Bitstamp is one of the big players on the market. Established in 2011, exchange has built up a solid reputation as one of the well-respected exchanges in the world. Having initially concentrated on providing services to European customers, the exchanged experienced rapid growth becoming one of the biggest and well-trusted solutions around the globe.

Bitstamp initially came to the Surface as company headquartered in Slovenia. The initial idea at that time was to provide services to mostly European clientele and built a solid alternative on the market which was mostly monopolized by MT.Gox at that time. After experienced rapid start and attracting investments from venture capital company Pantera, one of the biggest investors in Bitcoin-specific market, Bitstamp expanded operations to UK and Luxembourg. Now, the company has many offices worldwide including London and New York.

Account Verification

Similar to other exchanges, the process of account verification on Bitstamp is simple and hassle-free. In case of submission of necessary documents it will not take more than 2 hours to fully verify your account.  Identity verification can be completed be submitting scanned copies of your passport, national ID, driver’s license together with the proof of identity. The verification does not set any allowed withdrawal amount nor does it set any limits regarding amount of trades you can execute on the platform. As of now, you can make deposits in 2 currencies – Euro and USD. Also deposits can be completed using Bitcoin and Ripple.

Trading Platform

Bitstamp has a good trading platform. Traders can execute trades at the best prices available. Platform is easy to use and navigate. On the left side of the trading screen you can see tracker of last trades while main window has a candlestick chart. Also traders can utilize fine selection of trading tools to perform deeper analysis of price movements. At time of writing, Bitstamp does not support margin trading. So you will not be able to get any leverage to lower margin requirements.

How to buy Bitcoin with Bitstamp

If you have a Visa or Mastercard, you can buy Bitcoins instantly on Bitstamp using your credit/debit card. To get started login to your Bitstamp account, on the dashboard, go to the deposit section, choose credit card as your payment method, and click ‘Buy’ underneath the amount of bitcoin you wish to buy.

Click on the ‘Continue’ button, and you will be taken to Bitstamp’s card processor page. On this page, you will be required to enter your name, email address, and mobile number. The processor will send a confirmation link to the email address you entered. Click on the link to continue. You’ll also need to input the 4-digit code you got via SMS. Click ‘Continue’ to enter your card details and billing address.

If you’re unable to buy bitcoins using a credit/debit card, you can fund your bitstamp account through bank transfers instead.

On the next page, check your first and last name and make sure they are correct. Underneath ‘Account Balance’ tab, choose either EUR or USD. Enter the value of the fiat currencies you’re depositing under ‘Amount.’ When you’re done, click the green ‘Deposit’ button.

Once your funds have been confirmed, the easiest way to buy Bitcoins is an instant order at the current bid/ask price. As the name implies, this typically results in your transaction being executed instantly.

To place an order, click ‘Buy BTC’ on the ‘Market’ tab, then enter the total amount of funds you want to spend for buying Bitcoins in the ‘I want to spend’ box. This amount includes Bitstamp trading fees.

Once your order has been processed, the amount in BTC will be added to your balance.

Bitstamp fees

Deposits, withdrawals, and trading fees with Bitstamp are generally pretty cheap compared to most popular exchanges. The deposit fee is just 0.05%, which is pretty low. Other exchanges can be particularly greedy in this area, taking 2%, 3%, or even 4%.

Trading fees vary depending on your buy and sell amounts. The highest trading fee is 0.25% for amounts under $20,000, and it can fall to as low as 0.10% if you’re lucky enough to be working with more than $20,000,000. Once again, these are relatively negligible fees compared to some competitors.

Deposits and withdrawals in Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Ethereum are free of charge.

Deposits and Withdrawals

Bitstamp supports different payments options including Credit/Debit cards, International Bank Wire transfers. Deposits usually arrive on the platform within 1-3 business days depending on payment method chosen. However, some users have reported a hefty fee of 8% when making deposits with credit card. Withdrawals can be made directly to your chosen wallet or bank account.

Customer Support

Like many other cryptocurrency exchange services in the industry, Bitstamp customer support is lacking on many fronts, first of all, users can only get in contact with the customer support representatives via an email ticket system. As the customer support is bombarded with thousands of tickets to resolve on a daily basis, it can take a while before they get a chance of attending to your support ticket.

Even though there is a United Kingdom number to call, the calls are answered through a recorded message. Nevertheless, Bitstamp does attempt to offer its client a reasonably comprehensive FAQ page. The information on the FAQ section does help to give the answers that most people need.

Is Bitstamp Safe?

Bitstamp have got themselves reputation as one of the leaders in the industry. We have not been able to track any recent complaints about Bitstamp where company’s security was criticized. Bitstamp has a history of serious hacks in 2014 and 2015 which at that time undermined company’s reputation. Especially grave was the latter example when 19,000 Bitcoins were stolen as a result of hack. Since then however the company seems to have taken all necessary steps to improve security measures and nothing even remotely close has been reported till now. Now, most of the user’s funds are held offline in the cold storage meaning hackers cannot access them no matter how hard they try. In addition, company uses 2-factor authentication system, mail verification and SMS alerts to ensure full security and protection of funds. In general, company is fully secure by industry’s top standards and there is nothing on the surface which may be a cause for concern.