Top Brokers For Bitcoin Margin Trading With Leverage

CFD or Futures Trading

High-leveraged Bitcoin Margin Trading means trading CFDs or Futures

Trading of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies with (high) leverage is typically offered in the form of derivatives. In the case of cryptos, such derivatives are usually Futures or a modified form of Futures, the so-called "Perpetual Contracts", a new kind of CFD (Contract for Difference) that has become established in the field of crypto trading. Perpetual Contracts are Futures, with no expiry date. Traders can keep these types of positions open as long as they want.

Leveraged trading of CFDs and Futures belongs in the hands of professionals who have a sound trading strategy and are proficient in risk management.

Only possible with unregulated Brokers

Leveraged Bitcoin trading is basically offered by unregulated crypto trading platforms that are registered in countries where crypto CFDs are not prohibited. A few years ago, the use of such platforms was possible completely anonymously in many cases, when cryptocurrencies and trading cryptos had not yet been categorized and strictly regulated anywhere. However, the regulatory status of cryptos has changed in many countries, since Bitcoin has become a serious asset class worldwide.

So most crypto margin broker platforms have become more cautious in the meantime, and at least adhere to the most necessary compliance precautions in order not to disregard the money laundering laws of leading countries. Therefore, many functions of such unregulated Bitcoin margin brokers can only be used with ID verification. The brokers also make sure that they only serve customers who are legally allowed to use the platform. For example, US Americans are generally excluded from the use of all Bitcoin margin brokers.

What does unregulated mean?

Unlike regulated exchanges, unregulated ones are not subject to any supervisory authority whose clear regulations they must follow. For example, unregulated exchanges do not have deposit insurance, other than regulated trading platforms. In case of a sudden hack or bankruptcy of an unregulated exchange, deposit losses would be possible, as they may not be recoverable. In addition, unregulated exchanges are generally more susceptible to unfair pricing or fraud.

However, several Bitcoin exchanges have shown in the past that they are fair and trustworthy in their business practices. For example, Binance or Bitfinex refunded their customers for losses incurred due to hacks. This is only mentioned in passing. Nevertheless, it is advisable to carefully study the terms and conditions and the company background of a platform before using it.

Territorial Restrictions

In many countries, derivatives trading, and leveraged trading in particular, is subject to strict regulation. It is therefore incumbent upon each trader to observe the regulations applicable to his country.

Below is an overview of the usability of leveraged crypto trading by country.

In this case we are only talking about leveraged CFD trading, not spot market trades. In some of the below mentioned countries people may be allowed to buy and sell Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies on the spot market, where they purchase the underlying asset, meaning the private keys of bitcoins which they can then withdraw to personal wallets.

USA

Residents and citizens of the USA are not allowed to use most of the online broker platforms listed on this page due to US law. CFD / Derivatives trading with leverage is strictly forbidden in the USA and for holders of US passports. However, it is allowed to directly buy and sell Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in the form of spot market trades, where you actually buy and sell the underlying asset, without leverage. Kraken is an exception, there US traders are welcome for leveraged spot market trades up to 5:1. However, US traders are of course excluded from Kraken's Futures trading section.

If you are considering using a VPN to trade under a foreign IP, you must be aware that the platforms may require an ID at any time.

If your data doesn't match what you have specified in your account, or if you refuse to verify yourself, you'll likely get in trouble. Likely your account will be frozen immediately, and maybe you even won’t get your deposits back. So cheating isn’t recommended in this case.

Other countries where Bitcoin CFD and Futures trading ist prohibited for retail traders:

• Québec, Canada
• United Kingdom
• China
• Singapore
• North Korea
• Cuba
• Ecuador
• Algeria
• Crimea and Sevastopol
• Syria
• Iran
• Sudan
• Ethiopia

Details About The Listed Bitcoin Margin Brokers:

With Bitcoin margin brokers you can expect advanced trading engines and professional order types for automated trading settings.

