Top 6 Best Sites to Track Bitcoin Value & Exchange Rates | 2017 Ranking | Most Popular Bitcoin News, Forum & Price Index

2017 RANKING & REVIEWS
TOP RANKING BEST BITCOIN TRADING SITES

The Basics of Bitcoin and Bitcoin Value

The concept of bitcoin currency and bitcoin trading became relatively popular a few years ago, but you may still be wondering exactly what they are, and also the basic principles of bitcoin trading.

Bitcoins are a form of digital currency, designed to let people conduct transactions online. Over recent years the value of bitcoins has generally gone up, with some downs as well, and this form of currency exists only online.

All transactions using bitcoins take place online, and the people using them as currency are untraceable as a result.

Bitcoins are held in an online, virtual wallet, and they’re not backed by the same governmental protections your traditional deposits are when they’re held at a bank guaranteed by the FDIC.

Bitcoins enter the marketplace through mining, and when bitcoins are available, they’re hidden through encryption.

Award Emblem: Top 6 Best Sites to Track Bitcoin Value & Exchange Rates

The objective of bitcoins is not only to have an untraceable online currency but also to keep the inflation rate steady.

When you want to buy something using bitcoins, you find the out the anonymous identification number of the person’s wallet you’ll be buying from, and then coins are transferred from your wallet to that seller’s.

The following ranking looks at details of the Bitcoin exchange rate and the bitcoin exchange market.

It covers some of the best bitcoin trading and bitcoin investment sites, highlighting current bitcoin value as well as bitcoin news. This review of bitcoin exchange rate sites also goes into some of the general details of bitcoin trading and what it means.

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AdvisoryHQ’s List of the Top 6 Best Bitcoin Exchange Rate and Bitcoin Trading Sites

List is sorted alphabetically (click any of the names below to go directly to the detailed review section for that bitcoin value site):

• Bitcoin Wisdom
• Bitstamp
• BTC Markets
• Coinbase
• CryptoCompare
• Kraken

Top 6 Best Bitcoin Value and Bitcoin News Sites | Brief Comparison

Table: Top 6 Best Bitcoin Trading Sites | Above list is sorted alphabetically

How Does Bitcoin Trading Work?

Bitcoin trading and bitcoin exchange work a lot like the trading of physical currency. When you trade bitcoins, you’re buying one currency using another, and they’re traded essentially like any other commodity.

A bitcoin exchange is a third-party go-between for these currency transactions. A bitcoin exchange works to convert dollars or other national currency to bitcoin and vice versa. People make money when using a bitcoin exchange site because they exploit the always changing values of currency.

Image Source: Pixabay

There are a few different ways to participate in bitcoin investment, including mining bitcoin and creating mining pools, but the easiest and fastest way by far is going to bitcoin exchange markets. This also happens to be the riskiest way to take advantage of the value of bitcoin.

As with any other investment opportunity, when you opt to trade bitcoin, you visit a bitcoin exchange, which is highlighted on this ranking, and then you sign up for an account.

Once you do that, you’re ready for bitcoin trading. You’ll be charged a fee, and watching the markets is important to find opportunities, which is why bitcoin exchange sites also feature regular bitcoin value updates and bitcoin news.

AdvisoryHQ’s Selection Methodology

What methodology does AdvisoryHQ use in selecting and finalizing the credit cards, financial products, firms, services, and products that are ranked on its various top-rated lists?

Please click here “AdvisoryHQ’s Ranking Methodologies” for a detailed review of AdvisoryHQ’s selection methodologies for ranking top-rated credit cards, financial accounts, firms, products, and services.

Detailed Review—Top Ranking Best Bitcoin Value, Bitcoin News, and Bitcoin Exchange Rate Sites

Below, please find the detailed review of each of the top bitcoin exchange rate sites. We have highlighted some of the factors that allowed these bitcoin value, bitcoin news, and bitcoin trading sites to score so well in our selection ranking.

BitcoinWisdom Review

BitcoinWisdom is a site that features a range of bitcoin chart options displayed directly on the homepage in a way that’s simple and easy to understand. The layout is straightforward, which is something some traders and investors might prefer.

Benefits of using BitcoinWisdom, one of the best sites to research the value of bitcoin and see the current bitcoin rate details are below.

Layout

BitcoinWisdom is one of the best Bitcoin price chart sites if you’re already pretty knowledgeable about bitcoin exchange. It gives you everything you need to know regarding bitcoin charts in a simplified layout.

The layout includes a chart featuring the history of bitcoin price, as well as buy and sell orders. You can see the listed price for the exchange you select, and also the price on other exchanges directly at the top of the homepage.

Also on the homepage of BitcoinWisdom is a list of past orders and trading volume.

Candlestick Charts

People who use BitcoinWisdom as their bitcoin exchange rate site of choice are going to need to understand the candlestick charts because they serve as the site’s default chart. These graphs have data points that are displayed in a way that looks like candlesticks, and the indicators are displayed in red or green color. Red means the price went down during a period of time, and green means it went up.

