The Phemex cryptocurrency exchange is a full-service platform. It offers leverage trading up to 100 times your initial investment amount and accepts deposits from credit cards. Phemex provides ways to earn interest, and it offers free real-time trades for premium members. While U.S. residents can use Phemex, it’s best to confirm if your state allows the exchange, which is a factor that weighs on our rating. Check out our full Phemex review to see if this exchange is right for you.
How Phemex works
Phemex provides different ways to deposit assets. It supports transfers of major cryptocurrencies from other digital wallets and trading exchanges. The current digital currency deposits supported include:
- Bitcoin (BTC)
- Ethereum (ETH)
- Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
- Litecoin (LTC)
- TetherUS (USDT)
The mobile and desktop versions of the Phemex app have an embedded wallet for deposits that can be used for either spot or contract trading.
Top perks
Zero transaction fees for premium members
Paid Premium members enjoy free transaction fees on real-time “spot” trades. For clarity, spot trading is buying or selling assets now. Contract trading is agreeing to buy or sell an asset at a certain price in the future — also known as future trading.
Phemex Premium supports different cryptos including:
- Bitcoin (BTC)
- Ethereum (ETH)
- Ripple (XRP)
- ChainLink (LINK)
- Tether (USDT)
Premium accounts expire at the end of their term. They cannot be cancelled within its period of validity. Automatic subscription renewal can be cancelled at any time. Phemex offers membership subscriptions that range 30 days ($9.99), three months ($19.99), or for a year ($69.99). This zero-transaction fee discount does not apply to any other trading fees or withdrawal expenses.
Phemex offers leveraged trading up to 100x
Phemex provides leveraged trading up to 100 times the amount you contribute. Leverage trading (also known as margin trading) is a method involving borrowed funds from the exchange. The reason to trade via leverage is to increase profit potential. Leveraged trading allows you to trade and profit using much larger asset amounts than with personal funds.
Another advantage of Phemex is that you can practice leveraged trading on the Phemex testnet platform using fake funds to learn. The coins/tokens available for practice trading are BTC, ETH, XRP, LINK, Cardano (ADA), and USDT.
Phemex’s higher-level referral tier, called Phemex All-Star Program, requires a separate, short application process. Once accepted, All-Star affiliates permanently earn a 50% commission on all trading fees collected from members in their network. All-Star members can invite new All Stars to join and build networks beneath them. That triggers an extra 10% commission from their new All-Stars’ referral network into your commission pool.
Earn interest with fixed and flexible accounts
Phemex has two ways to earn interest with your unused Bitcoin and Tether stored on the exchange.
The first is the Flexible Saving product. This allows users to earn interest on cryptos without any long-term commitments. The best feature is the ability to deposit and withdraw at any time, while still experiencing a good rate of return while the funds are held. A user only needs to transfer funds from their Phemex spot wallet to their Flexible Savings account. As soon as funds arrive, the user will receive the corresponding interest calculated per day. The initial deposit and interest can be withdrawn at any time.
The second method is Phemex’s Fixed Saving product, which allows users to earn higher levels of interest on BTC and USDT invested for a specified period of time. Users must subscribe to this option for a fixed period of time before any earnings can be redeemed. The rate of return is higher and more stable than Flexible Saving. Early withdrawal from the Fixed Saving account is not currently supported.
Competition mode gamifies investing for fun and profit
The Phemex platform has a feature that turns investing into a team competition that lasts a set amount of time. Teams have no restrictions for maximum number of members, but must have a minimum of 10 teammates. If a team has less than 10 members by the time the competition starts, the team will be disbanded and members will be randomly assigned to other teams that meet the requirements.
Once member registration opens, Phemex users can sign up to join any team of their choice. A user’s BTC Trading Account net value must be at least 0.005 BTC at the time of registration.
Once the competition begins, if a user’s BTC Trading Account net value is below 0.005 BTC, the initial net value will still be calculated as 0.005 BTC. Once you have successfully joined a team, you can no longer change teams.
Fees overview for Phemex
Wallet withdrawals
According to the Phemex website, standard and premium trial users can only withdraw up to 2 BTC per day. Withdrawal processing times are at 8:00 a.m., 4:00 p.m., and 11:00 p.m. UTC every day. Premium users have no withdrawal limits and enjoy hourly withdrawal reviews. For security purposes, each account must have at least one valid deposit and must have Google two-factor authentication enabled prior to a withdrawal. Potential Phemex users are encouraged to review the table below. The exchange requires withdrawal fees for all cryptos, except for NEO and USDT-TRC20. There are no fees for account deposits.
Over-the-counter trading
Phemex claims to offer institutional-grade services through its OTC offerings by lowering the fees the larger the transaction. Additionally, Phemex outsources its fiat wire transfers to purchase e-currencies to another company called Legend Trading. Phemex users should research that third party before making any purchases using traditional funds.
Spot trading
Currently, only full premium and premium trial users can spot trade with zero fees. Standard users will have to pay 0.1% in transaction fees (both as takers and makers).
What could be improved
Limited number of supported cryptocurrencies
The cryptocurrency selection on Phemex is limited in comparison to the larger exchanges, some of which have over hundreds of cryptos to choose from. Phemex offers many cryptocurrency trading pairs for spot trading and for contract trading.
No fiat currency support for 80-plus countries
The Phemex OTC service allows for direct purchase of cryptocurrencies for residents of dozens of countries using eight types of fiat money. OTC stands for “over the counter” and describes a secure method of purchasing or selling crypto via wire transfer. Phemex supported fiat currencies include:
- U.S. dollar (USD)
- European Union euro (EUR)
- British pound (GBP)
- Japanese yen (JPY)
- Hong Kong dollar (HKD)
- Australian dollar (AUD)
- Singapore dollar (SGD)
- Mexican peso (MXN)
Fees are charged on fiat-to-crypto purchase and most exchange withdrawals
Phemex claims to offer institutional-grade services through its OTC offerings by lowering the fees for larger transactions.
Additionally, Phemex has minimum withdrawal amounts and withdrawal fees for all but two of the 37 cryptocurrencies it supports. No explanation was given as to why those tokens don’t trigger withdrawal fees. For clarity, tokens are cryptos that run on another coin’s blockchain. For instance, “tokens” such as BAT, OMG, and ZRX all run on the Ethereum blockchain. While “coins” run on their own respective blockchain such as Binance Coin (BNB) and Bitcoin (BTC).
Regarding Phemex withdrawals, several of the one-star reviews on the iPhone app store specifically complained about the withdrawal fees. One reviewer claimed to deposit a small amount of ETH on Phemex to learn the exchange, and when he went to withdraw the total deposit, the flat withdrawal fee for ETH (0.0036 ETH) was more than twice the amount he deposited. Anyone interested in Phemex should carefully review the tables under the fee section before sending any funds.
