The Ultimate Bitstamp Review: Should You Set Up an Account Today?

Self-proclaimed “the original global crypto exchange” and founded in 2011, Bitstamp is one of the oldest crypto exchanges you will find. However, don’t let that confuse you as it is still a major player in the crypto world.

Headquartered in Luxembourg, the exchange supports some of the most popular crypto and fiat currencies. While the exchange doesn’t offer as many features as other popular crypto exchanges, it excels when it comes to buying, selling, and trading cryptocurrencies.

Bitstamp offers its services to corporate and personal users around the world, powered by an intuitive web and mobile platform and straightforward fees.

Some of the most important aspects you should consider when looking for a new exchange to use are:

• Security  
• Features           
• Support           
• Fee Structure           
• Purchase/Withdrawal Methods           
• Supported currencies (Fiat and Crypto)

In this Bitstamp review, we will be looking at each of these categories. You will find out that Bitstamp is a reliable exchange that is also especially accessible to beginners.

Bitstamp Review: How Secure is Bitstamp?

One of the main priorities for the exchange is the security of its platform. For this reason, the exchange follows what it considers to be some of the best practices in this area. This translates to the use of multi-signature technology for its hot storage (online), as well as the use of cold storage (offline).

Multi-signature technology refers to the use of more than one key to keeping a crypto wallet secure. This approach is used only for a small portion of the crypto owned by the exchange, as hot storage is riskier. However, hot storage is necessary to ensure the exchange has liquidity at all times.

Like other exchanges, Bitstamp stores the majority of its crypto using cold storage. This ensures those assets are not accessible to hackers via the internet. When combined with “military-grade” encryption, this ensures the safety of all funds.

The exchange was the target of a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack back in 2014. While no crypto was stolen, the exchange was forced to stop operating for some days as a result.

Back in 2015, the exchange saw $5 million worth of Bitcoin stolen via a hacking attack. However, no other funds have been stolen from the exchange since then.

However, the exchange introduced Crime Insurance back in 2020. This insurance protects a user’s funds in cases of employee theft, loss in transit, and more. This extra layer of protection is another major advantage that has increased the exchange’s popularity and security.

What Features Does Bitstamp Offer?

As we said before in this Bitstamp review, Bitstamp does not shine for its offering of advanced features. If you are looking for leverage trading, pool mining, liquid swap, or an NFT marketplace, Bitstamp might not be for you.

Some of the features offered by the exchange are:

• Cryptocurrency trading: Bitstamp allows you to create a market, instant, limit, fill-or-kill, and trailing stop market orders.           
• Bitstamp earn: Generate passive income by staking Algorand and ETH 2.0.           
• Mobile App: Allow you to access your crypto, transfer it, and trade on the go.           
• API connectivity: Integrate your account with your favorite apps.           
• Crypto Purchase: Buy crypto using debit/credit card and ACH transactions.

How Good Is Bitstamp Customer Support?

Biststamp offers 24/7 support via a ticketing system and phone calls. Most of its users have a positive experience when interacting with the team. While tickets can take up to 72 hours to be dealt with, they usually take considerably less time.

If you have a corporate account, you will also have access to an account manager to help you in a more personal manner. This is great when dealing with trading with a high volume or to figure out the best way to move your money around.

The exchange also offers a great support page with articles on a variety of topics. Given how straightforward the features provided by the exchange are, chances are you will not need to interact with support.

Does Bitstamp Charge Fees?

While Bitstamp’s fees are not the cheapest, they are still pretty accessible. This makes the exchange extremely accessible to traders of all backgrounds.

Fees charged by crypto exchanges can often be overly complicated in nature. This makes it difficult for new traders to understand how much they are paying. Bitstamp has a pretty straightforward fee schedule, making it extremely easy to know what you are being charged for.

Trading Fees

For example, the trading fees don’t change from pair to pair but are completely unified in this regard. The percentage you will have in fees ranges from 0% to 0.5% depending on your trading volume over the past month.

You will pay 0.5% if you trade less than $10k, with the percentage decreasing as the volume increases. You can find these trading fees here.

