GDAX

reviewURL: www.gdax.com

GDAX is a sister-company of the Coinbase exchange, it was founded in 2016. GDAX stands for Global Digital Asset Exchange. It is a re-branded form of Coinbase, under which the company listed Ethereum (ETH) for trading. Coinbase is a licensed and approved company in the US, and is one of the oldest players in cryptocurrency exchange market. Coinbase's rating is among the highest in the world, this is down to the trust it has built over time. Does GDAX stand true to the expectations set by Coinbase? Let's find out in this detailed review of this newly formed cryptocurrency exchange.

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Score
8.1
GDAX
Score - 8.1Score8.1
Score Android - Score Android
Score iPhone - Score iPhone
Location - USALocationUSA
Currencies - USD, EURCurrenciesUSD, EUR
Languages - ENLanguagesEN
Buy with - USD, EUR, GBPBuy withUSD, EUR, GBP
Fees - 0.3%Fees0.3%
Altcoins - YesAltcoinsYes
Margin trading - NoMargin tradingNo (Exchange does not support margin trading)
Trust score - ATrust scoreA
Beginner friendly - NoBeginner friendlyNo (Exchange is complex and difficult for beginners)
Stability - 2. MostStability2. Most (Exchange has occasional outages)
Fiat - YesFiatYes (The Exchange supports Fiat currency as USD, EUR, etc.)
Support speed - Few weekSupport speedFew week (Technical support is slow to respond within a few weeks)
SafetyB
API - YesAPIYes (API is available for public to use)
Rest API - YesRest APIYes (The Exchange has Rest API support)
Websocket - YesWebsocketYes (The Exchange has Websocket support)
Mobile app - NoMobile appNo (Exchange does not have a mobile app)
Credit card - NoCredit cardNo (Exchange does not support credit cards)
Referral - NoReferralNo (Exchange does not offer an affiliate program)
Two factor authentification - YesTwo factor authentificationYes (The Exchange supports two factor authentication)
Withdrawal limit
Verification time - Few DaysVerification timeFew Days (The Exchange verifies the user within a few days)
Lending - NoLendingNo (Exchange does not support lending)
Stop limit - YesStop limitYes (Exchange supports stop limit)
US licence - YesUS licenceYes (Exchange have US licence for Money transmitter)
PGP support - NoPGP supportNo (Exchange does not have PGP encryption)

After starting its operations in 2016, GDAX received a mixed response from users. The founders of Coinbase aimed to launch GDAX as a dedicated platform for seasonal traders and expert users. The interface of GDAX is not as simple as many other cryptocurrency exchanges out there however this has not put users off as it continues to build a stellar reputation. Another positive GDAX has is that it provides a seamless and smooth transfer of accounts from Coinbase. If you are an existing Coinbase customer, you can easily move your account to GDAX.

Account transfer might be smooth, but you will still need to transfer your cryptocurrency from one wallet to another to trade on GDAX. If you have been using coinbase for a long time, getting used to GDAX would be an easy task for you. However, if you are a newbie, GDAX might pose a few extra issues with its interface being fairly complex.

GDAX has limited support worldwide. It is not available in all countries, only the USA, UK, Singapore, Canada, Australia and Europe. It has an option for USA, UK and European customers to trade using their government issued currency, but this luxury isn't available to the customers from Canada, Australia and Singapore. GDAX allows only three Fiat currencies namely - the US Dollar, the Euro and the British Pound.

Despite being a sister company of Coinbase, GDAX offers very low fees on transactions and trading. Ranging from 0.1% to 0.25%, the fees of GDAX are dramatically lower than that of Coinbase, which can charge between 1.5% to 4% and higher, especially when using a credit card or debit card for payments.

Sailing into the success-boat of Coinbase has made it easier for GDAX to receive a warm welcome from the users who wanted a platform with more flexibility and lower transaction fees. GDAX also gives its users a chance to diversify their crypto-portfolio. Apart from Bitcoin, it also has Litecoin (LTC), Ethereum (ETH) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) in which the customers can trade.

