10+ best cryptocurrency exchanges in Russian: review + reviews

Hello dear friends! Pavel Butor is in touch. I am glad to welcome you to the section on improving your financial condition.

We are gradually switching to digital life. This transition began earlier, but the coronavirus epidemic gave a powerful impetus to the online life of all people on the planet. Along with this digital life, virtual money has appeared and is actively developing.

Today I will introduce you to the best cryptocurrency exchanges in 2021. Here you will learn how safe it is to buy, invest and make various transactions with virtual money, and which exchange to choose for trading cryptocurrency.

Since I invest and trade cryptocurrency myself, I had to learn a lot of exchanges and other nuances. And based on my experience and the experience of my friends, I wrote this article.

I provide you with a rating of platforms for investing and trading cryptocurrency with a brief overview of each of them.

Before investing, I recommend completing training. Our blog has a selection of 25+ best investing courses.

Binance

Binance is the top crypto exchange. This Chinese company was founded in 2022, translated into 16 languages.
When you register using the link, you receive a lifetime discount on commissions of 5%.

A huge ecosystem has been created here that allows clients to feel secure and confidently earn money. Like everywhere else, Binance has advantages and disadvantages.

Pros:

Academy is an educational section that covers topics on blockchain and cryptocurrencies.
Card is a debit card from Binance.
Binance Chain – blockchains for controlling financial turnover.
Crypto lending – loans in virtual currency.
Fiat channel – facilitates making deposits in familiar currencies (which can be converted into cryptocurrency at the exchange rate) using bank cards.
Labs is an incubator for the best blockchain projects.
OTC – over-the-counter trading, turnover of large amounts.
P2P – peer-to-peer local trading, you can buy bitcoins with cash.
Savings – earning interest payments through lending.
Staking is a service for earning more than 20% per annum.
Trust Wallet is a cryptocurrency wallet from Binance.
USD, GBP – stablecoins of the exchange.
Spot, margin and futures trading available.
Commission from 0.012% to 0.1%. Its size depends on the type of trading and the selected cryptocurrencies.
The minimum purchase amount for cryptocurrency is $15.
200+ cryptocurrencies.
900+ trading pairs.
Application for all known OS.

After such a list, it seems that there are no shortcomings at all. But that's not true.

Minuses:

Verification. It seemed long and confusing to me.
Without verification, you cannot withdraw your money to a card or P2P, although you are welcome to trade. You can withdraw and top up via direct transfers to your wallet.
Slow technical support. I waited for an answer for more than a day.
Binance does not cooperate with Belarus and many other countries.

Without verification, you can withdraw up to 2 BTC per day.

I am Belarusian and, unfortunately, I cannot pass verification on Binance. But I can trade. To top up my account, I asked a girl I know to transfer money directly from my account. And I transferred money from WebMoney to her card.

You can top up your wallets and withdraw money to Binance for unverified users through LocalBitcoins, BestChange, and also find a person who will transfer you a coin, and you will transfer money to him.

For verified users, replenishment from a card, as well as P2P, is available.

I like Binance. Lots of coins, simple and clear interface, adequate commissions. It’s a pity, of course, that there are restrictions for Belarusians, but I hope they will be lifted.

I immediately topped up my account with $1,879 and “entered” the crypto.

Our blog has a detailed review of Binance.

My replenishment on Binance
I tried to describe as much as possible all the pros and cons of the platform. And I found some real reviews for you on otzovik.com.

Some more advantages and disadvantages of the site can be found at brokers.best.

How to choose the right crypto exchange

A difficult choice
To ensure that your first attempts at trading on the cryptocurrency market do not lead to bitter disappointment, it is worthwhile to analyze in detail the terms of service of existing platforms and clearly formulate your own requirements for them.

An undoubted advantage of cooperation with cryptocurrency Internet resources is the ability to trade on several platforms simultaneously, making maximum use of the features of specific exchanges to realize your plans.
Depending on the trader’s goals, he can choose one platform for transactions with popular currencies, another with rare coins and derivative assets, a third to safely and freely store funds on deposit, and so on.

You should decide on the criteria for choosing an Internet trading resource and set priorities for each of them, following your goals for the next period of time.

Each user has their own preferences and views on the importance of the characteristics of crypto exchanges, but the main ones are considered by almost all potential clients. In addition to the reliability and volume of trading turnover, the importance of which was mentioned earlier, when choosing a suitable exchange, the following parameters are taken into account.

Commission amount

The amount of deductions is an important point when choosing an exchange.
Obviously, the smaller the commission amount set by the trading platform, the more income from operations the trader will receive and the more profitable mutual cooperation will become.

Commissions are the fees that an exchange charges for providing its intermediary services.

Their size depends on the type of transactions performed and their volume; the more significant it is, the smaller the percentage must be paid to the exchange. In this way, the platform encourages players to participate more actively in trading, increasing the liquidity and popularity of the Internet resource.
Today, the average exchange commission is 0.2%; most platforms allow you to significantly reduce it when certain trading volumes are reached over the past 30 days.
For participants who create orders, the so-called makers, the commission is maximally reduced and reaches 0.02%, in some cases it is equal to zero.
For traders closing orders (takers), the commission is higher and averages 0.1%.

Exchanges with the most humane commissions include:

Bitmex,
where fees range from 0.025% to 0.075%.
CEX
with commissions from 0 to 0.25%.
Binance
with fees ranging from 0.075 to 0.1%.
Okex,
which set commissions from 0.1 to 0.15%.

Under other similar conditions, this indicator can play a decisive role in the choice of a trading resource.

