Coinsquare Cryptocurrency Exchange Review

Coinsquare is a cryptocurrency exchange located in Canada. The platform offers its users a wide range of trading services. One of the main selling points of the exchange is the fact that traders can purchase digital assets with fiat currencies. 

In this Coinsquare review, we are going to share with you the main features and characteristics of this exchange. Moreover, we will go through other interesting things you should know about this platform, including possible red flags and a full list of pros and cons. 

What is Coinsquare?

Coinsquare is a Canadian cryptocurrency exchange that offers a trading platform for users. Investors can buy, sell and hold Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and other digital assets. The platform is equipped with standard security measures, a customer-driven approach and several trading pairs. 

At the time of writing, the exchange has 10 different cryptocurrencies supported. However, they could add more in the future. Moreover, the platform helps users to purchase digital assets using fiat currencies. The base fiat currency of the exchange is the Canadian Dollar (CAD). 

Some other fiat currencies supported by the platform include Australian Dollars (AUD), U.S. Dollars (USD), Swiss francs (CHF), Pound sterling (GBP) and Euro (EUR). In this way, users from all over the world can get access to digital assets using their fiat currency.

Moreover, the platform has a smartphone app that makes it even better to get access to the markets at any time. In this way, users have an easy-to-use and portable trading platform with fiat currencies. 

Coinsquare USA users are also able to trade using this platform. Some exchanges have strict measures to avoid people from the United States to use their systems. 

Moreover, Coinsquare Ripple supporters are also very happy about this platform. This was one of the first exchanges offering users the possibility to acquire XRP in Canada. In this way, users with CAD were able to access XRP in just a few simple steps. 

The company’s mission is to create a regulated and open financial platform for the world by leveraging blockchain technology. 

Is Coinsquare Safe?

This is one of the main questions that we will try answering in this post. Cryptocurrency exchanges have been affected by different hacks and attacks. Some of these hacks resulted in the loss of millions of dollars in virtual currencies from users. In this section, we will share with you which are the mains security features implemented by this platform.

Cryptocurrency Exchanges Vulnerabilities

Exchanges are certainly vulnerable to attacks and hacks. As they hold millions of dollars in digital assets from users, they are usually targetted by hackers. This is why it is certainly important to understand whether Coinsquare is a safe crypto exchange. 

Some of the things we need to take into consideration are whether they use a cold or hot storage wallet, if they have 2-FA authentication for users, and if the data they handle is encrypted, among other things. 

Coinsquare Safety Measures

Coinsquare is applying different safety measures that would help you to keep your account secure. Although these are standard measures nowadays, it is worth enumerating them.

• SSL Encryption
• Cold Storage Wallet
• 2-FA Authentication
• Encrypted Data

This is certainly very important to understand how secure the exchange is. For example, they claim their funds are stored in cold storage. That means that this is very unlikely a large hack would affect users’ funds. 

In the past, several exchanges became insolvent due to the fact they held large amounts of funds on hot storage wallets. That being said, there is still a small possibility for the exchange of getting attacked. Until now, this didn’t happen. 

2-FA authentication is certainly important to protect users’ accounts. In recent years, several users reported they lost their funds to hackers after they got access to their accounts. By using 2-FA authentication, it is possible to reduce the probabilities of getting hacked. 

SSL encryption is also a standard measure that most of the crypto exchanges in the market are currently offering. 

Moreover, the platform claims that its 100% proprietary system has been stress tested and DDoS tested. Additionally, 95% of the funds are held in cold-storage wallets. Finally, the platform manages its LEDGER consistently. That means that they know where the coins are at all times. 

Coinsquare Data Leak

Now that we have reviewed the most important characteristics in terms of security, it is worth mentioning that the platform has suffered a data leak. Although this does not directly has an impact on users’ funds it could eventually have. 

The company claims that the data leak has affected the data of 50,000 users. Users that were affected by the hack have already been informed in order to take the necessary measures. The leak came from one of the companies working with Coinsquare processing the information from users. 

A data leak could be very harmful to targetted users. If an email address is revealed to the internet, it is possible for hackers to get access to it. Eventually, phishing attacks could take place targeting those users whose email accounts were leaked. 

The company acknowledged the problem they have faced and adjusted its processes to avoid having another data leak in the future. Whether the exchange would now be 100% protected we are not sure. However, we could expect the platform to improve over time. 

It is worth pointing out that several crypto firms experienced data leaks before, including exchanges. This has generated several controversies considering this data could be used by malicious parties. 

Coinsquare Customer Support

Coinsquare claims to have a focus on its customers. Not only through its customer support that is always available to users but also by using low and transparent fees. The company is offering a dedicated page that offers account support, an email address and a form in case you have questions. 

Customer support is one of the weakest points of this platform. It is not easy to find an agent that would be available as in other exchanges. However, customer support is one of the main problems faced by exchanges in different regions. 

