CryptoReviews

Coinbase Pro Review

Digital assets exchange platform, Coinbase Pro, is the result of a brand overhaul of San Francisco based crypto services provider Coinbase's GDAX professional trading platform.

Said overhaul, was enacted in May of this year and completed on June 29th as more of an evolution of the original platform. The new and improved version of Coinbase’s offering for professional traders comes packed with functionality enhancements designed to make use of the platform easier, while maintaining a similar look and feel to the original GDAX platform.

As previously mentioned, Coinbase’s Pro, is geared towards professional traders and the exchange’s parent company, Coinbase, is famously compliance-centric. As such, the platform has taken steps to position itself as a trustable services provider by carrying a FinCEN Money Services Business registration, FDIC insurance for the Coinbase’s USD Wallet of up to $250,000. The exchange also appears to have picked up right were its predecessor left off, as Coinbase’s Pro is certified to hold over $5 billion in collective wallet balances.

As an evolutionary descendent of GDAX, Coinbase’s Pro has inherited much of its predecessor’s look, feel, as well as functionality. However, being intended to be a completely new species of exchange, the platform features a number of improvements, namely:

  • All transactions and balances from GDAX user accounts appeared automatically on Coinbase Pro. GDAX wasn’t killed off, it was evolved. What this means is that, if one had a GDAX account, it became a Coinbase Pro account, verified status and funds included.
  • A totally overhauled platform, in terms of look and feel, designed to make the cryptocurrency trading experience easier and more intuitive
  • A deposit and withdrawal processes that was set up to be more hassle free
  • Improved charts, enabling users to scroll and access historical data more conveniently
  • A “My Wallets” feature, which is a consolidated portfolio viewing mechanism, allowing users to see an overview of their orders and balances

In addition to being designed to be a completely new breed of exchange compared to forerunner, GDAX, in terms of functionality and usability, Coinbase Pro also gives users direct market access to Coinbase Markets, a liquidity pool shared by all of Coinbase’s platforms.

The Target Market

Not to be confused with Coinbase’s other advanced trading platform, Coinbase’s Prime (designed to accommodate institutional investors), Coinbase’s Pro is for individual digital asset traders who possess a higher-than-average understanding of market fluctuations.

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Signing Up

As mentioned above, the sign up process is set up to be as hassle free as possible. Users who had GDAX accounts automatically had Coinbase Pro accounts, balances and all. New users can head to pro.coinbase.com and start the sign up process by hitting the big, Sign Up button at the top right hand corner of the landing page. New users should remember to fill in their full names and surname, as they appear on their official identification documents.

Once one has covered this process, one will then be required to verify their identity by uploading either a copy of their ID card, Passport, or driver’s license. Note that this is a step that must be completed in order to gain access to the platform.

Look And Feel

Once verified, one will then have full access to the platform’s trading interface. One will immediately notice a layout that is a touch more sophisticated, in look, than the regular Coinbase platform. Those familiar with the old GDAX interface will feel right at home, but will also come across improvements that make Coinbase Pro a true ‘evolution’ of the old GDAX platform.

Designed with professional traders in mind, Coinbase pro comes equipped with a host of tools that enable traders to keep track of market moves. The platform includes charts, an order book and tabs displaying open and filled orders. All set up in an intuitive layout.

Funding One’s Account

Before executing any trades, one will first have to fund their account. This is a simple enough process, as accounts can be funded, either through the transfer of digital assets into the account, or through fiat currency deposits (provided the user is a US, UK, or European citizen)

The Trading Experience

This is where the platform really shines. One can execute buy and sell trades, all through an order form/ drop-down menu that can be accessed on the left hand tab of the screen. One can set limit orders, and as well as Time Force Policy orders that enable traders to set a time limit on an order in anticipation of the price fluctuations common in cryptocurrency markets.

The platform charges trading fees as low as 0.30% up to a threshold of $10 million dollars. Fees shrink further on trades exceeding $10 million, and even further one trades that go above the $100 million threshold. Fees apply to market takers, while market making trades are free of any charges.

Conclusion

The Coinbase Pro platform is clearly a better beast than its predecessor, GDAX. Designed to resemble traditional exchanges, in look and feel, Coinbase Pro feels significantly less cluttered that competitor platforms, and allows for an easy transition into digital asset trading for traders who are used to dealing with more traditional assets.

What would make the platform even better is if it allowed for different levels of verification (which allow for different levels of access), as many of it’s competitors do. Enabling traders to user the platform, to some degree, before having to run the verification gauntlet.

 

Better than predecessor

Sign Up - 8
Identity Verification - 7.5
Ease Of Use - 8
Trading - 7
Fees - 10

8.1

Easy to Use

The platform has even gone as far as making it easier for users to trade and monitor markets on the go though an iOS app released last month (with an android version in the works).

User Rating: 4.25 ( 1 votes)

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Ash Bonga

I'm a marginally adequate digital assets trader and writer specializing in blockchain and the crypto sphere. Occasional contributer for Bizznerd.com
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