Review on Coinbase Pro by Fabrizio Zampieri
Coinbase provides two trading venues, its Coinbase web portal dashboard for…
Coinbase provides two trading venues, its Coinbase web portal dashboard for investors and GDAX, its more advanced web-based platform for traders.
GDAX, which stands for Global Digital Asset Exchange, is a trading platform launched by the Coinbase in May of 2016. While some of you may know Coinbase for the ability to buy Bitcoin directly by Credit Card, GDAX is the other part of the company – the exchange that was created to accommodate not only Bitcoin trading but trading in alternative currencies as well. The exchange operates all around the world and is owned by the Coinbase Inc, which is based in San Francisco, California. GDAX is aimed at traders, trading fees are much lower and margin trading is available.
The platform is insured and backed by some of the largest investors in the industry, including Union Square Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, the New York Stock Exchange, and many others.
The GDAX platform is provided via a separate login using the same Coinbase login credentials to authorize the platform, which features streaming prices, with the depth of book shown visually.
The verification is necessary and GDAX requires two level identity verification. Users are not allowed to place deposits or trade before the verification process is completed.
The platform provided by GDAX is much better than the one offered at Coinbase. That being said, we find the charting lacking when compared to the charts provided by TradigView. In terms of technical indicators, only a couple of predetermined moving averages are available.
Pros
- Traders choose Coinbase/GDAX for the reputation of its management, its approach to storing clients’ digital assets mostly in cold storage, and its other security measures to mitigate its own risk in handling clients’ funds, including FDIC insurance applicable to USD balances held by US residents at Coinbase in case of its insolvency. GDAX is very well secured exchange and undergoes regular IT security and financial audits. Plus, they keep keeps 98% of their users’ funds off the Internet in cold storage with encryptions and multisig keys. GDAX is actually run by the same company that owns Coinbase. It’s important to note that the company holds the New York BitLicense. As of the summer of 2017 only three companies have received the license, and this is due to the burdensome and slow regulatory procedure. Coinbase is one of those three companies. The exchange currently supports three FIAT currencies, namely GBP, EUR, and USD.
Cons
- - commissions and fees are not the broker's strong point. - trading platform not so sofisticate as othrer's competitors; - customer support could be way better (the support can be a bit “shallow” sometimes and only partially resolve the problem. This can result in waiting for another 48 hours to completely resolve the problem); - few altcoins available; - a part of Coinbase, which is known for lack of privacy.
