Gemini vs Bittrex: Two US Exchanges Standoff

Heads up! We’ve got a quick, quality crypto exchange comparison guide for you to enjoy today. We will be looking at two US exchanges that are built on the foundation of solid security. Gemini promises to solve the issues caused by shady exchanges, and Bittrex was created by cybersecurity experts from Microsoft, Amazon, and Blackberry. 

So, your funds are secure, but what are these exchanges like? Let’s take a walk through their fees, sign-up experiences, brokerage platform, deposits, crypto trading experience, and more.

Fees

Gemini Trading Fees

The Winklevoss Twins founded US-based Gemini to provide a trustworthy platform for institutions, skeptics, and the risk-averse. It has succeeded on those fronts, but is it affordable?

Fees start at:

• 0.1% for makers
• 0.35% for takers

This table shows how your increased monthly trading volume affects transaction costs:

Bittrex Trading Fees

Beginners on the Bittrex platform will pay:

• 0.2% in maker fees
• 0.2% in taker fees
• 0.25% additional fee on all trades

So, with a realistic cost of 0.45%, Bittrex is amongst the industry’s most expensive top-tier exchanges, only slightly more affordable than Coinbase Pro. Take a look at their fee schedule below:

Withdrawal fees for digital assets can be found here.

Gemini vs Bittrex: Gemini has the upper hand.

Sign Up & KYC Experience

Gemini Onboarding

Making an account is easy. Follow these steps:

1. Click this link to get started
2. Provide an email address, password, and your full name
3. Find a verification code in your email inbox
4. Submit that code and then provide your location (of residency) and your phone number
5. You’ll receive an SMS code that you must also submit
6. Gemini will encourage you to connect your bank account to your trading account, this acts as a method of identification and helps you to make super-fast fiat currency deposits
7. Further KYC checks will ask for:
   1. An identity document
   2. Proof of address
8. Finally, set up Two Factor Authentication and wait for confirmation

Joining Bittrex

1. Click here to get started
2. Find the ‘Sign Up’ button
3. Choose a Personal Account, unless you’re a business or institution
4. Provide your email address and click ‘Create Account’
5. Go to your emails and find the verification link
6. Accept Bittrex’s terms of service
7. Provide the requested data: country of residence, address, and date of birth
8. Upload a scan or photo of your ID, with passport preferred and both driver’s license and state ID accepted
9. Approval should stake around 15 minutes
10. Two Factor Authentication is optional on Bittrex, though you really need to turn it on as it’s one of the best lines of personal defence against hackers

Gemini vs Bittrex: Bittrex is less complicated overall.

Ease of Use & Feel of Website or App

Gemini UX/UI

New to trading? Gemini has a suite of products aimed at total beginners to gently guide them into the world of buying and selling cryptocurrency. Here’s how that looks from a user perspective: 

Once users find their feet and want to try some more advanced interfaces, technical tools, and data-driven trading, they can opt for the advanced layout, as seen below:

Of course, both views are accessible through the mobile app, which offers flexibility to its handheld audience, understanding that different levels of confidence and competence require different features. 

Using Bittrex

Bittrex has a very corporate feel, even when compared to Gemini. It’s very technical and uses their trading charts as the most visual aspect of their marketing, giving more appeal to day traders and institutions, but not so much to beginners. Fortunately for newbies, Bittrex has the best FAQ section in the crypto industry, with an immense Zendesk library that answers pretty much any question possible. 

Bittrex’s design offers seamless navigation from dashboard to wallet to interface and order form with the great intuitive placement of buttons. However, we have found that the web browser trading view is one of the slowest in the industry to load and should be addressed by their developers. 

Gemini vs Bittrex: Gemini is more in tune with the needs of beginners and inexperienced traders.

Deposit Methods

Getting your funds into Gemini

Gemini accepts deposits in three different currencies:

• US Dollar
  • ACH transfer (free) – up to $100,000 per day in withdrawals
  • Wire transfer (variable fees) – no max withdrawal limit
• GBP
  • Faster Payments
  • CHAPS
  • SWIFT Wire
• EUR
  • SEPA
  • SWIFT Wire

That banking connection made during the sign-up will allow you to make instant transfers and trade with the funds even before they’ve cleared!

For users in specific countries, deposits can be made in:

• AUD
• HKD
• SGD
• CAD

Making deposits on Bittrex

Deposit regulations depend on where the user is based. You only need to do basic KYC checks for those living outside of the US, which means submitting your name, date of birth, country of residence, and residential address. This will grant you a deposit limit of up to 4 BTC per day. Depositing fiat currencies will require users to undergo the ‘Enhanced’ verification process, which means submitting a copy of your ID and a selfie holding that same ID. 

