Coinbase Pro has a long history of leading the world of cryptocurrency exchanges, although it went by the name GDAX until recently. As the current name implies, Coinbase Pro is the version of Coinbase filled with features that advanced traders will appreciate, including more detailed charts and graphs and trading options.
Coinbase Pro prides itself on being the most trusted platform designed to trade cryptocurrency, as it is backed by a large and well established company with insurance in place provided by FDIC insurance for their Coinbase USD Wallet of up to $250,000 and is also registered with FinCEN as a Money Services Business.
Since Coinbase Pro is the part of Coinbase designed for professional traders, this more advanced platform is just as reputable as the regular Coinbase exchange. Coinbase was founded in June 2012 as a digital currency wallet as well as a platform for consumers and merchants to make transactions using the then-new digital currencies, such as Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Ethereum. Coinbase is based in San Francisco, California, and has more than 20 million users with more than $150 billion traded.
Who is Coinbase Pro Aimed At?
Coinbase Pro is designed to appeal to more advanced traders who want to know more than just the basics of market fluctuations related to cryptocurrency pairs. There are real-time orderbooks, trade histories, and charting tools. At the same time, the interface on Coinbase Pro is highly intuitive, making it possible for traders to start using the platform right away.
Who Can Use Coinbase Pro?
Coinbase Pro is for individual traders, not institutions. If you are in one of the geographical areas supported by Coinbase Pro, you can easily sign up for an account. You can also quickly upgrade your existing Coinbase account to Coinbase Pro. Those in Canada, Singapore, and Australia can use Coinbase Pro to access cryptocurrencies without any access to fiat.
Those in the UK, Europe, and the U.S. have support for fiat currencies, as well. The only exceptions are that those in Wyoming and Hawaii cannot use Coinbase Pro, as the platform is not yet licensed there.
European countries that are supported include Sweden, Switzerland, Slovenia, Spain, Slovakia, San Marino, Poland, Portugal, Norway, Netherlands, Malta, Monaco, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Ireland, Italy, Hungary, Greece, Finland, France, Denmark, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Belgium, Bulgaria, and Austria.
For Institutions, Coinbase offers Coinbase Custody
As Coinbase Pro is not designed for institutional clients; there is a separate platform for those groups. Coinbase Prime is specifically designed for use by institutional clients but has the same access to all Coinbase products and the diversified liquidity pool.
This platform also comes with a dedicated team with institutional coverage professionals in New York City. Another option is Coinbase Custody, which provides institutions with digital asset custody, including strict financial controls plus secure storage.
What Cryptocurrencies Does Coinbase Pro Support?
The availability of various trading pairs depends entirely on the local regulations within a given country. While users of Coinbase Pro can view the orderbook and other information related to any trading pair, they can only trade the pairs that comply with local regulators in their area. In Canada, Australia, and Singapore, the available trading pairs are ETH/BTC, LTC/BTC, and BCH/BTC.
Those in the UK can trade BTC/GBP, BTC/EUR, ETH/BTC, ETH/EUR, LTC/BTC, LTC/EUR, BCH/BTC, or BCH/EUR. Those in Europe have access to identical trading pairs, apart from support for BTC/GBP. Traders in the United States can use Coinbase Pro to trade BTC/USD, ETH/BTC, ETH/USD, LTC/BTC, LTC/USD, BCH/BTC, and BCH/USD.
Coinbase Pro Account Verification
To use Coinbase Pro, you will need to verify your account, which is done before you start trading or even deposit funds. To complete the verification process and use the platform, you must upload an official document. United States customers must upload a state ID or driver’s license. You must also provide Coinbase Pro with your residential address as well as the final four digits of your Social Security number. UK residents must upload a government ID document, passport, or driver’s license and answer verification questions based on the national identity databases. Users from other countries must upload two identification documents, such as passports, national ID cards, and driver’s licenses.
How to Trade on Coinbase Pro
The top left corner of the trading page has a dropdown menu where you select the cryptocurrency pair you want to view or trade. You can view all the pairs or narrow your options down by markets. They are divided into markets by BTC, USD, EUR, and GBP.
Directly to the right of this in the top middle of the page, you will see up-to-date information on your chosen pair. This includes the last trade price, the percent change in 24 hours, and the 24-hour trade volume.
The left sidebar of the Trade page has the choice to log in or sign up at the top (if you are not already logged in), with the buy and sell order forms directly below this. To the right of this column, you will find the orderbook, with the choice to view the trade history instead. The orderbook has columns for market size, price, and “My Size” and lists sell orders on top and buy orders below. The trade history is listed in chronological order, with each trade color-coded to indicate buy or sell. There are columns for the trade size, price, and time, down to the second.
On the right side of the screen, taking up just over half of the page’s width, you will find the price chart. On the right, you can choose to change this to a depth chart if you prefer. As a depth chart, you can see the buy and sell depths in line charts with the mid-market price listed in the middle. Hovering over any point will tell you the specific price, the amount you can buy/sell at that point, and what the total would be in the original currency.
If you select the price chart, on the top right corner of it, you will see the open, high, low, close, and volume values for any point that you hover over. When you hover over a point, you will also see the specific time on the horizontal axis and the specific price on the vertical axis. The default chart type is a candlestick chart, although you can change it to a line chart if you prefer.
The candlestick chart is color-coded green and red/orange for buy and sell, respectively. Directly above the chart on its right side is the choice to change the chart type as well as the intervals.
The default is five minutes, but other options include one minute, 15 minutes, one hour, six hours, and one day. This is also where you can add an overlay, either EMA12 or EMA26.
How Do You Place an Order with Coinbase Pro?
