Bitfinex was founded in 2012 and is one of the oldest crypto exchanges in the world. The headquarters are in Hong Kong and it’s not available to US citizens. If you read any Bitfinex review, it will tell you that they did work with US citizens in the past. However, as of August 15, 2018, the broker decided to stop serving individual US and corporate customers. Nevertheless, they offerservices in the US to institutions that hold more than $10 m in assets. Those institutions qualify as Eligible Contract Participants (ECPs).
At the moment, Bitfinex works with serious amounts of global daily crypto volumes. Their biggest market are Bitcoins; however, there is much more. Bitfinex provides margin trading and lending across 263 crypto assets. This includes crypto-to-crypto pairs and crypto-to-fiat pairs, through its BVI entity, iFinex Inc. Keep reading this Bitfinex review for more information about the subject. On the other hand, you can always visit their official website. Additionally, for more news about crypto check our blog post on Cryptocurrency Information.
Table of Contents
Overview
As we mentioned above, the Bitfinex exchange is headquartered in Hong Kong. However, it was founded in the British Virgin Islands by iFinex Inc. Their rise happened after the bankruptcy of the former best exchange Mt. Gox. Any Bitfinex review will tell you that this exchange is one of the most popular ones in the world. However, it’s best suited for advanced traders. Additionally, there is an option for margin trading and landing. At the start. Bitfinex was a P2P margin landing platform just for Bitcoin.
At the moment, Bitfinex are among the oldest and the most recognized names in the industry. Additionally, some of the founders and management of iFinex inc. are also related to Tether. As we all know, Tether is considered to be one of the best stablecoins in the world. Our Bitfinex review will show and explain everything that this exchange has to offer.
Bitfinex Review Services & Features
As we stated before, Bitfinex have been around for a long time. That’s why their platform offers some fantastic tools. Their trading platform supports the latest web standards. The HTML5-based layout is very responsive. Additionally, their interface is very user friendly. Bitfinex provides a separate wallet for each of its platform features, including Exchange Trading, Margin Trading, and Margin Funding. Overall, the Bitfinex web platform ranks highly among crypto brokers. Any review will tell you that it’s near the top when it comes to the array of simple and advanced order types.
Talking about order types, Bitfinex offers a couple of different ones. One-cancels-the-other (OCO), hidden order types designed not to show up in the order book, as well as trailing stop orders, fill-or-kill (FOK), and scaled orders. As for the platform, here are it’s main features.
Advanced Trading Platform
Unlike other exchanges, Bitfinex tend to work with more experienced traders. Each Bitfinex review will suggest that they have the most liquid order book in the world. Their high volume is important to traders because it ensures a low spread. That’s exactly what’s the difference between the best bid and ask prices. Bitfinex offers an advanced and customizable GUI with over 50 trading pairs. Their platform interface is also customizable. It allows charting functionality and API access.
Margin Trading & Funding
The Bitfinex exchange users are allowed to borrow and trade with up to 3.3x leverage through the site’s P2P (Peer to Peer) margin funding platform. Borrowing terms (amount, duration and interest) can either be determined by the user himself or automatically through Bitfinex. However, crypto owners are also allowed to lend funds to other traders. Their funds will be secure while also earning interest for them. Users can offer funding across a wide range of currencies & assets, at the rate and duration of their choice.
It’s important to note that margin trading is not for new traders. Your funds on Bitfinex will be locked for the duration of the loan. This is why our Bitfinex review suggests that this platform is mainly for experienced traders.
Over the Counter Services
Last but not least, Bitfinex have a feature for the biggest traders. Bitfinex provides an over-the-counter trading facility. It can be used by customers who want to trade large amounts of cryptocurrency privately. This service matches and secures major private deals.
Deposits, Withdrawals & Fees
Bitfinex accepts a couple of different deposits. Their fiat deposits have to be in EUR, JPY, GBP, or USD. Additionally, these deposits can be made only through wire transfer. Bitfinex also offers free deposits on over 90 assets. As we mentioned above in the Bitfinex Review, they also have a connection with Tether. It’s a quasi-fiat token which is pegged to the US dollar’s price. For using Tether, Bitfinex requires verification. Expedited cryptocurrency withdrawals also require verification.
Commissions & Fees
The commission fee for crypto trading at Bitfinex generally ranges from 0.1% for makers to 0.2% for takers. As trades go up, the fees go down. As we said, this is a platform for large players. For people who have traded more than $500,000 worth of crypto in the last 30 days, the maker fees are reduced to 0.08%. The fees keep going down until they eventually reach zero. For that to happen, 7.5 million in trades has to happen over 30 days. The taker fees also go down with trading. They can drop as low as 0.1% when the trailing 30-day volume reaches $30 million or more.
Security & Supported Countries
This Bitfinex review will also talk about the problems that the exchange had in the past. In 2015, the Bitfinex exchange was hacked for the first time and 1500 Bitcoins were stolen. However, the theft that happened in 2016 was much bigger as nearly 120,000 BTC were stolen. Mt. Gox are the only exchange to have suffered a bigger theft. However, unlike Mt. Gox, Bitfinex made their clients whole. It took a year but clients were eventually fully compensated.
To avoid similar problems, Bitfinex have increased their security ten-fold. Any Bitfinex review will tell you that Bitfinex now holds approximately 99.5% of its users’ funds in cold storage offline, using a multi-signature scheme that requires at least four out of seven of its Hardware Security Modules (HSMs) held by its management team, who are globally distributed. They also added Two Factor Authentication (2FA). If that’s not enough, customers can set a required passphrase when making withdrawals.
Supported Countries
If you read any Bitfinex review, it will tell you that this exchange is available everywhere. While that’s not completely true, Bitfinex is available in most countries. For that reason, it’s easier to list the countries where it’s not available. You can’t use it in Bangladesh, Bolivia, Ecuador, Kyrgyzstan, and the US.
Bitfinex vs Kraken
The Bitfinex and Kraken exchanges are designed to support advanced traders. They both offer trading tools and leverage that lets traders manage risks and maximize their returns. However, there are several differences among them. The Bitfinex exchange works mostly with high-volume traders. Kraken, on the other hand, is available for all types of traders. Sadly, Bitfinex is not available to US customers. However, Bitfinex can be used in Japan while Kraken is not available there.
These are just the basic differences between these two platforms. While our Bitfinex Review has covered everything you need to know about it, at the moment you don’t know a lot about Kraken. For that reason, head over to our Kraken Review and learn more about that exchange.
Bitfinex Review Conclusion
All in all, Bitfinex are among the best crypto exchanges in the world. They managed to overcome serious problems and remain a major player. Bitfinex caters best to European traders looking to trade high-quality digital assets with excellent liquidity. They work only with high-volume traders but they don’t work with US customers. However, if they want to be the best in the business, they need to make a couple of changes.
According to our Bitfinex Review, they still need to work on their security. Their customers base will increase even further once people see that Bitfinex’s past issues will never happen again.