How to Choose a Crypto Exchange in Thailand: 5 Things to Check First

Choosing an exchange is the first and most consequential decision a new crypto investor makes — it’s where your money will live. Here are five factors to check before opening an account, in order of importance.

1. Thai SEC licensing — check this before anything else

Exchanges licensed by Thailand’s SEC (Bitkub, Binance TH, Orbix) must segregate customer assets from company funds, undergo audits, and give you legal recourse under Thai law if something goes wrong. Foreign exchanges (Bybit, MEXC, etc. — OKX is now blocked from Thailand entirely) may offer more features, but if anything happens you have almost no way to claim your funds — a lesson many Thai users learned the hard way when FTX collapsed in 2022.

2. Fees — fractions of a percent that compound

Thai exchange trading fees run around 0.10%–0.25% per trade. Sounds tiny, but if you trade often, that spread eats more profit than you think — try our profit/loss calculator and see exactly how much both-sides fees take from a round trip.

3. THB deposits and withdrawals

Thai exchanges accept direct deposits from Thai bank accounts. Most foreign exchanges require P2P (transferring money to individual sellers), which carries scam risk — and in some cases bank accounts get frozen for unknowingly receiving funds linked to money laundering. For beginners, safe and simple THB deposits are worth a lot.

4. Liquidity and coin selection

Major coins like BTC/ETH trade everywhere, but Thai exchanges list fewer small caps — and thin order books mean large orders fill at worse prices than the screen suggests.

5. Your own security setup

Wherever you sign up: enable 2FA immediately (an authenticator app beats SMS), use a unique password, and remember — no exchange ever calls asking for your password or a transfer to “verify your identity”. Any such call is a scam, full stop.

So which one?

Beginners buying and holding: a licensed Thai exchange is the sensible answer. Serious traders wanting futures and deep coin selection can consider foreign platforms once they understand the risks — we keep an updated fee and feature comparison on our exchange comparison page.

⚠️ For education only — not investment advice. Verify current licensing on the Thai SEC website before deciding.