Every exchange we grade, side by side
The same safety grades as the Safety Center, in one table you can re-order — by grade, by name, or down any one of the five checks.
15 exchanges graded · A- to D
Compare exchanges on checked facts
Fees, licences and proof of reserves, each taken from the exchange’s own pages or a regulator’s register, with the date we checked.
- Spot fees (base tier)
- 0.4% maker, 0.8% taker
- Licences
- 10 (Central Bank of Ireland, CySEC, FCA)
- Proof of reserves
- Published
Spot, Futures, Staking, Card purchases. Facts checked Oct 20, 2026.
- Spot fees (base tier)
- 0.1% maker, 0.1% taker
- Licences
- 11 (FSRA (ADGM), Astana Financial Services Authority (AIFC), Central Bank of Bahrain)
- Proof of reserves
- Published
Spot, Futures, Staking, P2P. Facts checked Oct 20, 2026.
- Spot fees (base tier)
- 0.1% maker, 0.1% taker
- Licences
- 9 (AUSTRAC, FCA, FINMA-recognised SRO)
- Proof of reserves
- Published
Spot, Futures, P2P, Card purchases, Copy trading. Facts checked Oct 20, 2026.
- Spot fees (base tier)
- 0.1% maker, 0.1% taker
- Licences
- 3 (Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA), Astana Financial Services Authority (AIFC), National Bank of Georgia)
- Proof of reserves
- Published
Spot, Futures, Staking, P2P. Facts checked Oct 20, 2026.
- Spot fees (base tier)
- Not published openly
- Licences
- 4 (NYDFS, Louisiana OFI, Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF))
- Proof of reserves
- Not found
Spot, Futures, Staking, Card purchases. Facts checked Oct 20, 2026.
- Spot fees (base tier)
- 0.25% maker, 0.5% taker
- Licences
- 7 (Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA), FINTRAC, SFC)
- Proof of reserves
- Published
Spot, Futures, Staking, Card purchases. Facts checked Oct 20, 2026.
- Spot fees (base tier)
- Not published openly
- Licences
- None found on official pages or registers
- Proof of reserves
- Published
Spot, Futures, P2P, Card purchases. Facts checked Oct 20, 2026.
- Spot fees (base tier)
- Not published openly
- Licences
- None found on official pages or registers
- Proof of reserves
- Published
Spot, Futures, P2P, Card purchases, Copy trading. Facts checked Oct 20, 2026.
- Spot fees (base tier)
- 0.08% maker, 0.1% taker
- Licences
- 1 (Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA))
- Proof of reserves
- Published
Spot, Futures, P2P, Card purchases, Copy trading. Facts checked Oct 20, 2026.
- Spot fees (base tier)
- 0.3% maker, 0.4% taker
- Licences
- 5 (CSSF, FCA, NYDFS)
- Proof of reserves
- Not found
Spot, Futures, Staking, Card purchases. Facts checked Oct 20, 2026.
- Spot fees (base tier)
- Not published openly
- Licences
- None found on official pages or registers
- Proof of reserves
- Not found
Futures. Facts checked Oct 20, 2026.
- Spot fees (base tier)
- Not published openly
- Licences
- None found on official pages or registers
- Proof of reserves
- Published
Spot, Futures, Staking, P2P, Card purchases, Copy trading. Facts checked Oct 20, 2026.
- Spot fees (base tier)
- 0.6% maker, 1.2% taker
- Licences
- 2 (NYDFS, State regulators (money transmitter licences, ~40 states/DC/PR))
- Proof of reserves
- Not found
Spot, Futures, Staking, Card purchases. Facts checked Oct 20, 2026.
- Spot fees (base tier)
- 0.1% maker, 0.1% taker
- Licences
- None found on official pages or registers
- Proof of reserves
- Published
Spot, Futures, P2P, Card purchases. Facts checked Oct 20, 2026.
- Spot fees (base tier)
- 0% maker, 0% taker
- Licences
- None found on official pages or registers
- Proof of reserves
- Not found
Spot, Futures, Staking, Card purchases. Facts checked Oct 20, 2026.
How to read these grades: each is derived from published, checkable disclosures — proof-of-reserves attestations, public regulatory registers, disclosed insurance funds and the documented incident record — using the weighted rubric below. Where an exchange does not disclose something, we mark it unverified rather than assume it. These are not audits and not investment advice; they reflect what was published as of our last review.
