BitForex

BitForex Review

What is BitForex?

BitForex is another one of those cryptocurrency exchanges from off-shore (Seychelles). It has been active since 2018. Here's a 29 second video from BitForex's official YouTube-channel showing what they themselves see as the main benefits of the platform:

BitForex has a lot of different coins available for trading. More than 500. There are of course two sides of the same coin here. On a positive note, a large number of supported cryptos means that even the most exotic altcoin trader can stay at this platform and will not have to look elsewhere to cater for all his/her specific trading needs. On the flip side, however, this might also mean that there could be more scam coins available for trading. Exchanges with a smaller number of supported cryptos generally only support the bigger crypto projects, which have all been subject to numerous due diligence processes and that are – in most cases – properly vetted. A newly launched altcoin has not been subject to the same scrutiny.

In any event, we see it as a positive.

24 Hour Trading Volume

On the date of last updating this review (24 January 2023), BitForex had a 24 hour spot trading volume amounting to USD 1.38 billion. This is quite impressive, and it placed this platform on place no. 10 on the relevant date in Coinmarketcap.com's list of exchanges rated based on 24 hour spot trading volume.

BitForex Video Review

Tired of reading? No problem, check out our video review of BitForex here:

Affiliate Program

BitForex also offers an affiliate program. Simply share your link with your referrals, have them sign up using your link, and then sit back and enjoy while you get 30% of all trading fees generated by your referrals. 

Many exchanges only allow affiliate commission for the first 12 months (or sometimes an even shorter period of time) of a referral's activity on the platform. BitForex, however, gives the referring party affiliate commission forever. 

You can start referring here.

BitForex Staking Services

BitForex is also among the crypto exchanges out there that offer so called staking services. The staking rates (so called APYs, Annual Percentage Yields) offered by BitForex are very competitive, beaten only by Huobi. Here’s a table showing their APYs for USDT, BTC and ETH for a 180 day-staking period:

You can start staking at their platform here.

If you’re interested in learning more about staking, the various staking types and where you can get the best staking rates, you can also have a look at our extensive Guide To Ethereum Staking.

BitForex Mobile Support

This platform is not only available for desktops, but also for Android and Apple mobile phones. Most traders in the crypto world today carry out their trades via desktop (around 70% or so). However, there are naturally people out there that want to do it from their smartphones as well. If you’re one of those people, then the BitForex-platform can still be for you, seeing as it has a native mobile application.

BitForex Trading View

Different exchanges have different trading views. And there is no “this overview is the best”-view. You should yourself determine which trading view that suits you the best. What the views normally have in common is that they all show the order book or at least part of the order book, a price chart of the chosen crypto and order history. They normally also have buy and sell-boxes. Before you choose an exchange, try to have a look at the trading view so that you can see that it feels right to you. The below is a picture of the spot trading view at BitForex, obtained on 24 January 2023:

BitForex Fees

BitForex Trading fees

Every trade occurs between two parties: the maker, whose order exists on the order book prior to the trade, and the taker, who places the order that matches (or “takes”) the maker’s order. It is common that exchanges charges makers less, as a way to incentivize orders that create liquidity in the market.

BitForex charges flat spot trading fees. Both takers and makers pay 0.10% per order. When it comes to contracts trading, BitForex charges the takers 0.06% and the makers 0.04%.

According to the most extensive empirical study performed to date on average spot trading fees and average contracts trading fees, it was concluded that the global average spot trading fees were 0.2294% for takers and 0.1854% for makers. With respect to contract trading, averages were 0.0618% for takers and 0.02597% for makers. BitForex's fees are substantially below average when it comes to spot trading, and for contract trading they are below average for takers but above average for makers.

BitForex Withdrawal fees

BitForex charges a withdrawal fee amounting to 0.0005 BTC when you withdraw BTC. This is quite in line with the global industry average. The global industry average is 0.0004599 BTC per BTC-withdrawal according to the abovementioned report.

Deposit Methods and US-investors

US-investors

Why do so many exchanges not allow US citizens to open accounts with them? The answer has only three letters. S, E and C (the Securities Exchange Commission). The reason the SEC is so scary is because the US does not allow foreign companies to solicit US investors, unless those foreign companies are also registered in the US (with the SEC). If foreign companies solicit US investors anyway, the SEC can sue them. There are many examples of when the SEC has sued crypto exchanges, one of which being when they sued EtherDelta for operating an unregistered exchange. Another example was when they sued Bitfinex and claimed that the stablecoin Tether (USDT) was misleading investors. It is very likely that more cases will follow.

BitForex does not state that US-investors can’t trade here. So, we believe that US-investors can trade here. However, all US-investors should form their own opinion on whether state rules or federal rules affects their foreign trading activities or not.

Deposit Methods

At this exchange, you can deposit funds or cryptos in most ways you can prefer. Wire transfer, credit cards, cryptos from other exchanges, it all works. This also makes this exchange an “entry-level exchange” which is necessary for any new crypto investor.