Our pick: Swyftx
Overall, we consider Swyftx to be better than Coinspot due to having cheaper trading fees, smaller spreads, more staking options, great additional features and more learning material available.
If you live in Australia, and you’re looking for a cryptocurrency exchange, you’ve likely heard of Swyftx and Coinspot, two of the biggest exchanges in the country. They are two of the best cryptocurrency exchanges in Australia, however they differ in several ways.
Below, you can find a detailed comparison of the two trading platforms, focusing on trading fees, tradable coins, spreads, customer support, staking/earn, security, learning material and additional features. Overall, our pick is Swyftx, however, you can make your own mind up by reading our comprehensive Swyftx vs Coinspot Comparison below.
Swyftx summary
Swyftx is an Australian crypto exchange that is headquartered in Brisbane. Founded in 2018, Swyftx has seen enormous growth in a short amount of time, now boasting over 600,000 users. It is an AUSTRAC registered exchange with a wealth of trading features and listed cryptocurrencies. Exchange details and pros and cons can be found below:
Website | Swyftx.com/au |
Headquartered | Brisbane, Australia |
Trading fees | 0.6% |
Tradable cryptocurrencies | 310+ |
Supported fiat currencies | AUD, USD, NZD |
Deposit methods | Bank transfer, POli, PayID, credit/debit card |
Pros
- User-friendly mobile app and trading platform
- Diverse range of cryptocurrencies
- Supports SMSFs
- Earn interest on cryptocurrencies
- Free demo account
- Low trading fees
- Fast and helpful customer support
Cons
- Funds not insured
- Does not offer futures or margin trading
Coinspot summary
Coinspot is the largest Australian exchange with a reported 2.5 million users. Founded in 2013, Coinspot has seen huge growth in its user base, particularly in the 2017 and 2021 crypto bull runs. The app and trading platform has a beginner-focused approach, allowing people of all trading experiences to easily buy and sell digital assets. Exchange details and pros and cons can be found below:
Website | Coinspot.com.au |
Headquartered | Melbourne, Australia |
Trading fees | 1% |
Tradable cryptocurrencies | 350+ |
Supported fiat currencies | AUD |
Deposit methods | Bank transfer, POli, PayID |
Pros
- User-friendly interface
- Wide range of tradable cryptocurrencies
- NFT marketplace connected to OpenSea
- Responsive customer service
- Staking on 22 cryptocurrencies
Cons
- Fees are higher than other exchanges in Australia
- High spreads
- Does not offer futures or margin trading
Coinspot vs Swyftx
Trading fees
Swyftx has set its trading fee for all buy and sell crypto orders at 0.6%. This is below the industry average and is considered quite competitive amongst Australian exchanges. In simple terms, if you buy $1000 of Bitcoin, your fee will be $6.
The Coinspot fee structure works a little bit differently. When you place an instant buy or sell order, your fee will be set at 1%. On the other hand, market orders are set at 0.1%, which is considerably lower than instant orders. Unfortunately, only 15 coins can be traded through the Coinspot market order feature.
Deposit and withdrawal fees
Swyftx does not charge fees for AUD deposits or withdrawals. This includes banker transfer, POLi, PayID and credit/debit card deposits and withdrawals.
When you deposit AUD into the Coinspot platform, there are several fee-free options such as bank transfers, PayID, POLi, and OSKO. BPAY deposits incur a fee of 0.9% and cash deposits incur a 2.5% fee.
Deposit and withdrawals winner: Swyftx
Despite Coinspot offering cheaper trading fees for its market orders, overall, Swyftx has the better fee structure with its 0.6% fee for all buy and sell orders. Coinspot’s 1% trading fee for instant buy and sell orders (the most common type of order) is higher than most other Australian exchanges. Additionally, Swyftx does not charge fees when you deposit funds or withdraw funds, whilst Coinspot does charge some fees when you deposit fiat currency.
