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Canadians who want to get into the world of cryptocurrencies have numerous options. When looking for the best Bitcoin exchange in Canada some will only consider exchanges with a physical location in the country.
Others don’t care where the company has its base, provided it is legal to use in Canada. No matter your preference, you will find an exchange that meets your requirements, including many that accept CAD in exchange for Bitcoin.
As you browse the cryptocurrency exchanges operating in Canada, pay attention to the fees, cryptocurrencies available, deposit and withdrawal methods, whether they take fiat currency, what fees they charge and what features you need to help you analyze crypto pairs. To save you time, you can just pick one of the best Bitcoin exchanges in Canada from this list.
Binance
If you do not need to use a Canadian exchange, Binance is a reasonable choice. This exchange was originally based out of Hong Kong but has moved within the last few years due to regulations.
To make using the exchange simple, you do not need to verify your account for daily withdrawals of less than 2 BTC. Verification is relatively straightforward with expected documents like a photo ID and information such as your date of birth and full name.
Once you verify your account, your daily withdrawal limit increases to 100 BTC. Traders who use higher volumes can get an even higher limit by contacting Binance for further account verification.
The only thing to keep in mind if you plan to use Binance is that it does not support fiat currencies, so you cannot use Canadian dollars to buy Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency of your choice.
Despite not supporting fiat, Binance remains popular for the sheer number of cryptocurrencies that it supports. There are at least dozens of crypto pairs involving Bitcoin and Ether, plus the Binance Coin.
Those who prefer to use something closer to fiat currency can also use Binance to exchange with USDT, the Tether token that aims to line up with USD.
Some argue that Binance is not suitable for beginners because of the large amount of information you need to get past to buy or sell with a trading pair. In reality, those who do not need this information can mostly ignore it and will easily spot the buy and sell section on the pair’s page.
Others will appreciate the information, and there is an advanced version with even more in-depth analysis to help experienced traders make their investment decisions.
Canadian Bitcoins
Unsurprisingly given its name, Canadian Bitcoins is based out of Canada. This exchange is designed specifically for trading cryptocurrencies within that country, and it offers a long list of payment methods to help it appeal to a range of users.
Most of the payment methods do not have any fees, including Interac, a bill via online banking, direct debit, bank account balance, cash in person (in Ottawa) and cash via mail. Using a Flexepin Voucher only has a 1.5 percent fee, and paying by debit card in person costs $3.
For added convenience, users can choose to buy Bitcoins when they load their Canadian dollars to the website or simply preload CAD to use later. There is also a range of options for receiving payment when you sell Bitcoins, but not quite as many.
There is no fee associated with a direct deposit. You can pick up cash in person or receive cash via XpressPost for a small fee, which will be waived for amounts over $500 and $1,000, respectively.
While Canadian Bitcoins is easily one of the best Bitcoin exchanges in Canada for its convenience, it does have limited choices for cryptocurrencies. You can only buy and sell Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, Dash or Litecoin.
These transactions always take place with CAD, without support for crypto-to-crypto transactions. Because all transactions involve CAD, Canadian Bitcoin has less privacy than some of the other exchanges. However, it is an excellent option for those new to the world of cryptocurrency.
This platform is not good for experienced traders or those who like to make trades between cryptocurrencies since, as mentioned earlier, it doesn’t support crypto-to-crypto transactions.
Additionally, the platform is not set up to support multiple transactions daily, so each user can only make a single purchase every day. Additionally, transactions can take several days to process, and the price used will be from the time of processing, not when you initialize the transaction. This means that you may end up with a better or worse rate than you initially anticipated.
Coinbase
Although Coinbase is based out of San Francisco in the United States, it is among the best Bitcoin exchanges for Canadians. However, an important point to keep in mind is that Canadian citizens can only use Coinbase to buy crypto, but not sell it.
Even so, it offers support for Canadian dollars and accepts deposits via debit or credit cards. The funds are available instantly, but a 3.99 percent fee will apply. You can also make Interac Online purchases that are available instantly or Canadian EFT purchases, but those may take four days for completion.
Coinbase has support for Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin Gold. There is also a mobile application for both Android and Apple, so you can use Coinbase on the go.
Because it is based in the United States, Coinbase must follow U.S. regulations, something that benefits Canadians as well due to the higher level of security. There is even an insurance policy that covers digital currency stored on the exchange’s servers. For added safety, Coinbase stores most of the digital assets offline to prevent the risk of hacks.
Setting up an account with Coinbase is relatively straightforward, but you will need to enable two-factor verification of some sort. Most users opt to do so with their phone number, but you can also opt for a third-party app, like Google Authenticator or Duo.
The popularity and long history of Coinbase help create faith in the exchange. Since its launch in 2012, Coinbase has exchanged more than $50 billion USD in digital currency and served more than 10 million customers.