Mandatory verification

The essence of verification
Most exchanges require users to provide their personal data to carry out all or a number of trading operations, especially when it comes to withdrawing funds to bank cards or fiat money.

Participants are reluctant to share their personal information online for fear of leakage and misuse. In addition, some users prefer not to advertise their participation in cryptocurrency trading, trying to remain completely anonymous.

Despite the fact that the purpose of verification is to prevent theft of client funds and illegal disposal of their assets, the risk of personal data leakage objectively exists and for many its necessity reduces the attractiveness of the exchange. In addition, data entry requires a certain amount of time and attention.

Participation in auctions without providing personal data is available on the following sites:

Binance;
Bitmex;
Huobi Global;
CEX;
Bitforex;
Okex;
Kucoin.

Margin operations

Margin leverage
To increase trading turnover, almost all major exchanges allow clients to use their funds in debt, this is called margin lending. By holding a certain amount from the user's deposit (margin) as collateral, the platform allows the use of amounts several times greater than the amount of the collateral for trading operations.

The multiple of the excess of borrowed funds over the collateral is called leverage and usually ranges from 2 to 100. This option means that with a leverage of 10, a trader with 100 units of currency in his account will have the right to trade 1000 units, disposing of them as his own.

Margin lending is beneficial both to clients, allowing them to participate in large transactions without sufficient funds, and to the exchange, because its commissions increase.

It should be borne in mind that the risks of transactions with leverage increase in proportion to the funds received in debt. Only experienced traders who are confident in the results of trading operations successfully use margin lending in their activities. It is better for beginners not to do this until they have a complete understanding of exchange processes and their consequences.
To protect clients from unsustainable debt obligations, a tool called margin call is used, which blocks trading operations when the client’s funds fall below a set level. Typically, the margin call trigger level is a quarter of the trader's account size.

According to user reviews and analysts' opinions, the best conditions for margin lending are created on exchanges such as Binance, Bitmex, Huobi Global, CEX, Bithumb.

Number of trading pairs

Exchange website
When it comes to trading such high-risk and volatile assets as cryptocurrencies, it is important for a trader, especially an experienced one, to have as many available tools in his arsenal as possible. A solid list of trading pairs makes it more likely to achieve the desired result from transactions.

Considering the speed with which new types of digital currencies appear, exchanges have to constantly improve and introduce them into their circulation. Popular and significant platforms have hundreds of types of assets being traded, which leads to an increase in the number of transactions with them and an increase in the number of clients.

The main cryptocurrencies will no longer surprise anyone; the availability of transactions with rare coins can become a competitive advantage of the exchange.

The most impressive list of digital assets can boast of:

Binance with over a thousand pairs;
Huobi Global – 878 pairs;
Bittrex – 763 pairs;
Okex - 474 pairs;
Bithumb – 314 pairs.

Gate.io

Gate.io – the exchange has been operating since 2022, registered in Virginia. This is a small and fairly well-known exchange among traders. Intuitive interface.

The official website is available in 15 languages. There is an extended service for clients, so trade turnover is only increasing. But the operation of the exchange is not regulated by anything; there is no license.

This is a universal trading service, and it has the main functionality for traders:

market – buying one cryptocurrency with another, matching orders with the best price;
margin trading;
futures trading;
flexible leverage varies for arbitrage and hedging, possible maximum is 100x;
push transaction;
automatic quotes allow you to trade 24/7;
more than 480 cryptocurrency pairs for trading;
trading commission at the VIP level is 0 – 0.2%, when the level increases, the commission decreases;
no demo account;
the initial withdrawal limit per day is $100,000, with deeper identity verification – up to $5 million;
Technical support works via email, ticket system, online chat;
payment of commission using points – 0.06%, GT – 0.15–0.2%, special offers for VIP clients – 0–0.05%;
Mobile application available for iOS, Android;
bonuses for beginners in the form of points, which can be used to pay for commissions;
verification is optional, but to withdraw large amounts you still need to confirm your identity;
listing.

Fat minus: there is no fiat channel.

I myself have been verified and am considering this exchange. If there are problems with Binance, I will work with Gate. The company cooperates with Belarusians without any restrictions.

This is an advanced platform suitable for successful cryptocurrency trading. Let's see if it's so good in practice.

There are many positive reviews on the brokers.best website over the past year. But this year, user Sergey Svetlov is extremely dissatisfied with his cooperation with the broker.

The website otzyvmarketing.ru also has unflattering reviews for this year. User Rustam speaks negatively about technical support.

Interestingly, in 2022, traders had much fewer complaints against the broker. For example, Timur describes the stock exchange only from the best side.

Such a sharp change in sentiment may well be associated with a decline in trading in financial markets, and not with the work of the exchange itself.

Why look for the best broker?

This article is dedicated to finding the best broker in Russia.
I spent several days to find out which broker is the best not only for a beginner, but for any trader. The idea to write such an article arose when I read several resources on the network on this topic and still couldn’t find the answer to who is the best. In addition, I myself am a client of several brokers in Russia, having significant amounts in brokerage accounts.

Therefore, this issue needs to be carefully considered not only by beginners, but also by experienced traders.

After all, competition among brokers forces them to constantly work on their tariffs and service. This means that a situation could easily arise when it’s time to leave one broker for another. After all, that other broker gives a more favorable offer for your trading on the stock exchange.

1. How to increase your brokerage account from 50,000 to 100,000 rubles. Description in the VKontakte group

2. How to increase your brokerage account from 50,000 to 100,000 rubles. Description in the group In the telegram channel

And by the way, if you are still looking for information about how to trade on the stock exchange without a broker, how to play on the “stock exchange” without a broker (this is how beginners usually think), then I will hasten to disappoint you. You can only trade through a broker! And under no circumstances should you play, but rather trade. This is not Russian roulette, but serious business!

