What Is GDAX? What Is Coinbase? Your Questions, Answered
When you want to trade cryptocurrency, you have to research different trading platforms. You need to find a platform that offers the features you need and is secure.
There are two that are certain to enter the conversation: Coinbase and GDAX. These are among the most trusted platforms that traders of all levels turn to.
What is GDAX and how does it compare to Coinbase? Read on to find out.
What’s Coinbase About?
Are you ready for a surprise? GDAX and Coinbase are owned by the same outfit. Here’s the story behind how that happened.
Coinbase started in 2012 to make it easy for beginner traders to start trading Bitcoin. It got a lot of attention as interest in Bitcoin increased. The company got a lot of big investments early on as investors were trying to get on the ground floor of the next big thing.
Coinbase later became the first exchange licensed to trade Bitcoin in the United States. This was a big deal. Professional investors became more interested in trading cryptocurrency and were using the Coinbase platform to do it.
What is GDAX?
What is GDAX and where does it fit into this story? Well, once the Coinbase platform grew to meet the needs of professional traders, they got away from their core mission.
That mission was to make it easier for everyday consumers to trade Bitcoin. What they decided to do was to give their powerful platforms for institutional investors a new name: The Global Digital Asset Exchange, or GDAX for short.
What Happened to Coinbase?
The rebranding of GDAX didn’t mean that the Coinbase brand went away entirely. The company wanted to find a way to become the go-to trading platform for all Bitcoin users around the world.
The company shifted and it now has several different products to meet the needs of different types of investors.
Coinbase is the exchange that allows the company to fulfill its mission to make trading cryptocurrency easy for everyone. It’s targeted to consumers or beginning traders.
GDAX still exists, but it’s now called Coinbase Pro. This platform is for experienced and professional traders. Many traders still refer to this as GDAX or will use GDAX and Coinbase Pro interchangeably. They mean the same thing.
Coinbase vs. Coinbase Pro
You still may not be sure which platform is right for you. Coinbase offers very basic features and only gives users access to trade some cryptocurrencies. This platform also focuses on educating traders about cryptocurrencies.
Think of it as the place to send your mother or grandmother if they wanted to get started trading cryptocurrencies. You can learn some cryptocurrency vocabulary, for example.
Coinbase Pro is much more sophisticated. It’s for experienced individual traders who need more information and features to trade.
What if you’re an institutional investor? You’ll need to get Coinbase Prime.
Trading Cryptocurrencies with GDAX
What is GDAX? The short answer is that it gives experienced and professional traders a powerful platform to trade a broad range of cryptocurrencies. It also gives you more charts and features to give you greater control of your portfolio.
Do you want more cryptocurrency tips? Check out this article about using a brokerage during a bear market.
