Bybit

ByBit Review

What is Bybit?

Bybit is one of the absolute key players in the crypto exchange world and it's been around since March 2018. The platform is registered in the British Virgin Islands and is regularly one of the biggest exchanges in terms of 24 hour contract trading volume (only Binance is regularly bigger).

On the date of last updating this review (13 January 2023), Bybit had a 24 hour trading volume amounting to USD 12.9 billion, spread out over 191 different trading pairs, according to Coinmarketcap.com. 

The focus of the platform is their derivatives trading, although they also offer spot trading, staking and other services (more on that below). 

Bybit in the World

You might have seen the name Bybit every here and there without being able to recall where. We'll help you. Bybit engages in a lot of different marketing activities. For instance, they are the main sponsor of the RedBull F1-team, the German football club Borussia Dortmund and the Japanese football club Avispa Fukuoka. This speaks volumes of the vast amount of capital that Bybit deploys in getting their name out there.

Earning Passive Income

The Bybit exchange offers a few different ways to earn passive income.

Launchpool Staking

The Launchpool at Bybit allows you to stake tokens and thus earn interest on them. This can be done with tokens that work with Proof-of-Stake (PoS), a more efficient version of validating than the original Proof-of-Work (PoW). You can think of it as working like a government bond. You let the blockchain use your tokens for a while, and they pay you for it. 

21 different cryptos were available to stake when we last checked (17 January 2023), both bigger and smaller projects. The below picture shows a number of different coins and their staking APYs, where the staking period has been set to “Flexible”:

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. 

DeFi Mining

Decentralized finance (DeFi) mining works a lot like staking. You put in some tokens and start to earn a yield. Normally mining requires a ton of computing power and a source of very cheap electricity.

Decentralized finance allows you to do this simply by putting in some tokens. This is different from staking in that there are minimum deposits and a staking period. However, your yield will be higher if you go with this option.

Bybit Referral Program

Bybit has a great referral program. Probably one of the best out there. The process is simple:

1. You sign up to the platform (you can sign up here);
2. You obtain your link from your account, and give it to friends:
3. The friends sign up and start trading, and you make money.

The rates offered in the Bybit Referral Program go as high as 30%, which is very impressive.

Bybit Supported Cryptos

With around 200 cryptocurrencies to choose from, you will probably be able to find all the currencies you are looking for. This is quite the range. Though there will inevitably be some that are not here, in general, you will be able to find and trade both major and minor cryptos. Here's a list of the supported cryptos at Bybit.

Plus, they have a launchpad that gives their users early access to soon-to-be-released cryptos. You can commit money to a subscription of the token. While this comes with some risk, as the token is not even launched yet, many will take off in value as soon as they are released, making this a nice feature you will not see everywhere. 

You cannot store fiat currencies on Bybit, so when you make a deposit, you will have to transfer using a cryptocurrency. You can use an entry-level exchange to do so. You can find one using our exchange list.

Alternatively, you can use Bybit’s Fiat gateway - a service provided by a third-party provider. 

Bybit Trading View

Every trading platform has a trading view. The trading view is the part of the exchange’s website where you can see the price chart of a certain cryptocurrency and what its current price is. There are normally also buy and sell boxes, where you can place orders with respect to the relevant crypto, and, at most platforms, you will also be able to see the order history (i.e., previous transactions involving the relevant crypto). Everything in the same view on your desktop. There are of course also variations to what we have now described. This is the trading view at Bybit (obtained on 13 January 2023):

It is up to you – and only you – to decide if the above trading view is suitable to you. Finally, there are usually many different ways in which you can change the settings to tailor the trading view after your very own preferences.

Trading

Bybit has lots of trading options. In addition to the traditional spot trading, they also have P2P, leveraged, and derivative trading. 

Derivatives

One of Bybit’s main attractions is its derivative functions. A derivative is an instrument priced based on the value of another asset (normally stocks, bonds, commodities etc). In the cryptocurrency world, derivatives accordingly derive its values from the prices of specific cryptocurrencies. 

For example, Bybit has future derivatives, which means that the holder of the derivative agrees to buy certain tokens at a certain price in the future. 

They also offer perpetual derivative trading. This is similar to a future derivative in that you buy and sell tokens at an agreed-upon price, but these do not expire. They are increasing in popularity and tend to trade closer to the current price of the asset compared to futures. 

Bybit P2P

In January 2022, Bybit opened up its P2P offering to all of its users. P2P can be compared to an online store for the relevant cryptocurrencies. Investors at the exchange post different “ads”, where they offer a price quote for a specific cryptocurrency. This ad can be for both buying or selling or either one of those actions. If you as another buyer/seller opine that the offer is good, you can just take it. Bybit highlights that with Bybit P2P, you can "complete transactions at lightning speed in a safe and secure trading environment, and at optimal prices agreed upon by you and the merchant."