The endpoints of the candlestick show the high and low for trading during a certain period of time, and the body of the candlestick shows opening and closing points of the section of time being highlighted.

Customization

Once you have a general understanding of how to read the charts and other data points highlighted on the Bitcoin price chart options featured on BitcoinWisdom, you can start customizing the site, which is a big reason it’s included on this list of the top bitcoin value and bitcoin chart sites.

You can open the settings tab and make adjustments based on moving averages. For example, you can alter the number of days associated with the moving averages for each line on the charts that show up on your homepage.

You can also update the site so that it shows you exponential moving averages, rather than simple moving averages.

While it should be noted that BitcoinWisdom is a great site to see the bitcoin exchange rate and read various Bitcoin price chart options, this is not a site where you can actually do bitcoin trading, although there are other sites included in this ranking that are useful in this area.

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Bitstamp Review

Bitstamp is a site that aims to provide service for both companies and individuals to exchange bitcoins that is reliable and simple to use. The belief behind Bitstamp is that Bitcoin is something that is here to stay and continue to grow in its usage.

Among the bitcoin exchange rate sites, the following are some specifics highlighting why Bitstamp is ranked on this list of the top bitcoin trading platforms.

Buying Bitcoins

Bitstamp is not just a site showing bitcoin converter and bitcoin rate information. You can also do bitcoin trading and bitcoin investment through this site, and it’s incredibly easy to buy bitcoins. First, users just have to create an account, and then choose a method for transferring funds so they can make a deposit to their account.

Once the deposit is received by Bitstamp, the user can then start buying bitcoins immediately by placing an instant buy order. There are also options to place limit orders, which requires the buyer to set a price at which they’re willing to buy.

Payment Institution License

Bitstamp is a bitcoin investment site that has its Payment Institution License. The Luxembourg Ministry of Finance made Bitstamp the first regulated and licensed virtual currency exchange in the EU. This required to site to go through a stringent application process with the Luxembourg Financial Industry Supervisory Committee, which was a process lasting almost two years.

This process includes security reviews and a third-party audit.

Bitstamp’s license is applicable in all 28 EU member states.

This means when someone uses Bitstamp, their money is backed by a company with sufficient operational capital, and the site can’t just go away overnight.

Security

Because of its licensing, Bitstamp is required to go through a complete audit every year. This audit looks at IT security checks, as well as the data protection processes put in place by the company. An external auditor does all aspects of the yearly audit. This means that every area of the company including finance, compliance, risk and IT security are thoroughly reviewed, so users of Bitstamp get the utmost in security and consumer protection.

Bitstamp also has stringent anti-money laundering policies, protecting client’s reputations.

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BTC Markets Review

BTC Markets is a bitcoin exchange rate and bitcoin value tracking site featuring a variety of bitcoin chart options, as well as informative resources to help people understanding details surrounding the bitcoin rate and the value of bitcoin.  

Advantages of using BTC Markets, one of the top Bitcoin price chart and bitcoin trading sites are below.

Reserves

BTC Markets is one of the best bitcoin converter and bitcoin exchange rate and trading sites for a variety of reasons, including their reserves. BTC Markets uses both a hot and cold wallet system for the utmost in client cryptocurrency reserve security, as well as optimized management.

BTC Markets maintains a full reserve, and they process reconciliations per transaction, which allows them to provide confidence to clients that the funds shown in their accounts match what is in the BTC Markets bank and cold wallets.

Their encrypted cold wallet storage is off-site, and in multiple locations, each of which is physically secure and diverse.

Transparent Fees

With any bitcoin trading site, it’s important to know how much fees are going to cost, because that can have a significant impact on returns. One of the reasons we like BTC Markets as a top place to find bitcoin news, bitcoin exchange rate information and bitcoin investment options is because they clearly define and publish their fee schedule.

ADCCA

BTC Markets is part of ADCCA, which is the Australian Digital Currency Commerce Association. This organization is designed to recognize leaders in the digital currency business sector, as well as the FinTech community.

According to ADCCA’s mission statement, they serve as a link between members and cross-industry stakeholders. Members must meet best practices as they grow their digital currency businesses.

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Coinbase Review

Coinbase is one of the largest digital currency exchange sites, with support for 33 countries and more than six million customers served. Coinbase is a bitcoin value and bitcoin news site that’s been featured by the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, the New York Times, and Time magazine.

Among bitcoin news, bitcoin converter and bitcoin chart sites, the following are specific advantages of using Coinbase.

Mobile Wallet

Coinbase is well known for offering one of the best bitcoin wallet experiences available. The bitcoin wallet from Coinbase is fully secure and is available on both iOS and Android so that you can take your bitcoin trading activities with you on the go. Specific features of the mobile wallet from Coinbase include:

• Users can send bitcoin to friends
• There’s the ability to shop merchants who accept bitcoin
• Member can access all their Coinbase wallets, vaults and transaction details
• The mobile wallet features option to buy and sell bitcoin directly from your phone via a bank account connection

Image Source: Coinbase

Instant Exchange

Coinbase offers instant bitcoin exchange rate functionality. This means that members can send and receive bitcoin and then immediately cash out to their local currency.

