Michelle Legge
By Michelle LeggeHead of Crypto Tax Education
Updated Feb 6, 2024
This article has been fact checked and reviewed as per our editorial policy.

10 Best Crypto Exchanges for Day Traders in 2024

Newbie or degen, crypto day trading is a dream job for many, but you need the right tools for the job, including the best crypto exchanges for day trading in 2024.

What is crypto day trading?

Crypto day trading is an umbrella term for trading strategies that involve buying, selling, and trading cryptocurrencies in short periods throughout the day to profit from short-term price movements in the market.

Many investors who day trade do so as their main source of income, as opposed to a traditional 9 to 5. Anyone can become a crypto day trader, but to be a successful crypto day trader, you’ll need analytical skills, a strong understanding of trading patterns and strategies, and the ability to closely monitor changes in the market.

What is crypto day trading

How to pick an exchange for crypto day trading?

There are many criteria to consider when choosing the best crypto exchange for day trading. These are the factors we considered when creating our list of the best crypto exchanges for day trading:

  • Fees: If you’re trading multiple times throughout the day, the fees will add up fast. Day traders need an exchange with low fees. We’ve picked exchanges with average to lower than average fees, as well as exchanges with reduced rates based on trading volume.

  • Slippage: Low slippage is vital for all crypto investors, but particularly for day traders trying to make profits off of short-term movements in the market. We've only chosen crypto exchanges with low slippage and high liquidity to ensure your trades execute as intended.

  • Automation tools: Lots of trading takes time, which is why many crypto exchanges offer automation tools to make executing your trading strategy easier. From bots to limit and stop orders and leverage, our crypto exchanges include a whole host of automation tools to make crypto day trading easier and less time-consuming.

  • Cryptocurrencies available: Not every exchange has every cryptocurrency, and in fact, some exchanges list less than reputable projects. We’ve curated our list with exchanges with a good mix of cryptocurrencies, that try and do their due diligence to root out untrustworthy projects.

  • Location: Not all crypto exchanges operate globally - and the US in particular has become particularly hostile towards crypto exchanges thanks to a confusing regulatory environment. You’ll need to make sure you can use your exchange in your home country, and comply with the KYC verification necessary, to ensure you can deposit and withdraw your funds easily.

  • Security: Security should always be a top priority when choosing a crypto exchange, and it's no different for day traders. You need an exchange you can trust with a good track record of security.

What are the best crypto exchanges for day trading in 2024?

Exclusions include countries where cryptocurrencies are illegal including China, North Korea, Iran, and more.

ExchangeFeesTrading pairsCountry
BinanceTiered maker/taker fees based on 30 day trading volume 1300+Global with exclusions
CoinbaseTiered maker/taker fees based on 30 day trading volume 500+Global with exclusions
PhemexTiered maker/taker fees based on 30 day trading volume 200+Global with some states excluded
KrakenTiered maker/taker fees based on 30 day trading volume 600+Global with exclusions
MEXC0% - 0.1% depending on maker/taker for MEXC VIPs2100+Global with exclusions including the US & Canada
OKXTiered maker/taker fees based on 30 day trading volume500+Global with exclusions including the US & Canada
KuCoinTiered maker/taker fees based on 30 day trading volume1300+Global with restrictions for unverified users
BybitTiered maker/taker fees based on account level200+Global with exclusions including the US
Crypto.com Tiered maker/taker fees based on 30 day trading volume500+Global with exclusions including NY
Pionex0.05% - 0.1% depending on maker/taker for VIPs 300+Global with restrictions for US users

Binance

The largest crypto exchange in the world, Binance offers relatively low fees, low slippage, and more than a thousand trading pairs for crypto day traders. The easy interface and huge range of products on offer make the site ideal for both newcomers to day trading and experienced crypto day traders. Here are the key features at a glance:

  • Spot trading fees: 0.1% to 0.02% for makers, 0.1% to 0.04% for takers depending on 30-day trading volume. Discounts are available for BNB holders. See all trading fees.

