the US federal government.

6. Customer Support and Reviews

Bittrex does fairly poor when it comes to public opinion, mainly on issues dealing with suspended accounts. Occasionally, certain accounts will be temporarily suspended pending completion of a review.

The process has drawn sharp criticism from the owners of the frozen accounts, who have taken to web forums to air their grievances online. Apparently, this situation has been going on for some time, with only minimal response from the Bittrex team.

Overall, according to Bittrex, only about 0.1% of accounts are affected by suspensions, closures, or outright bans. However, many threads have been opened in various BTC forums regarding this matter.

If you want to avoid such an inconvenience, it’s best to have your credentials on hand in case your account is flagged. Most complaints found online are from users in emerging markets. Bittrex’s low-tier requirements seem to appeal to unserved markets.

The exchange offers a standard FAQ page and a ticketing system for support. However, contrast to its top-notch security rating, Bittrex’s biggest letdown is its customer support.

Public opinion on the speed of response to support tickets is dismal when it comes to verification, customer service issues and follow-ups on accounts that are under review.

7. Bittrex vs. Binance

Due to the amount of altcoins offered by Bittrex, it is often compared to Binance as an alternative. However, the strict verification process and relatively high fees (0.25% vs. 0.1% on Binance) quickly point out that Binance is a more appealing option.

It seems that other than the fact that Bittrex can offer USD deposits and withdrawals for verified accounts, there’s no real edge over Binance. If this is important to you then, by all means, stick to Bittrex, but if not, perhaps the latter is a better option to consider.

You can read my complete Binance review here.

8. Frequently Asked Questions

Is Bittrex Regulated?

Bittrex is not regulated under US securities laws.

Is Bittrex FDIC Insured?

No. Bittrex is not FDIC insured.

9. Conclusion

Although Bittrex can be considered an excellent exchange for beginners and traders looking for a robust, secure platform on which to trade multiple cryptocurrencies, its lack of customer support and freezing of accounts make it a questionable choice.

Too often, exchanges sacrifice customer support and satisfaction to continue operating and expanding in the ever-evolving crypto space. In this case, the public outrage seems too loud to ignore.

Use Bittrex with caution for now, and don’t deposit any amount you can’t afford to have frozen for a certain period of time. That, however, is an unfortunate truth for almost every Bitcoin exchange out there.