A broker,
not an exchange.

On a self-serve exchange you place your own orders against a public order book and manage your own custody. A broker acts on your behalf: your dedicated broker prepares a quote, confirms it with you before you commit, executes the trade, and settles your assets into institutional custody. Put simply: on an exchange you do the work yourself; with a broker, a person does it with you.

It's the wrong question to lead with. A broker and an exchange are different services: one is a self-serve platform, the other is a person who executes for you, handles custody and stays reachable when the market moves. The value of the broker model is in that service and in where your assets are held, not in a head-to-head on numbers. Your broker will always confirm pricing with you before you commit to anything.

No. Your assets are held in institutional custody via Fireblocks and remain yours. You can hold them in custody or withdraw to your own wallet at any time, with no lock-in periods. The broker handles the execution and the security; the assets are still yours to direct.

For larger orders the difference is structural. A big order placed on a public exchange book can move the price against you as it fills. A broker routes size through OTC execution, quoted and settled privately, away from the public order book. Whether that suits you depends on the size and how you want it handled.

No. Uptrade is a crypto brokerage, not a self-serve exchange. Every client works with a dedicated broker who executes trades on their behalf and arranges custody, rather than logging into a platform to trade alone.

Uptrade is registered with AUSTRAC as a Digital Currency Exchange Provider (DCE100856266-001) and operates in compliance with its regulatory obligations.