Independent Reserve Review: Features & Fees

Independent Reserve is one of the best crypto exchanges in Australia and is governed by Australia's highly regulated financial sector and a member of Blockchain Australia. In this Independent Reserve review, we will take a look at the exchanges features, user-interface, deposit methods, fees and security. 

Before you start trading, we recommend using a wallet such as the Ledger Nano X. If you don't have a wallet, read our guide on the best hardware wallets to store crypto.

Independent Reserve is licensed cryptocurrency exchange in Australia that provides a stable and secure platform for individuals to buy/sell 26 of the most popular digital currencies. The exchange was founded in 2013 and has expanded its service offering to include crypto investors in New Zealand and the South East Asian regions like Singapore.

Since the exchange's launch in 2013, Independent Reserve has gained the trust of over 200,000 individuals and 8,000 SMSF accounts to obtain cryptocurrencies using Australian Dollars (AUD), New Zealand Dollars (NZD), United States Dollars (USD) and Singaporean Dollars (SGD).

Independent Reserve is a licenced crypto exchange that delivers exceptional customer service and provides a stable and secure platform. Users can buy and sell 24 major cryptocurrency assets with 0.5% trading fees with dollar cost averaging and tax tools to complete the experience. A summary of Independent Reserve's pros and cons are listed below.

Independent Reserve is a legitimate and trustworthy company (ABN 46 164 257 069) that is located at Level 26, 44 Market St, Sydney 2000, Australia. The exchange has over 200,000 users and is regulated by Australia's highly governed financial sector to ensure proper conduct and operations. It was the first digital exchange in Australia to become a reporting entity to the Australian government agency AUSTRAC.

Bank transfer is one the most popular methods to deposit AUD, USD and NZD on Independent Reserve. This comparison table lists other popular Australian cryptocurrency exchanges like Independent Reserve that offer bank transfers.

Since its inception to the market in 2013, Independent Reserve has never been hacked or compromised. Customer funds are securely stored in offline wallets to minimise the risk of theft and accounts. Other security measures include 2 Factor Authentication, remote core servers and wallet whitelisting.

For first time investors and beginners, Independent Reserve has an Instant buy and sell feature that is easy to use. There are no complicated charting or order types. Simply choose a crypto to purchase, enter the amount and click on the buy button. The transaction will be completed near-instantly. The funds are transferred to the users wallet immediately which can be withdrawn.

Unlike its competitors, Independent Reserve is a licenced cryptocurrency exchange in multiple regions such as Australia, Singapore and New Zealand. Therefore, customers can deposit fiat currencies such as AUD, USD, NZD and SGD to fund an account. Each currency can be toggled to give the users the flexibility to decide which currency to pay with depending on the foreign conversion rates. The funds can be deposited using a variety of payment methods including bank transfer, PayID and SWIFT for US Dollars and Singapore Dollars.

Independent Reserve offers competitive fees from 0.5% per transaction. Using a tiered system, investors with larger orders can reduce the trading fees to as low as 0.02%. For the majority of investors, the starting trading fee of 0.5% per buy and sell trade is great value for money. By comparison, exchanges such as CoinSpot and CoinJar have fees of 1% for instant buy/sell trades.

Independent Exchange is one of the oldest exchanges in Australia that has stood the test of time. The exchange is popular for its VIP OTC Desk and SMSF support. Backed by premium-grade reporting tools, streamlined banking solutions and compliant audit reporting, Independent Reserve is the best exchange in Australia for large orders with over 80,000 Super Fund investors. There is even the option to set and forget with limit orders and dollar-cost-averaging tools through the OTC desk which is unique to Independent Reserve.

The process to register an Independent Reserve account is simple. To start, visit the website and click on the 'Create Account' link at the top right-hand corner. This will bring up another page to decide on username and password. The next stop will be to enter further personal information required to hold an account. 

To login, simply use your email ID and password. When you login for the first time, you will be required to verify the following:

Users on Independent Reserve can deposit funds using AUD, USD, NZD and SGD fiat currencies. The following payment methods are supported by Independent Reserve to fund an account to buy and sell Bitcoin and cryptocurrency assets. 

