Exchange review · centralised · 3 min read · numbers checked 23 Sept 2026

Holds your coins

Binance review

Low spot fees, a free demo and every product — but gone from the EU since July 2026.

By Learn Then Trade · Editorial standards

Our score

70/100

Commission is not an input

Spot fee: 0.1% / 0.1%
Futures fee: 0.02% / 0.05%
Demo: Spot + futures
$1,000 round trip: $2.00

Entry tier, maker / taker, from Binance’s own fee pages.

Quick answer. The biggest venue, with low published spot fees (0.10% each side, 0.075% paying in BNB), a free spot-and-futures demo and every product you could want. Weigh three things first: a new operator — three Abu Dhabi companies licensed by ADGM since January 2026 — a 2023 US guilty plea that cost about US$4.3 billion, and its exit from the EU before July 2026. Not available in the US, Canada or the EU.

Pick it if

You mostly trade spot on the big coins and want one account that has everything, at low published fees.

Skip it if

Anyone in the US, Canada or the EU — Binance does not take you as a new customer

Where it costs you

Futures and leverage sit one tap from the spot screen, and its licences have moved twice in three years.

Our score is 70/100 from six published criteria — but read the weakness first. It is what you would want a friend to tell you.

Affiliate disclosure. The button on this page is a referral link: if you open an account through it, Binance pays us a share of its fees at no cost to you. It does not change a word above or below — if a venue stops being worth recommending, it comes off the site rather than getting a softer paragraph. Full policy.

In this review

Who you are actually dealing with
What it costs
What can go wrong
Who can use it, and who can't
Tools for learning

Who you are actually dealing with

Since 5 January 2026 the global site has been operated by three companies in Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM): Nest Exchange Ltd, Nest Clearing and Custody Ltd and Nest Trading Ltd. They are regulated by ADGM's Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA). We found Nest Trading Ltd on ADGM's own public register (FSP 260000, authorised 5 January 2026). The register also records that this entity is not permitted to hold client money. Custody sits with the clearing and custody company, so read which company holds your assets before you deposit.

The history matters too. In November 2023 Binance pleaded guilty in the United States to federal charges, including operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business and sanctions violations. The resolution came to about US$4.3 billion. Its founder pleaded guilty at the same time and received a US presidential pardon in October 2025. None of this stops the platform from working day to day. It does tell you that "large" and "licensed everywhere" are not the same thing.

In the EU, Binance told customers in late June 2026 that it would stop providing services and stop taking new sign-ups before the MiCA deadline of 1 July 2026, having failed to get a MiCA licence. It says it still plans to apply. Until it has one, this site shows EU and EEA readers no link.

In the UK, Binance is not banned but it is limited. Some products are reserved for UK professional clients, and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) says no Binance entity holds UK authorisation. Links from this site are switched off for UK readers in any case.

What it costs

Product	Maker	Taker	Note
Spot (entry tier)	0.100%	0.100%	25% off if you pay fees in BNB (0.075%)
USDⓈ-M futures (entry tier)	0.02%	0.05%	10% off with BNB. Binance's own help example: the full table sits behind a login

A round trip on spot (buy then sell) costs about 0.2% before spread, or 0.15% if you pay in BNB. Holding BNB to get the discount means holding a second volatile asset. That is a choice, not a free saving.

What a $1,000 round trip costs in fees

Buy then sell $1,000 of crypto with market orders · entry-tier spot taker fee, both sides · spread not included

Binance is among the cheapest here: $2.00 in fees on a $1,000 round trip, against $16.00 at Kraken.

Drawn to scale from each exchange’s published fee schedule, checked 23 September 2026. Limit orders usually pay the lower maker fee.

What can go wrong

Custody. Binance publishes a proof of reserves that you can check for your own account. It uses a Merkle tree and zk-SNARK proofs. The live page names no auditor and does not say how often it is updated. A proof of reserves shows assets at a moment in time. It does not show every liability.
The protection fund is discretionary. The SAFU fund was about US$1 billion in February 2026. Binance's own wording says it "retains full discretion" over which losses and claims are eligible. Treat it as a goodwill fund, not insurance.
History. In 2019 hackers took 7,000 BTC from a hot wallet, and SAFU covered users in full. That is a good outcome. It also shows that hot wallets get hit.
Your own account is the likelier weak point. Switch on a passkey or authenticator app, set an anti-phishing code, and turn on the withdrawal whitelist before you deposit anything you care about.

Who can use it, and who can't

Binance's prohibited-countries list (updated 5 January 2026) excludes the United States, where citizenship alone disqualifies you. It also excludes Canada, the Netherlands, Cuba, North Korea and Iran, plus Crimea and the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Since the end of June 2026 it has also stopped serving the European Union. If you live in one of these, this site will not show you a link. Please do not look for a workaround: breaching a venue's terms is how accounts get frozen with money inside.

If you have read the above

Open the account, finish identity checks the same day, switch on a passkey or authenticator app before the first deposit — and spend your first week in the demo, then start with an amount you can afford to lose entirely.

Checking whether Binance is offered where you are…

Education only. Most retail traders lose money.

Tools for learning

Binance has a free demo trading mode at demo.binance.com that covers spot and both kinds of futures with play money. It needs a Binance account but no identity check, and Binance says it is only offered in some countries. Spend your first week there: place a limit order, a stop and a small leveraged position, and watch how each one fills.

Binance Academy is broad and competent. It is also Binance's own marketing channel, and its "Learn & Earn" rewards exist to bring in customers.

How do you set up Binance safely?

An account is only as safe as its first ten minutes. In order:

Turn on a passkey or an authenticator app — not SMS. See security basics.
Set an anti-phishing code and a withdrawal allowlist before you deposit anything.
Place your first orders in the demo: a limit order, a stop, and one small position you watch fill.
Decide how much to leave on the exchange like you would size a position — read position sizing and custody and exchange risk.

How does Binance compare?

Same checks, same date, side by side:

All of them in one table →

How we scored it: 70/100

Six criteria, 0–5 each, scored only from what the exchange and its regulators publish. Commission is not one of them. How we review

Fee transparency4/5
Spot table public and clear; the full futures table needs a login.
Security practices4/5
Self-checkable proof of reserves and strong account controls; no named auditor or stated cadence.
Regulation and disclosure3/5
New ADGM licence, confirmed on the register — weighed against the 2023 US plea and no UK authorisation.
Education4/5
Binance Academy is broad and accurate, but it is the exchange’s own marketing.
Usable by a learner4/5
A free demo for spot and futures with no ID check — but the riskiest products sit one tap from the spot screen.
Support2/5
24/7 chat with no stated response time.

Who you are actually dealing with

What it costs

What can go wrong

Who can use it, and who can't

Open an account

Tools for learning

How do you set up Binance safely?

How does Binance compare?

How we scored it: 70/100

Sources, checked 23 Sept 2026