So, let's go!

Crypto.com

Crypto.com is an English-language exchange, also available in Chinese and Japanese. It has been operating since 2022, but has already established itself as a reliable broker.

Basic trading conditions:

more than 100 cryptocurrencies;
20+ fiat currencies;
You can withdraw funds via bank transfers or to a card;
your own card for withdrawal of funds gives an 8% discount on all expenses, no annual fees, replenishment with cryptocurrency or fiat funds;
more than 30 cryptocurrencies and stablecoins for deposit;
earnings of up to 8.5% per annum on crypto and up to 14% per annum for stablecoins;
minimum commission on cryptocurrency and stablecoins – 0%;
high speed;
DeFi crypto wallet with keys;
mobile application for iOS, Android;
a loan of up to 50% of your cryptocurrency;
the ability to withdraw cryptocurrency to an external address, the commission depends on the cryptocurrency;
two-factor authentication;
free calculation of the amount of tax on cryptocurrency;
commission for trading at the 1st level is 0.09–0.144%; as the level increases, the commission decreases.

A huge plus is that there is a fiat channel.

I also passed verification here, and if there are problems with Binance, I will use Crypto in conjunction with Gate.

On the downside, I heard from several people that Crypto inflates rates a little. I don’t know yet whether this is true or not - I haven’t checked it. Verification also takes a very long time.

As for the reviews, at first it is difficult for Russian-speaking users to adapt to this exchange. There are conflicting opinions on trustpilot.com. User like notes that they liked everything about working with the broker.

And here vbxx3 writes that there are large commissions. By the way, the upper commission threshold depends on the specific cryptocurrency. Therefore, check before transactions.

Choose the learning method that suits you

independently using books (the process is usually long and tedious - you will have to make your way through the wilds of Borneo, in which you will quickly get lost and will not get out on your own).
independent completion of training courses (free or paid - at your discretion). The path is faster than the previous one, but it is not a fact that you will reach the end. Especially if this format does not provide feedback from the coach. But there is a guarantee that you will be able to figure out at least something and make your first successful transactions.
practical training online or offline under the guidance of a mentor with feedback, debriefing, support and assistance. The fastest way to stable earnings and minimum risks.

Get ready for the fact that you will have to study regularly and persistently, and you will not be able to stop once you reach a certain stage.

EXMO

Exmo is the largest official crypto exchange in Eastern Europe. The company has been operating since 2014. Since 2022, it has its own EXM token.

Registered in London, the company's offices are located in Moscow, Kyiv, London. Has more than 1.9 million clients, turnover more than 1.5 billion.

The activities of Eksmo are controlled and regulated in accordance with the laws of England.

Let's look at the trading conditions on the platform:

189 currency pairs, 60 cryptocurrencies;
fiat currencies: RUB, EUR, USD, UAH, GBP, TRY, PLN;
trading commission – 0.05–0.3%;
there is no minimum deposit amount;
clear interface;
verification: entering personal data, scanning documents, confirming address, signing a client agreement;
replenish your account using Neteller after verification;
two-factor authentication for security;
technical support 24/7 in Russian, English, Ukrainian and Turkish;
Cashback is available in the amount of up to 75% of the trading commission;
API – a reliable service for cross-platform trading bots;
special conditions for VIP clients;
referral program – 25–40% of exchange commissions.

The circulation of funds in Russia is regulated by Law No. 259-FZ.

And although this exchange is among the top best in the field of cryptocurrency trading, there are still shortcomings, small mistakes that make you wonder whether to deal with it or not.

I saw traders’ opinions about cooperation with EXMO in the reviews. Below are some of them. On brokers.best you will see different reviews. For example, Maxim Kovalsky is extremely dissatisfied with the work of the exchange.

And on trustland.ru you will find conflicting opinions. User Julia expressed dissatisfaction with the work of the exchange.

Here user Vitaly writes that he is satisfied with everything, he likes the commissions and the work of technical support is at a decent level.

Currency.com

Currency.com positions itself as the best regulated crypto exchange in the CIS. Its feature is the regulation of tokenized assets, where you can invest cryptocurrencies in assets familiar to us: stock indices, shares, commodities.

When you register using the link, you receive a 10% discount on commissions for the first 3 months of trading.

According to documents, the company began its existence in December 2017. Regulated by Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus No. 8, that is, in accordance with the legislation of the country.

The first trading started at the beginning of 2022. Cooperation with citizens of 23 countries, including the United States, is prohibited. Has offices in London, Gibraltar, Minsk.

Has 2 important awards: “Best Cryptocurrency Exchange in the CIS” - Blockchain Life Award 2022, “Breakthrough in Cryptocurrency Trading” - ADVFN International Financial Awards 2022.

Basic conditions:

1,300 tokenized assets;
transaction processing speed – 50 M/sec;
the narrowest spreads: for BTC/USD – 5 cents, for ETH/USD – 1 cent;
trading commissions have been reduced: leveraged cryptocurrency pairs – 0.075%, commodities – 0.05%, stocks – 0.05%, indices – 0.05%, bonds – 0.03%;
Trading with 100x leverage is allowed;
margin trading;
withdrawals and deposits are available in cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies using bank transfer, Visa and MasterCard cards, accepting payments at Sberbank;
Russian-language support;
fast verification;
referral program – up to 50% of friends’ trading commissions;
Currency.com Exchange app;
cryptohedge – the best conditions for investing;
the website has a section “Training in trading”;
career.

I suggest learning trading from scratch using one of the 20+ best free and paid online courses.