Leveraged Trading 

As mentioned above, Bybit allows you to trade with leverage. This means that you can receive a higher exposure towards a certain crypto’s price increase or decrease, without actually holding the necessary amount of assets. You do this by “leveraging” your trade. In simple terms, this means that you borrow from the exchange to bet more. You can get as much as 100x leverage on this platform.

For instance, let’s say that you have 100 USD in your trading account and you bet this amount on BTC going long (i.e., going up in value). If BTC then increases in value by 10%, you would have earned 10 USD. If you had used 100x leverage, your initial 100 USD position becomes a 10,000 USD position so you instead earn an extra 1,000 USD (990 USD more than if you had not leveraged your deal). However, the more leverage you use, the smaller the distance to your liquidation price becomes. This means that if the price of BTC moves in the opposite direction (goes down for this example), then it only needs to go down a very small percentage for you to lose the entire 100 USD you started with. Again, the more leverage you use, the smaller the opposite price movement needs to be for you to lose your investment. So, as you might imagine, the balance between risk and reward in leveraged deals is quite fine-tuned (there are no risk-free profits).

Spot Trading

Spot trading is when you buy a cryptocurrency in the moment at the prevailing rates. It is the most simple type of trading and was launched on the ByBit portal sometime in July of 2021. This reveals that their main focus is on the contract or derivative trading. However, their spot trading is still quite nice. Their trading view is fairly standard, and they offer markets on plenty of cryptos.

Bybit Fees

Summary on Fees

Bybit trading fees vary depending on your membership level and the type of trading you are doing. Your level is determined by your asset balance and your 30-day trading volume. To summarize, the contract trading fees range from 0.06% to 0.01% for takers and 0.01% to 0.00% (i.e. free) for makers. Spot trading fees ranges from 0.10% to 0.02% for takers and 0.10% to 0.00% (i.e. free) for makers.

More details on the fees below.

Bybit Trading Fees

There are 7 membership levels:

• Non-VIP
• VIP 1
• VIP 2
• VIP 3
• Pro 1
• Pro 2
• Pro 3 

For contracts or derivatives, trading non-VIP members have a 0.06% fee for takers and a 0.01% for makers. This drops to 0.03% and 0% respectively at the highest membership level. 

According to the most extensive industry report ever prepared on contract trading average fees, the global average contracts trading taker fee and maker fee was 0.0618% for takers and 0.026% for makers. This means that Bybit's fees are quite on point with average for takers, but substantially lower for makers. Good work, Bybit! 

As for the spot trading, no matter your membership level, the fees you will have to pay at the Bybit platform are substantially below the global industry averages (0.2294% and 0.1854% according to the same report).

Bybit Withdrawal fees

When withdrawing BTC from the Bybit trading platform, you will have to pay 0.0005 BTC per BTC withdrawal. This is quite in line with the current global industry average, being 0.0004599 BTC per BTC withdrawal.

VIP Membership

Bybit has launched a VIP program for those who trade larger amounts. Your membership level is determined by your 30-day trading volume and your asset balance: 

According to their website, they offer the following perks to VIP members:

- An exclusive dedicated VIP Ambassador

- Priority access to Bybit customer support live chat

- Exclusive gifts when you join the VIP program

- Exclusive trading fee rate

- Early access with a 1-on-1 introduction, and private walkthroughs to new product launches

- Exclusive invites to special events and campaigns

Who Can Sign Up Here?

Bybit is available in most countries, however, they are not available in the United States. The Securities and Exchange Commission is a difficult regulatory agency, so many exchanges simply avoid it altogether. 

Users from around the world can sign up, except for the following excluded jurisdictions:

• United States 
• Mainland China 
• Singapore
• Quebec (Canada) 
• North Korea 
• Cuba 
• Iran 
• Crimea 
• Sevastopol 
• Sudan 
• Syria 
• Donetsk 
• Luhansk

Available Languages

Something you might find helpful if you're not proficient in English is that the platform and all its content is also offered in 19 other languages than English, making the Bybit offering truly global. Here are the languages available for the Bybit-users (as of 13 January 2023, more might follow):

NFT Marketplace

ByBit has an extensive non-fungible token marketplace. Here you can gain early access to metaverse products. There are also zero transaction fees in their NFT marketplace. They pride themselves on hosting early access to NFTs from creators around the world. 

Mobile Support

Most crypto traders feel that desktop give the best conditions for their trading. The computer has a bigger screen, and on bigger screens, more of the crucial information that most traders base their trading decisions on can be viewed at the same time. The trading chart will also be easier to display. However, not all crypto investors require desktops for their trading. Some prefer to do their crypto trading via their mobile phone. If you are one of those traders, you’ll be happy to learn that Bybit's trading platform is also mobile compatible.

Who is Bybit for? 

Bybit is a trustworthy exchange with lots of functions that are unique or harder to find. The early access to tokens, the integrated NFT marketplace, and contract trading.  With the addition of spot trading and the Bybit Fiat gateway, they are also more to new users than ever. Accordingly, we'd probably say that Bybit is for everyone.

Create your account and get USD 600 in welcome rewards here.

Good luck!