Coinbase Pro Review: Advanced Crypto Trading Platform (2021)

This review is part of a crypto exchange review series. Our last reviews evaluated Kraken, Binance, Bittrex, Huobi, KuCoin, Poloniex, Gemini, and Bitstamp.

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Coinbase Pro is an advanced cryptocurrency trading platform owned and operated by Coinbase, Inc. It was launched in the year 2015 as GDAX, a professional trading platform for individual active traders and later rebranded in July 2018. Coinbase Pro enables high-volume cryptocurrency trading solutions to traders in the US and other countries.

General Overview

Operating from San Francisco, the platform offers professional trading tools and wallet services, delivered through a completely revamped interface for a seamless trading experience. Coinbase Pro supports trading 0x, Augur, Basic Attention Token, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, EOS, Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, Litecoin, Stellar, Ripple and ZCash and a number of other tokens.

After Coinbase Pro's launch in early 2015, it introduced many exciting features, among which are reliable security measures, high trading volumes, low fees, deep liquidity and ease of use. That being said, Coinbase Pro is focus on the more experienced, high-volume traders than beginners. It permits a good amount of advanced trading options, ranging from stop and limit orders, to fill or kill and good 'til canceled orders.

User Experience

In this section, we will break down the different aspects of the Coinbase Pro user experience to provide a holistic view of the way this growing exchange supports their user base.

Customer Support

Coinbase Pro users enjoy excellent customer support, with a dedicated team of support staff on hand to resolve issues within minutes. Phone support is also available for more urgent cases (for instance, customers can lock their accounts on the phone, if they feel their security may have been compromised) during weekdays.

Registration Process

The registration process is quite straightforward; simply go to https://pro.coinbase.com/ and select Sign Up. Provide your details and verify your email address and phone number. Finally, you'll be asked to upload a government-issued ID for verification before you can link a bank account (you could skip this step if you want to).

If you already have a Coinbase account, simply use your registered email address for your Coinbase Pro account. Besides the fact that it's against policy to operate more than one account each for Coinbase and Coinbase Pro, it makes for a seamless trading experience, as both accounts are automatically linked and you can transfer funds between accounts.

Account Verification

After registration, you’ll be asked to verify your account. To be successfully verified, you need to upload relevant official documents. Users from the United States would be asked to provide a driver's license or state ID. You must complete address verification and also provide the last four digits of your Social Security number.

Users from the UK are required to upload a government-issued ID document (e.g., driver's license, or passport) and also answer some verification questions while users from every other country are required to provide two identity documents.

Supported Countries

Coinbase Pro allows users from 42 different countries including: Australia, Canada, Singapore, UK, Europe, and the US (with the exception of those resident in Hawaii, Minnesota, and Wyoming, since they do not yet have an operating license there). Once a user from any of the allowed countries is registered and has had their identity verified, they can start trading immediately.

Trading

Another outstanding feature of Coinbase Pro is that it has comparatively low trading fees and at the same time, charges zero fees for cryptocurrency withdrawals or deposits. This feature in particular singles it out as a favored pro cryptocurrency trading platform. However, it does not permit margin trading at this time, which may be a drawback for more advanced cryptocurrency traders.

Fees

By adopting a dynamic fee structure, Coinbase Pro makes it possible for you to trade with near-zero fees, once you know your way around. You're allowed to place an order as a market order, a limit order, or a stop order. Coinbase Pro charges no fee at higher volume tiers when you place an open order on the books when buying or selling, and this applies to all supported cryptocurrencies.

Although Coinbase Pro is a great exchange for institutions which can execute high volume trades, recent fee increases have severely hurt retail investors. Executing less than $10,000 in monthly trading volume places you in the first tier that has a maker and taker fee of 0.5%. This is one of the highest fees in the industry.

Supported Cryptocurrencies

For the fiat markets (USD, GBP, EUR), Coinbase Pro supports the following cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum Classic, Stellar Lumens, Ripple, EOS, ZCash, Basic Attention Token, REP and 0x.

You can construct a diverse portfolio with all of these assets by reading our guide about how to create your first cryptocurrency index fund on Coinbase Pro here.

On the stablecoin markets, cryptocurrencies like BTC, ETH, ZEC, BAT, DAI, GNT, MANA, LOOM, CVC, DNT can be traded against the dollar-pegged stablecoin USDC.

All Coinbase Pro users can view the order book and check information related to any trading pair, but they can only trade the pairs permitted in accordance with the local regulators in their geographical area. The availability of different trading pairs is entirely dependent on the local regulations within the country. For instance, in Singapore, Canada, and Australia, only the ETH/BTC, BCH/BTC, and LTC/BTC trading pairs are available.

