Volatility is as damning as it is charming. Traders make a killing every day in the crypto market, but only with the right tools. And when the market moves like it does in crypto, you’ll need the best tools you can get. Luckily for you, this article shows you the 4 best crypto trading software for beginners in 2022.
Choosing the right platform was the deciding factor of whether I’ll lose or make money when I first joined the crypto market. Choosing the wrong wallet or exchange meant I’d have my funds stolen. Choosing the wrong trading platform would drastically decrease my trading efficiency. With so many factors at play, it’s hard not to take trading software seriously.
This article shows you a list of the best trading software available in the market right now. Additionally, I’ll show you how to choose the right platform and which aspects you should look out for.
Crypto trading software is any app or platform that facilitates cryptocurrency trading. This type of software allows you to chart crypto assets, execute trades, and manage portfolios. Certain platforms offer advanced trading features such as indicators and crypto trading bots.
The purpose of trading software is to make trading crypto easier – or offer it in the first place. Truly good crypto trading software can be a game changer. Your goal as a trader is to make trading as easy and seamless as possible. The only way to do that is by using proper trading platforms and tools.
We can divide crypto trading software into four distinct categories: exchanges, portfolio trackers, crypto trading bots, and charting platforms. Each of these has its own unique features. However, some platforms might offer features from multiple categories - e.g. an exchange with crypto trading bots.
A cryptocurrency exchange is where it all starts. Exchanges allow you to buy and sell cryptocurrencies, as well as trade them. You can also deposit or withdraw fiat currencies from exchanges and transfer crypto to different wallets.
An exchange is usually a website, but you can also find mobile app versions for most exchanges. Traders use exchanges when they want to actively trade. Otherwise, they’ll store their assets in a decentralized wallet.
Crypto exchanges offer various utilities aside from trading. For example, Binance features staking, mining, OTC trading, futures trading, margin trading, and spot trading. Some exchanges might even offer automated strategies such as rebalancing or DCA.
A portfolio tracker, or manager, is a software that tracks the crypto holdings in your portfolio. They provide an overview of your capital allocation, along with insight into the portfolio’s performance. You will also find important information such as transaction and trade history.
What’s important about portfolio trackers is that they track all your holdings. Investors tend to scatter cryptocurrencies across multiple exchanges, portfolios, and wallets. Sometimes these assets are stored on different blockchains and require a dedicated wallet. What a tracker does is allow you to connect all your portfolios and view your holdings on a single dashboard.
A tracker might also allow you to transfer, stake, or trade assets. If you connect your tracker to crypto exchanges via API keys, you will gain access to your holdings and control them like you normally would.
Crypto trading bots are digital algorithms that automate your trading strategies and execute trades on your behalf. You can use an online platform or create your own crypto trading bot to implement automation into your trading workflow. Trading bots help investors with saving time, executing more accurate trades, and automating redundant tasks.
A trading bot is faster than any person. It’s wise to automate strategies in order to flourish inside a highly competitive and volatile market. Automated trading already accounts for up to 80% of all trading on the U.S. stock market - and it plays a big role in crypto as well.
The catch with trading bots is that they require a lot of experience and skills. A bot only follows commands, so if you screw up the code, you’re going to lose money by programming the bot wrong. Moreover, it takes hours and hours of backtesting to determine whether an automated strategy is profitable.
These are the most popular automated strategies for crypto trading bots:
Charting platforms are tools like Tradingview. They let you draw and analyze charts for various cryptocurrencies. Charting is the prerequisite to trading, since technical analysis represents the main method for determining an asset’s course.
Charting platforms allow you to view an asset’s price action through numerous price horizons. They also come with built-in indicators that you can use to speculate an asset’s price. Certain platforms also host trading communities, where you can see other people’s trade ideas and strategies. Some members go as far as to share custom scripts and indicators for free.
Apart from charting, you will find other amazing features as well. I love paper trading on Tradingview and executing trades to see how my strategy would perform. It’s like a manual version of backtesting that you can do alone with ease. Certain charting tools also facilitate cryptocurrency trading and let you execute real trades.
