Bitfnex

Bitfinex.com: Crypto Trading Site Review 2022

With over 170 different cryptocurrencies, Bitfinex is an excellent destination for crypto traders. In addition, the platform offers fees lower than most of the alternative sites and boasts excellent features for pro-traders and beginners. However, the website has a reputation for regulatory sanctions and is unavailable to U.S. users.

There are over 500 active crypto trading platforms on the internet. Each one offers unique leverage over the other. Some exchanges offer extremely low trading fees, huge welcome, and affiliate bonuses, while others have more robust features that help traders have the best trading experience.

If you are a professional trader, you want to trade on a platform that offers fees, and you can trust. Similarly, you might be looking for a trading site with a shorter learning curve.

To help you decide better, we put together this comprehensive review of Bitfinex.

Quick overview of Bitfinex

Bitfinex is the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange platform by trading volume. It was founded in 2012 and registered in the British Virgin Islands.

One thing you want to know about Bitfinex right from the get-go is this: Bitfinex is not a trading platform for beginners. Indeed, a beginner is allowed to sign up and trade. However, the reality is that the platform is best suited for investors who know their way around crypto trading.

This is because the website supports a large ecosystem of crypto trading products that cater to the needs of professionals; these include derivatives, spot trading, margin funding, paired trading, limits, and spot orders.

As such, anyone looking to buy and sell Crypto might be underusing the platform or find it hard to walk their way around the website.

Also, before you get started, you should know that Bitfinex has a pretty controversial reputation among users online. For one, international regulatory bodies sanction the platform on multiple occasions- more details are below.

Although this history of allegations might worry investors, statistics on Similarweb show the website gets around 3 million monthly users. While this does not indicate customer satisfaction, Bitfinex has some great features that might keep professional traders coming.

Let's have a look:

Pros: 9 Bitfinex features you might love

1. Exchange Trading

An active marketplace where pro-traders can deposit, trade, and withdraw digital tokens.

2. Margin Trading

Receive funds from the margin funding platform and trade with up to 10x the leverage. This is similar to what you'd get on alternative trading platforms like Binance and Coinbase.

3. Margin Funding

Lend funds to leverage traders on the P2P market and earn interest.

4. OTC Desk

Connect with traders like yourself without going through the public order books.

5. High Liquidity

Bitfinex is one of the top exchanges in terms of BTC/USD daily trading volume, which guarantees price stability and confidence for every trader.

6. Robust trading pairs

Over 100 market pairs are available, including major coins like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, and EOS, as well as famous altcoins such as TRON, Stellar, NEO, 0x, QTUM, and many others.

7. Security

Bitfinex has a history of hacking where it lost user assets. The platform has since bolstered its security with 2FA, cold storage for 99% of user assets, encryptions, whitelisting wallet addresses, and suspicious activity analysis.

8. Customer support

Users of Bitfinex can contact assistance via email 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Except during periods of heavy activity, all queries are answered within 12 hours. Aside from that, customers can access a comprehensive knowledge base to find answers to the majority of their basic questions.

9. User-friendly interface

If you're used to using online bank accounts, Bitfinex's account displays and options are straightforward to navigate. Bitfinex will be familiar to anybody who has used active stock market trading platforms or F.X. trading programs.

Cons: 3 Bitfinex issues to consider before trading

1. Bitfinex's profile is riddled with a history of regulatory sanctions, loss of customer assets, hacking and general distrust. It only takes one Google search to discover this.

2. No access in the U.S.: Bitfinex is not available in the U.S. Even with a premium VPN, U.S. users cannot access the site. This presents a huge disadvantage to U.S. citizens, who are considered the world's largest community of trading and crypto investment.

3. Long transaction period: Withdrawal can take up to 24 hours. If you are the type to trade and cash out on the spot, Bitfinex might not be your best option.

Creating a Bitfinex account is straightforward but requires KYC verification

Sadly, if you are located outside the U.S., you cannot create a Bitfinex account. But if you are signing up from other locations, creating a Bitfinex is straightforward.

To get started, you need to follow the sign-up process with your email address and password, just like you would on any other website.

However, the KYC verification process is quite tedious. Unlike Crypto betting sites where players invest in Bitcoins, crypto investors on exchange platforms must go through this KYC process. So, if you are transitioning from Crypto betting to crypto exchange, you want to have this at the back of your mind.

To pass the verification system, you will provide the following information:

- Personal contact information

- Two valid forms, I.D.s. These I.D.s must be government-approved forms of identification. Your international passport or driver's license should do fine.

- A selfie picture showing your face clearly. This will confirm that your face matches your I.D.

The verification process will take up to 6 weeks after submission. At that time, you cannot withdraw your earnings.

This system is set in line with the anti-money laundering procedure. Since everyone on the platform has done the process, you can rest assured you are dealing with verified individuals that are traceable in case of fraud.

Bitfinex website and mobile experience

If you have been a professional trader for a long time, you know how clumsy an exchange interface can be. However, things started changing since exchange platforms started adopting a cleaner and more deep-focused interface. Bitfinnex follows the same principles.

The platform offers an intuitive web view that shows you everything you need on one screen without cluttering around. Honestly, given how cluttered an exchange platform could be, Bitfinex's interface is more user-friendly.

For example, it has a sidebar where you can

• Track tickers by their trading, derivatives, funding, and securities


• An order form to quickly put an order on the market.


