Comparing US crypto exchanges

Availability is not the fee table

Binance.US says it is a money transmitter licensed in 32 states, NMLS ID 1906829. The lowest published entry taker fee in this set, 0.02 percent on Advanced standard pairs, is not available in every state, and the simple buy adds a spread. Coinbase and Gemini publish US-facing schedules. The Coinbase Advanced intro tier read on 18 October 2026 was 0.50 percent maker and 0.90 percent taker for US traders after the 16 September 2026 change. The profile notes a lower EU/UK entry and does not mix the two. Gemini ActiveTrader was 0.60 percent maker and 1.20 percent taker from a schedule dated 1 September 2026.

Kraken, Crypto.com, Uphold, Bitstamp, and Robinhood Crypto serve US customers in some form. Several of those state lists were not re-verified on 18 October 2026. Those facts stay unverified on the profiles rather than being guessed. Bitstamp by Robinhood uses its own fee schedule, valid from 9 July 2026, 0.30 percent maker and 0.40 percent taker at entry. It is not the Robinhood Crypto US PDF. Crypto.com's exchange table, updated 17 October 2026, starts at 0.25 percent maker and 0.50 percent taker and was not verified as the price a US app user sees.

The button you press

If you use a simple buy, compare the preview, not the Advanced or Pro table. Coinbase, Gemini, and Kraken all say the simple quote includes a spread or a variable fee. Uphold's preview is the whole price, with BTC and ETH around 2.05 to 2.2 percent in the schedule updated 21 September 2026. Robinhood's default US route has no commission and still has a spread. The 0.95 percent taker in our sort is the exchange-routing entry rate, not that default route.

A US reader can do the following without a ranking. Confirm the venue will open an account in your state, on its site, today. Decide whether you will use the order book or the simple button. Read the cell that matches that decision, from the profile, and then from the venue if you are trading more than a trial amount. Ignore a 'best exchange' headline that does not say which button.

Custody sits under the fee

Coins on any of these exchanges are held by the company until you withdraw. A published trading fee does not describe an outage, a freeze, or a bankruptcy. In November 2022, FTX halted withdrawals and filed for bankruptcy. Customers had balances they could not send. This page does not quote a shortfall or a recovery rate. It quotes the shape: an account balance is a claim until it is on a chain in a wallet you control.

A US license for one product does not cover a similarly named company. Robinhood Crypto's US PDF and Bitstamp by Robinhood's schedule are different documents, and the profiles keep them apart.

Withdrawal is a separate fee from the trade, and it includes a network fee that moves. Read it on the withdrawal screen. Do not assume the cheapest taker fee is the cheapest way to end up with coins in your own wallet. A small test withdrawal, to an address you compared in full, is the way to learn the venue's process while the amount is small. The wallet guides cover where it should land.

What this set refuses to crown

There is no best US exchange in these pages. There is a fee sort, a handful of verified schedule rows, and several availability facts that were not re-checked and are labelled unverified. A crown would require a live survey of all fifty states, a test of each simple-buy spread, and a solvency opinion. This site has not done those things. Inventing the crown is how a comparison page becomes an advertisement.

Use the profiles. Use the fee guide for the arithmetic of the entry rates. Use the lowest-fee page to see why the sort is in the order it is in, including the Robinhood exception. Use the token checker if the question is the asset rather than the venue. A low trading fee on a contract you have not read is a cheap way to buy a problem. The checker does not know your state, and the fee table does not know the contract.

Questions

Coinbase's US intro tier and the EU/UK entry are different numbers. The profile keeps them apart. A review that quotes one percent for 'Coinbase' without saying Advanced, simple buy, or country is not the cell you will pay.

I live in a state Binance.US does not serve. Who is cheapest? Take Binance.US off the list and reread the remaining entry takers, then check whether you will use the simple button. Bitstamp's 0.40 percent entry taker is the next published order-book cell in this set, and you still confirm that Bitstamp will open your account. State lists that are marked unverified are not a yes.

Is Robinhood free? The default US route charges no commission. The spread is still there, and exchange routing has a published taker fee that starts at 0.95 percent. Free, in the sense of no cost at all, is not what the profile says.

Does 'US exchange' mean my deposit is insured like a bank? Do not assume that. These profiles do not claim FDIC insurance for crypto balances. Cash sweeps, if a venue offers one, are a different product from the coin balance. Read the venue's own disclosure. This page will not upgrade a coin balance into a deposit account.

Profiles

• Coinbase — People in the US who want a large, regulated venue and will use Advanced when the simple quote looks expensive.
• Kraken — People who will trade on Kraken Pro and want a published volume schedule.
• Gemini — US customers who want a New York trust-company exchange and will use ActiveTrader for the published rate.
• Binance.US — US customers in a licensed state who will use Advanced spot orders and want the lowest published entry taker fee in this set.
• Crypto.com — People who can use the Crypto.com Exchange and will compare the order-book schedule, not the app's instant quote.
• Robinhood Crypto — US customers who already use Robinhood and understand that 'no commission' on the default route is not the same as a zero spread.
• Uphold — People who want one preview price across crypto, currencies, and metals, and who will accept a spread instead of an order book.
• Bitstamp — People who want a long-running order-book exchange and a published entry fee below Coinbase Advanced and Kraken Pro.