Crypto Exchange Reviews

Today: September 7, 2024 5:28 pm

Following the ban on fiat to cryptocurrency trading in China, numerous digital currency exchanges were forced to halt their operations within the country and relocate to other regions. While some exchanges did not recover from this transition, Huobi successfully survived the Chinese expulsion and continued its operations.

This review of Huobi aims to provide traders with a comprehensive understanding of the platform, its functionality, and the benefits it offers. By exploring the essential factors of Huobi, traders can gain insights into how the exchange operates and determine the advantages it can provide.

Huobi Summary

Table HeaderTable Header
Official Websitehttps://www.huobi.com/
HeadquartersSeychelles
Found in2013
Native TokenYes
Listed Cryptocurrency375
Trading Pairs300+
Supported Fiat CurrenciesNo
Supported CountriesWorldwide
Minimum Deposit100 USD
Deposit FeesDepends on Currency
Trading FeesDepends on Currency
Withdrawal FeesDepends on Currency
ApplicationYes
Customer SupportEmail, Telephone, Online chat, Ticket system & Social media

Quick Overview of Huobi

Initially founded in Beijing and now based in Singapore, this cryptocurrency exchange provides support for a wide range of cryptocurrencies. To ensure the safety of users’ assets held on the exchange, it offers an insurance policy cover. Additionally, there are multiple channels available for users to reach the customer support team, ensuring prompt assistance and a satisfactory user experience.

What Is Huobi?

Huobi, originally founded in Beijing and now headquartered in Singapore, is a leading cryptocurrency exchange. It supports both ICO tokens and cryptocurrencies, and it places a strong emphasis on the future development of the Blockchain economy. Huobi offers a unique feature called the “Huobi Trading Bot,” allowing users to engage in flexible cryptocurrency bot trading.

Following the ban on ICOs and fiat-to-crypto trading imposed by the Chinese government, Huobi relocated its operations to Singapore in 2020. It expanded its presence by establishing offices in other regions, including Hong Kong, the USA, South Korea, and Japan. Despite the regulatory challenges in China, Huobi continued to operate successfully and currently serves over 3 million active account holders.

How Does Huobi Work?

Huobi’s main exchange, Huobi Pro, supports a wide range of over 100 leading cryptocurrencies. Registered users have the flexibility to choose their preferred cryptocurrency pairs and seamlessly exchange them on the platform. This allows for convenient and hassle-free trading of various digital assets within the Huobi ecosystem.

History of Huobi

Huobi’s history traces back to its founder, Leon Li, a former Oracle engineer. In 2013, Li acquired the Huobi domain and ventured into live Bitcoin trading. With a keen understanding of the growing Bitcoin market in China, Huobi secured investments from prominent investors, including Sequoia Capital.

From its launch, Huobi quickly gained momentum, achieving a turnover of over $4 billion within three months. By 2014, the exchange had quadrupled its turnover, solidifying its position as a leading digital asset exchange in Asia.

In 2016, Huobi’s reported turnover reached an impressive $247 billion, representing a significant share of the global cryptocurrency exchange market. However, the cryptocurrency market’s unpredictable nature meant that challenges were on the horizon.

In 2017, the Chinese government imposed a ban on cryptocurrency exchanges operating within the country. In response, Huobi swiftly made the strategic decision to relocate its operations to Singapore, shifting its focus from the Chinese market. This move marked the beginning of Huobi’s globalization efforts, expanding into markets such as Japan, Russia, Korea, and beyond.

By adapting to changing circumstances and exploring new markets, Huobi has successfully established itself as a prominent player in the global crypto industry. The exchange continues to evolve and provide innovative solutions to meet the diverse needs of cryptocurrency traders worldwide.

Features of Huobi

Easy User Interface

The Huobi website stands out for its user-friendly interface, seamlessly blending functionality, visual appeal, and elegance. Navigating through the platform is a breeze, with easy access to essential features and tools.

The website provides accurate and up-to-date price feeds, empowering traders with real-time market information. Charting tools are also available, allowing users to analyze price trends and make informed trading decisions. Market depth data is presented in a structured manner within the trading interface, enabling traders to gauge market liquidity and depth.

In addition to its main trading platform, Huobi offers the alternative HADAX crypto market. This platform focuses on supporting smaller tokens and altcoins. Despite catering to a wider range of digital assets, HADAX maintains the same level of professionalism, offering users a seamless interface and robust functionalities.

Overall, Huobi’s website delivers an exceptional trading experience, combining intuitive navigation, powerful tools, and a visually appealing design.