Spreads
A market spread, also referred to as a market-maker spread, refers to the difference between the buy and sell prices for assets that are listed on an exchange. People will often look at the trading fees of an exchange without checking the spread. However, what most people don’t understand is that spreads are arguably more important than trading fees as they can often exceed fees.
Swyftx has an average fee of 1.1% which is inclusive of the spread, whereas Coinspot’s average fee (inclusive of spread) is 2.13% for instant buy and sell orders.
Spreads winner: Swyftx
Swyftx is the clear winner in this category, with a fee (inclusive of spread), less than half of Coinspot’s.
Customer support
The world of cryptocurrency and blockchains can be confusing and overwhelming, particularly for beginners. It’s important that the exchange you’re signed up to provides quick and helpful customer support. Big global exchanges like Binance and Coinbase can often take weeks to respond to customer queries, which is far from ideal.
Swyftx is dedicated to providing fantastic customer support. This is reflected in its 4.7/5 rating on TrustPilot. The majority of their customer support staff are based in Australia, however, they also have support staff based in New Zealand, the UK and Europe, allowing them to offer 24-hour customer support. You can contact Swyftx via their live chat support.
Coinspot also has a great reputation for customer support. You can get assistance almost instantly via their live chat feature which is available 24/7. Despite having delays during periods of high interest in the crypto market, Coinspot has displayed an excellent level of care for their customers.
Customer support winner: Tie
It would be unfair to pick a winner here as both exchanges have great customer support.
Number of cryptocurrencies
For investors and traders looking to diversify their cryptocurrency portfolio, choosing an exchange with a large array of coins is important.
Swyftx currently lists 310+ digital currencies on their platform.
Coinspot currently lists 360+ coins on their platform.
Tradable coins winner: Coinspot
Though both Coinspot and Swyftx list a large range of crypto assets, Coinspot takes the cake with roughly 50 extra listed cryptocurrencies.
Staking/Earn
Staking refers to committing assets in order to verify and secure transactions on a Proof of Stake blockchain. By doing this, the staker will earn a reward, typically represented as a percentage of the coin they are staking.
Swyftx’s staking feature, now called ‘Earn,’ allows users to earn interest on eligible crypto assets. Currently, there are 20+ cryptos available through Earn such as:
- Typical staking coins like Cardano (ADA), Solana (SOL) and Polkadot (DOT)
- Bitcoin and Ethereum
- Stablecoins including USDT, USDC and Australian dollar stablecoin, TAUD
With Swyftx Earn, interest is paid out and compounded daily and users can earn up to 80% Annual Percentage Yield (APY).
Learn more: Swyftx staking guide
Coinspot also has a staking feature called Earn which allows users to earn crypto rewards on 22 cryptocurrencies. Unlike Swyftx, Coinspot does not include Bitcoin, Ethereum or any stablecoins as part of their Earn feature.
Learn more: Coinspot staking guide
Staking winner: Swyftx
Despite Coinspot offering two more staking coins, Swyftx wins this category as they offer users the opportunity to earn interest on Bitcoin, Ethereum and a number of stablecoins.
Security
Ensuring you choose a secure crypto exchange is absolutely vital. In recent years, there has been a huge spike in the overall interest of cryptocurrencies, resulting in many new investors entering the scene. Although this increase in adoption is fantastic for the industry, this has attracted the attention of scammers and cyber thieves looking to prey on inexperienced investors and insecure trading platforms. Therefore security should be a large consideration when choosing either Swyftx or Coinspot.
Swyftx is an AUSTRAC registered crypto exchange which means they comply with all anti-money laundering laws stated in the Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (AML/CTF). On their website, Swyftx says their security team has over 50 years experience in building robust security frameworks. They employ several industry-leading practices to ensure the safety of their customers’ funds and information. This includes two-factor authentication (2FA), biometric logins, KYC verification, breached password detection and penetration testing.
Coinspot is an AUSTRAC registered exchange that was awarded the ISO27001 certificate which is the gold standard for information security management. They secure their users accounts through 2FA, anti-phishing phrases and offline cold storage.