Such advanced Order Types are:

• limit order
• market orders
• stop limit order
• trailing stop
• take profit order
• post-only (set to be maker -> only pay maker fees)
• good till canceled / immediate or cancel / fill or kill

Primebit is a Bitcoin margin trading platform (est. in 2019) based in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. The platform deserves being mentioned before others, as they offer the highest leverage on the market. 200:1 can be used for BTCUSD as well as for the 3 altcoins they support, ETH, LTC and DOT.

With a whopping 200:1 leverage, high profits can theoretically be achieved here even with the smallest price movements (scalp trades). However, traders should be very familiar with margin trading and be aware of the risks of such high leverage – the liquidation price with 200:1 is alarmingly close to the entry price, which is why it is basically never recommended to exploit such leverage.

The fact that the platform is definitely aimed at professionals is shown by the integration of the MetaTrader trading software and by the advanced order settings offered, e.g. iceberg order or trailing stops.

Besides Cryptos there are also some other assets that canbe traded in the form of leveraged CFDs, such as a few big stocks, Indixes, Commodities and Forex.

Another positive feature of PrimeBit is the free demo account, which allows traders to put the platform through its paces risk-free. The Demo account can only be accessed after registration with the platform.

PrimeBit Margin Trading Products:

Primebit offers perpetual contracts, i.e. derivatives. Base currency in the account is BTC, deposits or withdrawals are in BTC only.

Withdrawal Limit:
There are no limits specified on the part of the platform.

PrimeBit doesn't have KYC, so no need for account verification.

Bitforex is another established bitcoin margin broker, with a global customer base in 200 countries. The company was founded in 2017, with registration in the Republic of Seychelles and offices in various countries. Among other interesting crypto services, Bitforex is known for Bitcoin margin trading (perpetual contracts) with up to 1:100 leverage.

Bitforex Trading Products:

Derivatives, spot markets

Fees:
Maker 0.04% | Taker 0.06%

Withdrawal Limit:
100 BTC, 3mio USDT, 3432.5144 ETH

FTX is currently one of the most used Bitcoin margin brokers. The company is incorporated in the Caribbean island of Antigua and Barbuda, the headquarters are located in the Bahamas. The fairly young platform was able to establish itself very quickly as one of the market leaders thanks to its comprehensive concept.

A variety of more than 50 altcoins can be traded on FTX, as well as cryptocurrency Futures and Options. Unlike other brokers, fiat money can also be deposited and withdrawn at FTX. In that case, the user identity must be verified. Basic accounts, however, can be used without ID verification. Those are restricted to a maximum withdrawal limit of $1000 .

FTX is known as the best platform for margin short trades of altcoins.

FTX Trading Products:

Bitcoin and Altcoin spot market trades, Bitcoin & Altcoin margin trading, futures, options, leveraged tokens.

Withdrawal Limit:
No limit on verified accounts (non-verified basic accounts: $1000).

PrimeXBT is another unregulated CFD broker with Bitcoin margin trading allowing for leverage up to 1:100. It has been operating since 2018 and has two company registrations, one in Seychelles and the other in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

A special feature of PrimeXBT is their very large portfolio of tradable assets as CFDs. Also, the platform supports the direct purchase of Bitcoin. In the beginning, PrimeXBT was one of the brokers where there was no KYC. Now there is a possibility to verify your account, which is necessary to use all the services of the platform, such as unlimited daily withdrawals or to get a $10 Bonus.

Withdrawal Limit:
$20,000/day for unverified accounts, unlimited for verified ones.

If you want to learn more about Bitcoin leverage trading, check out the expert portal TheMargin.io which discusses the topic in greater detail.

Bybit has quickly become one of the top Bitcoin margin brokers since it was founded in 2018. A lot of traders have switched to them since the platform’s good reputations have spread quickly among trader circles.

What makes this broker stand out is its high transparency, which makes it more trustworthy than some of its competitors. Another big plus is their great combination of features as they’re offering everything professional traders look for: Very flexible leverage settings (up to 1:100), perpetual contracts (the popular crypto Futures without expiry date), a vast amount of other cryptos to trade and reasonable trading fees – even 0 fees on all spot pairs.

Bybit also handles spot market trades, which is the direct purchase of cryptocurrencies.

