Coinsquare

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Coinsquare is one of the leading Canadian cryptocurrency exchanges. While other companies attempt to present themselves as global entities, this one puts a very strong emphasis on its origin and this shows in the service provided.

The company, security of funds

Coinsquare is based in Toronto. This is heavily advertised as a positive factor, as Canada is obviously a developed country with a sound financial and regulatory environment.

The focus on Canadian customers is further underlined by the fact the company offers trading against the CAD. That being said the Base currency of your Coinsquare account can be: CAD, USD, EUR, GBP, AUD or BTC.

Trading in some exotic forms of metals trading is also available at Coinsquare.

A 95% cold storage policy is implied at Coinsquare. This is a solid measure, which guarantees a very high level of security. Coinsquare has not been involved in a major hacking scandal.

There are relatively few reviews on Coinsquare, but a decent portion of them are negative. While the service is easy to use, some users apparently didn’t understand the fee structure completely. Furthermore, there are some very serious claims regarding price manipulation.

Another interesting, but not crucial point is that this is one of the few exchanges, which exclusively states it doesn’t provide services to residents of New York. Of course, this is due to the 2015 BitLicence, which attempts to regulate cryptocurrency exchanges in the Big Apple.

Coinsquare has also started offering “Wealth” services to those who place very big orders. There are three “account types”, based on the size of each transfer you make, starting from $25,000. The benefits gained feature lower bank transfer fees, OTC trading and more.

Trading conditions

Trading instruments (cryptocurrencies)

When building a portfolio at Coinsquare one can include several assets, including some which are even more unusual than cryptocurrencies.

The digital assets include: Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Dash, Dogecoin, Litecoin.

The fiat currencies available are: CAD, USD, EUR, GBP, AUD.

Additionally they allow trading in gold and silver Bars, as well as silver coins. These are traded differently than the spot pairs XAU/USD and XAG/USD. It is unclear if the instruments offered by Coinsquare are only financial or feature physical delivery of the coins and bars upon request.

Minimum initial deposit

The minimum initial deposit at Coinsquare is $100. Given the Canadian focus of this company, it is unclear if this is measured in USD or CAD. This is a reasonable level of an initial investment.

While one of the payment methods at Coinsquare has a lower minimum deposit, $100 is needed in order to confirm your bank account, which you will need in order to make a withdrawal. These details will be covered below.

Leverage

Coinsquare does not currently support margin trading. This is expected, as the company is targeting beginners and allowing the creation of a more long-term portfolio. Other crypto-exchanges do offer margin trading for some coins.


Fees

The fee structure at Coinsquare Is transparent. The costs of making transaction on Coinsquare are in-line with the rest of the industry. They charge 0.10% for market makers (the traders who passively provide liquidity to the exchange) and 0.20% for market takers – the ones buying or selling directly at the best possible price. Nowadays some exchanges, like GDAX charge 0.25%.

Additionally a QuickTrade feature is available. It has slightly higher fees, which can go up to 0.4%, depending on the asset class.
 
Trading platform
 
Coinsquare offers a web-based interface, as well as a mobile app.

Methods of payment

Coinsquare accepts a lot of Canada-specific payment systems, as well as Bank Transfers.

Conclusion


Coinsquare is a Canadian cryptocurrency exchange. The company offers a gateway to Bitcoin and other similar assets, with a great emphasis on the domestic market. They provide solid security features and appear to be a safe company to deal with, while trading veterans will find their entire offering a bit too basic. On the other hand, there is a plethora of negative user reviews about this exchange. Even though you always have to take these with a grain of salt, some of them include fierce acusations.