Phemex

Phemex Review

What is Phemex?

Phemex is one of the 20 biggest players in the crypto world. It's from Singapore, and has been around since November 2019. On the date of last updating this review (18 January 2023), Phemex had a 24 hour derivatives trading volume amounting to USD 1.84 billion, making it the 20th biggest exchange according to Coinmarketcap.com.

Phemex Brand Ambassador - Kevin De Bruyne

Phemex has really focused on getting their name out there over the last few years. As of 27 May 2022, one of Phemex's brand ambassadors is none other than the Belgian footballer Kevin De Bruyne. De Bruyne has been an instrumental player behind the success of Manchester City, but also one of the main reasons behind Belgium getting the bronze medal in the 2018 World Cup in Russia. 

We absolutely love this humoristic promotional video that Phemex released with Kevin De Bruyne in December 2022:

Phemex Staking Services

Phemex is also among the crypto exchanges out there that offer so called staking services. They divide their offering into Promotions and Savings. Promotions seem to be a more attractive offering but it’s only available for a limited time period and quickly gets sold out. The flexible rates (belonging to the Savings offering) are much lower than the Promotion rates, but are for a longer period of time.

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.

Bonuses and Pluses 

Phemex offers a number of programs and bonuses to earn cryptos outside of their traditional investment opportunities.

Affiliate Program

Phemex also offer 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, forever.

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. Phemex, however, gives the referring party affiliate commission forever. 

You can start referring here.

Welcome Bonuses

Phemex offers several welcome bonuses, which can be worth a total of $100. For example, if you make a deposit of at least BTC 0.0003 and complete identity verification, you will earn an extra ten bucks.

For following and retweeting Phemex’s Twitter account, you can also earn ten more bucks.

The biggest welcome bonus is when you make your first large deposit. You can earn sixty bucks if you deposit at least any of the following amounts:

• BTC 0.05
• USDT 2,000
• ETH 1.5
• LINK 80
• XTZ 700
• LTC 15

Phemex Membership - Why Should You Get It?

Something that makes Phemex different from other exchanges is their membership offering. The price for a Phemex Membership is USD 9.99 per month, but in return:

• You don't have to pay any spot trading fees;
• You receive a discount on the fees when contract trading;
• Your withdrawals are processed very fast (usually within the hour); and
• You don't have any withdrawal limits.

In order to receive the membership however, you will need to perform KYC.

Phemex 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 standard trading view at Phemex, obtained on 18 January 2023:

Phemex Fees

Summary

The following is a summary of the fees charged by Phemex when you trade and have a 30-day trading volume lower than USD 1 million.

Spot trading taker fees: 0.10%

Spot trading maker fees: 0.10%

Contract trading maker fees: 0.06%

Contract trading taker fees: 0.01%

Withdrawal fee BTC: 0.0004 BTC

Phemex Trading Fees

For both makers and takers, Phemex charges a 0.10% for its spot trading. This fee structure is normally referred to as a "flat fee model". However, you can get those fees eliminated altogether with a membership. Traders with a Phemex Membership will not pay anything for their spot trading at the platform.

For contract trading, however, you will need to pay a fee regardless of whether or not you have a membership. The fees charged by Phemex for the contract trading are 0.06% for takers and 0.01% for makers. Both these fees are below industry average. Industry average for takers in contract trading is 0.0618% and the corresponding fee for makers is 0.02597%, according to this report. 

You can also receive discounts on your trading fees if you achieve a certain trading volume during the preceding 30-day period. The trading levels required - and the associated trading fee discounts - are set out in the below table.

Phemex Withdrawal Fees

To our understanding, Phemex 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. 

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 this platform can still be for you, seeing as it has a native mobile application.

Who Can Sign Up Here?

Phemex does have some geographical limitations. Not everyone in the world can sign up here. They are largely available in Europe, Latin America, and Africa. Here is a list of restricted territories, from which they do not accept users:

• United States of America 
• United Kingdom
• Québec (Canada)
• Cuba
• Crimea
• Sevastopol
• Iran
• Syria
• North Korea
• South Korea
• Sudan
• China
• Hong Kong 
• Republic of Seychelles
• Bermuda 

No Identity Verification Needed

Phemex sticks out for not needing to verify your identity in order to use the basic functions of the site. You can buy, sell, trade, and even withdrawal without completing KYC protocols. 

If you want to become a so called "premium member" of the site and enjoy free trades, or if you want to claim any of the bonuses, you would then need to verify your identity.

Deposit Methods

In order to trade here, you must have cryptocurrency to begin with. The only asset class you can deposit to Phemex is cryptocurrency. However, if you really like Phemex but you don’t have any crypto yet, you can easily start an account with an exchange that has “fiat on-ramps” (an exchange where you can deposit regular cash), buy crypto there, and then transfer it from such exchange to this exchange. Use our Exchange Filters to easily see which platforms that allow wire transfer or credit card deposits.