PocketBits

PocketBits Review

What is PocketBits?

PocketBits is a centralized cryptocurrency exchange from India that launched in 2017. 

On this platform, you can trade 102 different cryptocurrencies (as of the date of first writing this review, 5 March 2022). A large number of supported cryptos means that even more exotic altcoin trader can stay at a platform and won't have to look elsewhere to cater for all his/her specific trading needs. 

Affiliate Program

PocketBits has an affiliate program. Through this program, you can earn up to 0.10% of "every trade" generated from your referrals. With "every trade", they mean 0.10% of the trade, not 0.10% of the trading fees generated by the trade which is more common. So this is a quite competitive affiliate deal.

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 the trading platform from PocketBits is also mobile compatible as apps for both iPhones and Android users.

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.

PocketBits does not allow US-investors on its exchange. So if you’re from the US and would like to engage in crypto trading, you will have to look elsewhere. Luckily for you, if you go to the Exchange List and use our Exchange Filters, you can sort the exchanges based on whether or not they accept US-investors.

PocketBits 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 concerning 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 PocketBits:

It is up to you – and only you – to decide if the above trading view is suitable for 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.

PocketBits Fees

PocketBits 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.

PocketBits claims to not charge any trading fees whatsoever, i.e. 0.00% per trade. 

In the largest and most recent empirical study performed on industry average crypto trading fees, we found that the industry average spot trading taker fee was 0.2318% and the corresponding spot trading maker fee was 0.1904%.

Needless to say, not chargin any trading fees at all are substantially below the global industry average and a very competitive feature of this platform.

PocketBits Withdrawal fees

When withdrawing BTC from PocketBits' trading platform, you will have to pay 0.0006 BTC. According to the most recent empirical withdrawal fee study that has been made, the industry average BTC-withdrawal fee in Q4 2021 was 0.0005 BTC per BTC-withdrawal. This means that PocketBits' withdrawal fees are ever so slightly above the industry average.

On the date of first writing this review (5 March 2022), 0.0006 BTC corresponded to approx. 23.50 US dollars.

Deposit Methods

PocketBits offers wire transfer as a deposit method, but you can’t deposit via credit card. The fact that PocketBits offers you the opportunity to deposit fiat currency at all does however make it an “entry-level exchange”.