The 1 Minute Summary

• Binance is a one stop shop cryptocurrency exchange
• It is the home of altcoins with 100s of tradable pairs
• It brings a host of products under one roof: credit cards, staking, margin trading, peer 2 peer exchange and has a great strong education portal
• Binance has one of the lowest trading fees in the market
• Binance US was set up specifically to satisfy US regulation

Congratulations on taking the first steps to digital currency (cryptocurrency) investments.

It’s a good idea to hold a diverse set of assets, however a word of warning associated with all crypto trading activities, digital currencies are highly volatile so it’s recommended to invest only a small percentage of your net worth. Binance has one of the largest selection of coins out there, from Bitcoin, to Polygon (MATIC), to Tokocrypto and back again.

Overview

Binance, one of the leading crypto exchanges was founded in July 2017 by Changpeng Zhao in Hong Kong. After a change in the Chinese government’s regulation on digital currencies they moved to multiple locations to remove future risks. At the same time of launching the exchange the company had an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) of their Binance coin (BNB). At launch it was valued at ~$0.01, so investors have seen healthy returns with a current valuation of $260!

How best to think about Binance in terms of functionality? The phrase “throw the kitchen sink at it” has never been more appropriate. There is very little it doesn’t do. If anything the challenge with Binance is that all this functionality can be quite daunting…hence why they have introduced a stripped down version of Binance, called Binance Light. I feel this is a positive as it is a platform that grows with you.

Signup

Signing up for Binance is incredibly easy with worldwide support.

 It’s important to note they have a specific solution called Binance US that is compliant with US regulations, however it isn’t available in all States. Trading volume is limited based on the degree of identity verification you have provided, which is a growing sign of market maturity.

Binance Account Verification has 2 key levels, see table 1 below for details.

Level	Verification requirement	Account limits
1	Email Full Name (first, middle and last) Date of birth Residential Address Nationality   You must also submit a copy of a  government-issued identity document along with a selfie of yourself.	Withdraw 2 bitcoins every 24 hours
2	After passing level 1 verification you can achieve Level 2 by submitting a proof of address, in the form of a recent utility bill or bank statement. Either document must be no older than 3 months.	Withdraw up to 100 bitcoins within 24 hours.

Security 

In terms of security, Binance has got the essentials covered and more with 2 factor authentication (2FA) by SMS and Google Authenticator or other compatible authentication apps. My recommendation is always to use Google Authenticator where possible as SMS has been broken. Google Authenticator (and similar) is based on a technology that is well proven. Just remember no one from Binance will ever ask you for a 2FA code.

If you have been lucky with your investments you can extend your security by adding Security Key, like Yubico. With this level of security you need the physical key plugged into your USB port to access your account…super secure!

Finally, like a growing number of exchanges Binance supports an Anti-Phishing code, which is a unique code you specify that only Binance knows so you can verify any Binance related emails. As a reminder phishing is the activity by fraudsters to send you fraudulent emails that appear from a valid sender but are designed to extort or steal assets from you. As a general caution, if you are unsure about an email never click on links within the email but go to the website directly by typing the website address directly in your browser.

Payment Methods

Binance has as usual a plethora of methods of funding your trading account. Supporting over 150 payment methods and 49 fiat currencies. Alternatively just transfer existing cryptocurrency funds over to your new Binance wallet.

Trading

In terms of trading, Binance is the home of altcoins with literally 100s of pairs available for trading. With the core pairs of Bitcoin, BNB (The binance coin) and a number of stable coins.

Trading can be approached from three different interfaces:

Convert: A really simplified trading experience allowing simple pair conversions

Classic, provides a simple overview and makes it easy to switch pairs

Advanced: provides access to advanced trading charts with numerous technical overlays available.

There are more advanced options like Peer 2 Peer and Margin trading available.

In terms of trading costs, Binance has got one of the cheapest transactions fees, which at the time of writing this article are 50% of Coinbase at about .1% of the transaction.

Saving

As like other feature sets, Binance again excels in the broad range of options available here. Look at the area called Binance Earn to explore the broad range of saving products available.

If you are holding long positions (holding for long term) you’d be silly to ignore the benefits of many saving products available to you in Binance.

Binance offers three key types of saving products, Flexible Terms, Fixed Terms and High-Risk products. A summary of the options is shown below in Table 2.

Product	Option	Description
Flexible Terms	Flexible Savings	Earn income safely and transfer without impact Minimum investment, No minimum Fees: Zero fees APY: Dynamic APY (0.5-15%) Distribution: Daily Risk: None, guarantees capital earnings
Flexible Terms	Launchpool	Deposit coins and earn cryptos Minimum investment, Based on individual launchpool offers Fees: Zero fees APY: Dynamic APY Distribution: Manual redemption Risk: None, guarantees capital earnings
Flexible terms	BNB Vault	Multi-benefits where you gain exposure to multiple projects and initiatives. Minimum investment, No minimum Fees: Zero fees APY: Dynamic APY (at least BNB flexible savings APR) Distribution: Daily Risk: None, guarantees capital earnings
Fixed Terms	Fixed Saving	A simple product with fixed term interest rate Minimum investment, the equivalent of $100. Fees: Zero fees APY: Dynamic APY (5-15) Distribution: Daily Risk: None, guarantees capital earnings
Fixed Terms	Staking	Join a community and earn mining rewards. Choose up to 30 different Proof of Stake (PoS) tokens including EOS, DOT or ADA. Minimum investment, the equivalent of 10USDT. Fees: Zero fees APY: Dynamic APY determined by the total staked pool volume; up to 102%. Distribution: Daily Risk: None, guarantees capital earnings
Fixed Terms	Activities	Earn rewards for the things you already do such as staking and saving crypto. Binance Earn offers occasional special savings products for individual cryptocurrencies. Complete the activity before it is fully subscribed and see your yield automatically appear in your spot wallet after the activity is complete.  Minimum investment, determined by each product’s lot size. Fees: Zero fees APY :Dynamic APY determined by the total staked pool volume; up to 102%. Distribution: Daily Risk: None, guarantees capital earnings

Education

I haven’t touched on the Binance Academy which, using their own words, is a “one-stop for all things Crypto”. It’s a detailed knowledge base supporting rookies to trading veterans looking to develop trading strategies. Don’t be shy, answers abound in the platform with insights and all coins available from within Binance.

Summary

Binance has such broad capabilities that you’ll find it hard to find a similar offering with cheap trades, it’s definitely the one to beat. 

At first navigating all the options can appear daunting, however the reason you may find it hard is you don’t understand the terminology. This is a warning sign so it’s highly recommended to hit the Binance education centre and up skill before you make any mistakes and you fully understand the risks.