The following section features the best crypto trading software for beginners from each category. Aside from showcasing the best platform, I’ll also show you a few alternatives to check out.
Binance is crypto’s largest spot and derivatives exchange. Changpeng Zhao founded Binance in 2017 back when Coinbase, Kraken, and Bitmex ruled the market. But within just a few years, Binance became the leading cryptocurrency exchange.
Binance features spot trading, futures trading, staking, lending, and liquidity farming. The exchange has thousands of trading pairs - along with the highest liquidity in the market. As of July 2022, Binance processes an astonishing $69 billion in trading volume.
Binance also has a launchpad where developers can launch IEO (initial exchange offering) and gather funds for projects. Another popular feature is the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) – the exchange’s very own smart contract network. BSC plays a key role in the DeFi ecosystem and features many decentralized exchanges and lending protocols.
BNB represents Binance’s utility token. Users can pay trading fees or trade cryptocurrencies with BNB. The token also gives you special access to new and existing features.
I believe that Binance offers the most beginner-friendly exchange in the entire crypto ecosystem. Their user interface is easy to navigate. Each section of the exchange features pop-up windows that show short tutorials on how to use the exchange. And if that isn’t enough, the exchange offers plenty of educational resources explaining how even the most complex features work – such as futures or margin trading.
Another compelling argument to trade on Binance is their unique SAFU insurance policy – Secure Asset Fund for Users. The exchange allocates a portion of its trading fee profits to the SAFU fund, which they use to cover losses in the case of a hack or exploit. Users who lose money in such a scenario will regain their capital. Binance has already returned funds to users once after a $40 million hack.
Cryptowatch is a leading portfolio tracker platform developed by Kraken that facilitates day trading and portfolio management. It features a highly customizable dashboard from which you can track your portfolio and execute orders across numerous exchanges. The platform is incredibly popular among Crypto Twitter users.
The platform has four notable features:
Cryptowatch has integrated eight leading crypto exchanges: Kraken, Coinbase, Binance, Bitfinex, Poloniex, Bitstamp, OKEx, and FTX.
The highly advanced trading and charting tools are the most incredible features that Cryptowatch offers. You can view a wide range of market metrics and execute trades with a feature-rich trading terminal – just as you would on a normal exchange.
You’ll notice that the platform also delves into more volatile crypto niches such as NFTs. You can search NFT collections and exchanges on Cryptowatch, as well as view market statistics for highly speculative JPEGs.
And unlike many portfolio trackers, Cryptowatch is free. The platform only utilizes a credit-based system for charging more advanced features – which I don’t believe the average trader needs. You can use Cryptowatch on the web, but you can also download an app on your desktop device or smartphone.
Although Cryptowatch is more dominant on the charting and trading side, it still possesses many portfolio tracking resources. The portfolio dashboard shows your entire account history, tracks your performance, and allows you to modify any positions or holdings from one screen.
Shrimpy is an automated portfolio management platform that focuses on crypto trading bot strategies. The platform allows you to manage your entire portfolio in one place and link all your exchanges and assets. And when I say all, I truly mean all. Shrimpy has integrated more than 35 exchanges and wallets.
The most important aspect of Shrimpy is its portfolio rebalancing strategy. The platform allows you to create a portfolio and set allocations in advance. Whenever the initial allocation moves away from the allocated amount, Shrimpy will automatically rebalance your portfolio.
Let’s say you’re invested in four cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Solana. You’ve decided to allocate 25% of your total capital to each asset. But one day, Bitcoin rises tremendously, causing it to represent 50% of your portfolio in dollar value. Shrimpy will take profit and convert your gains into the other three assets so that the allocation returns to 25% for each asset.
Rebalancing is good in this scenario because Bitcoin might go down and the other three assets might rise in value. You will then make even more money than by simply HODLing.
Shrimpy also offers backtesting. You can backtest your automated strategies and find out how profitable your strategy is. Or you can create a custom index and copy the portfolios of leading crypto investment firms such as Alameda Research or Coinbase Ventures.
