Choosing where to trade

The exchange you pick changes your costs, your fills and your risk — often more than your strategy does.

Most people choose an exchange because of an advertisement or a referral link, then discover the consequences later through slippage, withdrawal delays or a support ticket that goes unanswered. A little checking beforehand is worth a great deal.

Depth before fees

Fee schedules are advertised; liquidity is not. Yet on any pair outside the largest few, the cost of a thin order book dwarfs the difference between a 0.04% and a 0.06% taker fee.

Check the exchange volume panel to see where real volume sits, and check the order book pressure on the pair you actually intend to trade — not on Bitcoin, which is deep everywhere. A market that looks fine at Bitcoin size can be dangerous at yours.

What to verify before depositing

1. Withdrawal reliability. Search for recent complaints about frozen withdrawals before you send anything. Traders have publicly alleged frozen accounts and disputed liquidation data at various venues; whether or not any specific claim is proven, the pattern of complaints is information.
2. Jurisdiction and legality where you live. This determines whether you have any recourse at all, and whether you can be locked out by a policy change.
3. Funding rates on your pairs. The same perpetual can carry noticeably different funding across venues. Over a multi-day hold that difference is real money — the aggregation panel shows it side by side.
4. Fee tiers you will actually reach. Headline maker rebates usually require volume you will never trade. Read the tier you qualify for today.
5. How the venue behaves in volatility. The wick guard tells you how often a pair produces abnormal wicks; the exchange spread panel tells you whether a venue tends to disagree with the rest of the market.

Costs that are invisible until they are not

• Spread. Paid on every trade, quoted by nobody.
• Slippage. Grows with your size and shrinks with the book's depth.
• Funding. Silent and continuous on perpetuals.
• Withdrawal fees. Occasionally absurd on smaller venues.
• Conversion. Moving between quote assets costs a little each time and adds up.

Run these through the fee drag calculator with your real trading frequency. Traders who consider themselves low-cost are often surprised by the annual figure.

Spreading risk

Using more than one venue is inconvenient and usually worth it. It gives you somewhere to go if one freezes withdrawals, lets you compare prices when a suspicious wick appears, and prevents any single platform's outage from becoming your outage.

What we will never do

Preflight does not rank exchanges, does not accept payment for placement, and does not publish referral links inside guides. The panels show volume, funding and spread as they are, and the conclusion is yours.

The questions to answer before depositing

1. Can I withdraw reliably? Search for recent complaints before sending anything. Patterns of frozen withdrawals are information regardless of whether any single claim is proven.
2. Is it legal and available where I live? This determines whether you have recourse at all, and whether a policy change can lock you out.
3. How deep is the book on the pairs I actually trade? Not on Bitcoin, which is deep everywhere.
4. What tier do I qualify for today? Not the headline rate requiring volume you will never reach.
5. What happens in an outage? Every venue has them. What matters is whether positions can be managed during one.

Depth beats fees, with numbers

Suppose two venues quote 0.04% and 0.06% taker fees. On a $5,000 trade the difference is one dollar. If the cheaper venue has a thinner book and your order slips 0.3% instead of 0.05%, the slippage difference is $12.50 — more than twelve times the fee saving.

This is why fee comparison is the least useful way to choose a venue for anyone trading meaningful size. Use the exit test panel on the pair you intend to trade, at the size you intend to trade, on each venue you are considering. The answer is usually decisive.

Custody, and the lesson that keeps being retaught

Two practical measures reduce this risk without much inconvenience: enable withdrawal address whitelisting with a time delay, and use app-based two-factor rather than SMS, because SIM swapping is common and effective.

Using more than one venue

It is mildly inconvenient and usually worth it.

• Redundancy. Somewhere to go if one freezes withdrawals or goes offline mid-move.
• Price verification. The exchange spread panel compares five venues, which is how you tell a real move from a local one.
• Funding differences. The same perpetual can carry noticeably different funding across venues — the all-exchanges panel shows the gap.
• Different listings. Some assets simply are not available everywhere.

Warning signs worth acting on

• Withdrawal delays that appear during volatility. The moment they matter most is the moment they appear.
• Unusually high advertised yields on deposits. Something is carrying that return, and it is usually your principal.
• Volume that does not match depth. A venue claiming enormous turnover with a thin book is telling you the turnover is not real.
• Aggressive referral incentives as the primary growth channel.
• No clear jurisdiction or corporate identity. If you cannot tell who operates it, you cannot tell who is accountable.

What we will never do

Preflight does not rank exchanges, does not accept payment for placement, and does not publish referral links inside guides. The panels show volume, funding, depth and spread as they are, and the conclusion is yours.

This costs us the most lucrative revenue available to a site like this, and it is the reason you can trust the numbers on the pages above.

Common questions

Are decentralised exchanges safer?

Different, not safer. They remove custody risk — you keep your keys — and add smart contract risk, sandwich attacks and generally worse liquidity. The right choice depends on what you are trading and how large.

Does regulation make an exchange safe?

It improves recourse and transparency, which matter a great deal. It does not guarantee solvency, and regulated venues have failed. Regulation reduces certain risks rather than eliminating risk.

How much should I keep on an exchange?

Only what you are actively trading, plus enough to act on an opportunity without waiting for a deposit. Everything else belongs in custody you control.