  • Deposit & withdrawal fees: Fiat deposit & withdrawal fees depend on the method. No cryptocurrency deposit fees, while withdrawal fees are dependent on the crypto withdrawn. See all deposit and withdrawal fees.

  • Products available: Spot, margin, and derivatives trading available including leveraged tokens. Earn products including auto-invest, liquidity farming, mining, DeFi staking, dual investments & ETH staking.

  • Automation: Free trading bots are available including spot grid, futures grid, rebalancing bot, and spot DCA.

  • Available countries: Binance is available worldwide, although US residents are restricted to Binance US, with a restricted product range.

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Coinbase

Coinbase is a reputable and user-friendly cryptocurrency exchange, and a solid choice for day traders thanks to an intuitive interface and high liquidity with low slippage and a range of products available. Here are the key features at a glance:

  • Spot trading fees: 0.05% to 0.60% for takers and 0.00% to 0.04% for makers depending on 30-day trading volume. Lower fees for stable pairs. See all trading fees.

  • Deposit & withdrawal fees: Fiat deposits and withdrawals may be free depending on the payment method. Crypto deposits and withdrawals vary depending on the cryptocurrency involved. See all deposit and withdrawal fees.

  • Products available: Spot trading, advanced trading with margin, and derivatives trading available soon on a separate platform. Earn products include staking, DeFi yield & ETH staking.

  • Automation: Auto trades with limit orders, stop orders, and more in advanced trades.

  • Available countries: Coinbase is available globally, although US residents may have restricted products due to ongoing regulatory issues.

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Phemex

Phemex is a high-volume centralized crypto exchange with users around the world, with high liquidity across markets. For new crypto day traders looking to get to grips with trading, Phemex stands out as the exchange offers a simulated trading market to allow investors to practice trading strategies without using real funds.  Here are the key features at a glance:

  • Spot trading fees: 0% to 0.1% for makers and 0.1% to 0.04% for takers depending on the account level. See all trading fees.

  • Deposit & withdrawal fees: No deposit fees, withdrawal fees depending on the method.

  • Products available: Spot, margin, and derivatives trading, as well as earn products including savings and predictions markets.

  • Automation: Phemex is partnered with NapBots, Stacked, and Goose-AX to provide automated bot trading.

  • Available countries: Phemex is available worldwide, although has restricted products in some US states.

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Kraken

Kraken is a highly trusted and popular exchange for crypto investors around the world, with high liquidity and low slippage. For those looking to set up custom bots for automated trading in particular, Kraken is an excellent choice as it’s partnered with many trading bots providers and offers great API documentation. Here are the key features:

  • Spot trading fees: 0% to 0.16% for makers and 0.10% to 0.26% for takers depending on 30-day trading volume. See all trading fees.

  • Deposit & withdrawal fees: Fiat deposits are generally free depending on the payment method, while withdrawal fees vary between $4 to $25 depending on the method. Fixed fees and minimums for crypto withdrawals, while crypto deposits are generally free. See all deposit and withdrawal fees.

  • Products available: Spot trading, advanced trading, margin trading, and futures trading, as well as staking products.

  • Automation: Strong support for third-party trading bots like Cryptohopper, Haasbot, and Hummingbot, as well as REST and WebSocket APIs.

  • Available countries: Kraken is available worldwide, but does not support users in NY and WA states, while other states may see restricted product offerings.

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MEXC

MEXC is a popular crypto exchange, particularly due to its incredibly low trading fees, starting at just 0% for both makers and takers. While there’s no fiat off-ramp, MEXC is ideal for day traders looking for an extensive range of cryptocurrencies, and the copy trading feature is an excellent way to get ideas from, or simply imitate, the best-performing traders currently. Here are the key features at a glance:

  • Spot trading fees: 0% for makers and 0% to 0.1% for takers depending on the account level. VIPs pay no fees on spot trading. See all trading fees.

