GDAX was one of the most popular and well-established names in the Crypto industry without a doubt. It was a trading exchange by Coinbase, which now is known as CoinBase Pro, and that’s what this Coinbase Pro review is about.
We’d dissect the exchange to its core and dig deep into all the features it provides. Although note that this review isn’t in any way sponsored by CoinBase, and hence it won’t be the least bit biased, or truth-bending.
We’d cover the following in-depth throughout this Coinbase Pro Review:
- Does Coinbase Pro Need KYC Verification?
- Is Coinbase Pro Safe?
- Which Cryptocurrencies does Coinbase Pro Support?
- What are the Limits and Fee on Coinbase Pro?
- Which Countries are supported by Coinbase Pro?
- How can you Deposit on Coinbase Pro?
We do believe this covers almost all the most important questions pertinent to the exchange, doesn’t it?
Note that Coinbase and Coinbase Pro are two separate platforms, even though they’re interlinked to some extent, their URL, rules, fee and primary agenda differs.
CoinBase Pro Overview
Before getting on this CoinBase Pro review, let us outline the primary features available on the exchange:
- Primary URL: https://pro.coinbase.com
- KYC: Mandatory.
- Centralized: Yes
- Supported trading pairs: 30+
- Payment Methods: Fiats + Cryptocurrencies.
- Fee: 0.25% Trading fee.
- Security: 2FA/E-mail Verification.
- Margin/Leverage Trading: No
- Mobile App: No
- Live Chat: No
In a nutshell: Coinbase is a Centralized exchange, which requires KYC verifications (mandatory), is extremely secure and supports both Crypto/Fiat deposits and withdrawals.
Does Coinbase Pro Need KYC Verification?
All of our trading exchange reviews have been scribbled down keeping “anonymity” in mind. And that’s the biggest disappointment with Coinbase Pro.
Coinbase has never been big on anonymity. And hence it does require extensive identity verification before a successful Signup on the platform.
Users are required to prove their identity by uploading a Driver’s License/Passport/National ID Cards etc when they fist login. Then there also is a set of identity-related questions which need to be answered.
I personally was asked for a cell phone number when I tried to login to my account, hence that may need to be shared as well!
Although note if you’re a verified member on Coinbase, the verification automatically extends to your Coinbase Pro accounts and needn’t be re-done.
Coinbase Pro has a minimum-age policy, and users must be above 18 years of age in order to trade or use the platform.
So well, Coinbase Pro isn’t the exchange for those who’d keep their identity and privacy to themselves. Although you may check our Binance Review out which has a no-KYC policy.
Is Coinbase Pro Safe?
One of the most asked questions with any trading exchange is its legitimacy and safety.
The legitimacy denotes the reputation of an exchange. Or the probability of it ever scamming users. While the safety is generally associated with the security-measures the exchange provide for its user-accounts.
As far as legitimacy goes, Coinbase Pro, formerly known as GDAX is a U.S based certified and licensed exchange in almost all the U.S states (with some exceptions).
Then, over 98% of customers’ funds are stored in a cold-storage (a storage system which isn’t connected to the Internet, and hence can’t be hacked into).
They even have a commercial Criminal insurance, the sum of which is reportedly larger than the total sum of funds Coinbase holds in its online accounts. Hence any losses resulting from hacks, fraud or employee theft would likely be compensated.
As far as Cash balances go (USD/EUR/GBP etc). these are held offline in custodial bank accounts. These accounts are further insured by the FDIC.
As for account security, it lets users setup 2-Factor authentication (via Cell phone number) for their accounts. Also, E-mail verifications are required at suspicious logins.
All in all, Coinbase Pro is pretty safe, infact one of the safest and most “insurance backed” trading exchanges out there at current time.
How Can you Deposit and Withdraw Funds on Coinbase Pro?
What you probably mean to ask is- Does Coinbase Pro accept Fiat currencies, or is it a Crypto-only exchange.
Fortunately, Coinbase Pro accepts both Cryptocurrencies, as well as fiats as deposit and withdrawal methods. So even if you do not own any Crypto beforehand, you can purchase directly on the platform using various methods.
Fiat currencies can be purchased using:
- Bank Wires, ACH Transfers
European/UK customers can also use SEPA as a mode of deposits and withdrawals.
