Looking to get your hands on some BTC? Want to invest your dollars in crypto via a trusted Australian exchange? Well, then you should go through this Bitaroo review. By the end of it, you’ll know if it’s the right platform for you or not.
Why Listen to Our Advice:
We’ve been helping crypto traders like yourself make the right decisions with their dollars when joining an exchange. We’ve got several guides and reviews regarding crypto trading and exchange, and that’s precisely why you should at least consider our advice.
Being in the crypto game for a good amount of time has helped us recognize which cryptocurrency exchange provides better features and offers to users and also where it lacks. This Bitaroo review is also about discussing its good and bad bits and helping you decide whether to go for it or not.
Basic Specifics:
- Name: Bitaroo
- Founded in: May 2020, in Brisbane, Australia
- Founder: Ethan Timor and Ran Oren
- Type: Online Cryptocurrency Exchange
- Fiat Currency: Australian Dollar
- Cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin Only
Introduction to Bitaroo:
It’s a relatively new crypto exchange in Australia, launched just a little back in May 2020 by Eithan Timor and Ran Oren. The platform was established with only one goal: being a Bitcoin-only exchange in Australia loaded with useful features and a simple and intuitive interface for traders.
They’re just a year old at the time of writing this review (May 2021), so there’s not much data about them on the internet. Still, with our experience in the crypto space and a bit of lurking on the Bitaroo platform, we’ve put together this Bitaroo review for you.
Signing Up for Bitaroo:
The good thing about signing up with Bitaroo is that it doesn’t require you to upload your selfie for verification purposes. The process is more straightforward. First of all, you can sign up easily by providing your email, username, and other information.
Then, you will have to verify yourself, and that’s done via Digital iD (a service provided by Australia Post). Here, you will have to enter your full name, address, date of birth, and ID number (from your driver’s license, passport, or any other ID document).
However, you will have to pay a $4.95 verification fee, which some other exchangers charge as well. You can pay this fee via PayPal, Bitcoin, and Bitcoin Lightning Network. You might think this fee is unjust but considering the hefty ‘miscellaneous fees’ other exchanges charge, $4.95 is like a drop in the ocean.
Keep in mind, if you decide to trade very large volumes of Bitcoin on Bitaroo, you’ll have to go through further verification processes like sending them a video of yourself. You can read more about it here.
Depositing Money on Bitaroo:
There are three ways to deposit funds on Bitaroo, and all of them are pretty straightforward. The first one is via PayID, which’s also the fastest, and you’ll get funds instantly in your Bitaroo account. The second one is Bank transfer which is the most widely available but can take 1-2 days.
The last one is the transfer of Bitcoin via Lightning or On-chain to the address provided by Bitaroo. Although Bitcoin transfer is free, for bank or PayiD, you may be charged a fee of $1.95, which is almost negligible.
Trading on Bitaroo:
After you’ve joined Bitaroo, completed your verification, and transferred some funds, you can start trading right away. The trading screen of Bitaroo is pretty straightforward and easy to understand. There’s a graph with a candlestick pattern set as default along with other tools. You can check out the trading page here.
One good thing about trading on Bitaroo is the range of order options than most of its competitors. Besides the usual Limit and Market, there’s Trailing Stop and Recurring Buy. Plus, you are also provided with more Time in Force options than usual. Here’s an explanation of these by Bitaroo itself.
The Good Bits of Bitaroo:
Low Fees:
Compared to the top exchanges in Australia like Independent Reserve, CoinJar, and CoinSpot, Bitaroo has a better fee structure. If you use it intelligently, you can further reduce the fees. Before we talk about what we mean by using intelligently, let’s discuss the types of trading fees Bitaroo has. They’ve got a Maker Fee and a Taker Fee. If you’ve read out the CoinJar review, you’ll know what these are.
But to give you an idea, if you buy on the bid price and sell on the asking price, you are the maker, and the opposite of this will be a taker. Bitaroo has different trading fee tiers, and depending on how big or small your trading volume is, you’ll fall under any one of them. The higher the trading volume is, the lower fees will be.
But besides this, the fee for Makers is always lower than Takers, which is also true in the case of Bitaroo. For instance, their maker fee for up to $10,000 trade volume in 30 days is 0.15%, but it’s 0.19% for takers. The fee is already impressively low, but we suggest buying on the bid and selling on ask to be the maker every time and enjoy a low maker fee.
Besides trading fees, their Bitcoin withdrawing fees are also lower than other exchanges. They only charge 0.00015BTC for Economy withdrawal (slowest), 0.00025 BTC for Standard (slow), and 0.00035 BTC for Priority (fast). And if you withdraw AUD, the fee is a mere $1.95 AUD.
Excellent Support:
Unlike many big exchanges that have hundreds of queries flooding in every day, slowing down their response times, Bitaroo is fast.
On most days, you can expect to get their response in just a few minutes. They are also polite and professional, which is a plus as well.
The Caveats of Bitaroo:
No Altcoins:
Unlike other exchanges that have hundreds of coins listed on their platforms, Bitaroo only has Bitcoin. So if you’re looking to trade in other cryptocurrencies, you should not join this platform.
Although we don’t really care about other coins as most of them are either scams or not backed by a solid technology/team, having Ethereum at least would’ve been great.
If you want to trade other cryptocurrencies, then you’ll be better off with Swyftx and Digital Surge, as they’re one of the best exchanges in Australia.
Low Trade Volume:
As a new player in the market, Bitaroo doesn’t have a very high volume of Bitcoin being traded over it. At the time of writing this guide, the 24-hour volume of BTC on Bitaroo is 27.6862 BTC, which is a lot less than its competitors like Independent Reserve or CoinJar.
However, this is still a significant amount that translates to $1972005.79 AUD. So if you are someone trading over a million Australian dollars worth of Bitcoins, then you may not find Bitaroo very lucrative, but for medium-sized trades under $1m AUD, Bitaroo is still a good choice.
Express Feature is a Rip Off:
When you join the Bitaroo platform, you’ll have an ‘Express’ feature allowing you to buy BTC quickly and easily without having to go through any complicated graphs or charts. However, this is a useless feature and highly expensive.
The price on Express is almost always higher than what BTC is being sold for on the Bitaroo exchange. Beginners might fall for the attraction of getting BTC in their wallets in a few seconds with Express trade, but that’s just going to cost them more.
Parting Words:
Bitaroo is a decent platform if you’re looking to trade BTC only. However, being a new player in the market, it’s still in the nascent stage, so the trade volume is lower than the competitors. But the low fees of the platform make it very lucrative.
So if you’re not going to be trading a million dollars worth of BTC, you can give Bitaroo a shot. Otherwise, try other platforms like CoinJar or Digital Surge.
