Last updated: 05th Feb 2026
Coinbase holds a lot of appeal for Australian crypto traders because it’s big and well-known. That conveys security and reliability.
The exchange launched in the US in 2012 and first started offering services to Australians in 2016, before establishing a local entity – Coinbase Australia – in 2021.
It has grown into the largest US digital exchange, the custodian of choice globally for spot bitcoin ETFs, and one of the world’s top exchanges based on trading volumes.
It’s definitely a convenient and capable platform. But there are obstacles to getting value from Coinbase that you need to understand before you sign up.
Best Features Of Coinbase.
- Excellent liquidity. You’re trading on a platform with huge trading activity and access to USD markets when you choose Coinbase. This means fast trades and tighter spreads.
- Robust security. It’s no fly-by-night operation. Coinbase has multiple layers of security designed to encrypt data, protect assets, and detect and fix vulnerabilities.
- Greater accountability. Because it’s a large, influential brand – and a publicly-listed company – there’s greater reassurance that Coinbase will be scrutinised publicly and held accountable for any major issues or breaches that happen.
- Powerful tools. Access Coinbase Advanced via a simple toggle. Get access to EMA, MA, MACD, RSI, Bollinger Bands, custom drawing tools and stop-limit orders.
- Low fees. But only on Coinbase Advanced, and mostly on limit orders when your trading volume is above $1,000 / month.
Downsides Of Coinbase.
- Standard fees are expensive. The default account type on Coinbase makes life simple for users, but it also takes advantage of their naivety with higher-than-average trading fees that are hard to predict in advance.
- Maker/taker fees available on Coinbase Advanced. While significantly cheaper, they are still more expensive than a number of comparable exchanges available to Aussies.
- Advanced trading functionality is less rich than some competitors, with fewer indicators. Combined with a reasonably limited number of assets available to trade, it can curtail the strategic approach of more experienced, high-volume traders.
Above: Standard desktop Coinbase. Simplicity is the name of the game here. Note the toggle to Advanced in the bottom left corner.
Coinbase At A Glance.
| Trading Fees To Watch Out For | A Coinbase basic account attracts both transaction fees and a spread – both of which are opaque. |
| Non-Trading Fees To Watch Out For | Fees may apply depending on payment methods used. |
| Available Crypto Markets | 200+ cryptocurrencies including BTC, USDT, USDC, ETH, SOL, ADA and yes, DOGE. |
| Available pairs | Fiat: USD. Wide range of crypto pairs including USDC. |
| Support | 24/7 live chat is available. While signed in, you can use the app to request a call to get phone-based support. |
| Trading Platforms. | Desktop and mobile app. |
Is Coinbase Good For Beginners?
Many people will try Coinbase first and stick around because they’re happy with the usability of its apps (and they can’t be bothered switching).
But a fast sign-up process and user-friendly apps are a low bar for a crypto exchange.
Let’s say your goal is to park some money in Bitcoin and a few other major alts and slowly grow your holdings over time, and sell for profit occasionally.
Above: Standard Coinbase on mobile. Big buttons and big fonts make it feel friendly and uncomplicated.
You don’t care to analyse charts, or fuss with special order types. You just want to hit ‘buy’ (or sell).
Standard Coinbase makes buying and selling crypto simple for beginners. But it’s not as good a value as exchanges like Kraken or Australian-based exchange CoinSpot.
A basic market order comes with transaction fees and spreads charged by Coinbase – which can be hard to determine accurately beforehand.
Whereas there are no spreads on Coinbase Advanced.
Instead, there’s a fixed, and more competitive, trading fee based on your order type and trading volumes.
The good news? You can trade using Coinbase Advanced for free and without truly needing advanced knowledge.
Important!
Coinbase Advanced has a lack of AUD pairs, so you can’t just trade using Australian dollars you’ve deposited into your Coinbase account. Converting your funds to the USDC stablecoin first is key, and you’ll pay a 0.5% spread on Coinbase to do so.
Once you’ve toggled your app to ‘Advanced’ mode, it doesn’t take much to get a handle on how to place a limit order.
| 30-Day Trading Volume | Maker (Limit Order) | Taker (Market Order) |
|---|---|---|
| $0 + | 0.60% | 1.20% |
| $1,000+ | 0.35% | 0.75% |
| $10,000 + | 0.25% | 0.40% |
| $50,000 + | 0.15% | 0.25% |
| $500,000 + | 0.10% | 0.20% |
Above: Coinbase Advanced rewards market makers with ~50% discount on fees.
