When it comes to buying crypto, most people without even thinking open Binance or Bybit. It’s familiar, understandable, but the queues, prices, and general atmosphere are already starting to annoy. Giants have a downside: high competition among traders inflates spreads, commissions slowly eat away at your deposit, and you can write to customer support and manage to grow old. So I decided to look towards smaller exchanges.
CoinEx
CoinEx has existed since 2017, but never caught up with the popularity of the tops. At the same time, the exchange is alive, solvent, and without loud scandals – which is already rare for such an age. They love altcoins here: new coins appear quickly, often even before they’re written about in telegram channels. Spot commission is 0.1%, and if you hold their native CET token, you can pay half as much. The CoinEx interface is spartan – without polished design, but also without that panic of a hundred buttons per square centimeter. You come in, find a pair, buy, leave.
However, it’s not without a fly in the ointment. The mobile app works sluggishly: when the market starts twitching, charts hang, and you can accidentally buy more expensive than you planned.
Phemex
Phemex was founded by former Morgan Stanley employees – sounds like marketing, but in fact it’s one of the most underrated exchanges for leveraged trading. Their interface is laconic, and that’s pleasantly surprising. They give leverage up to 100x, commissions are below market, and the trading engine is fast – orders go through almost instantly. But there are also minuses. Liquidity on rare pairs leaves much to be desired: if you’re not trading bitcoin and ethereum, you can catch slippage. Fiat withdrawal – only through third-party services, you can’t withdraw anything directly, which will be a disappointment for many. The site sometimes slows down during strong volatility spikes, although less often than other exchanges of its level.
Ausfinex
Ausfinex has existed for just over a year. But they did a strange thing for a startup from the very beginning: they set low commissions and didn’t raise them a month later when users pulled in. Spot commission of 0.05% for maker and taker – this is not a promotion, but a permanent policy. When you trade regularly, even half a percent turns into good savings.
Minuses? They don’t hide them. Ausfinex doesn’t yet have margin trading and futures – only spot. Those who are used to spinning leverage will be bored here. The exchange is only a year and a half old, it doesn’t have a decade-long reputation like old platforms. Support is live and fast, but the exchange is small – during peak hours a response may come not in 5 minutes, but in 20.
Conclusion
If you put it all together, you get a simple picture. CoinEx – for those hunting for fresh altcoins and not afraid of a bit of Asian minimalism in the interface. Phemex – for those who need leverage but want to escape from the overloaded atmosphere of Bybit. Ausfinex – for people who just want to buy bitcoin, ethereum, or solana without hassle and hidden commissions.
