More coins ≠ better: why the biggest listing catalog can mean thinner liquidity
Gate.io lists 1700+ coins with a 3.8/5 liquidity rating; Binance lists 380+ with 4.9/5. Here's the trade-off.
If you're choosing a crypto exchange based purely on how many coins it supports, you may be optimizing for the wrong metric. Gate.io lists the most coins — over 1,700 — but its liquidity rating sits at 3.8/5. Binance lists far fewer, around 380+, yet holds our highest liquidity rating at 4.9/5. More listings can mean thinner order books for each individual pair, so the real question is what you trade: long-tail alts or liquid majors.
The trade-off: more listings, thinner books
Liquidity measures how easily you can buy or sell an asset without moving the price. A highly liquid market has tight spreads, deep order books, and minimal slippage. When an exchange lists thousands of coins, its trading volume is spread across many more pairs. That typically leaves smaller, newer tokens with shallow books and wider spreads — which shows up in a lower overall liquidity rating. Gate.io's 3.8/5 reflects that reality: you get access to a huge catalog, but each pair may trade less actively.
Binance takes the opposite approach. With a smaller listing count of 380+ coins, it concentrates trading activity on fewer pairs, especially the major ones. The result is a 4.9/5 liquidity rating — the best we track. For traders who stick to BTC, ETH, SOL, and other top assets, Binance's depth means orders fill faster and closer to the quoted price. For those who chase obscure tokens, Binance simply doesn't have them.
Choosing by trading style
- Pick Gate.io if your priority is the widest selection — you're hunting new, small-cap, or high-risk altcoins and accept that these pairs will have thinner liquidity and higher slippage.
- Pick Binance if you trade established coins and stablecoin pairs — the 4.9/5 liquidity rating means tighter spreads and deeper order books, which matters more for large or frequent trades.
Neither choice is objectively better. A massive catalog is useless if the pairs you want to trade have no volume; perfect liquidity is useless if the exchange doesn't list the coin you're after. Match the exchange to your actual trading pattern — not to the raw coin count. Compare the liquidity ratings of the specific pairs you care about, and you'll get a clearer picture than any single headline number can provide.
Which crypto exchange has the most coins?
Gate.io lists the most coins among the exchanges we track, with 1,700+ listed. However, its liquidity rating is 3.8/5, lower than exchanges that focus on fewer, more actively traded assets.
Which exchange has the best liquidity?
Binance has our highest liquidity rating at 4.9/5 while listing 380+ coins. Fewer listings but deeper order books give it an edge for trading majors and stablecoin pairs.
Is more coins better on a crypto exchange?
Not necessarily. More coins means more selection, especially for long-tail altcoins, but it often comes with thinner per-pair liquidity, wider spreads, and higher slippage. The right choice depends on whether you need breadth or depth.
Why is liquidity important when choosing a crypto exchange?
Liquidity affects how easily you can enter and exit positions. Higher liquidity means tighter spreads, deeper order books, and less price slippage on trades — essential for both large orders and frequent short-term trading.