Bitpanda Review – Is this broker legit?

CONTENT

• General Information & First Impressions
• Fund and Account Security
• Registration at Bitpanda
• Bitpanda’s Trading Platform
• Funding and Pricing
• Trading Products at Bitpanda
• Leverage and Other Crucial Trading Information
• Customer Service at Bitpanda
• Conclusion

General Information & First Impressions

Bitpanda is an online crypto broker, and was one of the earlier ones at that. The firm started operating in 2014 in Vienna, Austria, with the goal of making crypto trading more readily available. Since then, some bigger brokerages and exchanges have pushed Bitpanda a bit towards the sidelines. However, the firm is still around and kicking, providing crypto services to anyone that might be interested in them. Our Bitpanda review will tell you what you need to know about the brokerage and let you determine whether it fits you.

And for the rest of the text, remember that Bitpanda is a crypto brokerage, which means a different set of standards from regular brokers. Crypto companies operate differently and perhaps worse in many ways since there’s less competition. However, that’s become accepted in the trading world, so we can’t judge it as harshly.

However, even with the lower standard, some things stand out as quite poor on bitpanda.com. We can start by mentioning how little the website helps you understand the broker’s service. It flaunts some nice tech features but says very little about the trading services themselves. Again, that’s not entirely unseen in the crypto world, but we would say it’s below standard.

So for the first impression, Bitpanda may impress less knowledgeable customers. It seems like the broker intentionally put fancy-sounding features on its landing page instead of being informative. That leads us to doubts about Bitpanda trying to mislead newer traders, which is always a warning sign. However, to claim something like that, we’d require more substantial proof, and we’ll see if it’s true in the next part of our Bitpanda review.

Fund and Account Security

As it is with most crypto brokers, Bitpanda is unregulated. We can’t hold that against it, however, as it is the industry standard. On top of that, in most regions of the world, crypto broker regulation is unattainable.

So like most crypto brokerages, Bitpanda needs to rely on its reputation and trust as its safety rating. Unfortunately, it’s off to a rough start with its overly-promotional website. Still, it has some solid things going for it, like being among the earlier crypto brokerages and still operating after seven years of business. Furthermore, while the website is vague, it’s not straight-up defunct like it is with some scam brokers. Lastly, we should mention that Bitpanda operates from Austria, which is relatively strict with financial business legislation.

So Bitpanda is somewhere in the middle of the pack when you look at it alone. In those cases, we usually refer to a broker’s reputation to see how well it fares. For Bitpanda, reviews online seem to have an overall positive sentiment, but even that may be deceptive.

When you read the actual user reviews, you’ll see that a lot of them seem fake. For example, the current first review on trustpilot.com reads, “Costumer support A++++++++++.” And the broker definitely doesn’t have A+ costumer support since you can only reach it via website form; no phones, no emails, or any other way to reach the broker. Furthermore, a lot of the other reviews complain about sluggish communication, so the positive one comes off as false.

Other similar reviews are undetailed and usually consist of a five-star rating. However, the details in the negative comments make them feel way more genuine. That raises further concerns about the broker buying ratings, which is another warning sign. Bitpanda looks less secure than the average crypto broker.

Registration at Bitpanda

As you could’ve seen from our Bitpanda review, the broker didn’t exactly start off too well. However, we do commend it on the simple registration procedure. All you need to do is input basic data, listing just your name and address, and it lets you register.

Before you can use the platforms, you also need to answer some questions about your earnings, current net worth, and future investment plans. The entire process takes just a few minutes and isn’t as invasive as it is with some brokers. Naturally, before you do any serious trading, you’ll need to deposit and verify your account, but the quick registration is great if you want to check things out.

Naturally, the registration fades in importance compared to what we discussed earlier, but it’s a step in the right direction.

Bitpanda’s Trading Platform

One thing we really enjoyed about Bitpanda is how they set up their trading platforms. It doesn’t erase all the negatives we mentioned earlier in our Bitpanda review, but we give praise where the broker deserves it.

