Coinbase Review: A Top Exchange With Tools for Beginners and Advanced Investors

Coinbase has a wide selection of cryptocurrencies, a user-friendly design, and helpful educational content. For more experienced crypto investors, it also offers advanced trading tools. Thanks to those benefits and its topnotch security, Coinbase is one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world. Read our full Coinbase review to see if it's the exchange for you.

This cryptocurrency exchange is a good fit for: Crypto investors and traders of all skill levels who want a solid all-around platform for buying, storing, and selling cryptocurrencies.

Top perks

Extensive cryptocurrency selection

There aren't many cryptocurrency exchanges, especially for U.S. investors, that can compete with Coinbase's selection. It offers well over 150 types of cryptocurrency for trading, ranging from Bitcoin (BTC) and other major coins to smaller and newer digital tokens.

Simple and advanced trading

Coinbase provides separate simple and advanced trading tools that you can access from your account. The simple trade option has a straightforward design that's easy to use. Advanced trading offers more features, including charts, a live order book, and limit orders.

The one downside with these options is that simple trades have much higher fees. For that reason, we recommend placing trades using the advanced trade option. Keeping fees to a minimum is important when investing in cryptocurrency.

Earn free crypto

One of the cooler features on this exchange is Coinbase Earn, where you can earn free crypto in exchange for completing educational modules about it. Even though you won't earn a lot this way, modules can be completed in under a minute, and it's a fun way to learn more about different cryptocurrencies.

Educational content

Coinbase maintains an impressive library of educational resources, including crypto basics, tips and tutorials, and market updates. Want an easy-to-follow but thorough introduction to Bitcoin? A guide to the tax implications of cryptocurrency investing? Coinbase has you covered on these topics and many more.

Mobile app

Just like the web platform, the Coinbase mobile app is a user-friendly way to buy, sell, and manage cryptocurrency. It has high ratings on both the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store, so it's a great option if you plan to do any mobile crypto trading.

Crypto rewards

You can earn interest on several cryptocurrencies through your Coinbase account. Coinbase pays interest on certain stablecoins, such as USD Coin (USDC), automatically. It also allows you to stake certain cryptocurrencies, including Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL). If you stake your crypto, you'll earn rewards on it. Note that eligibility varies depending on your region and the cryptocurrency.

LEARN MORE: What Is Staking in Crypto?

Coinbase debit card

If you have a Coinbase account, you can apply for a Coinbase Card. This prepaid Visa debit card is linked to your Coinbase account balance, allowing you to spend cryptocurrencies. The Coinbase Card also offers crypto rewards and lets you choose which crypto you earn from a rotating list. You can earn up to 4% back this way.

RELATED: Best Crypto Credit Cards

What could be improved

Complex fee structure

Fees on Coinbase are unnecessarily complicated and confusing. The exchange uses different trading fee structures depending on whether you use its simple trade or advanced trade option.

Although fees on advanced trades are reasonable and simple enough to understand, simple trades cost more, and you only see the fee amount to be charged when you preview the transactions. It'd be much easier for users if Coinbase adopted the same fees for all types of crypto trades, like many other exchanges do.

CHECK OUT OTHER OPTIONS: Best Cryptocurrency Apps and Exchanges

High fees on simple trades and staking

There are a few areas where Coinbase's fees are expensive. Simple trades have high fees, especially for smaller transactions (below $200). Advanced trades are much cheaper, so you can at least save money using that option. However, it's frustrating that you need to use a more advanced trading tool just to get the best deals on Coinbase, especially if you prefer the simple trade interface.

Coinbase also takes a big cut if you use its staking services. When you stake cryptocurrencies on Coinbase, it charges a 25% commission. That's more than you'd typically pay if you staked cryptocurrency yourself.

Limited rewards opportunities

We like that Coinbase allows you to earn rewards, but you can only do so with a somewhat small selection of cryptocurrencies. There are exchanges with better rewards programs, including exchanges that offer higher rates and that allow you to earn interest on a larger number of digital assets.

If you want to trade stocks as well: Robinhood gives you the best of both worlds with commission-free trading on stocks and crypto. It doesn't offer nearly as many cryptocurrencies as Coinbase, but it works well if you want to keep your full investment portfolio on one platform.

