How To Short Sell Altcoins

This article is a guide on how to short sell altcoins and also gives you a review of the best exchanges to short crypto and altcoins where you can go against the general crowd and profit from a declining market.

I’ve included some of the most important exchange features like the number of supported altcoins, deposit methods, trading fees, and leverage.

In the list below of the best places to short altcoins, we have decided to include both regulated platforms that allow for short-selling of cryptocurrencies.

Remember that for an exchange to be able to offer short-selling they need to be working with a margin-based trading structure. We have included the most trustworthy and reputable platforms on the market.

Some of them are regulated which is always a huge plus but the others that don’t have a government regulation have a proven track record for being safe and trusted.

How short-selling Altcoins work

1. Pick an exchange that includes your favorite altcoin in the list below.
2. Create an account.
3. In the main menu, locate the margin or futures trading platform.
4. Now, select the coin you want to short sell.
5. Choose the amount you want to short sell.
6. Click SELL or SHORT to initiate the position.

When choosing your favorite crypto day trading platform to short-sell coins, make sure you take your time to know the layout before you start.

Also, if you decide to short altcoins with leverage, start small.

Check the table below to see a summary of the altcoin exchanges or read the full review below for more information on how to short cryptocurrency.

Keep in mind to always use a stop-loss order even if you don’t use leverage when shorting.

Best Platforms For Short Selling Altcoins

Short Altcoins on Binance?

Can you short on Binance?

Yes, you can short sell on Binance.

You will have 184 different cryptocurrencies to choose from on Binance but you will only be able to short 24 of them.

These altcoins are available for margin trading:

• ADA
• ATOM
• BAT
• BCH
• BNB
• EOS
• ETC
• ETH
• IOST
• IOTA
• LINK
• LTC
• MATIC
• NEO
• ONT
• QTUM
• RVN
• TRX
• VET
• XLM
• XMR
• XRP
• XTZ
• ZEC

Once you choose your margin wallet you will be able to go short.

To know which altcoins you can short, click your markets on top of your trading interface.

All cryptocurrencies with the symbol x5 are available.

You will find your margin wallet in your order selection box.

Binance payment methods

• Credit cards
• Crypto

I’ve tried both deposit methods and I must say that both are very easy to use. It only depends on what you prefer.

Remember one thing.

You can only deposit funds to your spot wallet.

Before you start trading on Binance you have to transfer funds within the exchange from your normal wallet to your margin wallet.

Open your margin wallet and start transferring funds between the wallets.

The margin fund transfer looks like this.

Simply choose your altcoin, choose an amount and click confirm on transfer.

In my opinion, Binance has made it very easy to start trading using your margin wallet and I recommend trying it.

When you are looking for an exchange for short altcoins, user-friendliness is very important for you to manage your trading in the best way.

Fees on Binance

Binance is very competitive when it comes to fees and that is one reason why I chose Binance in this review.

Binance fee = 0.10%

This is extremely low and a huge advantage for active altcoin day traders.

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Remember that you can trade with Binance coin (BNB) as well and this will lower your trading fees by 25%.

The trading fee goes down to 0.075% while shorting cryptocurrency with BNB.

Here is a fee table for BNB.

This is another very good reason to short-sell on Binance.

This can save you a lot of trading capital if you choose to trade on Binance.

For very active altcoin day traders it’s essential to find as low trading fees as possible.

Binance Rating

Binance’s overall rating has to be 5/5 thanks to its awesome trading fees and the huge variety of cryptocurrencies available to short.

Not many altcoin exchanges will have this variety so I’m very happy with that.

I also really like the trading interfaces on Binance because you can choose from two different, classic and advanced.

The Advanced interface has more indicators and is more focused on experienced altcoin traders.

Related: Binance review

Short-sell Altcoins on BitMex

Altcoins available to short on Bitmex

You can short 7 altcoins on Bitmex.

Here is a list of altcoins available:

• Cardano
• Bitcoin Cash
• EOS
• Ethereum
• Litecoin
• Tron
• Ripple

It’s very easy to access and switch between altcoins on Bitmex.

Just navigate to the bar that’s located above your trading interface.

Once you click on another altcoin your screen will change but all your settings will stay the same and you are good to go.

In my opinion, having fewer altcoins to short is sometimes easier.

Since these are some of the more heavily traded cryptocurrencies I’m sure you won’t lose out on any action by following these coins.

Bitmex payments

Here, you can only deposit Bitcoins.

It is very easy to deposit and it’s never bothered me to deposit Bitcoins to trade.

Click on the Account button at the top of the screen.

This will take you to your account page and here you click Deposit and copy your Bitmex address.