  • Deposit & withdrawal fees: Fiat deposit fees are dependent on the payment method, no fiat withdrawals. Crypto deposits are generally free, while crypto withdrawal fees are dependent on the cryptocurrency involved. See all deposit & withdrawal fees.

  • Products available: Spot trading, futures trading, leveraged ETFs, as well as earn offerings like savings products.

  • Automation: API access for bots and copy trading options.

  • Available countries: MEXC is available worldwide but with some notable exclusions - including the US and Canada in the list of prohibited countries.

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OKX

OKX is a global crypto exchange ideal for crypto day traders, although US and Canadian investors can skip ahead, as the exchange isn’t available in these regions. The exchange offers low fees, with very discounted rates for OKB token holders, and a number of automation features including crypto trading bots and copy trading. Here are the features you need to know about at a glance:

  • Spot trading fees: -0.005% to 0.080% for makers and 0.020% to 0.1% for takers depending on 30-day trading volume. Discounted rates for OKB holders. See all trading fees.

  • Deposit & withdrawal fees: Fiat deposit fees are dependent on the payment method, fiat withdrawals are only supported through P2P bank transfer. Network fees for crypto deposits and withdrawals.

  • Products available: Spot trading, margin trading, derivatives including futures and options, and perpetual swaps. Convert trading is available with zero fees and no slippage. Earn products include one-click solutions and on-chain staking.

  • Automation: OKX offers trading bots including grid, DCA, arbitrage, and slicing trading bots, as well as copy trading.

  • Available countries: OKX is available worldwide but with some very notable exclusions including the US, Canada, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Japan. As well as this, UK users cannot access derivatives products.

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KuCoin

KuCoin is popular with crypto day traders worldwide thanks to low fees, high liquidity, and an impressive number of crypto trading pairs - and more are always being added. If you’re looking for options to automate your trading while you sleep, KuCoin offers a number of customizable crypto trading bots to automate your strategy, as well as earn products for idle assets. Here are some of the key features at a glance:

  • Spot trading fees: -0.005% to 0.1% for makers and 0.025% to 0.1% for takers based on 30-day trading volume. Discounts are available for KCS holders. See all trading fees.

  • Deposit & withdrawal fees: Fiat deposits and withdrawal fees are dependent on the payment method. Free crypto deposits, while crypto withdrawal fees are a flat minimum plus a percentage of the withdrawal amount. See all deposit and withdrawal fees.

  • Products available: Spot trading, margin trading, derivatives, and leveraged tokens, as well as earn products including structured wealth products, mining, lending, and launch platform.

  • Automation: KuCoin offers trading bots including spot grid, futures grid, martingale, smart rebalance, infinity grid, and DCA bots. All bots are fully customizable.

  • Available countries: KuCoin is available worldwide but excludes certain countries including the US, Singapore, Thailand, and Canada to name a few. However, as KuCoin is one of the few exchanges without mandatory KYC, many users continue to use the platform from restricted countries. We do not advise this as your account may be restricted at any point if you knowingly use an exchange from a restricted country.

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Bybit

Bybit is a crypto exchange with low fees and high liquidity, with a solid range of trading pairs. For crypto day traders in particular, the convert trades product stands out as an ideal option for fast, free trading with no slippage. As well as this, Bybit offers automated trading, copy trading, and free fiat withdrawals depending on your method. Here are the key features at a glance:

  • Spot trading fees: 0.005% to 0.1% for makers and 0.02% to 0.1% for takers depending on the account level. See all trading fees.

  • Deposit & withdrawal fees: Fiat deposit fees are dependent on the payment method, free USD withdrawals with Advcash. Crypto deposits are generally free, with network fees for crypto withdrawals.

  • Products available: Spot trading, margin trading, derivatives and convert trades with zero fees or slippage. Earn products including savings, liquidity mining, dual asset, and ETH staking.