Security winner: Coinspot
Both exchanges are dedicated to protecting their users’ funds and information, however, Coinspot has the ISO27001 certificate to show for it, whereas Swyftx does not.
Learning material
Before investing in cryptocurrency, it’s important to have a good understanding of its fundamentals. Exchanges, at a minimum, should be educating their users on the basics of cryptocurrency.
Swyftx is quite clearly dedicated to educating their user base on all things relating to cryptocurrency and blockchain. Their educational platform, Swyftx Learn, is packed full of useful guides, courses and even quizzes allowing users to sharpen their crypto and blockchain knowledge. They also have a website blog, where they keep customers updated on the important news relating to the crypto market.
Coinspot has a blog on their website where they publish helpful guides on all things crypto to bring their customers up to speed on different coins and concepts. The content, however, lacks imagery and can be quite dull.
Learning material winner: Swyftx
Both Swyftx and Coinspot produce educational learning material which can assist their customers in making smarter investment decisions. Swyftx wins this round as they are clearly more committed to providing quality content than Coinspot.
Additional features
Swyftx is a beginner-centric exchange with its easy-to-use interface, learning resources and highly popular crypto demo mode. Demo mode allows users to practice their trading strategies without committing any financial risk. Users are given $10,000 in ‘mock’ currency to trade a range of digital currencies before depositing any real money. Swyftx also offers a range of other features including:
- Crypto-to-crypto swap: trade cryptocurrencies without converting them back into AUD
- Price alerts: Set up alerts to receive notifications when the coins you select hit a certain price
- Tax reporting: Download a full transaction report of all your trades to assist you with your tax reporting
- Bundles: Purchase a basket of cryptocurrencies in one trade
Coinspot is also a beginner-centric account, with a number of features designed for streamlining the process of buying, selling and storing crypto. One of their most prominent features that sets them apart from other Australian exchanges, is their NFT marketplace where users can buy and sell NFTs. If you’re looking to buy NFTs in Australia, the process can often be complicated and long-winded. However, with Coinspot’s new NFT marketplace, users can purchase various NFTs directly through their Coinspot account. Coinspot’s other features include:
- Referral program: Earn Bitcoin by referring friends to the platform
- Bundles: Save on trading fees by purchasing multiple cryptocurrencies in one trade with Coinspot bundles
Features winner: Coinspot
Overall, this was a tight one as both exchanges have some great additional features. However, Coinspot’s NFT marketplace is a great feature that takes it over the line for them in this category. This is not yet offered by any other Australian-based exchanges.
Overall winner: Swyftx
Having used both Swyftx and Coinspot extensively, they are quite similar in nature. Both are beginner-focused crypto exchanges, offering a wide range of handy features and tradable cryptocurrencies.
There can only be one winner, however, and that is Swyftx. Although Swyftx has had some catching up to do, having been only founded in 2018, they have built an incredibly intuitive trading platform. Its user base is now over 600,000 strong, which is a testament to the hard work that’s been going on behind the scenes.
Swyftx continues to release several features to improve its users’ trading experience. It allows users to buy and sell 310+ cryptocurrencies and earn interest on 20 of them.
If you’re still unsure about which exchange you prefer, you can read our comprehensive review of both Swyftx and Coinspot below:
Exchange Website | Cryptocurrencies | Fees | Supported | Visit Website |
---|---|---|---|---|
351 | 1.0% | AUD | Join Coinspot | |
330+ | 0.6% | AUD, USD & NZD | Join Swyftx | |
250+ | Varies | AUD, USD, GBP & more | Join Crypto.com | |
280+ | 0.5% | AUD | Join Digital Surge | |
400+ | 0.1% | AUD, USD, NZD & GBP | Join Binance | |
140+ | Varies | USD, NZD & GBP | Join Coinbase | |
50+ | Varies | AUD & GBP | Join Coinjar Exchange | |
40+ | 0 | USD, GBP & more | Join Nexo |