UPEX

UPEX Review

UPEX is an exchange from the Kingdom of Bahrain, focusing on investors from the Middle East and North Africa-region (the MENA-region). The exchange claims to be the "leading cryptocurrency exchange" in the MENA-region.

The exchange launched in 2018. In addition to English, UPEX is also available in Arabic. UPEX states on its website that its parent comapny OneMena is "approved for the financial sandbox by the Central Bank of Bahrain". We are not sure exactly what this means, but we assume that it has something to do with being registered or regulated.

As a few of its advantages, UPEX highlights that it is approved by the Central Bank of Bahrain, that it supports fiat currency deposits and that it has a large number of users (300,000 users): 

Mobile Support

This platform is not only available from your desktop, you can now also access it via your mobile. 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 smart phone as well. If you’re one of those people, then this platform can still be for you.

UPEX Trading View

Different exchanges have different trading views. And there is no “this overview is the best”-view. You should 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 crypto 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 see that it feels right to you. The below is a picture of the trading view at UPEX:

UPEX Fees

UPEX Trading fees

This exchange doesn’t treat takers (persons taking orders off the order book), and makers (persons placing the orders that the first group of persons take off the order book) differently. Instead, they charge something that we call a “flat fee”. This means that they charge both takers and makers the same fee. The fee they charge is 0.20%.

0.20% is an acceptable trading fee. Global industry average has historically been around 0.25%, and UPEX's fees are accordingly a bit lower than the historic global industry average. Today, however, we are today seeing more and more exchanges moving towards lower trading fees, and new industry averages are starting to form around 0.10%. So in comparison with the new emerging trading fee averages, UPEX is a bit on the high end.

UPEX Withdrawal fees

UPEX charges a withdrawal fee amounting to 0.0005 BTC when you withdraw BTC. This is around 40% lower than the industry average, as the industry average is arguably around 0.0008 BTC per BTC-withdrawal.

Deposit Methods and US-investors

Deposit Methods

UPEX does offer fiat currency deposits via wire transfer, but you can’t deposit via credit card. So, if you for any reason would prefer to deposit to your choice of trading platform via your credit card, then you need to find another exchange. Don’t worry though, you can find an exchange that accept credit card deposits and other fiat currencies simply by using our Exchange Finder tool.

However, as UPEX at all accepts fiat currency deposits, it qualifies as an “entry-level exchange” where new investors can take their first steps into the thrilling crypto world.

US-investors

We have not found any information on this exchange's website that indicates that US-investors are restricted from trading here. However, many exchanges do not allow US-investors in spite of not having any clear prohibitions obtainable on their respective websites. Accordingly, we urge any US-investor interested in trading here to perform their own analysis of whether they can indeed trade here or not. Sometimes, exchanges might even allow investors from certain states in the US but not investors from other states in the US. So the answer to whether you can or cannot trade at an exchange if you're from the US is not always obvious. Rather the opposite.