Coinbase Pro Pricing and Fees
| Feature | Price |
|---|---|
| Maker Fee (limit order) | $0.00 |
| Taker Fee (market order) | 0.30% to 0.10% |
| ACH Transfer | Free |
| SEPA Withdrawal | EUR0.15 |
| USD Wire Withdrawl | $25 |
| Daily Withdrawal Limit | $10,000 |
Coinbase has always been known to stick customers with small fees and strict trading limits. Since Coinbase Pro clearly caters to a more sophisticated cryptocurrency trading clientele, it is surprising that the maximum daily withdrawal limit is $10,000.
To increase this limit, you’ll have to submit a request with customer service. Moreover, although ACH deposits and withdrawals are free, be aware that deposits can take up to 7 business days to process. At this time, there is no instant deposit for USD. If you deposit BTC, ETH, LTC, BCH, or ETC, funds are available much quicker.
Overall, in terms of trading fees, Coinbase Pro is decent if you plan on only using limit orders, i.e. a “maker” order. If you add liquidity to the market via a limit order, you will not me charged a fee. It is worth noting that some online crypto exchanges actually provide rebated for maker orders; Coinbase does not.
If you use a market order, which is a “taker” order, you will be charged anywhere from 0.30% of the order value to 0.10% of the order value. The pricing tiers for the taker fees are based on total USD trading volume over a trailing 30 day period. The specific volume tiers for the taker fees are $0 to $10m, $10m to $100m, and $100m+, respectively.
Customer Service
Make no mistake, customer service is not Coinbase’s strong suit. Phone support is available Monday through Friday 6am to 6pm PST, but prepare yourself for long wait times.
Email support is also available through a support ticket, but response times are not exactly stellar. On average, it took Coinbase 1 to 2 full days to reply to our email support requests.
Getting Approved
If you already have a Coinbase account, you’ll find approval for Coinbase Pro is pretty easy and takes about 1 to 2 minutes, assuming you’re a US citizen and have your drivers license handy.
You’ll be asked to submit a photo of the front and back of your drivers license, as well as a selfie (photograph of your self) to complete the initial verification.
Given that one of the main selling points for owning crypto and using it as an asset class to trade, is that it doesn’t involve central banks, governments, or comprehensive identity verification. I was not thrilled about having to submit photographs of my drivers license in order to trade, but it is unfortunately necessary for Coinbase. For other crypto brokers, like Deribit, no such identify verification is needed.
Trading Tools
Coinbase Pro delivers professional crypto trading software that will make experienced traders salivate.
There’s no question about it, Coinbase redesigned their flagship GDAX platform to look really cool. And the Coinbase Pro trading platform does indeed look really cool, but highly experienced traders might notice that some key functionality is actually missing.
Namely, iceberg orders (orders that do not display the order size), fill-or-kill orders, and orders with attached profit taking orders (conditional orders) are not supported by Coinbase. This is disappointing, but if you’re just looking to buy and sell cryptos, Coinbase Pro is more than capable. Charting studies, lime simple moving averages, can be placed on all crypto/fiat currency charts.
We would love to see an app for Coinbase Pro, which we suspect will be rolling out sometime soon. Until then, the mobile trading experience could certainly be improved.
Overall Ease of Use
Beginners and first time crypto traders might find the platform overwhelming at first glance. Data moves fast, lots of colors flash rapidly on the screen, and it deciding between limit or market orders might provide a steep barrier to entry.
Having said this, Coinbase Pro isn’t designed for the novice crypto trader. Hence the name “Coinbase Pro.”
Coinbase Pro should not be confused with Coinbase Prime. Coinbase Prime is designed for institutional traders, like hedge funds who are looking to expand into the crypto markets.
What Others are Saying
The many user reviews of Coinbase Pro seem to be more negative than positive. As the old saying goes, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Judging by the ire of twitter user, Coinbase seems to have redesigned a perfectly serviceable platform, GDAX, and made a new one that is terrible for mobile and tablet usage.
We’re not sure why Coinbase decided to overhaul GDAX, but we fail to see a valid reason for scrapping the widely-used and widely-loved GDAX platform.
@CoinbasePro @CoinbaseSupport You are displaying incorrect information in your Filled Orders panel for Stop-Limit orders, suggesting the order was executed for the limit price instead of showing the average of actual fills that occurred. #bug #coinbasepro #pleasefix pic.twitter.com/KowTXFHMX5
— cryp7obi (@cryp7obi) August 29, 2018
There is a lot of negative Coinbase Pro feedback on twitter. The common denominator seems to be the lousy mobile trading experience, followed by the confusion as to why Coinbase replaced GDAX.
Final Thoughts
For the trader that plans on actively buying and selling a variety of different cryptos, and doesn’t need a mobile or tablet app, Coinbase Pro will suffice.
At the end of they day, not much has changed from GDAX to Coinbase Pro. One of the biggest headaches with Coinbase is going the thorough identity verification process, and for larger traders, Coinbase has been known to freeze accounts without warning that have large suspicious deposits/withdrawals.
However, this is a Coinbase specific issue, not a Coinbase Pro issue. Overall, Coinbase Pro checks most of the boxes for crypto trading in 2018, but we would love to see more sophisticated order types and a mobile trading app.