This helps members avoid bitcoin exchange rate price volatility so they can use the Bitcoin payment network without rate risk.

Users can easily opt to send bitcoin using Instant Exchange and also receive using Instant exchange, with all accepted bitcoin being automatically converted to the user’s local currency.

Insurance Protection

All Coinbase-stored digital currency is completely insured. This means that were the site or platform to experience a breach of online storage, any lost customer funds would be paid through the insurance policy.

The insurance coverage includes anything that’s lost resulting from a breach of physical security, cyber security or employee theft. The coverage is provided by a syndicate of Lloyd’s of London, and Coinbase holds less than 2% of customer funds online. The rest is stored offline.

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CryptoCompare Review

CryptoCompare is an easy-to-use online resource where people can go to visit a bitcoin forum, learn the current value of bitcoin, find bitcoin converter tools and find information and bitcoin news. Essentially CrytpoCompare is an interactive platform allowing users and visitors to discuss current Crypto trends in real time while monitoring markets.

Specific features of CryptoCompare, one of the top sites to find bitcoin chart options, bitcoin rate information and bitcoin news, are detailed below.

Exchange Comparison

CryptoCompare is unique from many of the other bitcoin investment and bitcoin rate sites on this ranking because it’s a source to compare all things related to bitcoins. This includes exchanges. You can visit CrytpoCompare and find in-depth rankings for bitcoin trading site from around the world, including star ratings, as well as details as to why each of these bitcoin exchange sites ranks well.

Bitcoin Forum

Another way CrytpoCompare is a unique bitcoin value and bitcoin news site is because they have one of the most in-depth bitcoin forums available online. This bitcoin forum is divided into two primary categories: Coin Forum and Exchange Forum.

Within the bitcoin forum, you can find specific options such as the Bitcoin Core Forum, the general Bitcoin Forum, the PesoBit Forum, and the BitConnect Coin Forum. Each of these bitcoin forum options often includes hundreds or thousands of posts and comments.

Guides

Along with information on bitcoin value and bitcoin exchange rate, CryptoCompare also features a wide range of informative guides, on all things related to Bitcoins and digital currencies. Some of the recent guide topics featured on the site include:

• How to Do an Ethereum Transaction and Check Your Balance
• What Is the Ethereum Ice Age?
• What Is Bitcoin?
• Why Is Ethereum Different from Bitcoin?
• What Is the Blockchain?
• What Is Zcash?
• Bitcoin and the Dark Market?
• How Legal Is Bitcoin and Crypto Currencies?

Kraken Review

Kraken is a bitcoin converter and bitcoin investment site where users can buy, sell and trade bitcoin as well participating in ethereum trading. Kraken was founded in 2011 and is based in San Francisco. Also available on the Kraken bitcoin investment and bitcoin trading site are options to trade major currencies like US and Canadian dollars and the Japanese Yen.

Unique features of Kraken, one of the top bitcoin rate and Bitcoin trading sites, are highlighted below.

Trading Guide

Understanding concepts such as bitcoin trading, bitcoin investment, Bitcoin value and bitcoin news can all be complex and challenging for people who are new to it. That’s why Kraken created a trading guide, which highlights all of the details people need to know whether they want to understand current bitcoin value or learn to read a bitcoin chart. Some of the topics covered by the Kraken trading guide include:

• Trading Glossary
• Order Types
• Terminology Used for Order Type Descriptions
• Currency Exchange
• Leverage and Margin
• Kraken’s Price Charts
• Trading Fees

Charts

Users of Kraken can find a wide variety of Bitcoin charts that are simple to read and understand to help them power their bitcoin investment activities. There are bitcoin converter charts that can be used by international traders as well as spread charts comparing bitcoin to the USD.

Chart options also include cumulative volume and volume and details of recent trades.

Image Source: Kraken

Reputation

Kraken has a well-established reputation as one of the leading Bitcoin converter and bitcoin exchange resources, having been founded in 2011. Kraken is recognized as the largest bitcoin exchange in euro volume and liquidity and also in trading Canadian dollars, US dollars, British pounds, and Japanese yen.

Media outlets often describe Kraken as the most secure Bitcoin exchange, and it was the first bitcoin exchange rate and bitcoin trading site to have trading price and volume displayed on the Bloomberg Terminal. It was also the first bitcoin value and bitcoin exchange rate site to pass a cryptographically verifiable proof-of-reserves audit.

Conclusion—Top 6 Best Sites to Track Bitcoin Value and the Bitcoin Exchange Rate

The use of bitcoin as a currency and as a trading commodity has become increasingly popular in recent years, leading many people to start searching for the best bitcoin trading platforms, and also sites where they can track the bitcoin exchange rate and find the most recent Bitcoin news.

Each of the above names on this ranking of the best sites to track the bitcoin exchange rate and the value of bitcoin excels in terms of being simple to use, informative regardless of your level of previous knowledge about Bitcoin, and also packed with unique features.  

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