Crypto exchange vs broker, what is the difference?

The crypto exchange vs broker difference comes down to who is on the other side of your trade. On an exchange, you trade with other customers through a shared order book. With a broker, you usually trade with the company itself at a price it quotes, or the company forwards your order to someone else. This guide explains that split, and our guide on exchanges vs wallets covers the separate question of where coins are stored.

What is a crypto broker?

A crypto broker is an intermediary that handles your purchase rather than running an open marketplace. The European Union's MiCA rulebook makes this split precise. It lists separate licensed services, including exchanging crypto for money using the provider's own capital, executing orders on behalf of clients, and receiving and passing on client orders to a third party for execution.

Bitpanda, which calls itself a broker, describes the model plainly. You buy from or sell to the provider at a price shown before you confirm, with no order book. Bitpanda says its quoted price is held for 20 seconds. The cost usually sits in a markup inside that price.

Robinhood's crypto app uses a routing version of this. Its default "market maker routing" sends standard orders to market makers, and an optional "exchange routing" sends them to exchanges with tiered fees of 0% to 0.95%, as of October 2026.

How is a crypto exchange different from a trading platform?

Under MiCA, operating a trading platform means running a multilateral system that brings together many third-party buying and selling interests. That is the classic exchange. Prices come from live bids and asks on an order book, and you can place limit or stop orders.

In the United States, the word "exchange" is used loosely. FINRA notes that the crypto trading platforms often called exchanges are not registered with the SEC as national securities exchanges and do not carry the protections of a registered broker-dealer. Some are registered only as money services businesses, which brings anti-money laundering duties rather than investor protection duties.

Is a crypto app an exchange or a broker?

Often both. Coinbase's simple buy and sell screen includes a spread in the quoted price, which lets it lock the price while the order processes. Its Coinbase Advanced screen has no spread because, as Coinbase puts it, you are trading directly on the order book, and fees are charged separately. The same company therefore offers a broker-style screen and an exchange-style screen.

When comparing the two models, the useful questions are who your counterparty is, whether the cost is a spread, a visible fee or both, and whether you can place limit orders. The maker and taker fees guide explains how exchange-style fees work.

Does the model change who holds your crypto?

Not necessarily. Brokers and centralized exchanges are usually both custodial, holding the keys on your behalf. FINRA points out that controlling crypto comes down to controlling the private keys, whether through a custodian or a self-custody wallet. The broker or exchange label describes how trades happen, not who holds the keys.