Even if you never look at a single chart in the Advanced interface, you can slash your trading fees to at least 0.6%.
The key is to keep your trading volume above $1,000 / month and place Limit orders.
What Makes Coinbase Great For Beginners?
Quite a few things:
- Highly liquid platform. It’s consistently ranked in the top 1-2 spots for global crypto trading volumes, with access to USD markets. Swapping AUD for USDC attracts a 0.5% spread on Coinbase.
- Easy to use. Again, it’s true of most modern exchanges, but Coinbase reviewers often praise its clean interfaces. The web app is outstanding. The mobile app’s navigation is confusing at times, and you have to switch between basic and Advanced views to access some features.
- Prominent and trustworthy. It’s a public company and industry leader, so it’s incentivised to act compliantly and focus on safety for customers. It was the first exchange to be independently audited to attain well-regarded SOC 1 and SOC 2 reports.
- Seamless onboarding process. A lot of people on Reddit described it as “difficult” and “slow”, but my experience was the opposite. I was up and running in under 15 minutes.
Important!
I’m willing to bet that most online complaints about Coinbase’s signup process are from folks who, for one reason or another, were red-flagged as a KYC security risk.
What Makes Coinbase Less-Than-Ideal For Beginners?
One of the biggest complaints is that Coinbase’s support feels circuitous.
The internet is full of users complaining about being trapped in a loop of unhelpful responses and requests to re-explain.
When the chatbot couldn’t handle a complaint, it eventually (and somewhat reluctantly) redirected me to a person. While the human was competent and eager to help, I wouldn’t go so far as to say they were rockstars.
Just good enough. Certainly room for improvement.
But the biggest issue is the hefty spread you’ll pay on the standard Coinbase.
The official party line is that this fee is “volatility and volume sensitive”, and ranges between roughly 0.5% and 2%.
Well, it may seem insignificant when depositing small amounts. What’s a $1-4 haircut on a $200 deposit, anyway?
But it begins to look scary when larger numbers are at play.
Important!
Grow your portfolio to $100,000 and you suddenly have to come grips with the reality that you paid $500 and $2,000 for the privilege.
And you must pay this sum again to get your money out. That’s up to $4,000 on every $100,000 you invest.
Let me put it this way – if an Australian share trading platform charged a $4,000 commissions on the same sum, there’d be riots in the streets.
Above: Coinbase Advanced in all its glory. You get proper charting and a live Level 2 depth of market feed at your fingertips.
Is Coinbase Good For Experienced Traders?
Yes. An experienced, high-volume trader can thrive on Coinbase Advanced.
It strikes the perfect middle ground for a trader who wants a solid, secure platform with high-volume trading discounts, but is less concerned about having the most comprehensive, in-depth trading and analysis tools.
The major draws of Coinbase Advanced for traders who know what they’re doing is:
- Access to the order book and outstanding liquidity. Of course, Kraken Pro has a similar offering – with less liquidity but better trading fees.
- High-quality charting and technical indicators. Coinbase presents its dashboard and technical analysis tools for ease-of-use. You can also link your account to TradingView as of 2025.
- A less overwhelming interface than some other exchanges’ advanced trader platforms, particularly in comparison to Binance Pro. Its desktop app is a breeze to use.
The fixed maker-taker fee model in Coinbase Advanced clarifies what you’ll owe, which is essential for planning and evaluating your trading costs.
It also means you’ll pay less and less the more you trade. As low as 0.0% on some spot pairs.
But it doesn’t have everything an experienced trader might be looking for:
- The APY on staking is OK, but its range of assets available for staking is pretty limited.
- Only a handful of exchanges in Australia support crypto futures and perpetuals trading. Coinbase isn’t one of them.
- There are fewer digital assets to choose from on Coinbase (200+) compared to the range available on Kraken (600+) or CoinSpot (530+).
Not having as many coins isn’t necessarily a downside for beginners, as risky projects don’t often make sense as beginner investments.
But for experienced traders, Coinbase’s narrower number of assets could be limiting if your strategy hinges on volatile, smaller coins and tokens.
What you can achieve in the mobile app differs from what you can do via the desktop app. That’s not a huge problem, but it means you can’t do everything on-the-go.
Finally, Coinbase’s news and learning materials are too simplistic. They’re clearly aimed at engaging a beginner audience (such as its educational rewards program).
