The cryptocurrency industry in South Africa is growing at a rapid pace and several people living in South Africa are beginning to take interest in cryptos. There is quite a huge number of cryptocurrency exchanges or brokers who operate in the country, and this is of course a positive development, but the major challenge that comes with having several brokers is that it becomes very difficult to choose the best crypto exchange which suits your trading requirements. Choosing the best crypto exchange can be challenging because there is a great deal of factors to asses before making the decision on your preferred crypto exchange, such factors include safety, supported tokens, fees, customer service, wallet security, minimum account balances amongst others. This article is a comparison between two popular crypto exchanges in VALR vs AltCoinTrader and this will obviously help you to make a decision on which one satisfies your trading requirements between the two crypto exchanges.
What is VALR?
VALR is a very popular cryptocurrency exchange which is based in South Africa. VALR is very popular because it offers its customers an opportunity to trade in a number of cryptos including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, and other cryptos. VALR provides a digital asset platform that allows our customers to buy, sell, store and transfer cryptocurrencies seamlessly and securely, the main idea behind the creation of VALR was to help bridge the gap between our traditional fiat financial system and the new world of cryptocurrencies. It is important to note that instantaneous exchange and margin trading are available (but no leverage). The South African rand (ZAR) is the only fiat fund represented on the platform. Unlike other exchanges with huge minimum deposits, you can actually buy Bitcoins for as little as 10 ZAR. VALR has a great online presence as it is available on the desktop site and it also has a mobile App which is available for iOS and Android for mobile trading. The company also offers a referral program with four levels of reward.
What is AltCoinTrader?
Alltcointrader is South African based online cryptocurrency exchange which is very popular in South Africa because it offers a product whose specific focus is the domestic marketplace. Unlike other crypto exchanges which require you to first exchange ZAR for USD in order for you to invest in cryptocurrencies, Altcointrader actually allows you to buy and sell cryptocurrency in ZAR and this is a convenient way of trading. AltCoinTrader supports quite a huge number of leading cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum amongst other cryptos. Altcointrader supports several payment types such as local bank transfers, credit card deposits via Zapper, and instant EFT (OZOW). The good thing about AltCoinTrader is that the platform has low trading fees at 0.1% regardless of the client’s trading volume.
How many cryptocurrencies does VALR and Alltcointrader offer?
VALR offers about 60 cryptocurrencies on its platform and this is a great deal indeed. Below is a list of the coins on the platform;
Bitcoin Ethereum Binance Coin
Solana USD Coin XRP
Aave Cardano Algorand
Aragon Bitcoin Cash Basic Attention Token
Bancor Bitcoin SV Celo
Compound Civic Crypto.com Coin
Dai Decred Digibyte
District0x DogeCoin Polkadot
Enjin Coin EOS Ethereum Classic
Expanse GameCredits Gnosis
Golem Komodo Chainlink
Lisk Litecoin Decentraland
Polygon MonaCoin OmiseGO
Pivx Paxos Standard TenX Pay Token
Quant Qtum Augur
REPV2 iEx.ec RLC
Siacoin StormX Status Network Token
Storj TRON TrueUSD
Uniswap VeChain Vertcoin
Waves Lumen Tezos
0x Protocol
AltCoinTrader offers about 30 cryptocurrencies on its platform but the good thing is that some of the most popular ones are being offered as well. Below is a list of the coins on the platform;
Bitcoin Ethereum Ripple
Neo Gas Cardano
Tether Bitcoin Cash Namecoin
Bitcoin Gold Litecoin Dash
ZCash Stellar Lumen TRON
Monero Dogecoin Bitcoin Satoshi Vision
BitTorrent Krugerrand Silver
Compound DAI Basic Attention Token
Chainlink Polkadot Binance Coin
Shiba Inu Polygon Solana
When it comes to the issue of the number of cryptocurrencies offered by a crypto exchange, VALR is a far better option because it offers double what AltCoinTrader is offering, so it is always a good thing to have a wide range of options.
What is the taker and maker fees for both VALR and Alltcointrader?
You will obviously know that cryptocurrency traders have to pay trading fees for trading on an exchange and these trading fees depend on a number of factors including the types of orders placed. There is what is called takers and makers in the cryptocurrency industry. Makers create a market for other traders and bring liquidity to an exchangeTakers remove liquidity by “taking” available orders that are filled immediately, please note that taker fees are usually slightly higher than maker fees to incentivise market makers.
The VALR taker fee stands at 0.10% whilst the AltCoinTrader taker fee is also 0.10% so both crypto exchanges are similar in this regard.
The VALR maker fee stands at -0.01% whilst the AltCoinTrader maker fee is also 0.10% . You will notice that VALR is offering a negative maker fee, what this actually means is that the makers get paid to trade.
What are the withdrawal fees for both VALR and Alltcointrader?
Withdrawal fees is one area which you should also look at carefully because you do not need to trade with a company that has unreasonable charges which then leaves you with way less than you were supposed to get. Below are the withdrawal charges for both crypto exchanges;
VALR Withdrawals
ZAR: R8.50
Crypto: variable*
USDC via USD wire transfer: $25
Fast Withdrawal for Rands to Standard Bank: Auto-enabled & FREE
Fast Withdrawal for Rands to To RTC banks (see list in the link above): R60
Fast Withdrawal for Rands to other banks & amounts >=R5 million: R165
AltCoinTrader Withdrawals
ZAR – R16 + 0.5% Maximum of R95.00
OZOW South African Rand – N/A
What are the deposit fees for both VALR and Alltcointrader?
Making deposits is something you will be doing often in your trading journey so you need to trade with a company that does not have exorbitant deposit fees, below are the deposit fees for both VALR and AltCoinTrader.
VALR Deposits
ZAR – Free
Crypto – Free
USDC via USD wire transfer – $10
AltCoinTrader Deposits
ZAR – 0.5% Maximum of R95.00
OZOW South African Rand – 1.4%