When it comes to staking, both ETH2 and ALGO will incur a 15% fee. This fee is not paid when staking or unstaking your assets but is charged as a commission. This means the exchange will keep 15% of the total rewards you receive from staking.

Deposit & Withdrawal Fees

There are also some fees associated with the deposit and withdrawal of Fiat currency into/from your account. These fees will vary depending on the method and are as follow:

• Deposit:           
  • SEPA: Free of charge                       
  • ACH: Free of charge                       
  • Faster Payments (UK): Free of charge                       
  • International Wire: 0.05% with a minimum of 7.5 USD/EUR or 5 GBP           
• Withdrawal:           
  • SEPA: 3 EUR                       
  • ACH: Free of charge                       
  • Faster Payments (UK): 2 GBP                       
  • International Wire: 0.1% with a minimum of 25 USD/EUR/GBP           

Buying crypto using a debit or credit card will result in a fee of 5%. While this is the percentage charged by Bitstamp, your card provider might have extra fees.

Finally, all Cryptocurrency deposits are free of charge.

However, withdrawing crypto will result in a fee that will vary depending on the cryptocurrency you are withdrawing. As the exchange supports 35 cryptocurrencies, we recommend you check the latest information here depending on your particular needs.

These are fees for some of the most popular coins supported by the exchange:

• Bitcoin (BTC): 0.0005 BTC or 0.1% if using BitGO Instant.           
• XRP (XRP): 0.02 XRP           
• Litecoin (LTC): 0.001 LTC           
• Ether (ETH): 0.0035 ETH           
• Bitcoin Cash (BCH): 0.0001 BCH           
• Chainlink (LINK): 1 LINK           
• USD Coin (USDC): 20 USDC           
• DAI (DAI): 1 DAI           
• ALGO: 0.1 ALGO           
• Tether (USDT): 7 USDT

While not technically fees, there are costs you should consider if exchanging between fiat currencies. If currency conversion is required, the exchange will use its own conversion rates. You can check these exchange rates here https://www.bitstamp.net/fee-schedule/#exchange-rates.

What Currencies Are Supported by Bitstamp?

While Bistamp didn’t always excel when it came to its offering of cryptocurrencies, it has improved over the past years.

The exchange now offers support for 35 of the most popular cryptocurrencies. While this is a far cry from an exchange like Binance, it is more than enough for most traders.

As an exchange focused on quality over quantity, the exchange is always monitoring the market for potential listings.

The cryptocurrencies supported at this time are:

Bitcoin (BTC)	XRP (XRP)	Litecoin (LTC)
Ether (ETH)	Bitcoin Cash (BCH)	Stellar Lumens (XLM)
Paxos Standard (PAX)	Chainlink (LINK)	OMG Network (OMG)
USD Coin (USDC)	AAVE (AAVE)	Basic Attention Token (BAT)
UMA (UMA)	DAI (DAI)	Kyber Network (KNC)
Maker (MKR)	0x (ZRX)	Gemini Dollar (GUSD)
Algorand (ALGO)	Audius (AUDIO)	Curve (CRV)
Synthetix (SNX)	Uniswap (UNI)	yearn.finance (YFI)
Compound (COMP)	The Graph (GRT)	Tether (USDT)
Euro Tether (EURT)	Polygon (MATIC)	SushiSwap (SUSHI)
Chiliz (CHZ)	Enjin Coin (ENJ)	Alpha Finance (ALPHA)
FTX Token (FTT)	Storj (STORJ)

When it comes to fiat currency, the support is more limited. At this time, Bitstamp only offers support for US Dollar (USD), Euro (EUR), and British Pound sterling (GBP).

Conclusion

The exchange’s friendly interface, straightforward fees, and compliance with local regulations make it easy to buy, trade, and withdraw crypto.

The reputation that Bitstamp has built over the years as one of the best cryptocurrency exchanges is well deserved. However, if you are looking to invest in coins that are not that popular or for more powerful features… You might want to consider another exchange.

Bitstamp is a great option for those looking for a crypto exchange focused on quality of features over quantity. While the exchange features are limited, it has the necessary tools for most traders. This is especially true if you are a beginner.