The platform even has attractive savings plans alongside its trading products, allowing crypto holders to generate passive income.

For new customers Bybit offers a Welcome bonus of $10 just for the signup and another $50 for people making a first deposit of at least 0.2 BTC.

Protection from Market Manipulation
Like all good brokers, Bybit is protected from market manipulations by using the mark price of the biggest BTC exchanges when it comes to liquidation of positions. So it isn’t possible for a big trader to shake others out with large market buy or sell orders, which would manipulate the price on Bybit for a moment, visible as a rash in the chart. Liquidations are therefore always based on the "real" market price, so to say.

Excellent Trading Engine

Of course there is no lack of advanced order types and settings within the broker’s powerful bitcoin leverage trading engine.

Withdrawal Limit:
10 BTC per withdrawal.

Margin Trading on BitMEX is generally enabled in each account. The platform has mandatory ID verification to prevent unauthorized usage by citizens in whose countries Bitcoin CFD margin trading is prohibited.

Founded already in 2014, BitMEX had been the first Bitcoin margin trading broker with such high leverage before more and more competitors started to enter the market. For quite a while, BitMEX was the #1 BTC margin trading platform by market cap.

Meanwhile BitMEX also has spot markets and the option to buy crypto instantly, through integrated third party providers.

BitMEX offers two types of marking trading option: Isolated and Cross-Margin. During Isolated Margin, you can select the amount you want to use for margin trading. For Cross-Margin however you are risking all your money in the account, not just the amount you placed for the order.

BTC and Altcoin Leverages on BitMEX:
Leverage for BTC and ETH trading against the US Dollar or Tether (USDT) is available up to 1:100. Leverage for the supported altcoins is lower and different for each altcoin. Still the leverage ratios for altcoins are very high compared to other brokers, often still 1:50.

Withdrawal Limit:
BitMEX doesn't have a withdrawal limit. So big position traders can claim their profits unrestrictedly. The platfrom processes cashouts with manual review once a day, for security reasons.

Binance is world's leading cryptocurrency trading platform. The company was founded in 2017 and has been growing ever since. Today, it is the crypto platform with the largest range of services but also with the highest market capitalization in both the spot market and derivatives.

Binance offers quite a few trading products such as buying numerous cryptocurrencies, trading derivatives such as Perpetual Contracts, Futures and Options. Additionally, the platform offers numerous savings programs to earn interest on unused balances. Binance offers the highest leverage on Futures, with up to 1:125.

+ Altcoins with leverage
This platform belongs to the high volume altcoin brokers and on top it's a cryptocurrency broker with margin trading. What makes Ascendex special is their large altcoin portfolio in combination with the possibility to trade both BTC and altcoins on margin.

Fees
Ascendex's trading fees are 0.02% for makers and 0.06% for takers maximum. no matter if you’re maker or taker. The broker supports privacy, like most crypto trading platforms that don’t accept fiat money.

Exchange included: Buy and Sell Coins
Another point that sets Ascendex apart from other cryptocurrency margin brokers is the fact that you can actually purchase Bitcoin on this platform. So there is a exchange section, where people can buy and sell cryptocurrencies, regardless of margin trading. This feature requires account verification with ID documents. The latter is also required if you want to increase withdrawal limits to 100 BTC or $25,000

This broker again offers a pretty unique combination of features:

Fees
Trades can choose one of two commission models: fees or spreads. Also be aware of the funding fees all cryptocurrency margin trading platforms charge for open positions over certain time intervals. You find those details in our reviews.

With Overbit, traders not only can trade BTC against USD but also against the AUD, CAD, CHF, CNY, GBP, JPY and KRW. Additionally, they offer 7 altcoin that can be traded on margin as well: ADA, BCH, EOS, LTC, NEO and XRP.

Besides crypto margin trading Overbit also offers CFDs on gold and silver as well as Forex margin trading – FX can be traded with even up to 500x leverage.

ID Verification
One particularity you should know in advance: Trading on Overbit requires ID verification by default, so there is no “anonymous” margin trading with this platform.