Exchanges by what you need
Each list applies one stated rule to the checked facts. No exchange pays to be on one, and exchanges graded below C- are never listed.
- Lowest-fee crypto exchangesRule: published base-tier spot taker fee, lowest first; exchanges that hide fees behind login are left out.
- Most regulated crypto exchangesRule: confirmed licences and registrations, most first; a licence in one country does not mean access in yours.
- Exchanges that publish proof of reservesRule: a published reserves report exists; reserves alone do not show liabilities, so read the grade too.
- Crypto exchanges for beginnersRule: card purchases, a confirmed licence and grade B- or better; ordered by grade.
- Crypto exchanges with P2P tradingRule: a P2P market is listed on the exchange’s own site; P2P adds counterparty and payment-fraud risk, so use escrow and never pay outside it.
- Crypto exchanges for US usersRule: a confirmed US licence or registration and no US exclusion in the exchange’s terms; availability still varies by state.
Read it down a column
How many of the graded venues disclose each check at all. The table below answers why one exchange scores what it does; this answers who publishes anything on the question.
| Check | Disclosed | Partial or unaudited | Not disclosed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Proof of reserves 30% | 6 | 6 | 3 |
| Custody 25% | 1 | 14 | 0 |
| Regulation 20% | 4 | 9 | 2 |
| Insurance 15% | 2 | 10 | 3 |
| Incident history 10% | 7 | 6 | 2 |
The written matchups
Two venues, five checks, and the rows where they actually differ. Each comparison is written by hand, never generated — only the matchups worth a page exist.
How we grade
The rubric behind every Safety Grade on this site, and why a paid partnership can't buy a better one.
Every exchange we ever cover — sponsor or not — is scored against the same five factors, weighted the same way. A paid partnership can get an exchange listed faster. It cannot buy a better grade.
- Proof of reserves, 30%
- Custody, 25%
- Regulation, 20%
- Insurance, 15%
- Incident history, 10%
The grade covers safety only. Fees, licences and products are listed separately in each exchange’s report and never move the grade. Read our full editorial policy
The A–F scale
- A
Meets every factor at a high bar: independently verified reserves, disclosed cold-storage custody, real licensing, insurance, and a clean record.
- B
Strong on most factors, with at least one gap — usually self-attested reserves or registration instead of full licensing.
- C
Average. Some disclosure, but several factors are thin, self-reported, or unverifiable.
- D
Multiple real gaps — undisclosed custody, no regulation, no insurance — even without a known incident.
- F
Either a confirmed history of major incidents, or enough structural red flags that we can't responsibly recommend it.
Questions this table does not answer on its face
Five things readers ask about the ledger, including the two we cannot answer.
Which is the safest crypto exchange?
There is no risk-free venue, and the top of this table is not one. The grade measures what a venue can show — reserve attestations, custody disclosure, licences on a public register, loss cover, incident record — so the highest grade belongs to whoever discloses the most, which is a narrower claim than “safest”. Read the five checks for the two or three you would actually use, then decide how much you keep there at all.
Is proof of reserves enough on its own?
No. It is the heaviest of our five checks at 30% and the one most venues publish, which is exactly why it needs reading closely. A snapshot shows assets at a moment; it does not show liabilities, and a self-published report with no accountant behind it is a claim you can inspect rather than one somebody else has checked. Most reserve disclosures in this table are graded warn for that reason, not fail.
Which exchange has the lowest fees?
The comparison shows each exchange’s published base-tier spot fees with the date we checked them, and can be ordered by the taker fee. Treat that as a starting point: fees change with market, volume tier, promotions and order type, and the spread can cost more than the fee. Use the fee calculator with your own trade size before you decide.
Why does a large, well-known exchange grade below a smaller one?
Because the grade measures disclosure, not size, brand or volume. A venue that publishes an independently attested reserve report, its cold-storage split and a licence number you can check against a register outscores a larger one that publishes none of those — regardless of how long it has been trading or how much passes through it.
Can I use these exchanges where I live?
Each venue decides that in its own terms, and it changes. Our regulation notes carry the licences and enforcement history we could verify against public registers, which is a different thing from a statement that a venue will accept you: a licence in one jurisdiction is not access in yours. Check the venue's own terms, and do not try to work around a restriction you find there.
Where to go from here
How the grades are built, and the failures that made these checks necessary.