Blockchain
Bitfinex Review: How Legit is the Exchange?

11 months ago By Oluoma Aneke

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Bitfinex is one of the numerous cryptocurrency exchanges available. Crypto traders are always on the lookout for the best exchange to trade with to avoid experiencing losses due to the wrong choice. 

Some exchanges have wonderful reviews while some can’t be trusted.

So, while searching for the best exchange to trade with, what do you look out for? In this article, we will go through Bitfinex to evaluate the features, pros, and cons.

What is Bitfinex?

Bitfinex is one of the digital asset trading platforms that offers state-of-the-art services for global community traders and digital currency traders.

The exchange is one of the large cryptocurrency exchanges that support a large ecosystem of cryptocurrency products and trading options like spot trading, margin accounts, derivatives, and even paper trading. Whether you are a beginner or an expert trader, the exchange is suitable for you.

The exchange was founded in 2012, so it is said to be one of the oldest cryptocurrency exchanges. Since 2012, it has remained on top of the ladder.

Despite its long existence, many people are still skeptical about trading with the exchange because of the bad past they had. Bitfinex has been associated with some shady actions in the past. Therefore, it will be left for you to decide if you can still give them a chance.

Features of Bitfinex

  1.    Fees overview –  fees are moderate and affordable. They have low taker/maker fees. Their fees favorably compete against other Crypto platforms. The fees when trading vary. Normal traders can trade between 0.1% to 0.2%. 

Active traders have the chance of paying lower fees. If you are trading up to $7.5 million every month, you will be able to enjoy free trade. Also, people with USDt LEO in their accounts can experience discounts on fees. 

When you have $1 LEO in your account, you are entitled to 15% off-taker fees for crypto-to-stable coin and crypto-to-crypto trades. The higher the amount of LEO in your account, the higher the discount fee you will enjoy.

  1. Account opening – like other cryptocurrency exchanges, to get started, you will have to create an account. Follow these steps to create an account

  • Visit Bitfinex.com and click on open account

  • A sign-up page will appear, fill in your email, username, password, and time zone.

  • Go to your email and confirm your email

  • With the link in the confirmation email, finish the rest of the account creation.

  • Going further, to ensure that your account is secure, enable two-factor authentication. You will find it in the upper right corner. Scroll to “manage account”

  • The next is to verify your account. This takes about 2-3 days. For the account verification, submit your name, and bank information, and fill out a KYC form. You can find the verification section in the upper right corner > manage account> drop-down menu.

  1. Customer service – There is only one support option and that is through email. You can as well check the exchange help and FAQ sections to see if your questions can be answered. 

Unlike other platforms that offer live chat or chatbot options, Bitfinex doesn’t offer that. So, you might not always get immediate help.

  1. Managing your Bitfinex account – you can access your account through your dashboard, and mobile app. The mobile app is available for both iOS and Android users. The exchange set their account to be the same as online banking where users get to manage their account. 

You can easily manage and navigate your account especially if you have a good experience with online financial accounts. 

To log into your online account, you need your username and password. Alternatively, you can use the API provided by Bitfinex. The advanced charting tools and order book customization together with other features can be accessed through the web or mobile app. 

You can also track your trading activity by accessing the Order and Order History at the bottom of the dashboard

Pros of trading with Bitfinex

  1.  Low trading fees - The exchange has a low trading fee that can compete with other platforms. Bitfinex offers low maker/taker fees. Being an active trader on Bitfinex can also fetch you low fees.

  2. Advanced features – the advanced features available make trading easy. There are advanced features like margin trading, derivatives, and others.

  3. Suitable for both old and new traders – Bitfinex made it easy for both new and old traders to easily navigate their sites. If you are new to trading, you can decide to try the platform using paper trading to enable you to test your trading strategy before investing. It is completely risk-free. Also, the mobile app is easy to use.

  4.  Offers a wide selection of cryptocurrencies – Bitfinex offers cryptocurrencies that are on-demand. You will have the choice of selecting from a wide range of cryptocurrencies.

  5.  Keeps user accounts safe – Bitfinex puts so many measures in place to ensure that users' assets are safe and well secure. With the two-step authentication process, it will be very difficult for your account to be hacked or tampered with.

Bitfinex also offers withdrawal protection features and advanced APIs for connecting third-party services. Also, Bitfinex uses cold storage to store assets. When assets are stored offline (cold storage), it will be very difficult for hackers to penetrate.

Cons of trading with Bitfinex

  1.  Bad record in the past – Bitfinex has suffered two hack issues in the past. Also, the previous government was fined for being involved in some illegal/deceptive practices.

However, the exchange has improved and put some measures in place to ensure stronger security. The choice of trusting them now lies with you.

  1. Bitfinex once engaged in a suspicious transaction with Tether -

Bitfinex has a relationship with Tether. Both Bitfinex and Tether were once involved in some suspicious transactions.

  1. Not available in some places – Bitfinex is not available in the USA, Crimea, Syria, Iran, North Korea, and Cuba. If you reside in any of these countries, you can try other exchanges.

Cryptocurrencies available in Bitfinex

The exchange supports over 165 cryptocurrencies and it supports popular ones. Some of these Cryptocurrencies include

  • Ethereum, (ETH)

  • Bitcoin (BTC)

  • Tether

  • Litecoin (LTC)

  • Terra

  • Ripple (XRP)

  • Monero (XMR)

  • Dash (DASH)

  • EOS (EOS)

Is your Cryptocurrency safe with Bitfinex?

Your cryptocurrency can be considered safe because of the tight security measures they put in place. You still have a role to play to ensure the full protection of your assets.

The first thing you should have in mind is that while trading, it is generally advised that you trade what you can afford to lose. The same is also applicable while trading with Bitfinex.

Also, while creating your account, ensure that you do the two-step verification. The exchange has made it available, it is left for you to maximize it by doing the verification.

Also, to ensure that you don’t make mistakes while trading, you can ask questions when you get confused, to avoid being the cause of your problem.


Conclusion

Bitfinex can be considered moderately safe and convenient because of its tight security measures and the wide range of cryptocurrencies they offer. If you are in a region that does not support trading with Bitfinex, you can find other exchanges to trade with to avoid having your accounts and assets frozen. The choice of trading on the platform is solely yours to make. Before you decide on whether to trade with them, it is better you do extensive research and also check other exchanges available.



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