Coinmetro Review

Introduction to CoinMetro

CoinMetro is a cryptocurrency exchange based in Estonia that serves most countries in the EU as well as around the world. In terms of trading volume, CoinMetro is on the smaller side. It is a newer exchange without a whole lot of reputation or history, but it seems to work well for those who use it, appealing especially to first timers and those seeking an easy, simplified approach to trading. In place of a bunch of different coins and trading options is no-frills trading experience: an easy deposit process, basic trading screen, and access to cryptocurrency’s most popular trading pairs.

Why use CoinMetro?

For those new to the idea of cryptocurrency trading, there are few easier ways to get started than CoinMetro. After completing their KYC process, all deposits, currency transfers and withdrawals can be handled quickly and painlessly. The trading experience is simplified to a degree that makes it geared toward beginners, but for those who are a bit more experienced, CoinMetro also offers margin trading on some of the market’s most popular coins. Last but not least, CoinMetro has proven themselves to be trustworthy of the course of their existence, albeit a short one.

Brief History of CoinMetro

CoinMetro was founded in Tallinn, Estonia in 2018, out of the desire to transform cryptocurrency exchanges into something more suitable for beginners. The exchange opened for business in Dec. 2018 and quickly gained a decent-sized following. It managed to attract multinational talent to tune of slightly more than 30 employees within a year and is constantly seeking to expand their potential customer reach.

The team set out with an aim to improve upon the mistakes commonly made by crypto exchanges, such as offering unreasonable customer support response times during peak or other trading hours. Today, CoinMetro’s volume is a bit on the small side but the exchange is growing quite rapidly and is poised to attract many more users in the near future.

Before Getting Started

CoinMetro is available to customers in over a hundred countries, but you will need to find out if your country is one of them before going forward. CoinMetro will likely geo-restrict your access if they detect you are accessing the exchange from a jurisdiction they do not serve. While they serve customers in the U.S. from a general perspective, they do not serve customers from certain states, so it will be worth checking with their terms of service before proceeding with KYC.

Also note that you must perform KYC in order to perform any kind of trading or other activity on CoinMetro.

How to make an account on CoinMetro

Creating an account at CoinMetro is quite simple and initially requires only an email address and password. After confirming your email address, you will be asked to begin the KYC process. You can put this off for now in order to check out what the exchange has to offer, but will need to finish KYC before making any deposits, trades or withdrawals.

How to get verified on CoinMetro

CoinMetro requires KYC for all customers and is a bit different than most. You will be asked to scan a QR code with your cell phone and conduct the first part of the KYC process there. This includes entering your full name, birthday, country of passport, and country of residence. You will then be asked some basic questions about your finances.

The two forms of ID accepted by CoinMetro include a passport or driver’s license. You will be asked to make a video with your phone of the inner pages of your passport or front and back of a driver’s license. Additionally, you will need to submit a proof of residence document such as a utility bill or bank statement.

For those who plan on doing large volumes of trades, Tier 2 provides unlimited deposits and withdrawals. In addition to the previous KYC materials, it also requires a source of wealth statement in which the user describes the ways they made the money they will be using to deposit on the exchange.

KYC documents are reviewed manually, meaning it could take anywhere between 2 hours and 3 days before hearing back about your verification status.

How to make a deposit

CoinMetro makes it super easy to make a deposit by putting the “Deposit” button in the middle of the dashboard screen.

CoinMetro accepts the following national currencies as deposit options:

• EUR
• GBP
• AUD
• USD
• SEK

Most trading volume is done in EUR-based pairs, with the least being in USD pairs. CoinMetro is one of the few exchanges to offer the BTC/GBP pair, but it does not regularly witness substantial volume, either.

How to trade on CoinMetro

There are a few different ways to make trades on CoinMetro, the easiest of which is using the swap options on the home screen. From here you can easily buy or sell cryptocurrency for one of four fiat options, though there is a slightly bigger fee built into the trade than if you were to place a similar trade on the exchange itself. For those who are looking to get coins quickly and conveniently, there’s almost no simpler way than CoinMetro’s swap system, shown by default on the dashboard screen.

For those looking to make traditional trades, pressing the Exchange tab will open the main trading screen. Order types are pretty limited compared to most other exchanges and include the basics only:

• Market. Buy or sell a specified amount of currency at market prices.
• Limit. Buy or sell a specified amount of currency at a specified price.

CoinMetro’s trading screen is pretty standard and doesn’t have a whole lot going on, just the usual orderbook, chart and order history and placement screen. For those who like technical analysis, it does offer a decent selection of TA overlays as well as chart drawing tools. Sizes for both Market and Limit orders can be set using a slider that stops at 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% of your available trading capital for the trading pair.