The customer support works between 9am and 5pm and they could contact the team behind Coinsquare at [email protected]. However, the exchange offers a contact form in case they want to ask a question. 

In addition to it, users will find a chat option on the official site that enables them to get in touch with the customer support team via chat. However, the working hours seem to be the same as the ones we mentioned before. 

Coinsquare Services

The company is now offering different trading services to users. The first one is related to buying and selling cryptocurrencies. Indeed, this is the main service offered by the firm. Users can open market and limit orders in order to handle their trades through the different trading pairs available. 

Quick Trade

Rather than using the traditional exchange, newcomers and users that want to easily swap between coins can use the Quick Trade feature. Quick Trade was created in order to convert one asset to another in just seconds. 

The positive thing about this is that you do not need to be worried about how to open an order. You will have everything controlled. By just selecting the two digital currencies you want to trade, the transfer will be immediate. 

Once you select the virtual currencies, Quick Trade will offer you a quote. You will then have to decide whether you which to execute the trade. 

For advanced traders, Coinsquare would offer you with TradingView charts. This is one of the standard solutions offered by crypto platforms around the world. The platform can be used to run technical analysis and place the trades investors need. Moreover, it gives a clear idea to traders where the market could be going. 

However, there are some advanced tools that are lacking from this platform. That means that some expert traders would not be able to execute all their advanced strategies. They might require an additional platform to plan their technical analysis. 

Deposits and Withdrawals

Users can deposit funds to Coinsquare in a variety of ways. You can deposit funds with a Wire Transfer, through Interac e-Transfer and with Bitcoin (BTC) or other digital assets. The Wire Transfer option is the most popular one. The funding fees for this option are 0%. 

You can deposit CAD using both your Coinsquare iOS application or the web version of the exchange. The exchange will share with you instructions on how to send the funds that you will receive on the exchange. 

It is worth noting that the Interac e-Transfer option is also free of charge. That means you can deposit funds without having to pay a transaction fee. The transfers may take up to 2 business days to be processed. In some cases, the waiting time could be longer. 

Nonetheless, if you use the Interac e-Transfer option, you should take into consideration that third-party transfers are not accepted. The name on the e-Transfer account should match the name of the Coinsquare account. 

The last option is to use cryptocurrencies. If you are already handling digital assets, this shouldn’t be difficult to do. You can send Bitcoin, Ethereum Classic, Ethereum, Doge or Litecoin to the platform. If you were planning of buying Coinsquare stock, then you should know the exchange accepts crypto deposits as well. 

OTC Platform

Coinsquare is also offering an OTC (over the counter) desk for users that handle more than $25,000. Users that want to access this service should contact the Wealth Director available on the platform. 

There are different levels of Coinsquare Walth: Gold, Platinum or Diamond. Users will be then connected with one of the Wealth Directors on the exchange. In this way, they would make sure that your account is set up with the correct status. 

Coinsquare Wealth offers access to a dedicated full-time Wealth Director, discounted wire funding and also withdrawal fees and an OTC trading desk for these users. The OTC platform is a great solution for those users that handle large amounts of money while trading digital assets. 

Moreover, it could be a great way to get access to better rates and to manage your trades in a more efficient way. Some trading pairs might not have enough liquidity for you to execute the orders you need. This is why the OTC desk could help you handle all your funds efficiently. 

Fees and Costs

The platform has standard fees for traders and users that want to use it. The exchange, like many others, works with a “maker/taker” model in which the maker fee is 0.1% and the taker fee is 0.2%. 

This shows that the exchange is favours traders to generate liquidity rather than to take the liquidity available in the market. This strategy has been seen in other platforms in the market. Nevertheless, this exchange does not have its own digital currency to reduce fees even more than other platforms such as Binance. 

Users should also know that there are withdrawal fees. If you want to withdraw your funds from the platform, you would have to follow their withdrawal schedule to understand how much you have to pay to get your funds out of the platform. In some cases, the withdrawal fees are very high in comparison to other platforms in the crypto space. 

Coinsquare Pros and Cons

There are some pros and cons of this exchange that are worth taking into consideration. 

Coinsquare Pros

• Several fiat currencies accepted
• First Canadian exchange to offer support to Ripple (XRP)
• US Customers accepted
• OTC Desk
• Standard fees for traders

These are just some of the positive aspects of the platform. However, depending on your needs there could be more. For example, the exchange is located in Canada. This could be a very positive thing if you use CAD or live there. 

Coinsquare Cons

• Weak customer support
• Few trading pairs compared to other exchanges
• Very high fees for withdrawals

There are some things that the exchange can certainly improve. Nevertheless, if you are a person from another country, this exchange might not be suitable for you if you want to handle, let’s say, Brazilian reals. Nevertheless, this platform offers most of the basic and some advanced trading tools for users that want to have access to the crypto market.