If you’ve ever used an exchange like Binance or Coinbase Pro as a new user, you’ve likely felt lost. Perhaps you’ve stumbled upon what you wanted to do, but it may have even been accidental. The likelihood is that you’ve realized you’ve got more learning to do and quit.

However, Bitpanda doesn’t have that sort of pressure, as it has the regular and pro versions. The regular Bitpanda platform is very basic and lets even complete beginners understand what’s going on. Bitpanda Pro is aimed at more serious traders with some experience already.

The division makes the broker way more accessible to traders of all skill levels. Perhaps Bitpanda Pro is a tad less sophisticated than we would’ve liked, but the setup itself just about hits the sweet spot.

Funding and Pricing

Bitpanda’s deposit and withdrawal structure follow similar companies in most regards. First of all, there are numerous methods, including bank transfers, cards, and e-wallets. In other words, you’ll likely have no issue finding your preferred payment method on Bitpanda.

However, as far as the fees go, it’s a bit more expensive than most of its peers. There are funding fees on all methods but the most outdated bank transfers, trimming your investments from the start. On top of that, you pay fees on most trades, which come up to about 1.5%. Of course, the exact number depends on many factors, such as asset type and trading time.

This sits slightly below the average crypto broker but slightly above the better ones cost-wise. Also, compared to popular exchanges, Bitpanda is undoubtedly slightly more pricy. However, that’s the payoff you get for a more versatile service with a crypto broker.

Some users will also be glad to find out that once you verify your account, you remove all trading caps. As such, you can trade as much as you wish without the broker putting in frustrating brakes.

Trading Products at Bitpanda

The primary advantage of using crypto brokers instead of exchanges, as we mentioned earlier in our Bitpanda review, is versatility. The brokers often offer a wider variety of trading materials, going beyond just cryptocurrencies. As such, they can serve as all-in-one services that fit all your investing needs instead of just digital currency trading.

If you’re solely interested in crypto trading, you might be better of simply going with an exchange. However, Bitpanda and other similar companies have a broader selection of assets at their customers’ disposal. And while the choices aren’t as broad as with regular online brokers, they do include the most popular trading instruments.

One curious addition in Bitpanda’s selection are crypto indices. They’ve been popping up here and there but haven’t actually gotten a solid foothold yet. Here’s the full asset selection at bitpanda.com:

• Crypto
• Crypto Indices
• Stocks
• ETFs
• Metals

Customer Service at Bitpanda

We already complained about the broker’s poor communication earlier in our Bitpanda review. Without any major methods of contacting the broker, the information flow is sluggish and frustrating. Not to mention that you can essentially get locked out of your account with no course of action to resolve the issue. We get that COVID has been difficult on companies, but in 2021, such slow communication isn’t something to look over easily.

And some traders will say that it’s irrelevant if you don’t have any problems. But when’s the last time you used a broker and encountered zero problems or unclear things you need to ask about? Furthermore, it puts a dent in the already questionable trust rating Bitpanda has, as it’s nigh-impossible to locate.

Bitpanda’s service isn’t fantastic overall, and this definitely sets it back even further.

Conclusion

While we did mention some good things about Bitpanda, we mentioned more significant negative things. Furthermore, we skipped over some details that were missing entirely. One thing to mention here is poor account variety, which is usually a major advantage for crypto brokers over exchanges.

When you look at the brokerage objectively, it has some nice properties, such as simple registration and solid platform division. In theory, Bitpanda could be a great introductory broker, especially since it also has educational features. However, the broker’s trust rating is relatively low, and the customer support is nearly non-existent. So what could, in theory, be a fantastic experience would likely turn out to be an awful one in reality.

Bitpanda’s most significant issue is security and communication. However, even beyond that, it doesn’t offer much to beat competitors. When you’re overall average with one glaring weakness, things don’t bode well for you as a broker. We conclude our Bitpanda review with recommending you try one of the better brokers on our list instead.