Swaplab

Swaplab Review

What is Swaplab?

Swaplab is a crypto platform registered in the Seychelles that has been operational since 2019. This platform's offering is easy to describe: you can swap any of the following cryptos against each other in a fast and secure manner: BTC, ETH, LTC, XMR, ZEC, DASH, NANO, XTZ, BCH, BTG, SKY, XZC, XVG, XEM, MANA and ATOM. The platform is non-custodial, meaning that it never holds any assets of its users.

The platform is available in both English and Korean. 

Swaplab Advantages

As main advantages with the platform, the platform itself states that it is fast, easy and secure. These three factors are factors that we always welcome here at Cryptowisser.com. 

OTC

Let’s say that you hold a very large amount of a certain cryptocurrency. You want to sell that amount. Should you do that in the ordinary orderbook at 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).

Swaplab offers OTC-services to its users, which might be helpful to all the “whales” out there (and maybe also to all the “dolphins”).

Swaplab 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 cryptocurrency 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 ascertain that it feels right to you.

The swap interface at Swaplab is in our opinion very easy to understand if you’re new to crypto, yet it might not offer all the advanced buy/sell features more experienced traders might look for. It is, however, effective and intuitive. Here’s a peek at Swaplab’s swap interface:

Swaplab Fees

Swaplab Trading fees

When you initiate a swap at Swaplab, you "send" crypto. In return, you "get" crypto. When sending at the platform, the purchase price offered by Swaplab will be higher than the market price. Conversely, when selling to the platform, the purchase price offered will be lower than the market price. The mark-up or mark-down is not specified anywhere. On the date of first writing this review (10 January 2021), we made a calculation by comparing the prices offered by Swaplab to the market prices listed by Coinmarketcap.com. These were the results:

Floating Rate Mark-up: 1.00%

Fixed Rate Mark-up: 2.39%

For comparison purposes in our Exchange List, we have used the floating rate mark-up as the taker and maker fee in our database. Please be advised though that part of the fees listed above consist of the trading fees charged by the relevant liquidity provider that Swaplab uses when executing your order.

It is difficult to compare the fees charged by Swaplab with the industry average trading fee at a regular centralized exchange (0.217% for takers and 0.164% for makers), seeing as they offer another type of service than most centralized exchanges do. But to conclude on the trading fees, there are cheaper ways to swap crypto than through using the Swaplab platform. Swaplab's advantages are speed and convenience, rather than price.

Swaplab Withdrawal fees

Swaplab doesn’t charge any additional fees to withdraw coins. However, there are always network fees involved with transferring crypto, which is why we have listed the network fees under the withdrawal fee section of this exchange.

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.

Swaplab 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.

Deposit Methods

In order to trade here, you must have cryptocurrency to begin with. The only asset class you can use for swapping at Swaplab is cryptocurrency. However, if you really like Swaplab 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.