What is the Changelly exchange?
The Changelly exchange has been around since 2015. It has more than 1.5 million registered users across the world, 15000 transactions every day and a turnover of 60k Bitcoin per month. The site is best known for its range of altcoins available for purchase, offering more than 90 different cryptocurrencies. The reason you would choose Changelly is because of the long list of trading pairs on offer to customers and because it promises to find you the best rate.
How Changelly works?
The Changelly exchange bases its reputation on the speed of transactions. It claims it can process purchases and sales in as little as a few seconds. To begin your transaction, you need a digital wallet for the currency of your choice. Based on the current market conditions, the Changelly exchange find the best rate amongst all other cryptocurrency exchanges. It then converts from one currency to another at the highest price available. Once the best deal is found, the converted cryptocurrency is transferred to your wallet.
How does the Changelly exchange find you the best rate? It has a bot that is integrated with the largest trading platforms – such as Bittrex and Ploniex. The bot asks the platform for the best prices and with milliseconds returns the rates. These rates are approximations until the transaction has been completed – meaning there may be a small variation in the rate gained – but only small.
The interface for Changelly is easy to use. There are no complex trade options or charts – there is just a form for requesting the exchange and then a results page. Another plus point for beginners is that the site also offers fiat currency purchases. This means you can buy cryptocurrency using your credit or debit card. What is more appealing still is that Changelly does not require you to set up an account to use its conversion services. This means you can make crypto-to-crypto conversions anonymously, without the need for verification.
If you are buying with credit or debit cards, there is a limit for the first transactions. In the US, this is $50 limit on the first transaction – with a limit of $100 after four days. This rises again to $500 after 7 days. Once these initial transactions are made, the limit is removed, and you are free to trade at whatever rate you want. It is worth checking out the site to work out what the limits are for your country.
It is also possible to request Changelly add your altcoin to its list of traded virtual currency. This means that anybody in the world setting up a coin or token could get it listed on this exchange. You can also become an affiliate member of the site – that is available to any loyal customer. If you become an affiliate member then you enjoy 50% reduction in commission. You get this as a pay out in Bitcoin.
Key information about Changelly
Before moving to our Changelly review, it is important to provide key information about the security of the site and its fees. The reputation of Changelly is secured thanks to its association with MinerGate. MinerGate are a team of financiers with a long and reputable track record in the cryptocurrency market.
The fees charged by the site are not transparent. As the market can be volatile, then the site cannot set a fixed fee. This means that Changelly can sometimes work out much more expensive than other sites offering a similar service. The question for users is whether the savings made by getting the best rate from across other exchanges offsets the additional cost of fees. It is worth noting that the fees for using a credit or debit card are particularly expensive. There is a 5% commission on such exchanges.
It is more likely that you will use another site to purchase your cryptocurrency and then transfer your funds to Changelly to buy your altcoins of choice. The unique selling point of Changelly is the amount of choice available, which is often not available elsewhere.
Changelly does offer customer support via an online ticketing system. Most of the complaints about the company revolve around the response time to customer requests for help and information. However, in other ways the site is well-known as a trusted option. There is actually no need to store funds on the site – and there is also a 2FA security protocol.
Your Changelly Review
Positives
- the point of Changelly is to find you the best rate – this means it scans the deals across a range of other exchanges and finds you the best deal. This means you can be certain that you are not missing out on an outstanding price, which might happen if are using a standard exchange offering a single rate
- Changelly prides itself on being a site that offers fast and secure transactions – it is marketed as an ‘instant’ cryptocurrency exchange.
- It has a particularly easy-to-use interface, which makes it an excellent choice for beginners
- it is possible to become an affiliate member of the site and receive a 50% reduction in commission price
Negatives
- the fees on the site are much higher than you will experience on other sites. The onus is on the user to work out if the money saved by gaining the best rate is offset against the higher fees for using the site. Obviously, if you are looking to factor in speed and efficiency of time used – then this counters some of the higher fees on the site too
- there are a lot of complaints that the customer service is slow to respond – and not just for trivial matters, it is slow to respond to some serious concerns about transactions too.
Overall
The Changelly exchange offers something different. It uses its robots to scan through the rates available to return you the best price. With an easy to use interface and a lot of opportunities to interact with the site, this is an interesting exchange to explore.