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I'm a total crypto noob, but even I have sensed this fact. I don't think exchanges will be something I explore until I have a much better understanding of how crypto works. I've seen negative things about both Polo and Bittrex...I'm looking for better, more trustworthy entities to work with.

Sounds like a great reason to move to the DEX (decentralized exchange). It is trustless and more scalable than the top 10 ten cryptos (not including itself or Ripple, which is not a cryptocurrency or trustless) combined, and it has solved the volatility issue that plagues every other coin that prevents true merchant adoption. By "true merchant adoption" I mean merchants being able to accept cryptos without having to use a payment processor such as BitPay to protect themselves from price volatility. The OpenLedger gateway allows for deposits and withdrawal Fiat currencies as well as an assortment of cryptocurrencies.

You can create an account on the DEX right here. The wallet model is recommended because of a higher degree of security. There is a non-browser desktop client available here.

@ashaman is right, this is the perfect use case and motivation to introduce the "Decentralized Exchange", because money decentralization does not implies transaction and deposits/withdrawal/custody decentralization. Here, take a look to the NVO.IO Project.