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Explore the top exchanges for trading Cryptocurrency in South-Africa
Looking for a good place to trade, that won’t let you suffer high fees, suspicious order executions, with good reporting and easy deposit & withdrawal systems?
Great, let’s start the hunt to find the best crypto exchange in South-Africa!
We look at all the major players, explore their strengths and weaknesses, compare their services and rates, all to help you find:
To determine this, we will be looking at a few very specific things:
Comparing the Top South-African Crypto exchanges
| Exchange | Trading Fees | Deposit Methods | Withdrawal Methods | BTC Real time sell Rate | Leverage | Cryptocurrencies Supported | Security Measures | User Interface | Customer Support | Trading Volume | Advanced Trading | Regulatory Compliance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Luno | Variable | ZAR | ZAR | $27585 | N/A | 54+ Pairs | 2FA, Cold Storage | User-friendly | Email, Live Chat | High | Stop-loss, Limit | Compliant |
| AltCoinTrader | Variable | ZAR | ZAR | $27700 | N/A | 21+ Pairs | 2FA | Simple | Moderate | N/A | Compliant | |
| VALR | Variable | ZAR | ZAR | $27580 | N/A | 19+ Pairs | 2FA | Intuitive | Email, Live Chat | High | Stop-loss, Limit | Compliant |
| Bybit | Maker: 0.025% Taker: 0.075% | ZAR | Crypto | $27111 | Up to 100x | 577+ Pairs | 2FA, Cold Storage | User-friendly | Email, Live Chat | High | Stop-loss, Limit | Compliant |
| Binance | Maker: 0.1% Taker: 0.1% | ZAR | ZAR | $27113 | Up to 125x | 1421+ Pairs | 2FA, Cold Storage | User-Friendly | Email, Live Chat | Very High | Stop-loss, Limit | Compliant |
| KuCoin | Maker: 0.1% Taker: 0.1% | ZAR | Crypto | $27115 | Up to 125x | 1342+ pairs | 2FA, Cold Storage | Advanced | Email, Live Chat | High | Stop-loss, Limit | Compliant |
Why are South-African Exchanges more expensive?
South – African exchanges are infamous for charging up to a 35% supply and demand surcharge on their resale rates, which is still applicable to date.
Here is an article from My broadband where the former CEO of Luno Werner Van Rooyen, commented on the matter:
Luno’s Werner van Rooyen said the main driver of the local Bitcoin price was the South African market, not the exchange.
“Although it is easy to speculate about the causes for the Bitcoin premium seen from time to time, it is important to realise that you are not trading directly with Luno,” said van Rooyen.
“We merely provide the platform upon which buyers and sellers interact. The forces of supply and demand ultimately determine the price,” he said.
Basically they are telling us, right of service reserved, and if you don’t like it, don’t use us.
Very friendly, and a great way to build a lasting relationship based off fair trade, with satisfied users all around, right?
Unfortunately, until recently it was only limited South-African exchanges that offered withdrawals in rands, meaning that we were forced to deal with these inflated supply and demand fees.
Thankfully, it’s 2023, and some international players have finally caught up with regulation in South-Africa, with most of them allowing crypto purchases in ZAR, and Binance even allowing withdrawals!
What is the overall best exchange in South Africa?
There are reasons that Binance is the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, and now that they allow withdrawals in Rands, there are really very few things to complain about Binance.
They have a user friendly interface, pro and beginner modes, fantastic security, margin and derivative trading offering up to X125 coin parings, provided you manage their sometimes frustrating verification checks.
They offer over 1400 different trade pairs, along with staking, NFTs, and almost every other bell and whistle you may want as a beginner crypto trader or investor.
To make it even better, their fees are also competitive, and while they are not the cheapest, they are not ripping anybody off with supply and demand surcharges either!
As Good as they are however, they are my favorite.
I have personally had lots of frustrations with order executions and some other technical issues with Binance that have soured my experience with them a little.
They appear to have most of their issues in the recent updates, however after trading on Bybit, it is hard to go back to the slow and frustratingly verification trigger happy Binance.
It is important to know that you have options!
What is the best exchange for crypto trading in South Africa?
I might be a little bias on this one, however the fact that I do 90% of my personal trading on Bybit, should speak volumes!
I used to do my trading on Binance, however after they suddenly restricted my leverage to x20 and imposed a mandatory waiting period of 20+ days, along with an further requirement on verification, I decided to give Bybit a try and since then, I’ve never looked back!