For those who like margin trading, CoinMetro has 9 pairs and 6 coins which can be borrowed. Coins can be borrowed up to a ratio of 5:1, meaning that for every 1 coin you put in as collateral you can borrow up to 5 coins, depending on your preferred level of risk.

In addition to the above, CoinMetro also has a “copy trade” feature which allows you to follow the progress of other traders and copy the trades that they make using your own balances. For the moment, CoinMetro has a limited number of traders available for copying, but as the exchange is still young, they will need time to attract more established traders.

Trading fees

Fees are a standard 0.10% for both Maker and Taker orders. There are incentives for placing Maker orders which can be amplified based on your level of trading.

CoinMetro charges a margin trading fee of 0.2%. Be sure to keep sufficient collateral in your account for margin trading as the margin acts as a cushion between your position remaining open and getting liquidated. Keep in mind that you will also have to pay interest on borrowed coins.

CoinMetro has its own utility token called XCM. It is earned upon completing tasks and can also be purchased through the exchange. It can also be staked for rebates on fees and other benefits, like higher maker orders. CoinMetro’s fee tier system is based on the amount of XCM staked on the exchange, with larger amounts of XCM unlocking tiers 2 and 3. 20 XCM are awarded to all new users upon KYC verification.

Overview of supported coins

CoinMetro is a smaller exchange, designed more for beginners and those who want to use an easy, trustworthy exchange. It supports the following coins for various fiat and BTC pairings:

• Ethereum (ETH)
• Litecoin (LTC)
• Ripple (XRP)
• Stellar (XLM)
• Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
• Chainlink (LINK)
• Tezos (XTZ)
• Enjin Coin (ENJ)
• OMG Network (OMG)
• USDCoin (USDC)

It also contains a handful other smaller coins that have very little volume, making them difficult to trade. In all, CoinMetro carries 18 different coins.

Security

On their website, CoinMetro says they employ “multiple layers of industry-leading security” when it comes to protecting customer funds and data. To this point, they have a good track record in their 2 years in existence as far as always honoring customer withdrawals is concerned and seem to generally have a good handle on security. CoinMetro uses a combination of cold storage and weekly audits to keep track of their funds.

CoinMetro offers several key security options for user accounts, including 2-FA via Google Authenticator, IP verification, session access management, and device security management. This makes it easy to see when someone has been trying to access your account, and shows they have regards for the security of their customers. In addition to all this, they offer 24/7 customer support should you have any questions related to the security or operations of your account.

Mobile app

CoinMetro has an app for both Android and iOS devices. It allows users to perform just about all the functions they could from the regular version of the exchange, including placing trades, accessing balances and making withdrawals. The one downside is that users have reported having a hard time trying to sign up for an account from the app, so it is best to take care of this using a regular web browser. Other than that one setback, CoinMetro has made one of the better mobile trading apps in recent years and it is a great companion to your computer-based account.

Benefits of CoinMetro

CoinMetro goes out of their way to let their customers know they are being put first, which can be seen in their responsive customer support, the simplicity of their trading interface, and their overall approach to making the trading experience as straight-forward as possible for the trader. They are a safe, secure exchange and have thus far exhibited all the qualities of a trustworthy, competent exchange. They also go out of their way to include customers from all over the world, working hard to remain at the forefront of maintaining regulatory compliance.

Limitations of CoinMetro

CoinMetro won’t be for everyone, especially more advanced traders looking for specific trading options or other coins not offered by the exchange. Both cryptocurrency and fiat deposit options are limited, and while CoinMetro does contain a couple rarer crypto/fiat pairings (GBP and SEK), these pairs tend to have very little volume. In fact, the lack of volume all around seems to be CoinMetro’s biggest problem, at least for the time being. Also absent from CoinMetro are some of the fancier trading products like futures, derivatives, indices, etc.

Wrapping it up

In all, CoinMetro is a great little exchange that is trying its best to introduce a new audience to the world of cryptocurrency trading and investing. Purchasing crypto doesn’t get much simpler than CoinMetro’s default trading swap setup, and the order placement process is pretty intuitive for the regular exchange. For those who admittedly don’t know how to trade, CoinMetro’s “copy trading” system is a great way to get in on crypto market exposure without necessarily having to know the ins-and-outs of the market.

CoinMetro will not be for those who want access to a huge variety of coins and pairs supported by lots of volume. Nor is it for those looking for 100x derivatives and futures trading or somewhere to try their luck investing in high-yield DeFi or staking projects.

Instead, CoinMetro is for those who are looking for a non-intimidating way to get started trading and investing in cryptocurrencies. With a clutter-free website layout and easy-to-use interface, CoinMetro makes the process of getting into crypto as simple as possible. They also do a great job at answering user questions and process deposits and withdrawals in a timely, competent manner.

Even though they have only been around for 2 years now, we have no problem recommending CoinMetro to our readers.