For Russian-speaking traders this is a reliable company. Regulation under the legislation of Belarus inspires confidence. Plus favorable conditions for trading with tokenized assets.

I would advise you to pay attention to this platform and understand the pitfalls in detail in order to be fully informed before starting trading.

I heard that there are hidden commissions that seem to be somewhere in the depths of the site, but not in plain sight. And people may pay more than they expect. Therefore, be careful.

Now let’s see how the company has established itself for cooperation with seasoned traders. Let's start with the positive: on the authoritative website otzovik.com, user verulentnost1 noted the ease of working on the stock exchange and the large number of available tools.

There are also negative reviews about the work of the exchange on the brokers.best website. Alexey Romanovsky describes the entire chain of commissions, after which very little of your hard-earned money remains in the account.

Here, from the latest, there is another negative review from the Russian Ivan Knyazev. He is also not entirely satisfied with the commission and the work of technical support.

Tips for choosing the best cryptocurrency exchange

Criteria for choosing a crypto exchange
Before opening an account on the exchange, a trader will have to delve into many nuances and study a certain range of information about a large number of platforms.

To avoid making mistakes, users are advised to use the following list of tips when searching for and choosing the best cryptocurrency exchange:

Find out if the exchange operates outside your country. If not, in the event of a hack, the user will not be legally protected and will not receive any compensation;
Choose the oldest exchanges that have been tested by “time” for trading. The absence of hacks and negative reviews over a long period is the key to the reliability of the platform;
Take time to search for information about the exchange development team. Search the Internet for information about each of them, make sure they have a good reputation (you should trust authoritative publications such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, Financial Times, The Guardian);
Read the exchange registration documents. Make sure that it complies with money laundering laws and, in case of unforeseen situations, is ready to take the side of the trader (return of stolen funds). This practice is generally common in the USA, China, Singapore and South Korea.

These are the main criteria by which you can determine the reliability of the exchange. However, users should also take into account their own preferences when choosing a platform:

Ease of use and appearance of the exchange (interface);
Number of trading pairs;
Amount of commissions and other penalties;
Verification process and security system;
Support service (waiting time for a response, assistance in solving a problem, etc.).

BitMEX

BitMEX is a peer-to-peer trading platform that operates under leveraged contracts. All transactions take place only with Bitcoin. There is no work with fiat currencies here.

This is a relatively old company. Began its activities in 2013.

Conditions of work on the exchange:

For some products the leverage reaches 1:100;
auto-deleveraging is used - profitable positions with leverage can be reduced;
API functionality;
multilingual interface;
chat and powerful technical support;
margin trading with leverage;
short positions;
simplified verification;
there is a demo account;
high trading volume and liquidity level;
commission – 0.025–0.075%.

Among the shortcomings, I note: deposits and withdrawals are only in bitcoins. This can be inconvenient for beginners, since these BTC must first be earned somewhere. The interface also seems immediately incomprehensible: the number of different graphs and settings dazzles us.

You will better understand the mechanism of working on exchanges if you read one of the 18 best books on trading for beginners and experienced ones.

Here you can make super profits and rake in money with your hands. But first, take the trouble to understand the terms of the loan, because instead of earning money, you may end up in you-know-where. This is a powerful tool for experienced traders.

Let's move on to the experience of working with the stock exchange. On the website brokers.best, Vitalik Doroshenko notes that withdrawal of funds takes too long and there are few trading tools. At the same time, I like the commission, the flexibility of orders, and the demo account.

— What is better for a beginner to trade on exchanges?

________

And now regarding specific tools. So, let's start with futures. The most popular instruments, which are also among the most volatile, are dollar/ruble, Gazprom, Sberbank, gold, euro/dollar, Brent oil. These tools are quite suitable for beginners. Euro/dollar least often gives entry points and works out levels worse. Therefore, at first you don’t have to trade it.

Gold is a good instrument that holds levels well and very often provides entry points with a short stop with a large movement potential. Although you need to be more careful when trading gold and euro/dollar, since these instruments sometimes show very sharp movements and are strongly influenced by many economic news. So you need to carefully monitor important news and not open a position in front of it.

Now regarding the stock market. You can trade any 1st echelon securities. I do not recommend trading low-liquid securities of the 2nd and 3rd echelons to beginners. Trade shares of large companies that show a good smooth trend.

Find out everything about the cent account!

______

Bybit

Bybit was founded in 2022 and already has 1.6 million users. The availability of multilingual customer support, user-friendly interface and useful tools have helped the platform become one of the leading trading platforms. One of the top 5 futures trading platforms.

The headquarters is located in Singapore. Accepts clients from Europe, North America, Southeast Asia and Russia.

The exchange does not have its own token.

Trading conditions:

main trading products BTC/USD, ETH/USD and new pairs;
24/7 technical support;
demo account;
this is an exchange for selling and buying cryptocurrency, transactions only in cryptocurrency;
network commission for withdrawal – 0.0005 BTC;
there is a withdrawal limit - from 0.002 BTC, 0.02 ETH, 0.2 EOS, 20 XRP;
applications are processed 3 times a day;
perpetual futures contract;
small trading commissions;
margin trading;
up to 100x leverage;
market, conditional and limit orders;
very tempting bonuses: $5 for registering on social networks, $5 for the first deposit of 0.05 BTC, $20 for a deposit of 1 BTC and others;
education;
decentralized reference price from ChainLink;
referral program;
mining when funds are credited, transfer is carried out only from an electronic wallet.

Reviews about the exchange are mostly positive. On the website brokers.best, Vitalik Doroshenko notes that the main drawback is that there are few trading pairs, everything else suits him.