The deposit will not take longer than it takes for the Bitcoin miners to mine one block of bitcoin, so you won’t have to wait that long.

When you short-sell on Bitmex you will use your Bitcoins as contracts against the altcoin.

It’s a little bit different but it works the same way as if you would short using USD or any other currency.

Fees on Bitmex

Bitmex is also very competitive with its trading fees and it’s a good choice for active altcoin traders.

The basic trading fee is 0.25%.

This goes for all market takers, here is a fee table to illustrate.

There is nothing special about the term taker, it’s just the opposite of a market maker.

If you are trading using market orders you are a market taker and therefore you should follow the taker fee in the table.

If you, however, are using limit orders, you are putting them into the order book, then you are a market maker.

Bitmex Rating

I highly recommend shorting altcoins on Bitmex thanks to their user-friendly trading interface and extremely low trading fees.

I will for sure keep trading on Bitmex and can’t say anything negative.

Another huge plus with BitMEX is that you can get up to 50x leverage on some of the cryptocurrencies, which gives you a little extra push.

Short-sell Altcoins on ByBit

Altcoins available to short on Bybit

On Bybit you can short three altcoins.

• ETH
• EOS
• XRP

Bybit has been updating its list of cryptocurrencies lately and I’m sure they will add more altcoins to the shortlist as well very soon.

They have over 150+ cryptocurrencies trading on the exchange at the moment and I’m looking forward to seeing more shortable altcoins on this list.

To short these altcoins, you need to access the Inverse Perpetual trading contract.

From here it’s easy to navigate and change altcoins as you like it.

The trading interface on Bybit is very good and easy to use.

That’s one of the reasons I like to trade on this exchange and I’m sure you will like it too.

Deposit methods on Bybit

On Bybit you can deposit with Cryptocurrency and it’s very easy.

To deposit to your account, simply click on your account tab.

Here is a screenshot of the assets page.

When you have chosen altcoin, click the deposit and a new window will pop up with your altcoin address.

Copy the address or scan the QR code.

The deposit only takes as long as it takes for miners to mine one block.

In other words, it’s pretty fast.

When the funds arrive you are ready to short altcoins.

Fees on Bybit

Market taker fee is 0.075%.

That’s insanely good.

This is why traders love to sell short on Bybit.

The trading fees never eat your account capital and you can keep trading without worrying about fees.

ByBit Rating

Even though Bybit doesn’t have the longest list of altcoins at the moment, they truly deserve 5 stars.

Their trading interface is very good and their trading fees are some of the lowest I have seen so far.

To transfer funds and start trading in Bybit is also very easy and that’s something I look for before I start trading on a new exchange.

Related: Bybit review.

Can you short Altcoins?

Yes, it’s possible to short-sell Altcoins.

Many traders are struggling to find the best place to short altcoins after a good bull run.

It’s very tempting to try to short the top when the market has peaked for a few weeks or days.

Short selling can be very profitable but also very risky, you should be aware of the risk before you try it out.

This article is showcasing the top 3 best crypto exchanges where you can short altcoins.

Don’t jump the gun as soon as you have registered, make sure you have stopped a very good setup before you enter the market.

Reckless trading can cause more harm than good, trust me on that.

So, let’s check out where you can short your favorite cryptocurrency.

Where to short Altcoins

This review will cover three of the best exchanges where you can sell short.

• Binance
• Bitmex
• Bybit

I’ve chosen these altcoin exchanges due to:

• User-friendly trading interfaces
• Variety of cryptocurrencies to short
• Deposit methods
• Fees

There are a couple of things that you need to keep in mind before you start trading and I’ve covered the most important topics in this review.

Remember that before you start going against the market, you need to buy crypto with a credit card on the exchange or transfer your coins there.

This should make the choice easier for you and help out in your search for the right exchange.

The platforms in this article also have crypto trading apps where you can short cryptocurrency on the go.

How to short altcoins in the USA

It’s not different to short altcoins in the USA than to trade them on the long side.

Most exchanges will first tell you to create a margin account or send funds to a special wallet before trading and then you are good to go.

The crypto exchanges from the USA make it easy to short altcoins with US dollars.

In my opinion, it’s very important to find the right exchange before you start trading.

Some traders prefer to have more cryptocurrencies and a wider selection to choose from and some traders focus more on the trading interface and trading fees.

Whatever your preference I’m sure you will find what you are looking for in this article.

Conclusion

In this article, you will find the three best altcoin exchanges to short altcoins.

If you only want to see their stats, check out the table at the top. If you want more in-depth information about each exchange I recommend that you read the whole article.

All three of these exchanges are very good at what they do. Your job is to find which one you like the most.