BitPrime explained by professional Forex trading experts the “ForexSQ” FX trading team.
BitPrime
BitPrime offers an entry into the world of cryptocurrencies for New Zealanders. The company has limited its attention to the domestic market. This shouldn’t be viewed as a major downside, although it definitely is for foreigners. In case you live in another country, you can always check different exchanges, like Coinbase, CEX.IO or Bitstamp.
BitPrime opened in 2017, which makes it one of the newest cryptocurrency exchange which we have covered. They are based in New Zealand and proudly put an emphasis on that. The company abides by the anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism funding policies applied in the country. For a brief explanation of the situation and a list of other exchanges based there, check out the link below.
BitPrime does not support in-house wallets of fiat currency sub-accounts. The service is very simple – you fill an order form on the website, you receive an e-mail with banking instructions, you make the payment and later receive your Bitcoin at the provided address.
The neat thing is that you would get a fixed rate for buying Bitcoin at the website and then have to send a bank transfer. As you may know, they can take several business days, even if sent from the same country.
This leads to the obvious possibility of client fraud – sending a buying order, and waiting to see what the price action would dictate. If Bitcoin moves higher, the dishonest user sends the transfer, if it falls lower he doesn’t. There must be some mechanism preventing this, although we didn’t find much information on the topic, other than the fact, the transfer must be sent “within a reasonable period of time”. Of course, the easiest solution is to simply ban users who abuse the system.
There is a potential way for users to sell their coins at BitPrime for NZD, although this is not the website. In order to do so, one must verify an account and contact the company.
When it comes to security at BitPrime, everything seems fine at this point in time. That being said, this is a company which doesn’t offer wallets to its users, which limits the hacking targets drastically.
BitPrime also has a distribution partnership with Ledger Nano – a hardware wallet which guarantees top-tier security. However, at the time of writing of this review, they were out of stock.
There are a few user reviews about BitPrime, which is understandable given the young age of this service. The few comments appear to be positive.
Trading conditions
Trading instruments (cryptocurrencies)
The number on coins available at BitPrime is rather limited. The current list includes Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, Litecoin and Ripple. This may not satisfy those of you who are willing to explore more altcoins, but keep in mind this is simply an entry level service.
Minimum order size
The minimum order at BitPrime is $100. This is to done in order to limit the impact of network transactions and the company’s markup. If this level seems high for you, there are some exchanges accepting credit cards, who may be a better option (although the fees charged by them may be substantial).
Leverage
Trading on margin (as well as what most people will consider to be trading generally) is not available at BitPrime. This is not an issue, but to be expected, given the company’s profile.
That being said, in case you think Bitcoin is a bubble and want to trade it to the downside, most crypto-exchanges will leave you disappointed. The easiest way to short cryptocurrencies is with a forex broker, which supports them. There you will be able trade CFDs, which are a financial instrument, following the price movements of a given asset. This is the way most people trade commodities like gold and oil, but there are a few specifics when it comes to cryptocurrencies.
Fees
The fees charged by BitPrime are included in the price you see when purchasing a coin. When comparing the price we saw, when testing the website, to the BTC/NZDT rate at Cryptopia, we saw a mark-up of around 1.75%. While we can’t confirm this is as an official percentage, it seems to be relatively fair level, given the volatility of cryptocurrencies and the low liquidity in New Zealand dollar markets.
Trading platform
Obviously, there isn’t an actual trading platform available at BitPrime. The website offers a simple order entry form. Here is a preview:
You can fill either the amount of Bitcoin you are willing to buy, or the NZD you wish to spend. As you can see, you have to provide the wallet you wish to use.
Methods of payment
If one wishes to buy cryptocurrencies from BitPrime, a New Zealand bank account is required. This vastly limits the potential client-base but, is by no mean a law of the company – it’s simply their preferred way of doing business.
BitPrime Conclusion
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