ADVANTAGES OF GDAX

GDAX has many advantages over other cryptocurrency or bitcoin exchanges

  • The biggest advantage it has is an easy migration from Coinbase. Those that have been trading cryptocurrency the past few years have more than likely been the customer of Coinbase.
  • Coinbase was originally dedicated strictly to trading Bitcoin since 2012, until it launched ETH, BTC & LTC. GDAX has always allowed its users to trade other currencies as well. Currently it has the same 4 currencies as Coinbase - Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin and Litecoin.
  • GDAX can be seem as a traders dream because they allow marginal trading, unlike other cryptocurrency exchanges that do not. This means that you don't need to put the full size of the trade down whilst still gaining the maximum profits. The flip side being that you will realise the maximum losses as well.
  • This cryptocurrency exchange has one of the lowest fee structures. It charges between 0.1% to 0.25% for transactions. Like Poloniex, it follows a maker-taker model, but it has zero maker fees. That means, someone who wants to 'buy' a crypto-asset does not need to pay any additional fees, which is amazing! But the taker (seller) has to pay certain fees. The fees vary from currency to currency, and also on the volume to be traded. If you are trading high volume, your fees will be lower.
  • GDAX's interface, and model resonates completely with experienced trading platforms. Those who want to take their trading game a notch higher, must use GDAX for its information-rich interface.
  • It allows customers to deposit three different currencies - USD, Euro and Pound Sterling. Users can make the deposits using either bank transfers or credit/debit cards.
  • GDAX supports Bitcoin hard-fork, that is why they have listed Bitcoin Cash on their network.
  • They have robust and safe security features. They allow 2FA (two factor authentication), which acts as an extra layer of security to your funds.
  • So far, GDAX has no history of being hacked or its security being compromised, which although is never a guarantee of safety, it certainly does give you more confidence investing in this exchange.
  • GDAX has a history of undergoing financial audits and regular IT security to stay away from any controversies related to financial management.
  • They have stored their 98% of the cryptocurrency in cold-storage (offline wallets), which means only a marginal amount is available online. Hence, even if it gets hacked, they will hardly lose anything.
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DISADVANTAGES OF GDAX

There might be many upsides of GDAX, but let's not ignore the downsides either. There are potential disadvantages that GDAX has, and some of them are -

  • The biggest downside of GDAX is its limited availability. It is not available worldwide, and only operates in the USA, Singapore, Australia, Canada, UK and Europe.
  • The second disadvantage is that it does not allow the government issued currencies of all countries to be deposited in the user accounts. Only USD, Euro and Pound Sterling are allowed. The citizens of Australia, Canada and Singapore are only allowed to trade in cryptocurrencies, or they must deposit USD, Euro or Pound Sterling if they wish to trade using Fiat currencies.
  • GDAX only allows USA, UK and European citizens to trade in all the cryptocurrencies available on their network. Citizens of Singapore, Canada and Australia only have Ethereum and Litecoin available for trading. This limits their customers greatly, as the citizens of these three countries cannot even use their government issued currency to buy any crypto-asset. Moreover, GDAX also lacks worldwide support right now, which makes it a very limited and restricted network.
  • The interface of GDAX is not meant for newbies and beginners. It is only for seasonal traders and those who have been trading for a long time. Those who have been using coinbase and trading cryptocurrencies for years, will rejoice in the fresh outlook that GDAX provides, but those who are just entering into the cryptocurrency world, should first get some experience with easier interfaces. Confusing interfaces can often cause unwanted financial loss.
  • GDAX has a history of crashes and network maintenance issues. Back in December 2017, when the Bitcoin price was at its all-time high (ATH), GDAX and Coinbase, both crashed because of high traffic influx. GDAX needs to learn to manage traffic in peak hours to avoid these issues again.
  • It has no application for iOS or Android, but it does provide API support for third-party applications.

Manuals for GDAX

rading on GDAX needs you to transfer your money to your own GDAX account. Before selling or buying on the exchange, you should first move your cryptocurrency or money to the account. Just go to the upper left corner of the menu and tap on the “Deposit” button. You will get a pop-up menu being displayed, which will let you choose the currency and the account.

For buying cryptocurrency, you will usually have to deposit fiat currency from the Coinbase wallet or bank account in your name. Choose the source of the transfer, type in the amount that you want and then look at the bottom of the window to choose the “Deposit Funds” option.

In case you are transferring money from a Coinbase wallet, you will see an instant transfer. It will usually take about 7 to 10 days for the transfer to be possible from your bank account. In the latter case, you must prepare beforehand for trading. When deposits are made regularly and at set intervals, you can get optimal flexibility while placing purchase orders.

However, you should make deposits manually. This is because neither GDAX nor Coinbase offer options for current automatic transfers of fiat currency. You will not have to pay any fees to deposit money into your wallet in the GDAX exchange.

Review of GDAX

After the supreme-success of Coinbase, similar expectations were put on GDAX, but there are several shortcomings that have affected its growth and expansion. If they list more crypto-assets, ICOs and tokens on their platform, and open trading to more countries, then we feel that GDAX can be a big player in the exchange market. For now the platform is working fine for expert traders, especially as it allows margin trading. This should give you a good basis to make a decision about choosing GDAX as your cryptocurrency exchange.

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