Best Bitcoin CFD Brokers

Bitcoins can be owned "physically" just like gold. Another way to invest in Bitcoin is to merely trade price fluctuations based on fiat currency, just as you can with gold CFDs.

CFDs - Contracts for Difference on the Bitcoin price are a way to profit from Bitcoin price fluctuations without coming into actual possession of Bitcoins.

However, there are a lot of Bitcoin Brokers where you can trade Bitcoin CFDs based on BTC deposits. Profits and losses in this case are realized in BTC, although the contracts are based on USD price changes.

In addition, CFDs can be traded with leverage, often quite significant.

Details about Bitcoin CFDs

Perpetual Contracts

The most common type of Crypto CFD are the so-called perpetual contracts. This is a variant of futures, which can usually be traded with high leverage and are only available from unregulated brokers.

Other names for this product are Perpetual Swap Contracts, Perpetual Futures Contracts or Perpetual Invers Swap Contracts (the latter just reffer to the settlement currency of the contracts. If a platform has Perpetual Contracts and Perpetual Invers Contracts, then one is USD-settled and one BTC-settled.)

Bitcoin Futures are contracts where you currently buy or sell at a certain price, with the obligation to close the position at a certain time in the future at a price that is already fixed now. Classical Futures are therefore always marked with an expiration date.

Perpetual contracts, on the other hand, do not have an expiration date and positions can be closed at any time. Traders can therefore react flexibly to price fluctuations at any time. Perpetual contracts are often referred to as Futures, or these trading instruments can be found at many Bitcoin brokers under the term Futures.

Trade CFDs based on Bitcoin or USD Funds

Bitcoin or fiat settlement - both are possible, depending on the broker. There are Bitcoin brokers where you can make both BTC but also USD deposits and trade Bitcoin CFDs based on these deposits. However, with some brokers there is no possibility to transfer fiat money, but only cryptos. There you can then secure Bitcoin CFDs based on your Bitcoin funds.

In addition, there are basically 2 types of Bitcoin CFD brokers: regulated and non-regulated. Regulated brokers are subject to financial regulators and are governed by strict rules. These rules determine which trading products they are allowed to offer, with which maximum leverage, which customer data they have to query (KYC) and some more. For example, for trading exchanges based in Europe, the maximum leverage for cryptocurrencies is 1:2. On the other hand, regulated brokers also have deposit insurance for a certain amount.

However, since the big advantage of CFDs is the possibility of a noticeable leverage effect, Bitcoin CFD brokers regulated in the EU are certainly rather uninteresting for most traders. Without leverage, it makes much more sense to invest in "real" Bitcoins. That is, buy real Bitcoins and sell them (hopefully later at a profit).

Unregulated Bitcoin CFD Brokers

Unregulated brokers are offshore companies that are not subject to the regulations of certain regulatory bodies due to their location. However, most of these offshore Bitcoin brokers adhere to a certain set of rules in order to avoid falling out of favor with certain countries and getting sued. For example, even unregulated Bitcoin CFD brokers have to make sure that they do not serve citizens of certain countries.

First and foremost US citizens, but also citizens from certain other countries and jurisdictions where crypto CFD trading is prohibited for individuals or retailers. For this purpose, they have KYC or at least IP address controls that show the origin of the users. Also, the unregulated Bitcoin CFD brokers adhere to withdrawal limits, especially in relation to fiat currencies. Thereby, international anti-money laundering regulations are respected.

Unregulated Bitcoin CFD brokers unfortunately do not have deposit insurance. So here you can only trust that you will get your money back. However, many of these brokers have been established for years, with transparent company backgrounds and good customer service.

Some Bitcoin brokers have also shown in the past that they have fully compensated their customers, for example, after the loss of deposits due to hacker attacks. Unregulated does not necessarily mean dubious. Of course, fraud is more possible in this area than among regulated brokers.

Below you will find the best Bitcoin CFD brokers with high leverage. There are quite a few other similar platforms. But the following platforms enjoy the most trust, measured by user numbers and turnover.

These brokers strictly exclude residents or citizens of the following countries: USA, UK, Quebec, Canada, Cuba, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Algeria, Crimea and Sevastopol, Iran, Syria, Sudan, China, Singapore, North Korea.

Binance

Max. Leverage: 1:125

Binance, the world's largest Bitcoin exchange, offers various Bitcoin CFDs.
A distinction is made whether the contracts are based on USD-linked stablecoins, or on cryptocurrencies.

The USD(S)-M Futures are based on stablecoin deposits and are adjusted in them. There are two types: the perpetual contracts (with no expiration date) and the classic Futures (quarterly).

The COIN-M Futures are virtually the same, only they are adjusted in cryptocurrencies.

FTX

Max. Leverage: 1:101

FTX also ranks among the largest bitcoin and crypto trading platforms in the world. The platform's CFDs are very similar to Binance's products.

FTX also offers Bitcoin perpetual Futures contracts, as well as a number of altcoins that can be traded in the form of perpetual contracts. At FTX, the funding rate common to perpetual contracts accrues hourly.

Spot Futures with expiry dates (quarterly and semi-annual) can also be traded.

Bitcoin Futures at FTX are USD or USD-Stablecoin-settled, the collateral is therefore in USD, USDC, TUSD, USDP or BUSD, the latter being cryptocurrencies that are a substitute for the US dollar in this case.

At FTX, you can basically deposit fiat money if you don't own any cryptocurrencies yet. To do so, you have to undergo ID verification.

Bybit

Max. Leverage: 1:100

In the list of the leading Bitcoin CFD brokers with the highest turnover, Bybit cannot be left out. The professional trading platform enjoys the trust of a very large number of users and offers a variety of interesting crypto services.

Bybit offers perpetual contracts that are traded in USDT or USDC.

USDC options are also offered by the Bybit trading platform.

Furthermore, Bybit offers perpetual inverse contracts. These are perpetual contracts where Bitcoin (or any other cryptocurrency) serves as collateral, and not the US Dollar (or USD stablecoins).

Primebit

Max. Leverage: 1:200

Primebit is the Bitcoin CFD broker with the highest leverage offered, of up to 1:200 after all. Besides crypto CFDs, other assets can also be traded as CFDs.

It is the only platform listed here that does not support any fiat money deposits. Therefore, there is no KYC at Primebit either. Only BTC, USDT and a few other cryptos can be deposited.

Primebit offers BTCUSD perpetual contracts. The funding interval ends every 8 hours at Primebit.

Phemex

Max. Leverage: 1:100

Phemex is absolutely among the top 5 bitcoin CFD broker platforms. Perpetual Contracts with up to 1:100 leverage are offered here as well. BTC-USD Contracts are Bitcoin-settled, meaning traders buy contracts with BTC and get BTC upon settlement.

Phemex allows the purchase of cryptocurrencies with fiat money via integrated third-party payment services.

For an extended list, see Bitcoin Margin Brokers.

Regulated Bitcoin CFD Brokers:

Those who want to trade price fluctuations of Bitcoin and other cryptos with little or no leverage can do so with CFDs of regulated brokers, as mentioned earlier. Leading providers are:

• ThinkMarkets
• eToro
• FXOpen