Interestingly enough, Coinbase also offers the option of recurring buys in addition to one-time transactions. This type of buy will appeal to those who want to invest in Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency slowly over time. You can schedule recurring buys to take place monthly or weekly, depending on your preferences.
CoinSquare
CoinSquare is based in Toronto and lets you trade using CAD with a long list of funding options. In addition to making your base currency CAD, you also have the option of setting it to USD, EUR, AUD, GBO or BTC.
The funding options are one of the things that set CoinSquare apart, although they do come with fees. If you opt for a money order or bank draft, you will only have to pay a 0.25 percent fee, although an Interac e-transfer might cost 5 percent.
Bank wires come with a 0.5 percent fee, and you can also opt for a Flexepin voucher. To withdraw, you can opt for a wire transfer, direct deposit, or Interac e-transfer, with bank wires costing only 0.5 percent and Interac costing 5 percent.
Transaction fees are very similar to other exchanges in the industry. Market takers get charged 0.2 percent, while market makers must pay 0.1 percent.
The system behind CoinSquare was built in-house and was stress-tested to withstand DDoS attacks and other hypothetical situations. The developers seem to have done a good job considering the exchange hasn’t lost any coins since it opened in 2015. The 95 percent cold storage policy for funds also delivers peace of mind.
Compared to some of the other choices, this contender for the title of best Bitcoin exchange in Canada has a low level of privacy since all users must create an account to complete transactions. Verification requires an email address, phone number, government ID and other documents such as utility bills and/or bank statements.
The platform is simple enough for the average person to be able to use it, but it has enough additional features such as charts and graphs to appease experienced traders. That said, it does not support the types of trades that some veteran traders will want.
The trading interface is customizable, and there is also a unique QuickTrade feature that lets you trade between coins quickly and easily.
QuadrigaCX
No list of Canadian Bitcoin exchanges would be complete without QuadrigaCX, which is probably the most popular in the country. It is based out of Vancouver and has a trading volume close to $1 million, a very good figure by Canadian standards.
The only downside of QuadrigaCX is that it supports a small number of cryptocurrencies—just Bitcoin, Ether, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Bitcoin Gold. Even so, QuadrigaCX covers the main cryptocurrencies. Since you have the choice of exchanging them for USD or CAD, it is highly accessible for Canadians.
Instead of acting as a traditional currency exchange, QuadrigaCX is a peer-to-peer exchange where buyers and sellers interact with each other. QuadrigaCX sets this process up to make it simple to find someone to trade with via the order book.
To provide you with additional information to help you decide, the exchange also lists the most recent trades and shows the price of a given trading pair over the past 60 days on a graph.
Trading fees on this exchange are relatively low, typically between 0.2 and 0.5 percent. The customer support is excellent, and QuadrigaCX has above-standard security for the industry, giving users peace of mind during their transactions.
That said, the company is not very highly regulated by the Canadian government, something that some may worry about. For added security, the exchange uses two-factor authentication.
It also has a referral program to encourage the spread of the platform. Users also appreciate the range of transfer options including vouchers, money orders, bank transfers, wire transfers and Interac, some of which take longer than others.
QuickBT
Another Canadian-based exchange worth considering is QuickBT. This exchange is designed to make it simple for Canadians to invest in Bitcoin, Ethereum or Litecoin using their Canadian dollars.
It is still a relatively small company compared to international exchanges, advertising “over 200,000 satisfied Canadians.” However, by the standards of Canadian crypto companies, it is reasonably sized.
The company began in 2013, so it has years of experience with Bitcoin trading, giving it the tools to help Canadians invest in crypto.
The system is a great choice for those who want something that is beginner-friendly, quick and straightforward. You only need to verify your cell phone number and will then be able to buy and sell a daily limit of $200.
Based on this limit, QuickBT appeals more to beginners and small-time traders as opposed to those who are aggressively investing in cryptocurrencies or trading daily. To make QuickBT even more accessible, it offers multiple payment options, including debit and credit cards, Flexepin, INTERAC and cash.
Using the system is straightforward. You just get the live market quote, pay with your chosen method and receive the digital currency in seconds or minutes.
QuickBT is particularly useful for beginners because of its simple interface and the fact that it is upfront about pricing, without any hidden fees. The customer service is also friendly and helpful.
Security should not be a concern since you provide minimal information and the page is TLS/SSL secured for privacy. Beginners will find that the website truly has everything they need, including a “First Steps” tab.
Conclusion
Whether you prefer an exchange based in the country or just one that operates there, you can easily purchase crypto via any of the exchanges reviewed here. Even exchanges based outside of Canada may accept CAD, and some Canadians will prefer transactions done solely in cryptocurrency due to their lower verification requirements.
All the above options have support for Canadian residents, so you have a lot of choice when it comes to which platform to use for Bitcoin trading.