If you have have ever struggled to complete a trade because of Binance‘s user interface or any of their other technical issues, then you want to give Bybit a try!
It is a platform specifically designed for traders. The entire interface and setup streamlines derivative trading making the process is seamless!
Additionally, They have really upscaled their spot trading and increased the amount of traded pairs available to users over the last few years, making them more than just your average exchange.
There is a con to Bybit however,
Nothing is ever perfect in South-Africa, and unfortunately Bybit does not allow withdrawals in Rands.
Which is why I trade on Bybit, transfer my profits to Binance, and withdraw from their platform.
It’s not perfect, but it works, and if you trade a lot –
Seriously give Bybit a try!
What is the best exchange to buy crypto in South Africa?
We are not making this up just to shill Binance.
It’s simply that there is a reason they are the biggest exchange in the world. Let’s look at what they offer
What makes Binance the best South-African exchange to buy cryptocurrency?
- Simple and intuitive user interface – available in beginner/lite mode and advanced/pro mode.
- More than 1432 trade pairs
- Plenty of support
- Loads of tutorials
- Staking, Nft’s, De-fi, trading bots, staking pools, earning pools and loads of other revenue generating protocols
- Fair trading fees
- Small minimum deposit available, between R250.00-R300.00, with functioning, cheap and easily processed transaction fees.
- Spot, Margin & Derivative trading Supported
- Secure transactions
- Excellent leadership team under Changpeng Zhao.
There are a few cons to Binance worth exploring as well, or I wouldn’t be using Bybit for the bulk of my daily trading!
Binance – The bad
- Binance is akin to a tractor for traders – Slow and reliable, great for when you are starting out and learning how to drive, but eventually you want something faster.
- Greatness comes at a cost- With Binance the cost is unfortunately unnecessary red tape and verification procedures that somehow seem to be timed at the worst possible moment for your personal trading. Nobody wants to have to go through 2-3 minutes of frustrating checks when you are in the middle of a high leverage trade going wrong.
- Easy to use, yet still pretty complicated – When you have 1400+ trading pairs, 5 different trading modes, dozens of revenue generating protocols along with multiple wallets your options are endless, and there in lies the problem. Sometimes simpler is better, and while you will figure it out eventually, it takes time, which can be distracting and intimidating while you are learning
These “flaws” with Binance are all just my personal experience with the platform, and as you can see the advantages Binances offers far outweigh any flaws that come along with it.
Additionally, I’ve left out the best for last!
The best thing Binance has been able to offer South-Africans is cheapish withdrawals at fair market rates, which completely removes the Supply and Demand surcharge South-African exchanges were forcing us to pay!
Making
Binance the best and cheapest exchange in South-Africa to withdraw crypto in Rands!
Final thoughts on picking the best crypto exchange for your trading or investing needs
Along with increases in regulation and the changes we have discussed in this series on South-Africa Crypto, one thing we can be truly thankful for as South-African Crypto Traders and Investors, and that is that service delivery is finally catching up to South-Africa.
It is not perfect yet, however it is finally 80%-90% there and has become a lot easier for new traders entering the market to purchase and manage assets that it ever was before!
Despite not being a perfect solution, using Bybit for your futures trading because of it’s cheaper trading fees and better user experience and Binance for your spot trading and withdrawals, is surprisingly easy, very practical and by using the Binance BEP-20 protocol to transfer between the two, costs you less than a standard bank transaction at most banks in South-Africa.
Invest wisely, and trade safely!
We’ve covered a lot in this series on Crypto in South Africa.
We have explored what it does, who uses it, it’s legal status, who regulates it, how much tax we need to pay, how to find good investments, what does the future for crypto in South-Africa look like, and now finally how to find the best exchange for your needs.
It’s been fun, and I hope you found some value!
In case you missed any of these topics, be sure to check out
The other articles in this 5-part series:
- Introduction to cryptocurrency trading in South Africa
- Legal and Regulatory Framework for Cryptocurrency Trading in South Africa
- Tax Implications of Cryptocurrency Trading in South Africa
- Future Developments and Trends in the Cryptocurrency Market in South Africa
- 17 Frequently asked questions regarding crypto in South Africa
Then be sure to check out our free trading resources to gain the knowledge and skills required to match your shiny new platform!
Happy Trading!
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