CryptoAltum

CryptoAltum Review

Pros

• No withdraw or deposit fees
• Bonus on every deposit
• Leveraged trading

Cons

• Not available in the US
• No fiat support

About CryptoAltum 

CryptoAltum is an MT5 broker with a focus on crypto trading. Additionally, it also offers trading in FX, Gold and Indices. The exchange is operational from 2020 and is registered in the Marshall Islands. Its trading servers are located in London, Germany, Japan and Singapore.

MT5 stands for MetaTrader 5. It is a trading platform that allows its users to see charts, view live price changes, and access a variety of markets The trading robots a.k.a. Expert Advisors are a big feature of MT5. 

Deposit Bonus at CryptoAltum

CryptoAltum gives an amazing 25% bonus on every deposit you make into the MT5 trading platform. This money is 100% tradeable, so you can use it to maintain your positions during market drawdowns. It also does not imply any restrictions on your deposit! 

CryptoAltum does not have a large variety of promotions and staking opportunities, but this one promotion is quite a nice one! 

Trading Features

This is a purely CFD (Contracts for Differences) trading platform. Since it uses an STP (Straight Through Processing) model for executing trades, there is no intervention from the trading desk. Users can place trade orders and generate profits solely from the price fluctuations of a cryptocurrency. In other words, physical custody of crypto is not exchanged.

• Crypto trading is active 24/7 on this platform whereas other assets like Oil and Gold can be traded between Monday to Friday. 
• It has a ‘Fill or Kill’ feature. This means that trade lots will either be filled entirely or will be killed i.e. the execution rate on this platform is 100%. 
• The exchange platform uses a dynamic leverage function. You can find more details in the leveraged trading section below.

Leveraged Trading

Leveraged trading means that you can receive a higher exposure towards a certain crypto’s price increase or decrease, without having the assets necessary. You do this by “leveraging” your trade, which in simple terms means that you borrow from the exchange to bet more.

For instance, let’s say that you have 10,000 USD on your trading account and bet 100 USD on BTC going long (i.e., increasing in value). You do so with 100x leverage. If BTC then increases in value by 10%, if you had only bet 100 USD, you would have earned 10 USD if you simply held Bitcoin. Now, as you bet 100 USD with 100x leverage, you have instead earned an additional 1,000 USD (990 USD more than if you had not leveraged your deal). On the other hand, if BTC decreases in value by 10%, you have lost 1,000 USD (990 USD more than if you had not leveraged your deal). So, as you might imagine, there is potential for a huge upside but also for a huge downside…

CryptoAltum claims to offer the highest leverage on its platform. As a user’s trading volume increases, the leverage ratio decreases. The maximum leverage is up to 1:500 and the minimum is up to 1:20. Here’s an image that shows the different leverage ratios for different tiers of trading volume.

Trading Fees

CryptoAltum does not charge any taker fees or maker fees on its platform, as most centralized cryptocurrency exchanges do. Instead, the platform levies a ‘Spread fee’.

Crypto Spread at CryptoAltum

Let’s start with explaining what a “spread” is. Spreads are the main fee of any CFD Trading Platform. In essence, it can be compared to taker and maker fees at centralized crypto exchanges. It is the mark-up or mark-down charged by the platform when you purchase a certain crypto or crypto CFD. So if the price of the relevant crypto is USD 100, and the spread is 1%, the buyer can buy the crypto or crypto CFD on the trading platform for USD 101 (or sell it for USD 99). The difference between the sell price and the purchase price (USD 1 in this case), goes to the trading platform.

We have asked for more information about the spreads charged by CryptoAltum and we are currently waiting for a response from them.

Deposit and Withdrawal Fees

Another area where many exchanges hit you with a fee is when you withdraw, but once again CryptoAltum does great here. They do not charge any commission for depositing nor for withdrawing.

Accordingly, the only fee you have to think about when withdrawing are the network fees. The network fees are fees paid to the miners of the relevant crypto/blockchain and not fees paid to the exchange itself. Network fees vary from day to day depending on the network pressure. In general though, only paying the network fees should be considered as below the global industry average when it comes to fee levels for crypto withdrawals. 

Tokens Available

CryptoAltum supports over sixty trading pairs. This is a moderate number. Many exchanges only have twenty or so, while others have around 200. Something important to keep in mind here as well is that they do not support fiats. However, you can trade in gold and silver.

Because this is a CFD trading platform, you will not actually own any of these assets, but rather contracts on their price changes. This derivative trading is the latest trend in financial markets over recent years.  

Who Can Sign Up at CryptoAltum?

CryptoAltum does not allow US investors on its exchange.

Why do so many exchanges not allow US citizens to open accounts with them? The answer has only three letters. S, E and C (the Securities Exchange Commission). The reason the SEC is so scary is because the US does not allow foreign companies to solicit US investors unless those foreign companies are also registered in the US (with the SEC). If foreign companies solicit US investors anyway, the SEC can sue them. There are many examples of when the SEC has sued crypto exchanges, one of which being when they sued EtherDelta for operating an unregistered exchange. Another example was when they sued Bitfinex and claimed that the stablecoin Tether (USDT) was misleading investors. It is very likely that more cases will follow.

Deposit Methods

The deposit methods at CryptoAltum are a bit limited. it is a secondary exchange, meaning that you must deposit cryptocurrencies. They do not support fiat currency deposits, such as from Euros or US Dollars. 

You can use our Exchange selector to find ones that do accept bank transfers or debit card deposits. 

Highly Secure Wallet

User funds are held in cold storage across four different locations to ensure heightened security. The company’s internal policies dictate that e-wallets are Multisig (wallets that need multiple signatures to gain access).

Required Documentation

CryptoAltum does not require any identification in order to open an account. They only request an email, country of residence, and your name. In fact, they do not even require ID verification for you to withdraw funds from your account. 

The CryptoAltum App

Users can access the trading portal from multiple platforms like mobile, tablet, desktop and browser interfaces. However, there is no CryptoAltum app at this point in time. You can visit the site on your mobile device, and it will automatically adjust. 

Who is CryptoAltum For?

CryptoAltum is for investors outside of the US who are exclusively interested in advanced trading options, such as leveraged trading and CFDs. This is not a place for the casual or new crypto investors.