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Bitstamp was founded in 2011 and is one of the oldest crypto exchanges for individual investors and institutions. While novice crypto traders may benefit from the exchange's user-friendly interface and low-fees, it doesn't have much to offer for U.S.-based investors.
Business Insider's personal finance team compared Bitstamp to the best cryptocurrency exchanges and found its investment options limited for U.S.-based investors.
Bitstamp
Insider’s Rating
3.23/5
Account Minimum
$0 ($10 minimum to start investing)
Fees
0-0.4% trading fee
Pros
- No minimum to open an account
- fiat-to-crypto trading available
- Pro platform for advanced traders
- 24/7 customer support
- Cold wallet storage
Cons
- Staking and lending features not available to U.S., U.K., Canada, Singapore, or Japan residents
- Only 35+ cryptocurrencies available to U.S. traders
Insider’s Take
Bitstamp is a decent global cryptocurrency exchange for active retail investors to trade popular assets like bitcoin, ether, and dogecoin. However, the platform's crypto selection is limited compared to competitor sites and some of the best features (like staking rewards and crypto-lending) isn't available to US residents.
Product Details
- If someone refers you, you can earn a $20 cash bonus when you place a trade of $100 or more
Introduction to Bitstamp
Bitstampis a global crypto exchange for easily buying and trading popular digital coins and tokens, like Bitcoin and Ethereum, on desktop or mobile. In addition to individual trading, Bitstamp offers fiat-to-crypto services for institutions like family offices and hedge funds.
It's focused on providing investors with reliable and transparent cryptocurrency trading through advanced security features, reliable order execution, and real-time market data streams. Bitstamp offers cold-wallet storage, crime insurance, and a withdrawal address whitelisting.
Bitstamp complies with fiduciary standards. This means that Bitstamp will always put the best interest of its clients before its own. Customer service representatives are available 24/7 through the exchange's call center.
However, Bitstamp's crypto selection is significantly limited compared to other exchanges, and staking and lending services are unavailable to U.S. residents. Bitstamp doesn't offer other alternate asset classes or traditional investments like stocks or ETFs.
It's important to mention that Robinhood, one of the market's most well-known crypto trading platforms, announced plans to acquire Bitstamp. The deal is expected to close in early 2025.
Bitstamp: Overall Rating
| Feature | Insider rating (out of 5) |
| Customer support | 3.00 |
| Ethics | 3.50 |
| Access | 3.50 |
| Security | 3.50 |
| Fees | 4.00 |
| Investment selection | 2.00 |
| Overall score | 3.23 |
How Bitstamp Works
Bitstamp is unique because investors don't buy crypto assets from Bitstamp itself. Instead, Bitstamp essentially facilitates trading between you and other customers (peer-to-peer trading). This means you're always buying assets from one customer or selling your assets to another.
U.S. traders get access to 35+ cryptocurrencies, including a selection of stablecoins and DeFi assets. Certain coins and tokens may not be available, depending on your location. Staking and lending services are unavailable in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Singapore, and Japan.
You can deposit or withdraw from any location worldwide, and U.S. users can make free instant deposits through ACH transfers. Bitstamp also provides mobile trading access for those who need to trade on the go. Its mobile app gives you access to real-time data charts and secure wallet protection for your assets and any crypto transfers.
Bitstamp offers multiple order types for potential gains from short-term price fluctuations. This includes:
- Market orders
- Limit orders
- Stop limit orders
- Instant orders
- Trailing stop orders
- Fill-or-kill orders
Bitstamp Pro
The Bitstamp Pro platform is for traders who need more advanced trading tools. It offers multiple application programming interfaces (APIs) — including FIX, HTTP, and Websocket APIs — that give you efficient and stable access to the crypto market.
Bitstamp Pro provides BitGo-sponsored institutional-grade storage for your assets. BitGo is a third-party regulated custodian and a financial service provider for digital assets. Bitstamp Pro additionally provides users access to an account manager if they need to place high-volume trades.
Bitstamp Pro also has its own app, which is separate from the regular Bitstamp app. This app allows advanced users to access up to four order types, its advanced trading interface, lower trading fees, and other Pro features.
Institutional Services
Bitstamp offers crypto services for several institutional clients, including brokers, fintech companies, NEO banks, hedge funds, banks, proprietary traders, aggregators, and family offices.
The platform lists four key components of its institutional services:
- Enterprise-level access to crypto markets: Bitstamp gives institutional traders access to a platform built with Nasdaq technology. The app also offers efficient order execution, real-time data, and FIX, HTTP, and Websocket APIs.
- Advanced security: Bitstamp says it uses military-grade storage to secure assets. It also utilizes withdrawal access whitelisting and cold-wallet and crime insurance to prevent fraud.
- Mature crypto approach: The company attributes this to its time in the crypto business. Bitstamp focuses on transparency, reliability, and customer protection, according to its website.
- Non-stop availability: You'll have access to 24/7 customer service, account manager support, and expert support for custom solutions.
Bitstamp's Crypto-as-a-Service also lets you integrate crypto exchange services (e.g., buy and sell transactions) with your business platform(s).