This Bitcoin trading site is optimal for traders who are used to trade with MetaTrader, since this is the only broker where MT is used as trading platform. This broker also doesn’t claim ID documents from traders, hence you an trade anonymously here.

+ Altcoin Trading
The broker offers a huge amount of altcoins you can trade. But the alts aren’t on margin. Leverage is only available for the big pairs such as BTCUSD, ETHUSD, LTCUSD.

Fees
Bithoven charges the same trading fee for everyone which is 0.2%, no matter if you’re maker or taker.

Again a quite unique broker to trade Bitcoin with leveraged positions: BaseFEX offers high leverage, a range of altcoins that can also be traded with leverage (1:20), an especially simple and reduced trading interface and they support anonymity by not asking for ID documents by default.

Fees are 0.00% to 0.2%, depending on the coin you trade.

SimpleFX is a highly specialized broker which offers a maximum leverage of 100x for BTC trades against fiat money. Leverage for Altcoins depend on the coin and are usually lower. The company is registered in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Traders don't have to verify their account in order to use margin trading. Only the option to use fiat currency payments requires an account verification, as usual.

Fiat Currencies Supported
At verified accounts traders can deposit and withdraw major fiat currencies. Withdrawals are proceeded through the same payment method as the preceding deposits or as the biggest preceding deposit.

No Fees – But High SWAP
They don't charge any trading fees, however the SWAP rates are pretty high.

Withdrawal Limit:
There are no limitations for withdrawals stated.

Bitfinex was founded in 2012 and the company behind it, iFinex Inc., is registered in the British Virgin Islands. The platform allows BTC margin trading up to 1:10 leverage ratio. Bitfinex also has its own Margin Trading Wallet. This separation of an extra wallet for margin trading within user accounts is very useful as it helps to keep control of funds.

Over time, the business model and the services offered have been revised so that Bitfinex now has a strong focus on other crypto-based services than just trading. In particular, lending and borrowing cryptocurrencies, staking, i.e. earning programs, as well as a Bitcoin payment system for online stores are part of the company's core business.

Deposits and withdrawals are possible for all supported cryptocurrencies, already in unverified basic accounts. Fiat currencies can only be withdrawn from verified accounts.

Withdrawal Limits:
There is no limit for cashouts on Bitfinex.

OKCoin used to be one of the largest Chinese Bitcoin tradings sites, before China entirely banned such firms. Today it is based near San Francisco. The platform offers the option to trade on margin with up to 10x leverage.

A special feature is that US traders are allowed on OKcoin, but unfortunately they are also excluded from margin trading here. US citizens can only buy or sell cryptos on the spot market.

US Dollar cashouts:
OkCoin is a good choice for traders who want to be able to cash out USD. The account has to be fully verified, so a photo ID has to be provided. While Bitcoin withdrawals are available from Level1 (basic account with phone- and e-mail verification ), USD can only be cashed out with a Level2 account (with photo ID provided).

Advanced Order Types:
OkCoin is a highly professional trading site with all types of orders which are needed for professional trading.

Big position traders find specialized order types such as Iceberg or TWAP.

• Limit order
• market order
• OCO
• Trigger order
• Trail order
• Iceberg order
• TWAP

Margin trading is available at Poloniex up to 100x leverage.

As Poloniex is a specialized altcoin trading platform, their main focus lies on providing a big altcoin portfolio. They are one of the very few platforms which support trading certain altcoins on leverage in the form of Perpetual Futures Contracts.

Deposits and Cash Outs in Cryptocurrencies only:
Traders can deposit all supported altcoins and withdraw them as well. Fiat money on the other hand is not supported at all.

However, Poloniex supports the purchase of cryptocurrencies by credit card or Apple Pay through an integrated third party service.

BTC/USDT:
Bitcoin can be traded against USD-linked stablecoins only, not against USD directly. Those stablecoins are USDT, USDC, USDD, TUSD and BUSD.

Withdrawal Limit:
Poloniex allows a BTC equivalent of $10,000 USD daily (basic "potentially anonymous" accounts) and $50,000 USD daily for accounts with level 2 verificaton (photo ID required)

Bitcoin Futures are a Bitcoin derivative trading product that can be traded on Deribit wit up to 100x leverage. The Deribit platform is specialized in classic BTC Futures trading  (with expiry date) offering an easy to use and well organized trading platform for that purpose.

