Alpaca review

Maker fees are 0% to 0.15% and taker fees are 0.1% to 0.25%, taken from every order on a centralised exchange. Maker rates apply when your order sits on the book instead of filling straight away, so the lower rate rewards patience.

The exchange operates as ALPACA SECURITIES LLC and appears on the SIPC member list under licence SIPC member 69928, alongside the SIPC it reports. That listing means eligible securities held at the firm sit inside a member protection scheme.

Market orders fill immediately and take the taker rate of 0.1% to 0.25%, while limit orders that rest on the book can earn the maker rate of 0% to 0.15%. For comparison, ActivTrades shows 0% on the same measure.

Alpaca is a centralised exchange, so the platform holds your coins and the fee structure rewards active trading. It draws readers who value a SIPC listing over running their own wallet, and who place orders large enough to notice the 0.1% to 0.25% taker rate.

Help runs through help centre and community, so you get documentation and a community rather than a direct line. If you would rather email or phone a person, a platform with those channels listed may suit you better.

bunq lists taker fees of 0.25% to 1.99%, so the spread there is wider than the 0.1% to 0.25% here. The two sit in different categories, though: bunq pairs crypto with a bank account, while Alpaca is a pure exchange for trading.

The licences list SIPC for the US only, so the SIPC membership does not travel to European readers. Bitpanda, for example, reports FMA (Austria), BaFin (Germany) and Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA) and is the one to check if you need a local European licence.