Note that both USD and EUR deposits/withdrawals may be location-specific, meaning Bank/ACH and SEPA transfers may not be available globally.
The same fiat modes can be used to withdraw funds as well, meaning you need not send the money to another exchange in order to convert it to fiat/real/physical money.
The fiat deposit methods aren’t exactly fast. At times, it may takes weeks before the ACH transfers are reflected in your Coinbase Pro accounts. Wire transfers however take no more than 24 hours in most cases.
As for Cryptocurrency deposits/withdrawals go, it currently supports:
- Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Ethereum, Ethereum Classic.
Note that contract-generated transactions aren’t accepted.
What are Coinbase Pro Fees and Limits?
Coinbase Pro charges its trading fee based on the maker-taker model. The fee is dependent on each user’s trade-volume for the past 30-days.
The fee starts with 0.25%/transaction for the takers and 0.15%/transaction for the makers, and decreases upto a maximum of 0.05%/transaction for the takers and 0.00% for the makers.
This is a higher fee as compared to most other exchanges’ 0.1%/transaction amount.
Depositing and Withdrawing Cryptocurrencies as well as ACH is free. Wire deposits are charged at USD $10.00/deposit, withdrawals cost USD $25.00/withdrawal.
SEPA deposits cost EUR € 0.15/deposit, and Withdrawals are priced at €0.15/withdrawal.
Swift however only has a withdrawal fee of £5 GBP, depositing it is completely free.
As for the limits, depositing Cryptocurrencies has no limit. Wire deposits too are unlimited, ACH or SEPA transfers have varied limits.
Withdrawals have a USD $10,000/day limit for new users. This however can be increased later from user accounts.
The minimum order limit while trading is:
- 001 BTC, 1 LTC, 01 BCH, And 0.01 ETH.
How many Trading Pairs does Coinbase Pro Support?
Officially, it only supports 12 Crypto pairs, which include: 
- ETH –BTC
- XRP-BTC
- LTC-BTC
- XLM-BTC and many others.
However, over 20 other pairs are available in its “view-only markets” table.
Which Countries does Coinbase Pro Support?
This probably is the most unique aspect which we can mention in this Coinbase Pro review.
Unlike having an absolute list of supported/unsupported countries; Coinbase Pro has a dynamic approach to it.
Coinbase Pro supports nearly all the countries, however not all countries support all coins/trading pairs.
Primarily U.S, U.K and some European countries support Crypto to Fiat trading, and almost all the available countries support Crypto to Crypto trades.
Coinbase Pro isn’t available in Hawaii (US) yet. Not all European countries are supported either, although here’s the list for those which are allowed for Crypto to Fiat transactions:
Coinbase Pro User Interface
Not that it would matter a lot for most, yet an aspect which I believe may be of interest to some.
This is what the UI at Coinbase Pro looks like:
- The left-sidebar is what lets users select a preferred market (coin pair). It also is what’s used to place buy/sell orders. All three types of orders, i.e. Market Orders, Limit Orders and Stop Orders can be placed from the same sidebar. It also displays the fee and total amount over there keeping things transparent.
- Then there’s the Order-book, it simply shows all the orders being placed by users on the platform in real-time.
- The price-chart however is interesting, it lets users select a display-duration of 1 min, 5 min, 15 min, 1 hr, 6 hr, and 1 day. The chart too has dual modes- “Line” and “Candle”.
- Finally the Trade History panel shows the successful trades, their rates and the exact time they were executed.
Bottomline, it’s detailed, transparent and easy to use. It also is traditional and hence if you’ve used any other exchange before, navigating Coinbase Pro wouldn’t be much of a problem.
Final Words
I’ll be taking your leave folks and this is all for this Coinbase Pro Review for now. In my personal opinion, if you’re okay with trading anonymity for “security”, Coinbase Pro is for you.
Although the fee is comparatively higher, and it’s not as liberal or easily available globally as some other exchanges.
It doesn’t have a mobile-app, the primary website however is mobile-friendly to quite an extent. No live-chat is available either which may be a problem for new traders. Doesn’t support Margin trading for now either.
So in my personal opinion, it’s a pretty acceptable platform if you’re not an absolute beginner in trading. But hey, why should my opinion shadow your judgement? Do let us know what you think of this Coinbase Pro review, and the platform in the comments.
