You have five crypto exchanges in India, that give you the direct option to buy/ sell bitcoins, ethereum, altcoins, coins and other crypto tokens using INR.
Each of them claims to be the best and the most trustworthy, that may not be true for you.
If you are a beginner crypto investor then this may confuse you because none of them clearly tell you which one is suited for what kind of crypto users.
In a nutshell, you can find it here –
- WazirX Exchange – good for beginner to grow their crypto portfolio
- CoinDCX Exchange – best for experienced crypto investors
- Zebpay Exchange – good for low-cost intraday crypto trading
- Unocoin Exchange – Great for getting USDT as loans on your Bitcoins
- Bitbns Exchange – suitable only for Bitcoin SIP, fixed income plan, or margin trading.
WazirX and Zebpay offer a decent platform for starting crypto investors looking to learn and try out buying/ selling cryptocurrencies.
After an experience of a year or so, when you are comfortable with the basics of crypto trading you can either continue with WaxirX for building a crypto portfolio.
In case you want to try out products like shorting, margin trading and lending then you can use CoinDCX exchange.
Unocoin and Bitbns exchange are decent but WazirX is 10 times better in terms of fees and user interface. You can use them only in case you are in need of their unique crypto product offerings as described above.
In this article, we have reviewed each of the 5 best crypto exchanges in India 2021 to pick the best crypto exchange according to your investment/ trading needs.
5 Best Crypto Exchanges in India 2021
#1. WazirX Crypto Exchange
WazirX is the biggest crypto exchange in India that offers a simple to understand, clean exchange platform ideally suited to beginner crypto investors/traders.
WazirX is hold by Binance which is the biggest crypto exchange in the world.
You may have the fear that what would happen to your investment in case RBI ban crypto in India. Even then your money would be safe. Because your WazirX account will be held securely at Binance, from where you can use you cryptocurrencies.
Binance also sources tech, marketing and operations help. For security reasons, WazirX stores 95% of the crypto assets in the cold vault.
WazirX trading platform has “Exchange”, P2P, STF and Funds tab visible on the top i.e a direct access to a marketplace that matters without overwhelming with too many features.
You can easily use buy/ sell cryptocurrency and check market charts in WazirX. WazirX has a simple straightforward fee structure (charging 0.2% fees) so that you can directly calculate your brokerage.
On top of which you have WRX coins that you can use to get a 50% discount on the trading fees. The effective trading fee is 0.1%.
| Particulars | WazirX |
| Market Place | Spot exchange – to buy/ sell cryptocurrency Peer-to-peer (P2P) – buy/sell USDT directly from others with WazirX as custodian STF Market place – to get hand-holding from experienced traders |
| Crypto pairs against INR | 70 crypto pairs |
| Trading fees | Taker fees – 0.2% Maker fees – 0.2% |
| Deposit & withdrawal channels | Netbanking – IMPS, NEFT & RTGS Mobikwik – UPI |
| Deposit | Fees – up to Rs. 5.90 depending on the channel used Minimum Amount – Rs. 100 Maximum Amount – Unlimited |
| Account opening | Online and smooth. KYC & account verification can take some time |
Open WazirX account – If you want a super easy crypto trading platform
#2. CoinDCX
CoinDCX crypto exchange launched in 2018, is more focused on experienced crypto traders which is visible from the product offerings like –
- Crypto Futures – with 20X leverage
- Crypto Intraday trading – with 6X leverage
- DeFi applications like lending and staking to earn passive
- Shorting of Cryptocurrencies
The feel and look of the dark screen CoinDCX platform is more professional which will need some time for you to get accustomed, understand and find a marketplace.
2 Lakhs active crypto users generate $28 million+ daily trading volumes on CoinDCX helping it rank in the list of top 30 crypto exchanges in the world.
For security, CoinDCX has insurance from BitGo and stores 95% of your crypto assets in the cold vault.
CoinDCX uses 45-day cumulative trading volumes to charge fees ranging from 0.001% to 0.11%. Calculation of which may suit only to the professional traders but not newbies.
| Particulars | CoinDCX |
| Market Place | Spot exchange – to buy/ sell cryptocurrency Margin Trading – similar to stock margin trading. Allows you to trade with 6X leverageFutures Trading – similar to F&O trading. Allows you to trade in crypto futures with up to 20X leverage. |
| Crypto pairs against INR | 32 crypto pairs |
| Trading fees | Both maker & taker fees – 0.11% to 0.001% based on the 45-day cumulative trading volume. |
| Deposit & withdrawal channels | Netbanking – IMPS, NEFT & RTGS Mobikwik – UPI |
| Deposit | Fees – Rs. 0 Minimum Amount – Rs. 100 Maximum Amount – Up to Rs. 5 lakhs depending on KYC status |
| Account opening | Online, the process is smooth |
Open CoinDCX account – After you have a year of crypto experience
#3. Zebpay Crypto Exchange
Set up in 2014, Zebpay is trusted by 3 million users with a presence in Singapore, Australia and India.
If you are an NRI based out of mentioned three countries then you can open a Zebpay account in Singapore and Australian dollars apart from INR.