Multiple Order Types

On the Huobi exchange, traders have access to various order types to suit their trading strategies. These include:

1. Limit Order: Traders can place an order at a specific price, and the order will be executed only when the market reaches that price.

2. Market Order: Traders can place an order at the current market price, and it will be executed immediately at the best available price.

3. Stop Limit Order: Traders can set a stop price and a limit price. When the stop price is reached, a limit order is triggered, and the trade is executed at the limit price or better.

Huobi also offers margin trading for Bitcoin (BTC) and Litecoin (LTC). With margin trading, traders can amplify their positions by borrowing funds. Huobi allows up to 5x leverage, meaning traders can trade with up to five times the amount they have in their account. There is a fee of 0.1% for borrowing the funds, and the margin trading period is 24 hours.

Flash Trade

One of the notable features on Huobi is the Flash Trade functionality, which combines an order book, chart index, and market chart. This feature allows users to experience real-time trading volume, particularly during periods of high market volatility. By utilizing Flash Trade, users can gain valuable insights and make informed trading decisions based on the current market conditions.

Compatible Across Multiple Platforms

The Huobi platform is designed to be compatible with various operating systems, including Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android. This means that users can access and trade on the Huobi exchange using their preferred devices, whether it be desktop computers, laptops, smartphones, or tablets. The availability of multiple platform options ensures that users can conveniently engage in cryptocurrency trading on Huobi, regardless of their device preferences.

Security

Huobi takes security seriously and has implemented robust measures to protect user accounts. Being incorporated in Singapore, where cryptocurrency regulations are advanced, adds to the platform’s credibility. To ensure account security, Huobi offers multiple security mechanisms, including two-factor authentication (2FA). Users can choose to enable 2FA through SMS or authenticator apps, providing an additional layer of protection against unauthorized access. These security features help safeguard user accounts and enhance the overall security of the platform.

Swift Customer Service

Huobi is known for its responsive customer service team that promptly addresses customer issues. Contacting the customer support team is a hassle-free process, ensuring quick resolution to any trading-related problems. The team is committed to providing timely assistance, aiming to respond to customer inquiries within one hour. This dedication to customer support ensures that users can receive the help they need in a timely manner, enhancing their overall trading experience on the platform.

Services Offered by Huobi Exchange

An Extensive List of Trading Pairs

Huobi stands out among exchanges by offering a comprehensive range of digital currencies for trading. With a focus on projects from Asia, Huobi provides a platform that attracts upcoming projects from countries like Korea, China, and Singapore. This emphasis on bringing in projects from these regions makes Huobi an ideal destination for traders interested in exploring and investing in the Asian crypto market.

User Protection Fund

Similar to other reputable exchanges such as Binance, Huobi has established its own form of insurance known as the ‘User Protection Fund’. This fund serves as a safeguard for users in the event of thefts, hacks, or other unforeseen circumstances that could impact their wallets. By allocating profits to this fund, Huobi provides an added layer of security and assurance to its customers, ensuring that their funds are protected and that they have recourse in case of any unexpected incidents while trading on the platform.

Derivatives and Margin Trading

Recognizing the evolving needs of cryptocurrency traders, the founders of Huobi understood that simply offering a trading platform was not sufficient to meet market demands. As a result, Huobi expanded its offerings by introducing its own derivatives products, including Swap trading and Futures markets.

With the launch of these derivative products, Huobi further enhanced its platform to cater to the growing demand for margin trading. Today, Huobi is considered a market leader in providing support for both C2C (Customer-to-Customer) trading and Margin lending, offering users a comprehensive suite of trading options to meet their diverse investment strategies.

Institutional Trading Accounts

Being one of the leading cryptocurrency exchanges, Huobi has successfully attracted institutional investors and traders from around the globe. To meet the specific requirements of these institutional traders, Huobi has established a dedicated trading desk that caters to their needs. This trading desk encompasses both Over-the-counter (OTC) trading and dark pool trading, providing institutional clients with specialized services and enhanced liquidity options.

Smart-Chain Analysis

The Smart-Chain analysis feature offered by Huobi is a valuable addition to the platform. It provides users with in-depth insights into various blockchain assets, along with access to over 50 different trade indicators. This feature allows users to make informed trading decisions by leveraging comprehensive data and analysis of the market.

Huobi API

Huobi Global provides users with the ability to code their own cryptocurrency trading bots using the Huobi API key or REST API. To start trading with the Huobi API, users must generate their unique API key, which should be kept confidential and not shared with anyone else. This API key serves as the access point for users to connect their trading bots with the Huobi platform and execute trades programmatically.