One of the best ways to fund an account is using PayID/Osko which has an initial maximum daily limit of $20,000 and takes less than 24 hours to arrive. All deposit limits can be increased via a request to the support team.

There are 26 digital assets provided on Independent Reserve which can be traded against fiat currencies such as AUD, USD, SGD and NZD, including stable coins, altcoins and DeFi tokens. The available digital assets include Bitcoin, Ripple (XRP), Ether, EOS, Dogecoin and others. For a full list, visit their website.

Related: How To Buy Ethereum (ETH) In NZ

Independent Reserve has a straight-forward and well laid out user interface to buy/sell digital currencies. Navigation is easy to follow for first time Bitcoin buyers with menus along the top. Those who are familiar with technical analysis, the 'Markets' page includes TradingView control which allows for high fidelity charting and analysis.

Independent Reserve's default interface includes a simple visual chart, market depth profile and recent trades. Users will realize that Independent Reserve charts are quite clunky to adjust the time frame and there is no ability to draw trend lines or add technical indicators.

This can be problematic and frustrating to adjust the slider and zoom to view the exact time frame to analyse the candlestick patterns. If you rely on technical analysis, then you might want to use another cryptocurrency charting site in conjunction with Independent Reserve (to make the most of the low trading fees).

Overall, Independent Reserve's charting interface is disappointing for a major crypto exchange in Australia. The entire interface could do with a complete overhaul to modernize the trading experience and keep up to date. More and more crypto exchanges are integrating with TradingView by default which provides superior charting for serious investors and traders alike.

Independent Reserve's fee is based on the past 30 day's trading volume which starts at 0.5% per transaction. The fees can be reduced to as low as 0.02% as the trading volume increases (re-calculated every 4 hours).

The fee structure increments appears to suit high-net worth individuals and SMSF investors with large sums of money to invest to obtain a lower crypto trading fee. For beginners, the 0.02% trading fee is probably not within reach. In comparison, Binance and Mine Digital offers fees of 0.1% and 0.2% respectively for all cryptocurrency transactions.

Fiat currency withdrawals in AUD does not incur a processing fee. However, residents in New Zealand or other international countries that withdraw funds in USD or NZD will be charged a fee of $20 fee. SGD withdrawals are charged at 0.55%.

There is a standard network fee to withdraw crypto that is charged when transferring coins from the exchange. This fee is determined by the blockchain load. 

Independent Reserve employs a dynamic cold wallet solution to store the overwhelming majority of digital assets. The cold wallets are secured by multi-layer encryption and kept on offline digital hardware storage devices. The hardware is stored in physical vaults in geographically diverse locations.

Independent Reserve utilizes remote core servers that are securely located at data centres. This allows the exchange to synchronously replicate all data across both locations in real-time, to ensure zero data loss should an exchange hack occur. Independent Reserve uses a fail-over environment to maintain service in the event of a data compromise or infrastructure failure.

Users login and account access can be further protected using Two Factor Authentication which can be enabled to protect your account against unauthorized access. It is recommended by Independent Reserve to activate 2FA during account set up. Users can also take advantage of Device Whitelisting, which requires extra authentication for new devices and by default all users are protected by smart IP and withdrawal address whitelisting.

Independent Reserve has an affiliate and referral program that allows existing users to earn 50% of all brokerage fees paid by the referred customers for the first 90 days. Users can share their referral code to invite friends or promote Independent Reserve through content, videos, articles or ad placements.

Independent Reserve is a top rated crypto exchange In Australia with a variety of features to suit high net worth individuals and SMSF investors. However, the overall trading experience is not fully designed for beginners and lacks a mobile app. Here are a number of alternatives to Independent Reserve that are purpose-designed for new investors.

To conclude our Independent Reserve review, it is a legit and safe Australian digital currency provider that has several hundreds thousands of customers. With low fees, the exchange offers value for money to beginners and experienced investors alike.

There are some improvements however that Independent Reserve should consider:

Aside from the above, Independent Reserve's one of the easiest, lowest fee cryptocurrency exchanges with a simple deposits and withdrawals process and outstanding customer support.