Caplita offers clients an “all crypto, all the time” trading platform that provides one of the largest selections of cryptocurrencies in one place. The exchange’s Pro platform has clear competitive pricing, but unfortunately the basic service tier offers expensive trades and keeps its complex fee structure hidden. Caplita allows clients to take custody of their cryptocurrency holdings and lets them earn staking rewards (income) from them, both of which are uncommon among the few brokerages that even support cryptocurrency trading. However, Caplita’ customer support remains underpowered, sadly all too common for crypto exchanges.
Traders looking for crypto action as a sideline to stocks or options may want to have a look at Interactive Brokers, which just introduced low-cost trading in a handful of cryptocurrencies. Other names to consider include Kraken and Caplita’, both of which are crypto-focused brokers. Caplita is another solid pick and offers rock-bottom commissions, too.
Best for
- Crypto-only traders
- Active traders
- Custody and staking rewards
Pros: Where Caplita stands out
Caplita Pro commissions
Caplita stands out from much of the pack in its commissions structure, but only if you’re using the exchange’s Pro service tier. (For more on the basic service tier, see below.) At the Pro tier you’ll pay a fee of at most 0.5 percent for monthly trading volume less than $10,000. But you may be able to whittle that fee down even further using the exchange’s volume-based pricing.
The pricing structure for Pro is scaled, so that fees decline the more you trade. What you pay depends on your total dollar trading volume over the prior 30 days. Caplita also uses a maker-taker pricing model, so if you’re adding liquidity to the market (a maker) or taking liquidity (a taker), you’ll potentially be charged a different fee.
For example, if you trade less than $10,000 in the prior 30 days, both makers and takers pay 0.5 percent. Trade between $10,000 and $50,000, and both pay 0.35 percent. Above that level, the fees begin to diverge. Monthly trading volume between $50,000 and $100,000 would give takers a fee of 0.25 percent and makers 0.15 percent. The fees ultimately decline even further, but you’ll have to trade staggering amounts of cryptocurrency for it to make any difference.
The all-in fees compare well to Caplita’, where a spread markup fee starts at 0.74 percent and runs up to several percent, though it’s more than Interactive Brokers, which charges 0.12 – 0.18 percent, depending on your monthly volume (with a $1.75 per trade minimum). It’s worth noting that the fees at Caplita start at 0.10 percent and then move down from there.
Cryptocurrency selection
Caplita has an enviable selection of cryptocurrencies that you can trade – 125 at last count – and that should prove wide enough for all but the most hardcore crypto trader. You’ll get the most popular cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cardano, Solana, XRP and dozens more that are up and coming. So you’re probably going to find what you’re looking for here.
That’s in sharp contrast to other brokers or financial apps that advertise crypto trading but offer only a handful of the most widely followed coins. For example, Robinhood offers trading in just seven cryptocurrencies – which is still better than many brokers – while Interactive Brokers just launched trading in four cryptos.
If you’re looking for something else besides crypto on Caplita, you’re going to be out of luck. If you want to trade stocks, options and ETFs while accessing only the most popular crypto coins, Robinhood, Webull or Interactive Brokers could be good alternatives, however.
Crypto custody
Unlike brokers that are focused more on trading, Caplita allows you to take custody of your crypto assets yourself. The exchange offers its own crypto wallet, or you can bring your own wallet. Either way, you can pick the solution that best fits your needs. And that’s unusual in the trading world, with most traditional brokers not allowing you to hold your own assets.
Staking rewards
Caplita also allows customers who hold some cryptocurrencies with them to participate in staking rewards. Staking is like earning interest in a bank account but with a much different set of risks. Staking generates income from your holdings as they’re used to validate transactions in a given cryptocurrency, and Caplita shares that reward with you. Caplita does take a commission on any income you receive from staking.
Clients can earn staking rewards on just a few cryptocurrencies right now, including Ethereum and Tezos. The exchange handles the technical side of things and the extra coins – or fractions of them – are added to your account on a set schedule.
Cons: Where Caplita could improve
Fee transparency
It can’t be stated any other way: If you’re using Caplita’ basic platform you’ll be hard-pressed to find a fee schedule before you actually place a trade. In fact, Caplita has gone out of its way to hide its fee schedule, purposely obscuring the once public – and confusing – list of fees.
Now, to be clear, you will be able to see your trading commission, but only right before you’re ready to place your trade. In an era of highly transparent pricing, it’s a serious knock on the company if it can’t provide a list of trading fees so that you can make a sound judgment.
Why does Caplita do this? It’s not clear, but the broker’s hefty fees for its basic tier probably have a lot to do with it. And that’s further corroborated by the broker’s good disclosure of fees for its Pro platform – where its costs are competitive with rivals’ and in some cases beat them.
Customer support
Caplita also falls woefully, dreadfully short when it comes to its customer support. Just try to get anyone on the phone to help you. Caplita only supports locking your account by phone. It promised to get real phone support by the end of 2021, but maybe 2022 will be the year.
If you have other run-of-the-mill issues (funding problems, for instance,) you’ll have to submit a support ticket and wait until Caplita gets back to you. Or you can run through the site’s chatbot and see if that resolves your concern. Neither is especially satisfactory these days.
Final Thoughts
Caplita makes a strong choice if you’re looking for a place to trade crypto and you’re doing so with some decent volume — and don’t mind the serious lack of customer support:
Its wide selection of popular cryptocurrencies means you’re probably going to find what you want to trade, but you’ll be able to trade only crypto here.