Hoo Exchange

Hoo Exchange Review

What is Hoo Exchange?

Hoo Exchange is a cryptocurrency exchange registered in Hong Kong. It has been up and running since May 2018.

Hoo Exchange Video Review

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

Chaince and OAX

Some of you might have heard of the exchanges Chaince and OAX. These were actually acquired by Hufu Technologies, the company owning the Hoo Exchange, and merged into the Hoo Exchange. 

Trading Volume

On the date of first writing this review (7 August 2020), the platform stated on its website that they supported 212 different cryptocurrencies. This means that many of the more exotic altcoins are supported here as well. 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 here. 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.

On the same date, the platform stated that its 24 hour trading volume was approx. USD 615 million (USD 615.17 million). We have not been able to verify this trading volume, but if it is correct, it is a very impressive trading volume and shows that the users of this platform do not need to worry about liquidity issues.

However, on the date of last updating this review (2 December 2021), the trading volume was USD 320 million.

Hoo Exchange 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 Hoo Exchange’s trading platform is also mobile compatible. You can download it to/from both the AppStore and Google Play:

Leveraged Trading

Hoo Exchange also offers leveraged trading to its users. As far as we can tell, they only offer perpetuals (i.e. futures without expiry dates). The maximum leverage level for their perpetuals is 100x (i.e. one hundred times the relevant amount).

A word of caution might be useful for someone contemplating leveraged trading. Leveraged trading can lead to massive returns but – on the contrary – also to equally massive losses.

For instance, let’s say that you have 10,000 USD on your trading account and bet 100 USD on BTC going long (i.e., increasing in value). You do so with 100x leverage. If BTC then increases in value with 10%, if you had only bet 100 USD, you would have earned 10 USD if you simply held Bitcoin. Now, as you bet 100 USD with 100x leverage, you have instead earned an additional 1,000 USD (990 USD more than if you had not leveraged your deal). On the other hand, if BTC decreases in value with 10%, you have lost 1,000 USD (990 USD more than if you had not leveraged your deal). So, as you might imagine, there is potential for huge upside but also for huge downside…

Hoo Exchange 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 Hoo Exchange:

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.

OTC-desk

Let’s say that you hold a very large amount of a certain cryptocurrency. You want to sell that amount. Should you do that on a regular trading platform like everyone else? Maybe not. One of many reasons for executing large trades outside of the normal market place is that large trades may affect the market price of the relevant crypto. Another reason, which is connected to the foregoing, is that the order book might be too thin to execute the relevant trade. A solution to these problems is what we call OTC-trading (Over The Counter).

Hoo Exchange offers OTC-trading, which might be helpful to all the “whales” out there (and maybe also to all the “dolphins”).

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.

It is unclear whether Hoo Exchange permits US investors or not. We have read their Terms and Conditions and have not found an explicit prohibition of US investors. We urge any US investors to form their own opinion on the permissibility of their trading at Hoo Exchange though.

Hoo Exchange Fees

Hoo Exchange Trading fees

Every time you place an order, the exchange charges you a trading fee. The trading fee is normally a percentage of the value of the trade order. Many exchanges divide between takers and makers. Takers are the one who “take” an existing order from the order book. Makers are the ones who add orders to the order book, thereby making liquidity at the platform.

Hoo Exchange charges what we call flat fees, meaning that both the takers and the makers pay the same fee: 0.10%. These taker fees are somewhat below the global industry averages for centralized exchanges. Sure, industry averages have historically been around 0.20-0.25% but we now see new industry averages emerging around 0.10%-0.15%.

Hoo Exchange Withdrawal fees

To our understanding, Hoo Exchange does not charge any fees of their own when you withdraw crypto from your account at the platform. Accordingly, the only fee you have to think about when withdrawing are the network fees. The network fees are fees paid to the miners of the relevant crypto/blockchain, and not fees paid to the exchange itself. Network fees vary from day to day depending on the network pressure. In general though, only paying the network fees should be considered as below global industry average when it comes to fee levels for crypto withdrawals. 

Deposit Methods

In addition to depositing cryptocurrency to the platform, Hoo Exchange also lets you deposit fiat currency. However, only through wire transfer (not credit or debit card). Seeing as fiat currency deposits are possible at this trading platform, this platform qualifies as an “entry-level exchange”, making it an exchange where new crypto investors can start their journey into the exciting crypto world.