How to Choose a Crypto Exchange: Check the Documents
How to choose a crypto exchange: four documents to open first, from the fee schedule to the regulator's register, worked through on Gemini's own pages.
To choose a crypto exchange, skip the homepage and open four documents: the fee schedule, the user agreement, the reserve or audit page, and the regulator’s register. They answer what a trade costs, who you contract with, what backs balances, and who supervises the entity.
How to choose a crypto exchange, document by document
The method is evergreen. The worked example is Gemini, read by this desk on 15 October 2026.
Fees. The ActiveTrader Fee Schedule, dated September 1, 2026, starts at 0.600% maker and 1.200% taker: $12 on a $1,000 taker buy. Every tier.
Counterparty. The agreement page, dated February 19, 2026, assigns ID, LA, NY, OH and TX residents to Gemini Trust Company, LLC and most other states to Gemini Moonbase, LLC.
Reserves. The Trust Center lists audited statements and SOC exams; the text read links no Merkle proof-of-reserves attestation. Why that matters.
Regulation. ESMA’s interim MiCA register lists Kraken’s Payward Europe Solutions Limited and Coinbase Luxembourg S.A. NMLS and NYDFS blocked our reader; check yourself. Reading the CSVs.
Questions readers ask
What are some tips on how to choose a crypto exchange platform?
Compare the taker rate at your likely volume, not the headline maker rate. Find the legal entity named in the user agreement. Treat a venue’s reserve claims as claims until audited. Then search the regulator’s own register by legal name, not brand.
Does it matter which crypto exchange I choose?
Yes, in cost and in recourse. Gemini’s published entry tier charges 1.200% per taker order, and other venues publish other ladders. The legal entity in the agreement decides which contract governs your account and which regulator, if any, hears a complaint.
Is my crypto exchange regulated?
Search the regulator’s register by legal entity name. In the EU that is ESMA’s interim MiCA register, listing entity, authority, authorisation date and services. In the US, start at NMLS Consumer Access. A footer licence is the company’s statement until a register agrees.
Crypto is high risk and nothing here is advice; read the documents yourself.