Choosing a trading strategy

As a rule, students choose the strategies that the mentor suggests. And this is correct - after all, the system has already been tested and tested from all sides, tested by many other students, works great and brings results in the form of profit.

Trading strategies also depend on which specific exchange a beginner chooses to start trading.

What variables affect this?:

Timezone
selection of shares by type and quantity
Management of risks
selection of patterns and potentials
selection of entry points
analysis of time intervals (timing)

It makes no sense to list all the strategies within the article - it will take several months to study everything.

OKEX

OKEX is a cryptocurrency platform where you can exchange tokens, trade futures contracts and use leverage. Created in 2022.

The cryptocurrency buying exchange offers blockchain-based financial transactions for traders around the world. Read about such transactions in our selection of 17 best books on financial literacy.

Basic trading conditions:

C2C – peer-to-peer matching service, clients can exchange fiat digital assets without the participation of an exchange;
margin lending – traders can borrow cryptocurrency and receive interest;
Aux Cayes – digital wallet;
pool for mining bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies;
Spot trading available;
trading futures, options;
perpetual swaps;
more than 30 local cryptocurrencies;
trading popular BTC, ETH, USDT;
support for transfers using Visa, Mastercard;
covers more than 200 countries;
20+ million traders;
400+ trading pairs;
24/7 technical support in 8 languages;
if you invite friends, you can earn currency to buy BTC;
promotions and bonuses apply;
there is a mobile application;
gentle commissions for regular and VIP clients;
withdrawal limit for 24 hours – 500 BTC, for VIP clients – from 600 to 2,000 BTC;
leverage;
hedging.

There is a wide selection of trading tools here. Large trading volume is allowed. And everything is great, if not for real reviews from users. The platform is young, so many people still don’t know about it. But clients are already giving feedback.

On the website eto-razvod.ru you can read the indignation of user Nick Opas about the loss of coins: he deposited funds on the exchange, but did not see them on his balance sheet.

True reviews on brokers.best are also not encouraging. User Nikolay draws attention to problems with balance.

But there is also a positive review about the work of the exchange.

Making money on cryptocurrency exchanges is always fraught with risks. Don't forget about it!

Trading apps

Just a few years ago, the most popular terminal for individual investors was the QUIK platform. Many people still use it today, but broker mobile applications are becoming more and more widespread for making transactions on the stock exchange.

In an ideal situation, the client has maximum choice: he can trade both through the broker’s native application and through third-party terminals. Both a web version and applications for computers and mobile phones are available.

In the table below I show what our top brokers provide to their clients as software.

Broker	Software
FG BKS	Quik, mobile version of Quik, Metatrader 5, mobile version of Metatrader 5, TSlab platform, etc.
Opening	XTick Extreme, MetaTrader 5, QUIK all types
Finam	just an overwhelming number of different software solutions for trading
Keith Finance	KIT Finance TWS (Trader Workstation) and mobile version of Handy Trader Quik and mobile version
Alor+ LLC	Quik and its varieties,Trading View, Alor Trade

Here it is very difficult to remove someone from the list for the title of “best broker in Russia”. I only trade in the Quik terminal and I don’t need any, not even mobile versions of Quik. Therefore, it would be wrong to remove a broker with modest software from the list.

But for yourself, you can already note what you would like to use for your trading.

For now it's decided! We leave all brokers for further struggle.

BitForex

BitForex is one of the world's leading cryptocurrency trading exchanges. Operates from 2022. It adapts very quickly to user needs and adds new features, which keeps it at the peak of popularity.

It is convenient to work here, since the platform provides favorable conditions for trading: spot, margin trading, derivatives.

Let's consider the working conditions on this exchange:

insurance for each user’s cryptocurrency assets;
storing assets in a cold wallet;
24/7 online customer support;
BitForex Pro – mobile application;
preventing failures during operation;
more than 300 trading pairs;
work on the MT5 site;
social trading;
multilingual technical support;
optional verification;
minimum deposit amount – from 5 USD and from 0.002 BTC;
the minimum withdrawal amount by bank card is from 10 USD and 0.001 BTC;
commission for taker for a perpetual contract – 0.06%, for maker – 0.04%, spot trading – 0.1%, per transaction – 0.08%, withdrawal commission 0.0005 BTC;
leverage is 1:100;
There are bonuses and promotions for registration and during the work process.

Overall, the exchange deserves our attention. Now let's see what experienced traders have to say.

On the website eto-razvod.ru, user Alexey Barkov writes that he lost his money, but below you will see arguments against his withdrawal.

Here Evgeniy Sologub draws attention to the fact that this is the most promising exchange for beginners.

CREX24

CREX24 is a cryptocurrency exchange founded in 2022. It has a simple interface, API, and good functionality, which helps to conduct a quick and accurate analysis of the market situation.

It has its own payment systems Perfect Money, E-PAY. There are no restrictions on deposits and withdrawals.

The platform works in all countries except the USA, Israel, Canada, and the UK.

Working conditions:

have their own coins: BTC (DASH/PIVX), ERC20, Waves tokens, TRX tokens;
There is an application for Android (for iOS still in development);
working with cryptocurrencies and fiat funds;
two-factor authentication;
verification is not required when using E-PAY and QIWI;
there is a “Create faucet” function for coin developers;
free listing is available if the coin is on the list and 1,000+ community users support it;
commissions depend on the choice of cryptocurrency or fiat funds;
24/7 customer support;
Affiliate program works;
30+ languages on the site;
about 500 cryptocurrencies;
no demo account;
no training;
commission for depositing/withdrawing funds – from 1%;
the commission per transaction depends on the volume, the minimum is 0.06%.