Enhanced verification will give non-US users access to SEPA (free), International Wires, and credit and debit card deposits (3% fee).

Users in the US have the added caveat of being required to submit banking and residency documents to prove their identities. Once confirmed, US residents can deposit via debit card (3% fee) or Wire transfer ($50 minimum).

Gemini vs Bittrex: Both have a good variety of deposit methods.

Instant Buy Options (Buying with a Credit or Debit card)

Purchasing crypto assets on Gemini

Gemini is one of the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchange choices for those who want to purchase coins directly to their crypto wallet. Thanks to their cooperation with regulators, Gemini functions much like professional banking services, insuring user assets up to a certain point (thanks to FDIC and EMI). 

As is common among the major exchanges, Gemini accepts debit cards (3.49%) and bank transfer purchases (free on the ACH network) in the US. With over 50 cryptocurrencies to purchase directly, this brokerage can easily be a part of your crypto strategy. 

GBP and EUR users should note that the same methods for deposits are compatible with purchases and that debit card fees are 3.49%. 

Thanks to Gemini’s professionalism, you’ll find support on the website for doing your crypto taxes and reporting capital gains. 

Purchasing crypto on Bittrex

Bittrex has recently introduced a brokerage, having previously skirted around the issue. In addition, users were initially encouraged to deposit fiat currency and use that balance to make purchases but have since introduced debit and credit cards to their listed purchase methods. 

Instant card purchases are charged at 3%, which is notably lower than most exchange accounts. 

In addition to a wide range of cryptocurrencies, Bittrex sells tokenized stocks, giving users a much larger variety of assets than pretty much any rival in this space and access to some of the most innovative blockchain technology. 

Gemini vs Bittrex: Both exchanges deserve credit here, despite taking different approaches.

Trading Experience

Trading with Gemini

Gemini offers plenty of great trading opportunities to the typical beginner or advanced user in a number of countries. There are great features, quality customer support channels, and multiple trading interfaces depending on competency (as shown in the ease of use section). All of this makes manual trading quite enjoyable and logical to perform. 

With an increasing number of users looking for a simplistic mobile trading experience, Gemini boasts the industry’s most highly-rated iOS app, with a score of 4.8. Android device users rate their app at 4.5 in the Google Play store. 

Note that Gemini is a registered Money Services Business, meaning they are licensed and regulated to perform fiat trading services. Not every crypto exchange can boast this license, so it’s good news for risk-averse users who automatically want to trade currencies without legal risk. 

Bittrex: Intuitive trading, margin trading, bot trading…

Bittrex keeps things logical and intuitive, winning them favor with users. However, loading speeds are slow, and the site and app are known to crash. Overall the experience is more technical than Gemini but about as challenging as their biggest rivals, such as Binance. 

With around 400 cryptocurrencies and over 750 trading pairs at the time of writing, Bittrex has built an impressive selection to keep any investor happy. This is one of the top crypto exchanges to begin your trading journey, with a brilliant Zendesk FAQ section in case anything goes wrong. 

Bittrex is also one of the leading crypto exchange choices for automated traders who use ‘bots.’ Through API keys, you can connect your automated trading bot, grid trading bot, smart trade bot, and many other types of free trading bots.

Bittrex offers margin trading (described as leveraged trading) to users outside of the EU and EEA. Margin trading or CFD trading is typically prohibited in the US. 

Gemini vs Bittrex: We’ve tried both, and we much prefer trading with Gemini.

Reputation and Security

Gemini’s Remarkable Run

Gemini has never been hacked. It is compliant, regulated, and rule-abiding. It is everything that Bitcoin was designed not to be. It offers no rebellion, no chaos, and minimal risk. It is the perfect exchange for the cautious or anxious trader to sign up on, which is precisely how it was intended. Advanced security has made Gemini a haven for mass adoption. 

The word on Bittrex 

As we mentioned in the intro, Bittrex’s founders were cybersecurity engineers from Microsoft, Amazon, and Blackberry. This foundation has contributed towards their zero-hack history and continues to make them one of the most robust exchanges going.

On the downside, customer support at Bittrex has many critics and is not as supportive as Gemini.

Gemini vs Bittrex: Gemini wins our trust.

Gemini vs Bittrex: Who is our winner?

We’re handing the belt over to Gemini!