• A balance sheet to see your account balance at a glance. Because you will not spend time loading a new tab, this feature helps you just into the market faster.


• Summary of internal margin and maintenance margin accordingly.


• Liquidation

While those features are on the side of the screen, the primary screen shows the exchange market in real time with advanced interactive charts.

If you are thinking of migrating from an alternative exchange platform to Bitfinex and you are not sure if it is the right one for you, you can use the "VIew Demo" button to see the environment and test things around.

This is a demo page:

If you like the environment but are not sure if you can trust the platform to handle your trade, you can take a spin around with a paper trading account. This system pre-loads your account with demo money so you can actually put value in the market and try to exchange or increase the asset.

Other Bitfinex features you might like:

• The historical pricing data


• Automated algorithmic trading


• API for developers

Trading on Bitfinex

How to make a Bitfinex Deposit

Click the "Wallet" button in the upper right corner and select the "Deposit" option. This will take you to the deposit page, where you can select your preferred deposit method. While Bitfinex is a crypto trading platform, you are allowed to fund your wallet with fiat currencies such as USD, EUR, JPY, CNH, and GBP.

How to withdraw funds from the Bitfinex account

To withdraw from the Bitfinex account,

• Click the wallet button and find the "withdraw" option.


• Select the crypto asset you wish to withdraw


• Complete the additional details

After that, Bitfinex will process your withdrawal.

You should note that the withdrawal takes up to 12 hours to reach the destination account. While this is not the best in the market, it is among the safest. This is because Bitfinex takes time to verify withdrawal from accounts with limited security measures.

This means the more secure your account, the faster the transaction.

Note: You cannot access the withdrawal area without setting up 2FA security.

Bitfinex trading fees explained

Unlike most trading platforms where the user pays a 0.10:0.20% maker/taker fee, Bitfinex's trading fee is relatively low.

You are advised to hold the LEO currency in your account to save on fees. LEO is the token designed to empower the Bitfinex community. If you hold around $1 worth of LEO, you qualify for a 15% off-takers fee when you make a crypto-to-crypto trade.

Cryptocurrencies Available on Bitfinex

Bitfinex's active trading platform supports over 170 cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Terra, Tether, Solana, Litecoin, Ripple, and many others. In this image, you can see an overview of the coins you can pair in the picture below. You may find out more by using the search bar.

Is Bitfinex safe?

Bitfinex can be considered a safe exchange platform. It has been active since 2012, with over 3 million monthly users. However, its shady past leaves much to be desired.

In the past years, Bitfinex was sanctioned on the grounds of cryptocurrency market manipulation. In 2021, the CTFC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission) slammed Bitfinex with fines totaling $42.5 Million. A more significant chunk of the fine, $41 million, covered the platform's misleading clients when it claimed that U.S. Dollars Fully backed Tether Tether stablecoin. Research revealed that it was indeed not backed by U.S. dollars.

Bitfinex has also been fined for running an unregistered exchange and enabling illegal off-exchange trades. This raises severe concerns about the credibility of this cryptocurrency exchange.

Is Bitfinex secure?

Bitfinex safeguards user accounts and funds using a variety of industry-standard mechanisms. Two-factor authentication, complex APIs for linking third-party services, withdrawal protection mechanisms, and cold storage of customer assets are examples.

However, the company has been hacked many times; despite the above security measures where it lost customer assets. Between 2015 and 2016, the exchange platform came under some high-profile hacking. While no exchange platform or website is 100% immune to hacking, you will have greater confidence trading on a platform with higher security measures.

Quick comparison:

Bitfinex vs Binance

One thing is common: Both Bitfinex and Binance are leading exchange platform among crypto traders with millions of monthly users. However, Bitfinex offers more advanced features than Binance.

In terms of reputation, Binance has a higher reputation in the crypto community than Bitfinex. Despite that Binacne started in 2017, it is known to for its swift transaction withdrawal and deposit, fair fees and high-priority of user assets. In fact, Binance was able to recover 80% of its user assets after it was hacked.

Like we said earlier, no website is 100% free from hacking, but you will have better assurance with Binance than Bitfinex.

Bitfinex fees are lower than Binance’s. Binance's fees is set at 0.1% cost as contrast to Bitfinex's taker-maker fee which is almost free when you hold LEO.

Clearly, Binance is the best choice if you’re looking for stability, security and intuitive experience. On the other hand, Bitfinex would be the better choice for advanced trading features and free trading.

Bitfinex vs Coinbase

Coinbase is on the same level as Bitfinex, and Binance. However, users might choose Coinbase over Bitfinex because it is accessible in the U.S.

Coinbase’s maker/taker trading fee of 0.60% is more expensive when compared to Bitfinex’s 0.10 to 0.20% without the discount.

Final verdict

Ultimately, Bitfinex is a great choice for professional traders who are looking to leverage their experience on the sites’ low maker/taker fee. It has been around since 2012 and has a larger volume of daily trade than any other crypto trading site.

In terms of its pros and cons, Bitfinex has a mixed reviews among customers. While some customers praise the site for its excellent service and robust range of trading options, others outrightly describe the platform as a fraud. Deciding whether to trade on Bitfinex is entirely up to you.

However, given their history of hacking and regulatory problems, you might want to consider an alternative trading site.