OKX vs Coinbase: Discover Which Exchange We Crowned Winner! 🔥
Jack Moreau
Sep 2023
9 min read
Fact checked
Looking for the perfect exchange to buy and trade cryptocurrencies? Look no further than our OKX vs Coinbase comparison! We've analysed everything from account verification to fees to help you decide which platform is right for you. Keep reading to learn more about these two popular options.
OKX and Coinbase are two well-known cryptocurrency exchanges that have gained popularity among users around the globe. While both exchanges offer an array of trading services and support multiple cryptocurrencies, they do have their differences.
OKX was founded in 2017 by Star Xu and is registered in Seychelles with headquarters in Hong Kong. The exchange has over 1000 employees and is available in 180 countries, with the exception of the US, UK, and Canada.
OKX has grown into a multifaceted exchange that offers a wide range of trading services such as spot, margin, perps, futures, and options.
OKX exchange
The platform also offers trading bots, demo and copy trading, earn products, launchpad, web 3 wallet and more. OKX has an impressive user base of over 20 million users, 1 million app downloads, and supports 350 cryptocurrencies.
OKX app
On the other hand, Coinbase was founded in 2012 by Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsa and is registered in the District of Columbia. Coinbase has over 5000 employees and is available in 100 countries, including North America and Europe.
Coinbase exchange
The exchange is known for its user-friendly interface, security, and regulatory compliance. Coinbase offers a range of services such as spot trading, recurring buys, staking, and Coinbase learn & earn, an educational program that rewards users for learning about cryptocurrencies. In terms of availability, Coinbase has a wider footprint across North America and Europe compared to OKX.
Coinbase app
The exchange caters to both retail and institutional investors with Coinbase Pro, offering additional features and lower fees. Coinbase has over 100 million users, 10 million app downloads, and supports over 200 cryptocurrencies.
OKX vs Coinbase Signup & KYC
When it comes to signing up for a cryptocurrency exchange, KYC verification is a step that cannot be avoided. OKX and Coinbase both require KYC verification for their users, but the process for each exchange is slightly different.
To sign up for OKX, users can simply enter their email or phone number and verify their account. From there to begin trading users have to enter personal information in addition to a residential address before they can begin trading.
OKX KYC level 1 verification
However, to increase this limit and gain access to more advanced trading features, users must complete KYC verification. This involves also uploading a government IDÂ and can take up to 1-2 business days to get verified.
OKX level 2 verification
On the other hand, signing up for Coinbase is a quick and easy process that takes less than a minute. Coinbase's verification process requires users to submit their ID and can be completed in just a few minutes to a few hours.
Coinbase signup
Overall, OKX and Coinbase both require KYC verification, but the process for each exchange differs slightly. OKX allows for some trading without full KYC, while Coinbase does not.
OKX vs Coinbase Products & Services
OKX offers a wide range of trading services, including spot, futures, perps, margin, and options. The max leverage on OKX for futures is 100X, while the max leverage for margin is 5X.
OKX spot trading
They also provide trading bots, staking, lending and borrowing, an NFT marketplace, and their own web 3 wallet.
OKX NFTs
The user experience on OKX is great, with a modern and easy-to-navigate interface. In terms of liquidity, OKX frequently reaches average daily spot trading volumes between $500 million and $1 billion.
OKX earn product
Compared to OKX, Coinbase is a more heavily regulated exchange based out of the USÂ that offers spot trading, lending and borrowing, their own non-custodial web 3 wallet, a Coinbase Card, and an NFT marketplace.
Coinbase product and services
They also have a "Learn and Earn" program that rewards users for learning about cryptocurrencies. Coinbase provides a great user experience with a beginner-friendly and easy-to-navigate website.
Coinbase learn and earn
The liquidity on Coinbase is in the top 5 category, with daily spot trading volumes frequently exceeding $1 billion. Coinbase Pro customers in 23 U.S. states can access up to 3x leverage on USD-quoted books.
When it comes to trading fees, OKX and Coinbase take quite different approaches. OKX offers some of the lowest fees in the industry, with a spot maker fee of just 0.08% and a spot taker fee of 0.10%.
OKX spot fees
Futures trading fees are also very competitive, with a maker fee of 0.02% and a taker fee of just 0.05%. Even better, OKX offers trading discounts for users who hold a minimum of 500 OKB tokens or whose monthly trading volume exceeds $10,000,000.
Coinbase charges much trading higher fees with a spot maker fee of 0.40% and a spot taker fee of 0.60%. While they don't offer futures trading, Coinbase does allow users to lower their fees if monthly trade volumes exceed $10,000.
Coinbase spot fees
Overall, if you're looking for low fees and the ability to lower them through various means, OKX is the clear winner.
When it comes to depositing funds into OKX or Coinbase, there are some differences in the options available.
Let's start with Coinbase which allows users to deposit funds using three fiat currencies, USD, EUR, and GBP. Users can make a deposit via ACH (which is free), wire transfer (which incurs a $10 USD fee), SEPA (which has a 0.15 EUR fee), or Swift (which is free). So, whether you're in the United States, Europe, or the UK, you have several ways to add funds to your Coinbase account.
Coinbase fiat deposit
On the other hand, OKX does not support depositing any fiat currencies. Instead, users must either deposit cryptocurrencies to trade or use a credit or debit card and buy from a third-party payment provider.
Buy crypto with card on OKX
This can come with a fee ranging from 1-2%. While this may be a downside for some users, OKX still offers a variety of cryptocurrency deposit options as well. But, if you're looking for an exchange that supports fiat deposits, Coinbase is the clear winner.
When it comes to withdrawing fiat currencies, OKX unfortunately does not offer this option to their users.
However, if you're looking to withdraw your cryptocurrencies from OKX, you'll be happy to know that they have relatively low withdrawal fees. For example, the BTC withdrawal fee is only 0.0002 BTC, the ETH withdrawal fee is 0.00061, and the SOL withdrawal fee is 0.008.
The fees for these withdrawals are also fairly reasonable, with ACH withdrawals being free and Wire withdrawals only costing $25 USD.
When it comes to cryptocurrency withdrawals, Coinbase also has low fees, with only a 0.0001 BTC withdrawal fee for Bitcoin and free ETH withdrawals. However, if you're looking to withdraw USDT, keep in mind that there is a $3 fee.
After analysing the data on OKX and Coinbase, it's clear that both platforms have their strengths and weaknesses. In terms of user base, Coinbase has a significant advantage with over 100 million registered users, compared to OKX's 20 million.
OKX is however the more versatile exchange and provides access to more trading products with leverage up to 100X. For intermediate users and more advanced traders, OKX is an excellent choice.
While Coinbase offers less product and services than OKX, they emphasise simplicity by making it for it's users to buy and sell cryptocurrencies in a beginner friendly manner.
Having said that, we are also impressed with the UX of OKX which is great considering how many products they offer. When it comes to fees, Coinbase charges a higher transaction fee of 0.4% for makers compared to 0.8% on OKX.
In terms of liquidity, OKX has a larger trading volume with an average of $1.5 billion per day while Coinbase's average daily trading volume is around $1 billion.
While we like and use both OKX and Coinbase, we have to give the edge to OKX as the exchange offers a wider range of cryptocurrencies, lower trading fees, more products and features and high leverage.
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Author
Jack Moreau
Jack is a crypto writer and reviewer who has been active in the space since he caught the crypto bug in 2017. With a passion for trying out new shiny things, Jack is always eager to try the latest cryptocurrency exchanges, wallets or DeFi applications.