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Let’s face it — cryptocurrencies are not as popular as they used to be. The popularity of bitcoin exchanges is directly related to the popularity of cryptos, so it’s only natural that exchanges are not as prevalent either. However, the majority of online crypto exchanges still operate successfully and have decent trading volume — how so?
The December 2017 boom — and its consequences
Let’s travel three years into the past and see what exactly happened in December 2017. Back then, the word Bitcoin was somewhat new for the majority of people, although it soon celebrated an anniversary after the boom.
Nevertheless, people weren’t familiar with what Bitcoin actually was and how it worked. It was only natural that they were suspicious of BTC being a scam. After all, the Internet is filled with scams, and it’s very difficult to distinguish the real investment opportunities from the fake ones.
The problem with Bitcoin not being trusted enough was mainly directed to the fact that people didn’t understand the concept of a decentralized network and how it worked. Truth be told — many still don’t, although they invested a lot of money into digital gold.
But what made things explode in that famous December was the fact that people realized Bitcoin actually works. In other words, they saw that there are people who invested in it and had a huge profit in the result. The sheer fact that one can earn a lot of money overnight attracted thousands upon thousands of people investing in BTC, with not many of them realizing how investing works in the first place.
Exchanges that were active back then saw a huge boom as well, as trading volumes exceeded all expectations. Some were not even prepared for such a turn of events and were unable to serve all who wanted to buy or sell Bitcoin.
The hype lasted for approximately a month when things suddenly began to go sour for cryptocurrencies. Let’s look at the numbers.
When Bitcoin peaked, the price reached almost $20,000 per single unit of bitcoin. From that point onward, there were occasional spikes, but the price reached the bottom almost exactly a year after that when it dropped down to almost $3,000. This wasn’t the end, as the price jumped up once again, reaching more than $13,000 before they began falling again.
When you take a look at the chart, it does seem like the patterns are visible. The price of this volatile cryptocurrency, as well as all other altcoins, will fluctuate a lot depending on the number of people who want to buy/sell.
All of that resulted in cryptocurrency exchanges fluctuating along with them. Trade volumes were not constant, and that’s why many exchanges started adopting somewhat different strategies in order to stabilize their volumes.
Crypto exchanges fight back
Instead of relying on the sole popularity of BTC, exchanges started introducing alternatives — trading other cryptocurrencies. This was done due to the rising popularity of some cryptos such as Ethereum that are still the major threat to dethroning Bitcoin and taking the title of the “most popular cryptocurrency in the world.” Apart from Ethereum, many other altcoins were introduced on exchanges.
Although crypto traders welcomed these introductions, they still weren’t enough to make exchanges completely detached from Bitcoin’s fluctuations. Nevertheless, they made a significant step forward at popularizing alternative cryptocurrencies, making some of them rather inviting for investors.
Exchanges are here to stay
Despite the fact that their popularity changes depending on the overall hype and engagement in trading cryptocurrencies, many of them are still operating rather successfully for a while now. Some of them seem to be performing better than others. Although trade volume is important, it’s not vital to exchanges. What matters is the overall trading experience they offer to the users, and here are some of them that are defying the odds and perform rather well at the moment.
CEX.IO
CEX.IO is one of the best exchanges for people who are new to the whole crypto trading thing. They can easily buy Bitcoin using a simple and intuitive interface on this platform. The beginner-friendly design makes it a perfect entry for newcomers who want to learn how crypto trading works, and that’s why CEX.IO is considered one of the best platforms at the moment.
Coinbase
Coinbase is a USA-based platform that works best for the residents of the US, as they have the widest selection of available options. The platform initially focused only on Bitcoin, but it later expanded its support to several other cryptocurrencies. Coinbase is also very beginner-friendly. However, investors who are more experienced can try the professional version of the platform named Coinbase Pro, which has a lot more options compared to the original site.
Coinmama
Coinmama is a bitcoin broker that has headquarters in Israel, and it’s currently available in many countries around the globe. Although its fees are a bit higher compared to other similar services, the quality of the site is excellent, and it has high limits for those who use credit and debit cards to buy Bitcoin.
Binance
Binance is a crypto exchange that has a very high volume, and it’s safe to say that it’s one of the most popular exchanges in the world either. One of the reasons for that is that Binance offers more than a hundred cryptocurrencies. On top of that, users can register on its decentralized counterpart called Binance DEX.
Conclusion: Exchanges are still there
Despite their popularity decreasing at times due to lower trade volume, cryptocurrency exchanges are here to stay, and that’s not going to change in the near future. There are still a lot of people trading cryptos all over the globe. Although the price of cryptocurrencies may not be as high as they were back in December 2017, their popularity is still on the rise, especially as the decentralized technology is being further explored.