Huobi Exchange Registration Process

To open an account on the Huobi exchange platform, the process is straightforward. However, it’s important to choose the appropriate version of the exchange based on your location. For example, users in the United States should use Huobi US or HBUS. To begin trading on the platform, follow these steps:

1. Visit the relevant Huobi website for your location.
2. Click on the “Sign Up” or “Register” button to initiate the registration process.
3. Fill in the required information, including your email address and a secure password.
4. Agree to the terms and conditions of the platform.
5. Complete any additional verification steps, such as email verification or identity verification, if required.
6. Once your account is created, log in using your registered email and password.
7. Set up additional security measures, such as two-factor authentication (2FA), to enhance the security of your account.
8. Deposit funds into your account using the available deposit options.
9. Familiarize yourself with the trading interface, tools, and features of the platform.
10. Start trading by selecting your desired cryptocurrency pairs and placing buy or sell orders.

Remember to exercise caution and conduct thorough research before engaging in any trading activities on the Huobi exchange platform.

Sign Up

Once users have identified the appropriate version of the Huobi exchange based on their citizenship, they should click on the “Sign Up” tab located in the upper right-hand corner of the home page. This will redirect them to the registration page, where they will need to complete a registration form by providing basic details such as their email address, phone number, country of residence, and a strong password.

Upon successful registration, the Huobi team will send an activation email to the user’s registered email address. Users must click on the activation link within the email to activate their account. At this stage, users are encouraged to enable 2FA (two-factor authentication) for added security. This involves setting up an additional layer of protection, typically through a mobile app, to enhance the security of their funds and personal information.

Verification

After successfully creating an account and verifying their email address, Huobi requires users to undergo a name and nationality verification process. It is essential that the user’s name on Huobi matches exactly with the name on their linked bank accounts.

To complete the nationality verification, users are required to upload scanned copies of government-issued identification documents such as passports, driver’s licenses, social insurance numbers, military certificates, etc. In addition to this, users are also requested to provide a selfie holding the same government-issued document used for verification. As part of the verification process, users are further required to provide screenshots of the three most recent deposit transactions made into their Huobi account. These documents and snapshots will be reviewed by the Huobi team for compliance and security purposes.

Begin Trading

Once the verification process is successfully completed, users will be directed to a page that provides a comprehensive summary of the supported cryptocurrencies on the platform. This summary includes information such as the total supply of the coins and their purpose. Having this information readily available makes it convenient for crypto traders to select their preferred cryptocurrency pairs on the Huobi platform.

However, it is important to note that while this feature provides useful information, users should always conduct their own research and analysis before making any trading decisions. While the summary on the Huobi platform can serve as a reference, it is essential to consider additional factors and gather more detailed information about the cryptocurrencies before proceeding with any trading activities.

Huobi Fees & Limits

Huobi offers highly competitive trading fees, which can be attributed to its transition towards a native token-based economy, similar to other platforms like KuCoin, BIbox, and Binance. Previously, Huobi supported both USD and Fiat Yuan withdrawals and deposits. However, following the Chinese government’s imposition of the crypto ban, the platform no longer facilitates fiat withdrawals and deposits. As a result, there are no fees associated with fiat transactions on the platform. Instead, users can conduct deposits and withdrawals exclusively in cryptocurrencies, which helps to keep the fees low and competitive.

Huobi offers competitive and reasonable trading fees for both makers and takers. Regardless of whether you are a maker or a taker, the platform charges a flat fee of 0.2% for each trade. However, it’s important to note that these fees can be reduced based on your trading volume. Huobi operates on a sliding scale fee structure, which means that as your trading volume increases, the fees decrease. This allows high-volume traders to enjoy lower fees, with the possibility of reducing the trading fees to as low as 0.1%.

Huobi Withdrawal Fee and Limits

Huobi charges a withdrawal fee, also known as a mining fee, for processing transactions on the network. The withdrawal fees for the top 7 coins on Huobi are as follows:

– Bitcoin: 0.001 to 0.001 BTC
– Bitcoin Cash: 0.0001 BCH
– EOS: 0.5 EOS
– Ethereum: 0.01 ETH
– XRP: 0.1 XRP
– Litecoin: 0.001 LTC
– Tether: 20 USDT

Regarding the account verification process, our research indicates that users can create an account on Huobi without undergoing KYC (Know Your Customer) compliance for nationality verification. However, this may result in certain restrictions on the withdrawal amount. Unverified account holders are typically allowed to withdraw a maximum amount within a given period. For example, the maximum daily withdrawal limit for unverified accounts is 0.1 BTC (approximately $600) for Bitcoin, 2.5 ETH for Ethereum, 0.6 BCH for Bitcoin Cash, 2500 XRP for Ripple, and 5 LTC for Litecoin.

