OKEx is a cryptocurrency exchange that was founded in 2017 by Hong Kong-based Xu Mingxing. The company still retains offices in Hong Kong but is now headquartered in Malta due to the nation’s favorable approach to crypto regulation.
OKEx is a popular choice for many traders particularly those looking to trade in a wide variety of altcoins with the platform consistently trying to support the listing of the newest ICO tokens in the marketplace. They are also known to cater very well to Asian-based traders with support for currencies like the Chinese Yuan that may be difficult to find elsewhere.
Investment Products
This is an area where OKEx does impressively well. In spot crypto trading, they offer more than 150 coins that when combined with the various currency pairing made available total more than 450. This is a number that is increasing all the time with new coins and tokens coming on board at a steady rate thanks to the support of the trading platform. They also provide their own OKB native coin that you can utilize for a number of exchange-related benefits.
Margin trading is also well-supported by OKEx with 10:1 leverage available if you are trading in the spot market, or a huge 100:1 if you are trading contracts like futures which are also available for trading through OKEx on a handful of major markets like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin.
An added feature that may also appeal to many traders is the ability to lend or stake your coins and earn interest, or to borrow coins from other traders for set interest rates over time. These services are managed and maintained by OKEx and provide an extra layer of flexibility for you as a trader.
Trust
As far as OKEx is concerned, this is something of a divisive issue. On one hand, they are one of the foremost exchanges in the world by crypto trading volume. Their data support this, and they are also backed by a number of other high-profile names in the crypto space including a recent partnership with Lightning Labs to integrate the Bitcoin Lightning Network on the platform.
Being headquartered in Malta they also have the strength of a location that is known for hosting some of the most reputed names in the industry, and generally has a very transparent and well-perceived status in the crypto world. From a user perspective, the company also abides by all required KYC and AML regulations as well as requiring 2-factor authentication to access the exchange.
On the other side, there have been several issues surrounding the platform founder and other backers of the exchange, particularly from China. This includes multiple arrests with the most recent of Xu being at the end of 2020 amid fraud accusations which led to a temporary suspension of account withdrawals on the platform. There have also been previous reports of system hacks and loss of crypto from several users.
Trading & Fees
Another area where OKEx manages to excel is in fees. Even in an industry where trading fees are typically low across the board, OKEx has some of the best value with its tiered system. These tiers are based on your trading volume over the previous 30 days but even at their highest point come in very strongly.
The highest possible trading fees you will encounter are 0.15% as a maker fee, and 0.2% as a taker fee. This ranks very well even among the most competitive fee offerings in the sector and can drop to as little as 0.02% as a taker fee with negative fees of -0.01% for makers at their highest tier.
Deposits are generally free of any fees whilst withdrawals also attract a minimal fee when compared with even the most longstanding of rival exchanges. You can expect withdrawal fees of around 0.0004 on Bitcoin, and 0.003 on Ethereum.
Trading Platform
The OKEx trading platform is available as either web-based or a desktop trading platform while also being compatible with mobile trading on both Android and iOS devices.
As you would expect from such a popular and high volumes exchange, the platforms themselves are quite user-friendly in terms of layout and should be easy to pick up in all forms for each level of trader from new to experienced.
As a beginner, the usability of the platforms and ease of navigation throughout both the site and trading platforms themselves is a positive point, while for more experienced traders there are positives to be taken from the depth of research capability and extensive range of tools to offer on this end from OKEx.
Customer Support
OKEx offers a good variety in terms of customer support. At the frontline, you will find a helpful team available to contact through email, web-based live chat, or on a variety of phone numbers depending on your location with support available in a number of languages.
The support team does their best to provide relevant answers within a fast timeframe and proved to be adequately successful under testing. Beyond this direct contact service, you will also find a growing educational infrastructure with a lot of value to offer traders, particularly those new to the industry, through the OKEx academy.
Here you will find a good degree of content in the form of articles, videos, and tutorials all of which are available to traders on the platform and can go a long way to answering some of the most common trading questions you are likely to have.
Summary
In all, OKEx is an excellent platform in almost all aspects when we consider trading availability, costs, fees, and the depth of markets they provide. Within these categories, they can certainly rival some of the very best in the industry and often come out on top. This is further demonstrated by the high volumes regularly traded on the exchange. The one major question mark that continues to hang over ONEx is in relation to the level of trust in those behind the exchange. Once these issues have been addressed, there is no reason why the platform can’t continue to go from strength to strength as a great trading choice for all.