What Trading Fees, Spreads And Commissions Does Coinbase Charge?
Blockchain network fees will apply when you’re transferring coins. One bonus: USDC withdrawals are free across all supported networks (except Ethereum).
As I mentioned above, trading and transaction fees vary on a standard Coinbase account depending on what asset you’re trading:
- The spread charged on a trade varies but it’s usually around 0.5% – 2%.
- Combined with transaction fees, you could be losing up to 4.5% of a trade to fees.
You’ll be able to see an estimate before you hit ‘confirm’, but the final fee might be different. It’s not transparent, and it’s undeniably pricey.
Above: Coinbase Advanced on mobile. Just like the basic version, but with more features packed into each screen.
If you’re using Coinbase Advanced (the best option), the maker-taker fee model is much more straightforward and affordable.
At the highest tier (lowest trading volume) you’ll pay:
- A 0.60% taker fee, which applies to an instant market order.
- A 0.40% maker fee, which applies to limit orders.
Other processing fees to be aware of include:
- 0.2% of the amount of BTC transferred when you send Bitcoin via the Lightning Network.
- 0.01% of the amount transferred (max 20 USDT), plus a network transaction fee, for all USDT withdrawals.
- 0.10% USDC fee to any net conversion amount above US$5 million within a 30-day rolling period.
What Are The Staking Fees Like?
You’ll pay a 35% commission on rewards for staking ADA, ATOM, AVAX, DOT, ETH, MATIC, SOL, and XTZ.
The commission taken reduces in size if you’re a Coinbase One member, with the lowest commission for people on the highest tier of membership (25.25% on Premium).
If you unstake before the agreed period, you’ll be charged a 1% fee on the total unstaked amount of an asset. There’s no cost if you unstable after the full unbending period.
Why Coinbase Freezes Some AUD Withdrawals.
You can add funds to your Coinbase account at no cost through a bank transfer, using PayID or a debit card.
With Australian banks’ aversion to crypto, there’s often a delay before your funds are cleared.
Don’t panic! You may need to ring your bank to get things moving.
As of June 2025 you can also link your PayPal account as a payment method for in-app trading.
Important!
Transferring crypto into Coinbase from a hot wallet or other accounts is relatively straightforward — as long as you’re clear about which tokens are supported. And for goodness’ sake, triple-check you’ve got the addresses correct.
If you sell coins for Australian dollars because you need the cash, it’s free to withdraw your AUD back into your linked bank account.
And if your bank supports Osko or PayID it’s likely your Coinbase withdrawal will be processed almost instantly.
Platforms like Kraken and Swyftx also offer fee-free withdrawals that are near-instant if Osko is available.
Where fast payments aren’t possible, withdrawals can take a few days to be processed.
Your withdrawal limit may differ, but information on Coinbase’s website suggests a daily limit of $100,000 is standard, which is similar to other exchanges.
Is Coinbase A Legitimate Trading Platform?
As much as any crypto trading platform can be considered legitimate, Coinbase ticks the boxes.
It’s a massive US-based company, one of the world’s biggest digital exchanges in terms of trading volume, and it operates legally in Australia.
Important!
Behind-the-scenes governance and risk management is hard to gauge. As a publicly-listed company (NASDAQ: COIN), Coinbase has to report publicly on how it runs its business and manages its finances. That offers more transparency than is available for exchanges operating as private companies.
Coinbase has been registered with Australian regulator AUSTRAC since 2022, showing the company is doing what’s required to mitigate risks associated with money laundering, terrorism financing and other serious crime.
That includes the Know Your Customer (KYC) verification steps that so many disgruntled Coinbase users moan about.
Did You Know?
AUSTRAC can, and does refuse or cancel the registration of digital exchanges who can’t meet their obligations under the law. Five platforms had their registration cancelled in 2025.
Digital asset regulation is still in its early stages in Australia, but following guidance from ASIC (Australian Securities and Investments Commission) and proposed changes to the Corporations Act, platforms like Coinbase will need to obtain a financial services licence by mid-2026.
Coinbase is seemingly well-positioned to meet this regulatory obligation and remain stable in future.
It has the resources and profitability to manage compliance costs and custody requirements.
The exchange has incurred fines and paid hefty out of court settlements for non-compliance with regulations in the US and the Netherlands.
It had also been facing enforcement action by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for operating an unregistered exchange.