Account verification is mandatory with Deribit.

BTC-settled Bitcoin Futures:
On Deribit traders can deposit and withdraw BTC only.

Withdrawal Limit:
There are no BTC withdrawal limitations.

Kraken is one of the oldest and largest Bitcoin exchanges in the world. They are based in the US, where they hold all necessary licenses to also serve US traders. People from the US can use Kraken's spot markets where they can trade Bitcoin and certain other cryptos with even up to 5x leverage.

Kraken's Futures and derivatives trading services are of course not available for US citizens or residents.

Fees:
For Bitcoin (BTC) margin trading:
Opening fee: 0.01%,
Rollover fee for open positions every 4 hours: 0.01%

For altcoins it's mostly 0.02% opening and rollover fee.

Important hint: US traders must know, that they are not allowed to maintain margin positions longer than 28 days on kraken.com. Open positions will automatically be liquidated after that period.

Deposits and Cashouts:
To enable bank transfer deposits and withdrawals in fiat currencies, the trading site needs its users' proof of identity in form of a photo ID. This also concerns margin trading / the use of leverage. For cryptocurrency deposits and withdrawals only, users don't need to proof their identity, but with such a "Starter" account they will not be able to use leverage either.

Withdrawal Limit:
Kraken allows maximum withdrawals of $100,000 daily in fiat currencies and $500,000 daily in cryptos (for verified accounts).

FXOpen is an older, well established, regulated CFD broker offering traditional trading assets but also cryptocurrency margin trading with small leverage.

Deposits and Cashouts – Fiat Money Supported:
The professional international broker supports fiat money payments as well as cryptocurrency transfers. So traders can Cashout USD, EUR, GBP or AUD as well as BTC or the other listed cryptocurrencies.

An account verification with photo ID is only required for fait money transfers. Users who only want to make cryptocurrency deposits don't need to proof who they are.

Withdrawal Limit:
There are no limitations for withdrawals.

Bitcoin Margin Trading – Explanations for Newbies:

Caution:

• Only use leverage as an experienced trader.
• Don't use high leverage as a beginner, as the risk to lose a lot of money very quickly is very high.
• Develop your trading skills before using this powerful tool.

Margin trading is basically borrowing funds to be able to trade with bigger positions. This allows you to trade with more bitcoins that you would normally be able to do, in the hope of making bigger profits on the price movements.

Several bitcoin trading sites offer the opportunity to trade bitcoin on margin. After opening the account, a minimum deposit, called the minimum margin must be funded to the margin account that is a function of the maximum leverage available for the user.

Depending how much leverage a bitcoin broker allows, you can go up to 1:100, meaning you can trade with a position that is 100x bigger than your stake. This means you only have to fund 1 BTC from your own account and in case of 1:100 leverage ratio, the total bitcoins available to be purchased on the margin account is 100BTC.

This additional funding however costs money, the fees on margin trading vary by trading platforms. Also in case the price drops below a certain limit, the maintenance margin must be filled up in order to keep the position open, once a so called margin call is made. If the account funds aren't sufficient to keep the position open, it will be closed automatically my the broker, with total loss for the trader.

Bitcoin trading sites offer leverages up to a hundred fold, however the most common leverage ratio is around 1:10.

Upsides of Margin Trading

The biggest benefit of margin trading is that you can take advantage of the additional funds when the market moves in the direction you expected. The overall profit of the positions once the bitcoins are soled and the loan is repaid is significantly higher compared to an ordinary trade execution without leverage.

Downsides of Margin Trading

The disadvantage of this very powerful trading tool is by nature the amount of risk a margin account can hold. The higher amount of leverage you take the bigger amount of money you can lose in case the market moves in an unfavorable way. Due to the margin call, the margin account must be funded continuously that involves significant amount of liquidity.

It is only advisable to margin trade if you have enough experience already on the market. To mitigate the associated risk, many trading platforms only offer limited amount of leverage trading opportunities.