Zebpay has a decent trading platform but its USP is 0.1% intraday trading fee – one of the lowest fees in India.
Zebpay is re-establishing in India and now has a $10 million daily trading volume.
For security, Zebpay stores around 98% of your coins in a cold vault and also has a partner with BitGo providing $100 million insurance in case of any losses.
| Particulars | ZebPay |
| Market Place | Spot exchange – to buy/ sell cryptocurrency Intraday Trading – buying and selling the same day |
| Crypto pairs against INR | 28 crypto pairs |
| Trading fees | Maker fees – 0.15%Taker fees – 0.25%Intraday fees – 0.10% |
| Deposit & withdrawal channels | Netbanking – IMPS, NEFT & RTGS |
| Deposit | Fees – 1.77% Minimum Amount – Rs. 100 Maximum Amount – Not mentioned |
| Account opening | Online and easy |
*USDT-INR trading and Crypto-Crypto fees are lower – 0.10% for the maker, taker, and intraday.
Zebpay’s Other Unique Products
#1. Zebpay Lending Platform
Help you to earn interest on your idle lying cryptos for an open term (interest calculated and credited daily into your account). The cryptos will be returned immediately at your request.
You will earn a small amount of interest without your locking.
#2. Zebpay Fixed-term crypto deposits
This is similar to bank FD with an annualized yield of up to 12%. The term deposit period varies from 7-day to 90-day periods.
Cryptocurrency eligible for lending include –
- Bitcoin (BTC)
- Ethereum (ETH)
- Binance coin (BNB)
- Dai (DAI)
- USD Tether (USDT)
Open a Zebpay Account – If you are a crypto intraday trader looking for a lower fee
#4. Unocoin Crypto Exchange
Unocoin is an average crypto exchange that supports the frontline coin and tokens like Bitcoin, Ethereum and others that you want to buy.
With 1.5 million+ users, Unocoin processed 8.47 million orders and the trading platform is available on iOS, Android smartphones and web platform.
Unocoin provides a unique lending feature where you can place your Bitcoins as collateral and get a loan in USDT.
The feature is useful if you want to monetize your Bitcoins without selling them. Or want to use USDT for trading.
But the interest rate is high at 15% and Unocoin charges a 2% processing fee on the loan applications.
The minimum loan amount is = 100 USDT
And the maximum loan amount is = 10,000 USDT
| Particulars | Unocoin |
| Market Place | Spot exchange – to buy/ sell cryptocurrency |
| Crypto pairs against INR | 34 crypto pairs |
| Trading fees | 0.5% to 0.7% to buy/sell Bitcoin, depending on the 60-day transaction volume. 0% on crypto-to-crypto exchange |
| Deposit & withdrawal channels | Netbanking – IMPS, NEFT & RTGS Mobikwik – UPI |
| Deposit | Fees – 1.9% Minimum Amount – Not mentioned Maximum Amount – Not mentioned |
| Account opening | Online and easy |
Open a Unocoin account – If you are looking to get USDT loans by keeping Bitcoins.
#5. Bitbns Crypto Exchange
Bitbns launched in 2017, has the longest list of cryptos paired against INR. 130+ crypto coins and tokens to be exact. You can buy cryptos directly using INR funds.
Bitbns has a complex trading fee calculation method involving computation of 30-day trading volume and also taking into consideration the amount of BNS tokens in your account.
But still, 3 million users rely on Bitbns because of their unique Bitdroplets, Fixed Income plan and margin trading.
#1. Bitdroplets
Is a systematic Bitcoin purchase plan where you invest Rs. 100 per day. The plan eliminates market timing and the risk of sentimental decision-making. And has given 1200% returns over 5 year period.
#2. Fixed Income Plan
Helps you earn extra cryptos over time by fixing your cryptocurrencies for a pre-agreed time period of 30 to 180 days and at fixed interest rates.
#3. Margin Trading
Bitbns allows margin trading in cryptos with 1:1 leverage. This means you can get 100 Ripple if you already have 100 Ripple in your account for margin trading.
| Particulars | Bitbns |
| Market Place | Spot exchange – to buy/ sell cryptocurrency |
| Crypto pairs against INR | 130+ crypto pairs |
| Trading fees | 0.03% to 0.25%, depending on the last 30-day trading volume and BNS coin holding in your account. |
| Deposit & withdrawal channels | Netbanking – IMPS, NEFT & RTGS Mobikwik – UPI |
| Deposit | Fees – up to 1.77% Minimum Amount – 1000 Maximum Amount – Not mentioned |
| Account opening | Online and easy |
Go for Bitbns account – If you want to use SIP to invest in Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies.
Also read – Best Forex Trading Apps in India
Conclusion
You should know your crypto investing/ trading needs before you decide on the exchange.
WazirX fits most of your needs to start, learn and grow your crypto portfolio from zero to over lakhs of rupees. Plus it has the backing of Binance, if government ban crypto in India (in the worse case)
Look for other crypto exchanges after you have gained a year of experience or if you need some crypto investing or lending needs.
