Coinbase is one of the easiest ways to buy, sell, and hold cryptocurrencies. With Coinbase, you can connect a U.S. bank account and easily transfer dollars in or out of your Coinbase investing and trading account. You can also use a standalone Coinbase Wallet for mobile.
This digital exchange and online cryptocurrency wallet provider is great for people new to Bitcoin. It makes buying and selling very similar to buying and selling stock through your brokerage account.
Coinbase trading accounts can hold at least 46 different tradable cryptocurrencies, including U.S. dollars and the Coinbase USD Coin, which is pegged to the dollar. Some coins can even earn interest.
Another great feature is Coinbase Earn, which gives you free cryptocurrencies in exchange for watching videos and taking quizzes.
Coinbase Pro is an active trading platform with its own high-end interface, application programming interface (API) support, and fee structure.
If you use Coinbase, watch out for high fees and costs. There are flat transaction fees, plus a spread Coinbase charges when converting between currencies. Those can add up quickly.
Also, while they are definitely not a common occurrence, Coinbase has experienced outages in the past that left users unable to buy or sell.