If you want to earn interest on more cryptocurrencies: Gemini is a fantastic option for earning passive income from your crypto holdings. The exchange's Gemini Earn program is simple to use and offers competitive interest rates on dozens of cryptocurrencies. This is also one of the most highly rated crypto exchanges, with excellent security and educational resources.

Coinbase allows users to buy, sell, and trade cryptocurrency. It accepts several payment methods, including ACH transfers from a bank account, debit cards, money wires, and PayPal. ACH transfers are the most cost-effective option, because you can deposit money from a bank account without any extra fees.

This crypto exchange offers quite a few features, including:

• Simple and advanced trading options
• A debit card to spend crypto and earn crypto rewards
• A Coinbase Earn program to earn free crypto by completing educational modules
• A crypto staking program

It also offers Coinbase Wallet, a digital crypto wallet. The advantage of keeping your crypto in a wallet instead of on an exchange like Coinbase is that you'll have full control over it. Note that you don't need to be a client to use Coinbase Wallet. It's available free of charge to anyone and can store both cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Coinbase's trading fees are complex and depend on several different factors, starting with the trading tool you choose. The exchange offers a simple trade and advanced trade option and charges different fee amounts for each one.

Advanced trade is recommended, because it has much cheaper fees. It uses a tiered fee table based on your trading volume. The table also has a maker-taker model, where orders that aren't filled immediately incur a maker fee, because they add liquidity to the order book. Orders that are filled immediately incur a taker fee, because they take liquidity.

Here's the Coinbase fee schedule for advanced trades:

Coinbase doesn't publish upfront fee amounts for simple trades. Instead, it says that it calculates fees at the time you place an order. However, the exchange is consistent about the fees it charges.

On simple trades of $205 or more, Coinbase charges a variable percentage fee of just under 1.5%. It charges a flat fee on smaller trades. Here are the flat fees Coinbase charges depending on the transaction amount:

Those are the only commissions that Coinbase charges. It charges additional fees for certain payment methods, such as debit cards and PayPal. Purchases made through an ACH transfer from a bank account or funds in your Coinbase USD Wallet won't have any extra fees.

How Coinbase fees work

The easiest way to understand Coinbase's fee structure is with a few firsthand examples. The table below breaks down how much you'd pay for crypto purchases of $10, $100, and $1,000 with each trade option:

Coinbase has one of the most impressive cryptocurrency selections, with well over 150 cryptocurrencies available for trading. Most of the market leaders, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Cardano (ADA), are on Coinbase. It also has just about every type of cryptocurrency, including serious projects, meme coins like Dogecoin (DOGE) and Shiba Inu (SHIB), and smaller tokens.

Although Coinbase doesn't have everything, there aren't any major gaps in its lineup. This exchange is also proactive about adding new cryptocurrencies for investors to check out.

See if Coinbase has the crypto you want: Cryptocurrency Availability: Where Can You Buy Your Favorite Tokens?

Your cryptocurrency is safe with Coinbase, as it's one of the most secure exchanges. It stores over 98% of client funds in cold storage, meaning those assets are stored in devices that aren't connected to the internet. This provides greater security against hackers, making it the method of choice for secure cryptocurrency storage.

LEARN MORE: What Is Cold Storage in Crypto?

Coinbase carries crime insurance that covers assets stored online. Cash balances stored in Coinbase accounts are covered by FDIC insurance up to a maximum of $250,000 per customer, just like assets held in a savings or checking account at a bank.

Two-factor authentication (2FA) is required on all Coinbase accounts for added security. You also have the option of whitelisting withdrawal addresses so your crypto can only be withdrawn to addresses on your whitelist. For those who want even more security, Coinbase offers vaults, which require that withdrawals have a 48-hour waiting period and the approval of one or more designated parties.

Coinbase has an excellent track record, but it did have a security incident in 2021. Hackers exploited a vulnerability in its SMS account recovery tool to steal funds from over 6,000 clients. Coinbase fixed the issue and reimbursed those clients in full.

• You want a top-notch trading platform, user-friendly mobile app, and access to a wide variety of cryptocurrencies to buy and sell.
• You're new to cryptocurrencies and looking for a platform with plenty of educational resources.You're interested in opportunities to earn free crypto, including staking and interest programs.