How to Buy NXT Coin: NXT Exchanges

These are the most convenient ways to buy NXT coin starting from Bitcoin or USD/fiat. There are many ways to obtain NXT that are much more complex and convoluted than that, such as buying it from a ripple gateway (if you’re into this, also check out Peercover) or through forum trades. I hope you find this post useful as it outlines the simplest ways to buy NXT.

For a brief introduction, NXT is a purely proof-of-stake crypto-currency that isn’t a copy-paste of Bitcoin/Litecoin. NXT tends to invoke very strong reactions in the Bitcoin/Altcoin community, and I don’t want to go over these arguments in this post. I’ll refer you to the official NXT thread on Bitcointalk forums and I am sure you can find your way around there if you want to learn more.

Love it or hate it, NXT distinguishes itself from the other clones. Even if you think the initial distribution was unfair, there are plenty of very interesting projects the developers of NXT are working on, which should interest the crypto-currency enthusiast. The most interesting among these projects is the idea of ‘colored coins’ that has been in the works for a long time now in the Bitcoin world. If NXT can successfully pull off coloring of coins, it would be a huge achievement. For those who are unaware, the idea of colored coins is that you would be able to distinguish between different coins, and thus have a coin represent something in the physical world, and its ownership transferred via the blockchain. So 1 unit of a coin could represent the entire stock of a company, for example, and it could be given to the owners, who are then free to trade it to someone else over the blockchain.

NXT is a purely proof-of-stake coin. It is a high-risk endeavor for sure, but again, if it succeeds, it should do very well and it does bring a fresh set of ideas to this space. Here’s how you can most easily buy NXT –

Buy NXT from NXT Exchanges

The easiest way to buy NXT is through online crypto exchanges. In most cases, you’ll need an account with the exchange. However, we also discuss alternatives below.

Note also that it is usually easiest to buy NXT with Bitcoin (BTC) rather than local currencies like USD, EUR, GPB, KRW, CNY, INR, etc. If you haven’t already, the easiest way to buy Bitcoin is on Coinbase. You just connect your bank account and debit card, and can buy Bitcoin instantaneously. Remember that you can also buy fractions of Bitcoin.

(Note: Many new exchanges have added NXT now. This is an updated list)

Shapeshift

Shapeshift lets you buy NXT with many other cryptocurrencies like BTC. The biggest advantages of using Shapeshift is that you can buy NXT through many different cryptocurrencies, not just Bitcoin. Also, Shapeshift doesn’t require any account creation or login information, which makes it pretty easy to use.

Changelly

Changelly is similar to Shapeshift in that you can convert a huge variety of cryptocurrencies like BTC into NXT. However, it does need an account setup, which doesn’t take long, but is an additional step. You can comparison-shop for the price of NXT, since you’re researching how to buy NXT anyway, and use the cheaper option at the time of your buy.

At the time of this writing, NXT was cheaper on Changelly than Shapeshift, but it doesn’t always have to be the case. The sites source their liquidity differently.

Bittrex

As of today, Bittrex is the largest traded exchange by volume for NXT. Therefore you can buy large amounts of NXT via Bittrex. You will need Bitcoin to buy NXT from Bittrex. The trading pair is NXT/BTC i.e. the NXT market is priced against BTC.

Poloniex

Poloniex is another large exchange that lets you buy NXT for BTC. It used to be the largest trading exchange for NXT, until Bittrex took over from Poloniex. However, it’s good to have options, so Poloniex is an alternative exchange for you.

No longer operational

Just for old time’s sake, I’ve left some old exchanges that have traded NXT in the past.

• Bter: Definitely the biggest exchange out there that allows you to buy NXT (added on Jan 18 2014). Check out the Bter trading volume for NXT on June 11 2014 – 436 BTC.      You can buy, sell and trade as you like. Bter supports a number of altcoins, and NXT is just one of them. It is an early adopter to include promising new altcoins. In fact, the fees are quite low as well – 0.2% to buy NXT and 0.2% to sell NXT. It is a solid site, and once you join, you can trade a lot of altcoins. A bonus in using Bter is that it allows CNY deposits and trades as well. This is a huge plus for people with access to Chinese bank accounts. The CNY markets are very liquid as well. You can trade NXT/BTC and NXT/CNY pairs on Bter. If you’re just looking to be able to quickly buy NXT, this would be the easiest and safest way (Note: I personally use Bter to buy my NXT). In addition, Bter is the only exchange giving an ‘interest’ on NXT held at their exchange, which fluctuates daily (on June 5th 2014, the interest was 1.98% per annum).

• Cryptsy: Cryptsy added NXT a few months after Bter did. People in the community have a love-hate relationship with Cryptsy and rightly so. It is an American exchange with non-anonymous owners, which gives people confidence. However, as an exchange it has had so many issues in the past that people tend to shy away from it. Check out the trading volume on this NXT exchange – 109 BTC on June 11 2014, which is pretty robust (but not as much as Bter). 

• Vircurex: *Vircurex had problems with frozen funds after a hack. Be very careful trading NXT here* Vircurex started trading NXT as of 1/27/2014. Vircurex is one of the oldest crypto-currency exchanges and that’s probably it’s only appeal. It does tend to have a higher withdrawal fees and doesn’t get as much publicity as Bter or Cryptsy but is a fairly robust exchange in terms of the site not going down. If for any reason you cannot access Bter or just want a different option, Vircurex is an option to consider.

• dgex: dgex was the first real NXT exchange to open, and therefore finds a mention on my list. The site only trades NXT/BTC and is exclusive to NXT. I haven’t personally bought any NXT from this exchange, so cannot give you my personal trading experience. It has been around for a while though, and has the longest history of trading NXT, so definitely a good option to consider.

• Other Exchanges: I’ll list the other exchanges here: NewAltEx and NxtChg. These are very new and only trade NXT/BTC currency pair. Use your best judgement when using these.

• Newer Exchanges: Bittrex and Poloniex have both added NXT as one of the altcoins. These are relatively new altcoin exchanges and trade many altcoins (many times of questionable quality).

Are you new to NXT? Do you want some free NXT to start off with? Check out this NXT faucet that will give you 2-4 NXT for free (no longer operational). Good luck buying/trading NXT! If you have a preferred way to buy NXT, please let us know in the comments.

Photo Credit: epsos