The platform also features social trading, otherwise known as copy trading. If you’re a beginner who is new to the crypto market but still want to profit by trading, you can do that by copying professional traders called leaders. Shrimpy has a long list of leaders who allow you to copy their trades and make money.
Not to mention, Shrimpy is completely safe because you use API keys to access your exchange funds.
Tradingview is an extremely popular charting tool that allows you to chart assets from both Tradfi and crypto markets. You can find a trading pair for any stock, commodity, index, currency, or crypto asset. Plus, you can draw charts for each one and utilize technical analysis.
Tradingview is completely free. You can pay for premium plans to unlock more charts and indicators. However, the average trader really doesn’t need more than a chart or two open at a time. You’ll want to focus on one asset at a time anyway.
What’s great about Tradingview is its interface. You can easily find your favorite cryptocurrency and chart it within seconds. You have plenty of tools at your disposal and you can even customize the chart to your liking.
Tradingview also features numerous indicators. You can use some of the best indicators for cryptocurrencies and even try out custom ones. Some community members are so nice that they create custom scripts that you can use to automate trades. You can also execute trades directly from Tradingview – but I recommend only paper trading.
Tradingview is what I have personally used when I first started trading. It helped me a lot with grasping the basics of technical analysis – which you can learn more about with my free ebook. And whenever I wanted to watch a tutorial or listen to someone explain TA, they have always used Tradingview. This helped me tremendously with using the more advanced features and learning how the platform works.
There’s nothing else to say about Tradingview apart from reiterating that it’s a great platform. It’s the first tool every trader has ever used, and it should be your first tool too.
All crypto platforms interact with your precious funds. This makes choosing the best crypto trading software highly important. You’ll want your funds to stay safe and to make managing crypto investments as easy as possible.
When choosing a crypto trading platform, focus on three important aspects: ease of use, features, and security. The following sections explain what’s important for each aspect.
Ease of use is the most important aspect behind any crypto platform. You want to manage portfolios and execute trades with ease. This means that your chosen platform should have an intuitive user interface that’s easy to learn your way around. And even if the UI is weird, you should at least have access to educational resources explaining how the platform works.
Ease of use also means that the technical aspects of trading should be easy. Transferring assets between wallets or exchange accounts should take minimal effort. You shouldn’t have to spend hours understanding how a special order type or order trigger works.
A feature-rich trading software is crucial to your crypto experience. You need to have everything under one hood to truly enjoy your time trading. Crypto users are tired of having to interact with different blockchains, assets, and wallets on more than one platform.
You don’t want to constantly switch between Binance and FTX because one offers an important feature which you don’t have on the other exchange. I keep my assets across many crypto platforms, but when it comes down to trading, I keep my activities to exclusively one platform.
Look for trading platforms that have it all: spot trading, futures, options, staking, yield farming, NFTs, lending, portfolio management, etc. This also involves choosing a platform whose team stays up to date with the latest trends in the crypto world.
There’s no aspect more important than security. What’s the use of employing a trading software when your capital is at risk of being stolen? You want your trading platform to have the best security mechanisms to protect your portfolio and avoid tragic events such as hacks.
Security is almost a non-issue in the crypto world – at least when it comes to high-level trading platforms. Exchanges rarely suffer hacking attempts. And even when they do, investors promptly receive their funds back. Still, that’s no reason to relax. Check out the security features of your trading platform when choosing it.
I’d stick to a platform with a good track record and a team that truly cares about customers. The platform should preferably have an insurance fund set to protect users. However, it’s worth noting that most platforms, especially those that aren’t exchanges, lack such funds.
If you want to learn more about crypto trading software and trading crypto, I recommend reading the following articles:
Each day Shrimpy executes over 200,000 automated trades on behalf of our investor community. And joining them is easy.
After you sign up and connect your first exchange account, you’ll deploy an investment-maximizing strategy in as few as 5-minutes.
Whether you create your own rebalancing strategy or completely custom automation, the ability to walk your own path belongs in the hands of every crypto investor.
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