Bitstamp Fees
Bitstamp requires a $0 minimum to open an account, but the minimum order size is $10.
Bitstamp has a fairly transparent fee structure. It's a tiered system based on an investor's 30-day trading volume. Maker fees range from 0.30% (for a trading volume below $10,000) to 0% (for a trading volume of over a billion). Similarly, taker fees range from 0.40% to 0.03%. Generally, the more an investor trades in that 30-day window, the lower the maker/taker fees.
Instant purchases incur an instant service fee of 4%. Additional fees may apply to transfers and internal transactions.
Pros and Cons of Bitstamp
| Pros | Cons |
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Bitstamp Trustworthiness
Bitstamp USA Inc. currently has an F rating from the Better Business Bureau. The BBB rates businesses from A+ to F, reflecting the bureau's opinion of how well a company interacts with its customers. An F rating is the lowest possible score a company can receive.
The reason listed for the low rating is multiple complaints filed against the business with some remaining unresolved.
Bitstamp has been free of major public lawsuits, scandals, or hacks since 2015.
How Bitstamp Compares
Bitstamp vs. Coinbase
Coinbase is one of the top cryptocurrency exchanges for experienced investors looking for easy access to trading and storing multiple coins and tokens. It has a $2 minimum requirement. Coinbase is similar to Bitstamp in offering charting tools, beginner-friendly strategies, and a Pro version of the platform.
Coinbase is the stronger platform overall as it offers multiple account options (including IRAs and custodial accounts), 200+ cryptocurrencies, access to trade on margin, NFT marketplace, and industry-leading trading tools.
Moreover, Coinbase users can earn up to 4% back in crypto on purchases with the Coinbase Visa debit card. Bitstamp does not offer its users a card. However, bear in mind that Coinbase is currently under investigation by the SEC.
If you're more interested in trading crypto with other platform consumers, you may prefer Bitstamp's peer-to-peer trading services. But remember that Bitstamp's crypto selection is significantly more limited than Coinbase's, and you won't get access to services like staking or lending.
Coinbase Review
Bitstamp vs. Kraken
Kraken is another popular crypto exchange platform that offers hundreds of cryptocurrencies and various trading services for individuals and institutions.
Both exchanges offer educational resources, but Kraken offers a larger content catalog, including webinars, blog posts, and its Crypto 101 video series. Kraken is also an industry leader in security. Overall, Kraken provides more features than Bitstamp, including account management services, one-on-one consultations for institutions, and over-the-counter (OTC) trading.
In most cases, Kraken is the stronger platform. However, institutional investors interested in Bitstamp's APIs and fiat-crypto institutional-level services may prefer Bitstamp's offerings.
Kraken Review
Bitstamp FAQs
Is Bitstamp a safe exchange?
Bitstamp is considered a safe exchange. As one of the oldest crypto exchanges, it has a decent reputation for security and hasn't been subject to a large-scale hack since 2015. Most of Bitstamp's assets are held offline in cold storage, which protects users against potential online hacks. The exchange also employs standard security measures like two-factor authentication and data encryption.
What are the fees on Bitstamp?
Bitstamp's fees are competitive and vary based on your 30-day trading volume. The higher your trading volume, the lower your fees. Bitstamp does not charge fees for account maintenance or management. You can find its detailed fee schedule on the website.
Does Bitstamp offer margin trading or staking?
Bitstamp does not offer margin trading, and staking is unavailable to traders in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Singapore, or Japan. If you're interested in those services, you should consider a different crypto exchange.
Why You Should Trust Us: How We Reviewed Bitstamp
We examined Bitstamp using Business Insider's rating methodology for investing platforms to compare and examine account types, pricing, investment options, and overall customer experience when reviewing investing platforms. Platforms are given a rating between 1 to 5.
Cryptocurrency exchanges typically offer multiple cryptocurrencies, trading tools, fees, and other resources. Some investing platforms are better for more advanced investors or active investors, while others may better suit beginner investors and passive investors. Bitstamp was evaluated with a focus on how it performed in each category.
Investing and Retirement Reporter
Tessa Campbell is an investing and retirement reporter on Business Insider’s personal finance desk. Over two years of personal finance reporting, Tessa has built expertise on a range of financial topics, from the best credit cards to the best retirement savings accounts.ExperienceTessa currently reports on all things investing — deep-diving into complex financial topics, shedding light on lesser-known investment avenues, and uncovering ways readers can work the system to their advantage.As a personal finance expert in her 20s, Tessa is acutely aware of the impacts time and uncertainty have on your investment decisions. While she curates Business Insider’s guide on the best investment apps, she believes that your financial portfolio does not have to be perfect, it just has to exist. A small investment is better than nothing, and the mistakes you make along the way are a necessary part of the learning process.Expertise:Tessa’s expertise includes:
- Credit cards
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Education:Tessa graduated from Susquehanna University with a creative writing degree and a psychology minor.When she’s not digging into a financial topic, you’ll find Tessa waist-deep in her second cup of coffee. She currently drinks Kitty Town coffee, which blends her love of coffee with her love for her two cats: Keekee and Dumpling. It was a targeted advertisem*nt, and it worked.
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