I also liked this exchange. There are really a variety of instruments, currency pairs, and new chips for this market. But the lack of training and demo account stressed me out. Let's see the opinion of platform clients.

On the website otzyvmarketing.ru, user Andrey Dom claims that he lost his earned coins.

There is another angry review from the end of 2020 on the website otzyvdengi.com.

The most reliable brokers according to investment ratings

It’s no coincidence that I didn’t start the article with ratings. I'm so skeptical about ratings. After all, if you rely on them, you will have to delve into the calculations and parameters of these very ratings. Moreover, it is possible to inflate these same ratings for selfish purposes. But now that we have identified a narrow circle of brokers that are normal for work, we can look at their ratings, just in case.

Typically, a broker's reliability rating has the following symbols: AAA+, AAA, AAA-, BBB, CCC, and so on. Ideally, the higher the rating, the more reliable the broker.

Let's look at the website of the National Rating Agency to see which of our five are on this list and in what place.

And the Moscow Exchange website also has its own rating, which includes all of our five brokers.

To my surprise and not surprise, the National Agency's rating practically coincided with my analysis. So we are going with you in the right direction!

BTC-Alpha

BTC-Alpha is a platform for safe and reliable trading of blockchain assets, according to the site owners. Operating since 2016, registered in the UK. Works with cryptocurrencies and one fiat – the US dollar.

The daily trading volume on BTK-Alpha is more than $10 million.

Basic trade conditions:

more than 200 trading pairs;
Staking available;
there is no margin trading;
there is no commission for input;
no verification;
the minimum amount starts from 0.00001 BTC and other cryptocurrencies;
trading commission depends on the level - 0.05–0.2%;
on this exchange, according to many, it is better to trade cryptocurrencies, since it is among the top 15 safe platforms in the world;
real-time quotes;
technical support 24/7;
payment systems for depositing and withdrawing funds: Perfect Money, NixMoney, Mercuryo, ADVcash, PAYEER;
recently developed application;
demo trading;
Alpha code – transfer of assets between exchange accounts;
competitions and bonuses.

There are few reviews about this exchange, although it has been operating for several years. I found a fresh review from the moderator of the site eto-razvod.ru that there have been a lot of complaints about the platform lately.

Write your reviews about the exchange in the comments if you have worked on it. I will be glad to receive your feedback!

Narrowing the circle of brokers for analysis

If you see an advertisement for a broker, you should understand that this broker is not the only one. There are so many of them now that a month is not enough to study each in detail.

Therefore, I went to the Moscow Exchange website and decided to start looking for a group of brokers for my analysis based on the question that first came to my mind:

Who are these brokers and who have the most active clients?

This is the first question that came to my mind to conduct an analysis. Specifically active clients, because clients can open a brokerage account, but not trade for various reasons.

One of which, by the way, is that the trader just stopped liking the broker.

Accordingly, it is even interesting to look at both lists. I think that just looking at these numbers you can make some kind of primitive conclusion about choosing a broker.

What do you think?

In table No. 1, from the data available on the Moscow Exchange in the public domain, I collected into one table the figures for the total number of attracted clients and active clients.

Table No. 1. Data from the Moscow Exchange website for December 2022

Active clients are those people who have made at least one transaction. And it’s easy to calculate the percentage of active clients from the total number of clients for each broker.

Even Sberbank did not have impressive numbers. See for yourself!

With him everything is clear why there are so many clients. Why be surprised, Sberbank is a state bank. All budget salaries go through this bank. And people associate it with some kind of reliability.

It is unlikely that there will be a situation with Sberbank that periodically occurs on federal channels about the bankruptcy of small banks.

I was more impressed by Tinkoff! And table No. 1 shows that the percentage of active clients is higher than that of Sber:

% of active users of the total number of Sberaraven 7.7
% of active users of the total number of Tinkoff is 10.5

Well, in positions 10 and 12 there are simply giants unknown to me in terms of the percentage of active clients. The numbers are simply not even close to Sberbank and Tinkoff.

% of active users of the total number of GPB Bank is 14,640
% of active users of the total number of Alfa Capital is 41,850

In general, the top ten brokers, or rather the 12 best brokers, together with Alfa Capital, attracted the most clients to the exchange, taking the lion's share of the market of potential traders and investors under their wing.

I would also take the Kit-Finance broker into the fight for the title of best broker. Still, his percentage of active clients is 6.0%. And further from the list I want to remove all banks that are also brokers. This means Kit-Finance automatically falls into the top ten.

Above, I looked at the data for December 2022, but even according to the data as of May 1, 2022, the leaders have not changed much.

Table No. 2. Data from the Moscow Exchange website for April 2022

But this is not enough to choose a broker. Let's analyze the trading volumes of brokers. From the data on the Moscow Exchange website for April 2022, trading turnover is as follows:

Table No. 3. Comparison of brokers by trading turnover according to the Moscow Exchange

Looking at table No. 3, it is immediately evident that Sberbank is in 10th place in terms of customer turnover.

Sberbank is not such a giant as a broker.

The top three super leaders in terms of transaction value are:

Group of companies Region
FG BKS
Renaissance Broker LLC

Now you can decide on the top 10 brokers who lead either by the value of client transactions, or by clients attracted to the exchange, or by active clients.

So, drum roll, we announce the list.

And by the way, we try to choose those brokers who specialize in this. As practice has shown, banks have much worse customer service.

And it may even be necessary to write a separate article where we can look specifically at the brokers who carry out this activity other than their main one. And the main one is the banking sector.

YoBit.net

YoBit.net – has been operating since 2014. There is no information about the owner of the platform. It is popular throughout the CIS.