  • Automation: Bybit has crypto trading bots including a spot grid bot, DCA bot, and futures grid bot. All bots are fully customizable, or you can copy the top-performing bots from the leaderboard.

  • Available countries: Bybit is a global exchange but does not offer services to restricted countries including the US and the Ontario and Quebec provinces in Canada.

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Crypto.com

Crypto.com is a reputable and well-known crypto exchange for day traders, particularly in the US since the exchange acquired the naming rights to the home stadium for the LA Lakers. Crypto.com offers relatively low fees, with considerable discounts available for high-volume CRO holders. Here are some of the key features at a glance:

  • Spot trading fees: 0% to 0.07% for makers and 0.0485% to 0.728% for takers. Crypto.com offers considerable discounts for CRO holders. See all trading fees.

  • Deposit & withdrawal fees: Crypto.com does not charge users for fiat deposits or withdrawals, but your bank may charge a processing fee depending on your provider. Crypto deposits are free and flat fees for withdrawals depending on payment method.

  • Products available: Spot trading, margin trading, and OTC trading. Yield products include CRO payouts, lending, and supercharger events.

  • Automation: Crypto.com offers customizable bots including a DCA bot, grid bot, and TWAP bot.

  • Available countries: Crypto.com is available worldwide including the US, although residents of New York state may not use the platform.

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Pionex

Pionex might not be the best-known crypto exchange on this list, but for crypto day traders looking for state-of-the-art automation, there are few better options than Pionex. As well as low fees, Pionex offers a huge number of fully customizable crypto trading bots for every market condition, as well as the ability to copy the best-performing trading bots currently. Pionex has also recently launched PionexGPT - an AI solution that helps investors create, hone and implement their trading strategy automatically, as well as test it using the exchange’s paper trading solution TradingView. Here are some of the key features at a glance:

  • Spot trading fees: 0.05% for makers and takers, with lower rates available for VIP users based on 30-day trading volume. See all trading fees.

  • Deposit & withdrawal fees: Fiat deposit fees depend on the payment method, while fiat withdrawals are not currently supported. Crypto deposits are generally free, while crypto withdrawals are a flat fee that depends on the asset being withdrawn.

  • Products available: Spot trading, futures trading, and instant swaps, as well as structured earn products and staking.

  • Automation: Pionex stands out as one of the best crypto exchanges for automation with a huge number of trading bots available for every market. Create and customize your own bot, or copy the best bots in the leaderboard currently. As well as this, Pionex offers PionexGPT - an AI solution designed to help you create, test and automate trading strategies.

  • Available countries: Pionex is a global exchange, with no notable exclusions. However, Pionex does restrict access to some products, for example, US residents cannot trade leveraged tokens.

Pionex

What are the best crypto day trading strategies?

Some of the most popular crypto day trading strategies include:

  • Scalping: A short-term strategy that relies on trading volume increasing. Day traders enter the market when the volume starts to increase and exit before the volume drops.

  • Arbitrage: A strategy that involves buying an asset on one exchange and selling it on another to profit from price discrepancies across different platforms.

  • Trading volatility:

  • Range trading: Range trading is a strategy involving identifying when an asset is overbought or oversold using chart indicators and selling or buying at the ideal time.

  • High-frequency trading: High-frequency trading is most often achieved using bots to identify small changes in crypto prices and generate multiple small profits in a short period of time using automated trading.

How to get started with crypto day trading

There’s no set path to get started with crypto day trading, but some tips include:

  • Understanding the market: Crypto is volatile, but the market has patterns that are easier to identify when you understand investor behavior. A strong understanding of crypto charts and technical analysis will make you more successful than going on gut instinct.

  • Know your exchanges: There are so many crypto exchanges to pick from, but not all are built equal. Crypto day traders need to find an exchange that lets them execute their strategy best. In general, you want to look for high liquidity, low slippage, low fees, and a range of automation options to make executing your strategy easy.