Huobi Accepted Payment Methods

The Huobi exchange platform supports two fiat currencies, the US Dollar (USD) and the Chinese Yuan (CNY). Additionally, it accepts two prominent digital currencies, Bitcoin (BTC) and Litecoin (LTC).

Huobi Token (HT)

Huobi introduced its native token, HT, which operates on the Ethereum blockchain. Unlike traditional initial coin offerings (ICOs), HT tokens were distributed as part of a loyalty program to account holders, rather than being sold in an ICO. HT token holders can use their tokens to pay for service-fee packages, participate in voting for new tokens on the alternative HADAX platform, and engage in governance decisions on the exchange. Within the first 14 days of its launch, $300 million worth of HT tokens were distributed.

Owning HT tokens provides users with various benefits. They can enjoy a 50% reduction in trading fees on the Huobi exchange, participate in select initial exchange offerings (IEOs), and have a say in the exchange’s governance. Users can easily use HT tokens to reduce trading fees by holding the tokens in their preferred cryptocurrency wallet and selecting the option to use HT for trading fees. This enables them to receive significant discounts on standard trading fees.

Furthermore, Huobi offers VIP memberships that allow users to further reduce their trading fees by up to a maximum of 65%. These memberships provide additional benefits and privileges to users who hold a certain number of HT tokens.

Huobi Mobile Application

Huobi provides a reliable mobile application that is compatible with iOS and Android devices, allowing traders to conveniently engage in trading activities while on the go. The app offers a user-friendly interface that is easy to navigate and provides the same features and functionalities as the desktop version of the platform. With the Huobi mobile app, users can complete the necessary registration and verification processes directly from their mobile phones, ensuring a seamless and efficient user experience. Whether it’s managing accounts, executing trades, or accessing market data, Huobi’s mobile app empowers users to stay connected and trade cryptocurrencies anytime, anywhere.

Huobi Security & Safety

According to numerous online reviews and our own research, it is evident that Huobi prioritizes security on its exchange platform. Being one of the leading and most reputable cryptocurrency exchanges, Huobi has implemented robust security measures to ensure the safety of user assets. The platform is built on an advanced distributed system architecture, with approximately 98% of client funds stored in multi-signature offline cold storage wallets. This additional layer of security provides peace of mind to users. It is worth noting that Huobi has maintained an impeccable record with no reported incidents of cybersecurity hacks since its inception. As a result, Huobi has gained a reputation as a trusted and reliable exchange, adhering to the highest industry standards for financial and cryptocurrency markets worldwide.

Huobi Customer Support

To cater to its vast customer base spread across the globe, Huobi offers customer support services in both English and Mandarin. As stated in a Huobi review, traders have multiple channels through which they can contact the customer service team, including telephone, email, and online chat. Additionally, users have the option to raise support tickets for their inquiries or issues, and these tickets are typically resolved within a few hours. Huobi strives to provide a positive customer support experience by offering various communication channels and ensuring prompt assistance. Furthermore, Huobi maintains an active presence on various social media networks, fostering a community where traders can engage with each other and share constructive solutions.

Huobi Review: Conclusion

In conclusion, the Huobi exchange review establishes that the platform is highly reliable and trustworthy. Among its various notable features, the User Protection Fund stands out as an exceptional offering. Huobi’s commitment to allocating reserve funds for its users as an insurance cover in the event of unforeseen breaches or hacks is commendable. This proactive measure provides an added layer of security and instills confidence in users, showcasing Huobi’s dedication to protecting its customers’ assets.

FAQs

Can US Citizens Trade on Huobi?
Yes, as of late 2020, US citizens can trade on Huobi. However, it is recommended for US-based customers to transfer their assets to HBUS, the U.S. affiliated firm operating under the global brand Huobi.

Is Huobi Safe?
Yes, Huobi is considered a safe platform for trading, and it has gained significant popularity since its launch.

How Do I Exchange Coins on Huobi?
To exchange coins on Huobi, follow these steps:
1. Visit the Huobi exchange homepage and click on the “Trade” button.
2. Select the “Exchange” tab and choose the digital currency and the amount you want to exchange.
3. Confirm the amount and the USDT value of the crypto coins you wish to exchange with Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies.
4. Click on the “Confirm” button to complete the transaction.

Are Huobi Fees High?
According to various online Huobi reviews, the platform’s fees are slightly higher than the global industry average.