Since 2022, it launched virtual mining, which attracted a large number of clients. Experienced experts call Yubit the golden mean among crypto exchanges, since there are no exorbitant commissions, reasonable conditions for trading, and no unnecessary options.

I won’t say that the security is terrible, but the employees do everything to save your funds, so they ask you to constantly change passwords, create separate mailboxes, and not use a phone with an attached SIM card anywhere.

Basic trading conditions:

up to 10,000 trading pairs (in comparison with others, this is truly one of the largest platforms);
multilingual chat;
commission in the amount of 0.2% of the order amount;
bonuses and promotions;
no verification;
unnecessary coins are not removed, so such a number of pairs, in my opinion, only interferes with the work;
You can trade in rubles, dollars, cryptocurrencies.

I don't know about you, I didn't like the interface. Now let’s move on to reviews of what experienced traders think about cooperation on the platform.

On the website brokers.best, user Ermolai Kalashnikov notes the advantages and disadvantages of the exchange and emphasizes that it is good to work here.

Vitalik Doroshenko confirms my opinion about the interface. He is outraged by the amount of garbage on the site. But funds can be withdrawn without problems. So think about what is more important to you: the interface or earnings.

On the website eto-razvod.ru Sergei writes that security and technical support are suffering.

Poloniex

Poloniex was a leader in all criteria. But at the moment it has already been eclipsed by its competitors. This American exchange has been operating since 2014.

Polonix has a nice and clear interface where you can see all the offers and conditions for trading.

Basic conditions:

more than 200 spot trading pairs and 25 margin trading pairs;
hedging;
leverage 1:100;
competitions, bonuses, prizes;
P2P lending;
convenient staking;
mobile app;
24/7 support;
access to the global Poloniex Learn community;
commissions for futures trading range from 0.01% to 0.075%;
Margin trades are subject to trading fees;
15% – commission for lending;
withdrawal of funds only in cryptocurrency;
The site is protected according to the highest security requirements.

There are few recent reviews about the site. Let's see what customers think about the platform.

On the website eto-razvod.ru, Elena Stepanyuk claims that she saw uncredited coins, but technical support did not want to take action.

But on brokers.best I came across some pretty nice reviews. Mikhail Fedorov writes about the ease and speed of work here.

Which broker is best for a beginner? A specific case with calculations.

General selection of tariffs for me from the best brokers in Russia

What's next?

It seems that the list of brokers has been significantly reduced, but it is still not clear who to choose.

Also important is customer service and maximum availability, which includes a free hotline and the ability to resolve any issue very quickly over the phone. All four have no problems with telephone availability.

Which means, I repeat, there is no ideal broker.

Each person will have their own ideal broker. And even if you are a beginner, the selection criteria will be the same as for an experienced trader. If it is present on the Moscow Exchange, then it is already reliable.

And I give you the following recommendations:

You can choose one of the four brokers who remained with us after my subjective selection.
After determining your personal plan for developing yourself as a trader on the stock exchange, you can choose the optimal plan from any of these brokers. You don't need to go to their office to do this. You can find out by calling a financial advisor.

You don't have to stop with the first broker you call. Don't be lazy to call all four. And, having compared the optimal offer on paper, choose a suitable broker.

For example, I now trade only futures on the Derivatives Market of the Moscow Exchange, then:

I don't need the stock market
I don't need the foreign exchange market
But I need charts of Stock and Foreign Exchange market instruments for analysis!
I don't need any paid analytics or paid consulting
What is important to me is very powerful remote telephone support with employees who understand perfectly the problem that I can clumsily explain.
It is important for me to get through to the broker very quickly, and not like the Sberbank broker (you can hang on the wire for hours).
Fast withdrawal of money to the card is important to me
It is important for me to quickly receive money as a deposit to a brokerage account
I don't care about any programs or mobile applications. Grabs Quik.

This all, as you understand, concerns the Derivatives Market. The question may arise: “Which broker to choose for trading on the Stock market?” To do this, we slightly change the phrases in the questions posed and, using the same scheme that will be below, we look for the answer for ourselves. It's simple!

So, let's go look for the best one for me from this four! Let's calculate the commission when trading 1 futures contract, and then 20 futures contracts.

Since brokers’ websites are crazy about tariffs: everything is confusing and somehow incomprehensible, I started calling our four brokers.

I started calling the Otkritie broker’s toll-free number from about two o’clock in the afternoon Moscow time and never got through. The answering machine always says that all operators are busy.

Okay, busy so busy.

I called the broker Finam. I got through right away and asked for the tariffs I was interested in to meet my requirements to be sent to me by email.

In a couple of minutes, they found me a tariff for futures with a fee of 0.45 rubles per contract. True, there is a subscription fee for maintaining an account of 177 rubles per month.

I called the Otkritie broker again and the answering machine reported that all the specialists were busy.

I'm calling the BCS broker. I called right away. She clarified my understanding of the tariffs to ensure they were correct and chose the optimal one for myself.

I have pre-selected the “Investor” tariff for now.

I call the Otkritie broker again. Another answering machine.

Broker Otkritie is dropped from the list for the title of best broker in Russia.

Moreover, on the website I found such information on the tariffs I was interested in. The “Universal” tariff for trading futures contracts is 0.74 rubles. And this is already more expensive than the Finam broker.

I say to the Otkritie broker: “Come on, goodbye!”

According to Kit Finance everything is very clear. I didn't even have to call. All the information is very simple on the website and without complicated tariffs.

So, we have chosen more or less suitable tariffs for trading only futures on the Derivatives Market of the Moscow Exchange with the best brokers in the country.

It seems that they are all good and profitable. But this is only at first glance.