Portfolios

Like many other exchanges, Coinbase Pro has begun allowing customers to segment their funds into multiple portfolios. This allows traders to maintain individual portfolios that can be used to separate strategies, funds, and manage risk.

Although Coinbase Pro portfolios aren’t convenient for the average investor, advanced traders will be pleased with the increased control over their funds.

API Management

Coinbase Pro has a WebSocket feed that makes getting real-time market data quite easy, and the platform's industry-leading API is part of Coinbase Pro. Also, the trading API enables its users to develop programmatic trading bots with a high level of security. Coinbase Pro has a dedicated page to the API as well as related documentation that are easily accessible from the bottom of any page on the website or you go to the main navigation menu at the top of the webpage.

Linking these API keys to trading bot services is an easy process. We’ve provided a guide on how to link Coinbase Pro API Keys in order to manage your Coinbase Pro account here.

Security

Above all else, it is vital for all cryptocurrency exchanges to place security at the forefront of their development. Coinbase Pro embodies these ideas by leading the market in security measures and continuously pushing for improved security practices.

Cold Storage

As a trading platform, Coinbase Pro is considered a safe haven. One of its best practices in terms of security measures is that 98 percent of its customers' digital assets are locked in cold storage, thereby preventing loss of funds through theft, hacking or other means. The rest is privately insured.

With regards to data security, Coinbase Pro has several measures in place to ensure protection. For instance, stored Bitcoins are distributed geographically around the world in safe deposit boxes and vaults. Rather than storing sensitive data on servers, the platform has all such data stored offline, away from the internet. This drastically reduces the risk of a security breach.  

For additional security, the same data is split with redundancy and secured using AES-256 encryption before they are copied onto FIPS-140 hardware and paper backups. Just like the funds' security measures, those FIPS-140 hardware and paper backups are also distributed geographically around the world into vaults and safe deposit boxes.

2-factor Authentication

In addition to the data security, all user accounts are required to enable two-step verification. This verification demands that users get a code from their phones for signing in and performing other sensitive actions in addition to inputting their passwords.

FDIC Insurance

Digital currency is not a legal tender, neither is it government-backed, and as such, it cannot be covered by protections from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or the Securities Investor Protection Corporation. Instead, as mentioned earlier, the digital assets not locked in cold storage (less than two percent) are privately insured. The insurance policy covers cybersecurity, employee theft, and physical security, but not individual account security breaches.

Although the cryptocurrency funds are insured privately, Coinbase Pro users have FDIC-backed insurance coverage for their USD balances, up to $250,000 USD.

Encryptions and Passwords

Coinbase Pro also implements best practices for the payment industry by running all site traffic over HTTPS. All wallets and private keys are AES-256 encrypted as well before being stored. Even as an organization, when hiring, Coinbase puts in additional precautions which pertain to employees. They have to pass background checks, and their hard drives have to be encrypted, screen lock enabled and use strong passwords.

Limits and Liquidity

Coinbase Pro supports an unlimited deposit of Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum and Bitcoin Cash to your wallet as well as USD deposits through wire transfer. The users are offered a high level of liquidity, as the users can withdraw up to $10,000 per day from an individual account while from an institutional account up to $50,000 per day.

However, on request and approval, they permit higher withdrawal limits. But their fiat currency deposits and withdrawals are limited to some degree, users are allowed to deposit and withdraw all the cryptocurrencies traded on Coinbase Pro. All they require is an external wallet for each digital currency being traded. You can get more information regarding limits and liquidity on their official trading rules page found here.

Pros

• With a highly intuitive trading interface, it provide a more seamless trading experience than most exchanges
• Great choice for professional traders
• Backed by a reputable company and fully regulated in the US
• Secure platform with private and FDIC-backed insurance protection
• High liquidity across their trading pairs

Cons

• The selection of cryptocurrencies is growing, but ultimately they are still lagging behind other top exchanges
• No mobile app available yet but mobile-friendly platform
• Customers have historically complained about the long wait times to reach the Coinbase user support team
• The trading fees for retail investors are higher than other major exchanges

Coinbase Pro Rating ― 4.0

Total Rating - 4

Coinbase Pro is an exceptional exchange, but the fees are simply way too high. Since retail investors have a wide selection of other exchanges to choose from like Binance, there is no reason to settle for paying a 0.5% trading fee.

Summary

Coinbase Pro is one of the best cryptocurrency trading platforms for professional traders, considering all the groundbreaking features it supports. It’s a highly secure platform with a lot of verification procedures in place to safeguard user accounts. The trading interface is intuitive with more detailed trading charts powered by a real-time data feed for a seamless experience. With high volume and liquidity, it is an excellent option for high volume traders because of its low transaction fees. Whether you’re trading on the website or using the API, Coinbase Pro allows you to trade securely and seamlessly.