Did You Know?
This case sparked passionate industry debate over whether cryptocurrencies could, or should, be classified as ‘securities’.
The SEC lawsuit was dropped in early 2025, largely on the back of the crypto-friendly agenda (and staff changes at the SEC) set by incoming president Donald Trump.
Coinbase described the turnaround as a clear vindication that it was “right on the facts and the law”.
Is Your Money Safe With Coinbase?
Coinbase has systems in place to keep your money safe, but the problem for any large platform (and its users) is that they’re also large targets for cyber criminals.
Here are some facts to know about how safe it is to use Coinbase:
- Coinbase’s Australian business is covered by Coinbase Global’s crime insurance that covers “a portion” of the digital currencies it holds against losses from cybercrime.
- If you click on a phishing email (or other scam tactic) and hand over your Coinbase account login to a scammer, which results in losses, you’re on your own.
Coinbase boasts “industry-leading security.”
It applies security protocols that are roughly on par with measures across other leading exchanges, such as:
- Two-step verification upon logging in, which is mandatory (2FA is optional on Swyftx and Coinspot) and Coinbase also supports allowlisting.
- Encryption of sensitive data and scanning the dark web for potential Coinbase credential compromises.
- An active bug bounty program, where Coinbase offers rewards for users that identify security vulnerabilities.
But it has far from a perfect track record. Unlike exchanges like Kraken or Swyftx, which have yet to experience hacks that affected users’ data or funds, Coinbase users have had their money and data stolen.
Did You know?
Over 6,000 Coinbase users had to be reimbursed in 2021 when data and funds were taken after hackers exploited a flaw in its SMS-based two-factor authentication system.
And just last year, company insiders were implicated in a data breach that was used to demand a US$20 million ransom from Coinbase, which its CEO Brian Armstrong refused to pay.
Less than 1% of users were impacted, but the hackers tricked a number of people into transferring funds.
Important!
Keeping large amounts of coins/cash in your Coinbase account isn’t as safe as money in the bank. Crypto exchange accounts don’t receive protections offered under the Australian Financial Claims Scheme, which is a government-backed safety net for amounts up to $250k held in an eligible bank account.
What Are The Most Popular Alternatives To Coinbase?
Aside from Coinbase, some of the most common exchanges that Aussies sign-up with include:
- Kraken
- Binance
- Swyftx
- CoinSpot
- Crypto.com
Frequently Asked Questions About Coinbase Australia.
Do You Own Your Crypto Held In A Hosted Coinbase Wallet?
The short answer is yes, any coins you deposit, buy or keep in your Coinbase account (aka a hosted wallet) belong to you.
But you’ve probably heard the warning “not your keys, not your crypto”.
Crypto natives are right when they argue that holding assets on an exchange limits the control you have over your assets, which could pose a threat if the Coinbase platform is compromised or the company folds.
That means if you buy 1 BTC, the exchange holds 1 BTC in its reserves so it’s always available to you.
Customer funds and assets are kept separate from the company’s assets, and Coinbase pledges to never repurpose, lend or take any unapproved action with your assets.
Can You Withdraw Your Crypto As AUD On Coinbase?
Yes, you can easily sell a crypto for its equivalent value in Australian dollars, which then becomes part of your cash balance in your Coinbase account.
To cash out some, or all, of your available balance you simply follow the steps under ‘Withdraw Cash’ from the account home page.
Make sure you’ve selected AUD and the right destination (e.g., your bank account) before you proceed.
Keep in mind that funds recently deposited are usually put ‘on hold’ for a while, so they won’t be able to be immediately withdrawn again.
Is My Coinbase Account Monitored By The ATO For Tax?
Part and parcel of choosing an established and reputable exchange like Coinbase, which is registered with Australian regulator AUSTRAC (the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre), is that information about your crypto activity is shared with the Australian Tax Office (ATO).
The ATO can link data provided by exchanges like Coinbase with records like your bank data to understand your crypto tax obligations.
Is Coinbase Worth Using In Australia?
While Coinbase takes advantage of a new user’s naivety with its high fees on the default account, there are definite upsides to opting for an industry behemoth as your regular exchange.
Truly impressive liquidity is a win, and the fees are reasonable as long as you use Coinbase Advanced and you’re trading regularly.
But if you’re learning quickly, and steadily growing your trading frequency and volume, growing with Coinbase Advanced’s usability and features on your side is a smart move.
Jody
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