  • Develop a trading strategy: Successful crypto day traders don’t just guess what’s going to happen and hope for the best. They have well-planned strategies for each market condition - and in particular, a solid exit strategy when the time comes to take profits.

  • Practice with a demo account: Many exchanges offer paper trading solutions. This is an artificial market where you can trial a given trading strategy with fake funds before moving on to deploying your strategy in the live market. This can help you fine-tune your strategy for better performance and bigger gains.

  • Start small: Don’t dive in head first. It’s always wise to start with a small section of your overall funds to see how you perform, instead of losing everything because your strategy wasn’t successful.

How is crypto day trading taxed?

And now for the bad news - your crypto day trading profits will absolutely be subject to tax.

How's crypto day trading taxed

Crypto tax varies depending on where you live. While most individual investors are subject to either Income Tax or Capital Gains Tax depending on their transactions, crypto day traders are often taxed differently as their profits are their main source of income. This means generally, crypto day traders may have to follow trading stock rules and their profits will be subject to Income Tax.

You can learn more about crypto tax where you live in our crypto tax guides.

FAQs

More questions? We got you covered.

What's the best crypto exchange for day trading in the US?

Some of the best exchanges for crypto day traders in the US include Binance, Coinbase, and Pionex - as well as others in this guide. You should always DYOR and understand the fees and risks involved with using each exchange. Find out more about the best crypto exchanges for US investors.

What's the best crypto exchange for day trading in Australia?

Some of the best exchanges for crypto day traders in Australia include Kraken, Binance Australia, and Coinbase Australia -  - as well as others in this guide. You should always DYOR and understand the fees and risks involved with using each exchange. Find out more about the best crypto exchanges for Australian investors.

What's the best crypto exchange for day trading in Canada?

Some of the best exchanges for crypto day traders in Canada include Kraken, Pionex, and Binance -  - as well as others in this guide. You should always DYOR and understand the fees and risks involved with using each exchange. Find out more about the best crypto exchanges for Canadian investors.

What's the best crypto exchange for day trading in the UK?

Some of the best exchanges for crypto day traders in Canada include MEXC, OKX, and Bybit -  - as well as others in this guide. You should always DYOR and understand the fees and risks involved with using each exchange. Find out more about the best crypto exchanges for UK investors.

What time of day is best for crypto trading?

The crypto markets are 24/7 - so unlike traditional financial markets, they never close. This said, investors may see more market movements when a larger portion of investors are awake. Research suggests that the crypto market sees the largest movements during the US stock market hours, although of course, market events can have a significant impact outside these hours. You can use crypto trading bots to help you automate your strategy while you sleep to ensure you don’t miss out on any opportunities.

What's the most popular crypto day trading strategy?

There are many popular crypto day trading strategies including arbitrage, scalping, and range trading. Given how much the market changes, there’s no one formula for successful crypto day traders. You can (and copy!) see the best-performing traders on an exchange’s copy trading solution.

How much do crypto day traders make?

It’s not known what the average monthly or annual profit of a crypto day trader is because crypto day trading does not ensure a monthly income. In fact, in the most recent market downturn, many day traders made significant losses.

Can crypto day trading make you rich?

It can, but only for successful crypto day traders who understand the market well and plan and strategize effectively. Far too often, investors dive in with a lack of understanding of the market and make more losses than profits.

Is crypto good for day trading?

Yes. Crypto is a popular option for day traders due to its borderless, limitless, and unregulated nature. However, with these perks come unique and significant risks. You should always DYOR to understand the market before investing.

Does crypto trade 24/7?

Yes, unlike traditional financial markets, crypto does not trade in set hours. The market is live, 24/7 for investors around the world.

How much money do I need to start crypto day trading?

There’s no set figure you need to start crypto day trading - although you’ll need a substantial sum if you’re hoping to earn enough profits to live off of. Investors should start small with crypto day trading to ensure they understand the products and trades they're making, as well as optimize their strategy.

Disclaimer
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