How we score crypto exchanges
Each exchange we review is scored across 5 weighted pillars. The overall score is a weighted average. This page documents what each pillar measures and how it's weighted.
Security & Trust
30% weight- Public proof-of-reserves / audit posture
- Regulatory licensing in operating jurisdictions
- Historical incidents and their resolution
- Insurance funds, cold-storage policy, 2FA enforcement
Fees
25% weight- Spot maker / taker fees as documented
- Real fee paid in our hands-on test (vs documented rate)
- Spread above market mid on simple/instant flows
- Withdrawal fees per major asset
Asset Variety
20% weight- Number of supported tradeable assets
- Coverage of new-listing pipeline
- Fiat on/off ramps and supported currencies
- Derivatives, perpetuals, options availability
Ease of Use & Features
15% weight- Time to complete first trade, including KYC
- Mobile vs desktop UX parity
- Earn / staking / convert / OTC product depth
- API quality if relevant
Customer Support
10% weight- Time to first human response on a real ticket
- Time to resolution
- Quality of self-service docs
- Coverage hours and language support
How the overall score is calculated
Each pillar is scored 0–5. The overall is a weighted average using the percentages above:
overall = security_trust * 0.30 + fees * 0.25 + asset_variety * 0.20 + ease_features * 0.15 + support * 0.10
The result is rounded to one decimal. We do not use a 0–10 or 0–100 scale because the human eye reads "4.2/5" more accurately than "8.4/10" or "84/100".
Want to see how we score bridges? → Bridge methodology