We choose a specific tariff for trading on the stock exchange from the best brokers in Russia

In order to choose the best tariff, and therefore the broker, we need to determine such a trading parameter as the number of transactions per month.

In my case, this is usually no more than 30 (even with a reserve, I take the number) transactions per month. But to choose a tariff, you need to multiply this figure by two.

Why do you need to multiply by two?

The answer is simple. Because we open any transaction and pay a commission. And then we close this deal and again pay a commission to the broker.

This means that my parameter “Number of transactions per month” is 60.

We consider the benefits of the Kit-Universal tariff of the Kit-Finance broker for my trading.

0.65*60*1=39 rubles is the entire commission to the broker for trading one futures.
0.65*60*20=780 rubles is the entire commission to the broker for trading in each of 30 open and then closed transactions with 20 futures contracts.

But!

Broker Kit-Finance has a clause in the tariff that if the total commission for a month does not exceed 200 rubles, then they will charge the missing amount from the brokerage account.

The total amount of commissions from the Kit-Finance broker when I trade 1 futures per month will be a maximum of 200 rubles. When trading 20 futures, the commission will be 780 rubles.

We consider the benefits of the “Day” tariff of the Finam broker for my trading.

This tariff includes a mandatory subscription fee for maintaining an account. It is 177 rubles.

For a transaction of one futures contract, the commission is 0.45 rubles.

What happens then?

(0.45*60)*1+177=204 rubles. When trading 1 futures.

(0.45*60)*20+177=717 rubles when trading 20 futures.

Already 4 rubles more than the Kit-Finance broker when trading 1 futures. And when trading 20 futures, it is 780-717 = 67 rubles cheaper.

But again, here it is better to look at your dynamics of the number of entries for about a month.

I took 30 entries with a reserve. In fact, I have fewer entries. You can clearly see which of these two brokers is better from this table. In my calculations, I take trading 1 futures.

number of transactions per month	Calculation of commission at broker Finam	Total commission amount for broker Finam	number of transactions per month	Calculation of commission at broker Kit-Finance	Total commission amount for the Kit-Finance broker
5+5	(10*0,45)+177	181,5	5+5	0,65*10	200
10+10	(20*0,45)+177	186	10+10	0,65*20	200
20+20	(40*0,45)+177	195	20+20	0,65*40	200
30+30	(60*0,45)+177	204	30+30	0,65*60	200
40+40	(80*0,45)+177	213	40+40	0,65*80	200
50+50	(100*0,45)+177	222	50+50	0,65*100	200

Let's analyze the chain of tariffs from the BCS broker for my trading.

The BCS broker has three interesting tariffs for me when trading futures on the Moscow Exchange. If Finam only liked one tariff out of all the tariffs, Kit-Finance has only one tariff, then the BCS broker has many of them. But interesting three:

Tariff "Trader"
Tariff "Investor"
Tariff "InvestorPro"

Analysis of the “Trader” tariff of the BCS broker

Let’s look at the “Trader” tariff of the BCS broker. Let's look at the extract from the official website of BCS according to the tariff:

The total amount of commissions to the broker is:

(1*60)*1+199=259 rubles when trading 1 futures

(1*60)*20+199=1399 rubles when trading 20 futures

Let's look at the extract from the official website of BCS for the "Investor" tariff:

Analysis of the “Investor” tariff of the BCS broker

Important! Here you need to look not only at the amount of commissions per month for 30+30 transactions. Otherwise, it will be more difficult to understand whether the tariff is beneficial for me or not?

We calculate the total amount of commissions to the BCS broker:

3*60*1=180 rubles - with the number of transactions 30+30 per month when trading 1 futures

3*60*20=3,600 rubles when trading 30+30 per month when trading 20 futures

3*40*1=120 rubles with the number of transactions 20+20 per month when trading 1 futures

3*40*20=2400 rubles with the number of transactions 20+20 per month when trading 20 futures

3*16*1=48 rubles with the number of transactions 8+8 per month when trading 1 futures

3*16*20=960 rubles with the number of transactions 8+8 per month when trading 20 futures.

Important! I usually have about 8 transactions per month. But the figure of 960 rubles is higher than the figure of the broker Kit-Finance (780 rubles) and Finam (540 rubles)

Analysis of the "InvestorPro" tariff of the BCS broker

The huge subscription fee immediately catches your eye. And if your brokerage account is up to 900,000 rubles, then the commission for one futures contract will be as much as 5 rubles. And even if you have 5 million-10 million rubles in your account, you still spend a lot on commissions. I think I will make a more detailed comparison in a separate article, but for now this tariff loses in the ranking of the optimal tariff for futures trading.

(5*60)*1+299=599 rubles. With my number of transactions per month being 30+30, the commission turns out to be super cosmic even when trading 1 futures.
(5*60)*20+199=6199 rubles. With my number of transactions per month being 30+30, the commission turns out to be super-super cosmic when trading 20 futures.

Conclusion according to three tariffs of the BCS broker

According to the “Trader” tariff, the total commission per month is 259 rubles with a subscription fee for 30+30 transactions per month when trading 1 futures
According to the “Investor” tariff, the total commission per month is 180 rubles without a subscription fee for 30+30 transactions per month when trading 1 futures
According to the InvestorPro tariff, the total commission per month is 599 rubles with a subscription fee for 30+30 transactions per month when trading 1 futures

But we won’t trade one futures all our lives. While we are learning, we are trading one futures. And when we learn, we will trade 20 futures. despite the fact that I took 20 futures into account for futures with GO for approximately 5,000 rubles.

In some transactions out of these 20 settlements, the commission will be less, since the number of futures will be less due to the large GO.