When you place an order with Coinbase Pro, you have direct access to the liquidity of Coinbase Markets. The orders from Coinbase Pro get directly placed on this market, just like they did on GDAX.
Placing an order is a very straightforward process. Begin by going to the Trade page by clicking on “View Exchange” from the top main navigation bar. On the left side of the screen, you will see the option to sign in or create an account. Begin by logging in. Go to the dropdown menu right above where you logged in to select the cryptocurrency pair you wish to trade.
Then, also on the left side of the screen but slightly lower, go to the order form. There are tabs for “Buy” and “Sell,” which are color-coded green and red/orange. Click on the relevant tab depending on your desired order type. Immediately below those tabs, you will see three tabs for your chosen order type: Market, Limit, or Stop. Each prompts you to fill in the amount you want to buy or sell.
Depending on the order type, you will also get additional fields to fill in. With Limit orders, you also enter the limit price and choose from execution of “Post Only” or “Allow Taker” with the advanced option of a time in force policy, which is set as default to Good Til Cancelled. You can change this to Good Til Time, Immediate or Cancel, or Fill or Kill. With Stop orders, you select the amount, the stop price, and the limit price.
Regardless of your chosen order type, the fee you will pay and total in the target cryptocurrency are listed and automatically updated directly above the button to “Place Buy/Sell Order.” Click on this button once you are satisfied with the information entered.
At any point, you can view your open orders directly below the price charts in the middle of the same page.
Deposits and Withdrawals on Coinbase Pro
To deposit digital currency into your Coinbase Pro account, go to “Assets” then “Deposit.” You will choose the type of currency you wish to deposit and given an address to send the coins to.
Withdrawing cryptocurrency is similarly easy. Go to “Assets” then “Withdrawal.” Choose the currency type and enter the wallet where you want to send the currency.
Depositing and withdrawing fiat currency is also done via the “Assets” page and “Deposit” or “Withdrawal” option. When using USD, you can do an ACH transfer or bank wire from an American bank account, with the same options available for withdrawals. Deposits and withdrawals using EUR can be done via SEPA transfers. The only choice for UK customers to fund their Coinbase Pro account is also via a SEPA transfer with EUR, but keep in mind that your bank may charge a conversion fee.
There is also the choice to instantly transfer funds between your Coinbase Pro and Coinbase account. This is free and done via the same “Assets” page. Just be sure to select the relevant Coinbase or Coinbase Pro wallet under “Destination.”
Coinbase Pro Fees
Coinbase Pro uses the maker-taker model for fees, and maker traders do not have to pay any fee at all. Makers are those who place orders that aren’t filled immediately by matching to an existing order.
By contrast, taker orders are done at market price and filled at once. When looking at the fees for Coinbase Pro, keep in mind that an order can be divided into multiple orders that include a maker order and a taker order. In this case, each separate order is charged the appropriate fees, including no fee on the maker portion.
| Pricing Tier | Taker Fee | Maker Fee |
| Up to $10m | 0.30% | 0% |
| $10m – $100m | 0.20% | 0% |
| $100m+ | 0.10% | 0% |
Taker fees get to take advantage of volume-based discounts that can bring the fees down to an incredibly low 0.10 percent. Taker order fees start at 0.30 percent for volumes of up to $10 million. Between $10 million and $100 million, the fee drops to 0.20 percent.
Those with trading volumes of over $100 million get the 0.10 percent fee. The trading volume is based on 30 days with volume in USD. Transactions made on books without USD are first converted to USD according to the fill price from the respective book that is the most recent, then the volume is calculated.
Coinbase Pro API
Part of Coinbase Pro is the platform’s industry-leading API. It has a WebSocket feed that makes it simple to get real-time market data. At the same time, the trading API helps users develop programmatic and secure trading bots. There is a dedicated page to the API and related documentation on Coinbase Pro, which you can access from the bottom of any page on the Coinbase Pro website or the main navigation menu at the top of the page.
Is Coinbase Pro Safe?
To add to the security of user funds with Coinbase Pro, the platform offers insurance protection. All digital assets stored online are fully insured. Coinbase keeps 98 percent of customers’ digital currency in cold storage. Additionally, all USD balances in accounts have coverage from FDIC insurance, with a maximum coverage of $250,000 per customer.
We go into more detail about the Coinbase security measures in our post, Is Coinbase Safe?
Conclusion
Coinbase Pro is the new name of the popular GDAX exchange, the version of the top-ranked Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange that is designed for advanced traders. The platform is intuitive to use and offers all the charts and tools that professional traders want. Fees are low, with no fee at all for market makers.
Coinbase is probably the most trust-worthy exchange available at the moment with top security measures in place which insures customer funds that are stored online while keeping nearly all funds in safe cold storage.
Using Coinbase Pro is a great way to avoid the regular Coinbase fees, which can be expensive for credit and debit card purchases. If you don’t mind waiting a little longer for your purchases, you can wire your fiat to Coinbase and then make your purchases on Coinbase Pro.
As with most cryptocurrency exchanges, customer support can be slow – this is something that Coinbase are working on to improve over time. To avoid any errors, make sure you double-check you are depositing the correct crypto to the correct wallet address. For withdrawals and deposits, we recommend you send a small test amount first before making any large transactions just to make sure everything is ok first.
Coinbase Pro
Pros
- Attractive Interface
- Multiple Layers of Security
- Trustworthy Company
- A low fee structure
- Compliant and transparent practices
Cons
- Not many cryptocurrencies
- Customer Support can be Slow
2 Comments
Very good for novices like me.
Better check Coinbase Pro fees again. You will be surprised 🙂