Last update: Jun 28, 2022

BaseFEX Review for Canada

Let’s take a closer look at BaseFEX to find out everything about the platform’s key features, available assets, fees, pros, and cons.

  • BaseFEX


    1. Operating Since 2018
    2. Cryptocurrencies Supported 7
    3. Fees Vary
    4. Deposit Methods Bitcoin and Tether only
    5. Fiat Currencies Not supported
    6. Verification Methods 2FA and SMS
    7. Margin Trading Yes
    8. Futures Trading Yes

Crypto trading has gone a long way from the first Bitcoin (BTC) exchanges back in 2010. Crypto exchanges started offering multi-currency trading options and complex market order types as soon as altcoins such as Litecoin (LTC), and Ethereum (ETH) became popular.

The majority of popular crypto exchanges such as Kraken and Binance offer spot market orders for novice traders, along with advanced high leverage trading. BaseFEX.com is a young platform that specializes in crypto trading and pro traders. It allows users to trade with a select number of global digital currencies while using massive leverage.

BaseFEX isn’t a platform for those new to crypto trading. The exchange is recommended only for professional traders who are familiar with crypto market volatility and can read detailed price charts.

BaseFEX Trading Platform: Bitcoin (BTC), and Crypto Derivatives Trading at up 100X Leverage

BaseFEX, a cryptocurrency derivatives exchange, was created by Jesse Wu and a group made up of crypto veterans. Jesse Wu is a serial entrepreneur with in-depth experience in IT as well as forex trading. The Basefex platform is registered in the Seychelles Islands, but the headquarters of the company is located in Hong Kong.

BaseFEX does not offer a wide range of cryptocurrency trading pairs, like btcusd. Users are unable to quickly place asset swaps, execute spot trading orders or perform instant buy/sell operations. BaseFEX is specifically geared towards advanced crypto brokers who have extensive knowledge about the crypto market, as well as high-risk appetites.

BaseFEX allows users to enter crypto futures contracts with up to 100x leverage on their trading positions. Futures trading means that you’re practically betting on the direction a certain asset’s price is going to go, either within a limited period of time, or just the general direction of the price change, without time limits.

Although users can open Bitcoin futures trading contracts with a maximum leverage of 100x, they can also be entered into perpetual contracts that have a maximum leverage of 20x. The perpetual contracts can best be described as futures contracts without the time-specific limits, which means that these contracts can stay open for an indefinite amount of time. With perpetual contracts, the contract holders can periodically conduct payments based on the current price difference between the contract specifications and the specific cryptocurrency’s price.

Risks of Leveraged Trading

Trading on BaseFEX is extremely risky not in terms of security since the platform has quite strong safety measures in place but in terms of potential asset losses. When you’re entering a leveraged trading position, your potential profits are multiplied by the leverage number. But, if you trade order goes sideways, your losses will also be multiplied by the same number.

That’s why leveraged trading isn’t recommended for crypto beginners since you can end up losing a lot of money extremely fast if you don’t know the right entry price and if you don’t know how to use price charts and technical analysis tools to estimate crypto price changes accurately.

Supported Cryptocurrencies

If you’re looking for a crypto exchange with hundreds of available coins, then you’re in the wrong place because BaseFEX has a very limited choice of digital currencies, but this isn’t in any way a disadvantage since the platform focuses on futures trading and perpetual contracts. For this type of trading, the 7 cryptos available on BaseFEX are more than enough.

Since futures trading is very risky, platforms such as BaseFEX that offer this type of service tend to support only top trending coins that are well established on the market and have an extensive trading history. These services can be used to help users forecast future price changes by using historical data.

Users can trade Bitcoin (BTC), 100x leveraged futures, Ripple (XRP), Ethereum(ETH), Ripple Coin (BNB), Eos/EOS), Bitcoin Cash/BCH), Binance Coin (BNB), Binance Coin (BNB), Ripple (XRP), Bitcoin Cash/BCH), Ripple XRP, Ripple (EOS), Bitcoin Cash/BCH), Ripple XRP, Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin [LTC]

For every available crypto, BaseFEX has a dedicated page with trading order specifications that list the requirements for margin trading, perpetual contracts, and the available leverage limit.

It’s important to note that unlike standard crypto exchanges where profits and losses are settled in the specific currency you’re conducting a trading order with, BaseFEX settles all financial operations exclusively with Bitcoin and the Tether (USDT) stablecoin.

Payment Methods & Withdrawals

BaseFEX doesn’t have any deposit fees or withdrawal fees, which is a key advantage over many competitor platforms, but the payment methods are limited only to Bitcoin and Tether deposits.

The platform isn’t fiat-friendly, which means users can’t deposit any fiat currency directly on the platform. It is not possible to pay for trading deals directly using a wire transfer or bank account transfer. In order to carry out trading orders on BaseFEX, you need to first deposit BTC or USDT on the platform. Keep in mind that your crypto deposits are subject to standard network fees or blockchain fees.

If you don’t have USDT or BTC in a private crypto wallet, you can head to a fiat friendly exchange platform such as BitMEX or Coinbase to buy crypto with fiat. Once you have bought the coins you can immediately send them to BaseFEX using the Deposit feature. It will quickly generate a unique wallet address or deposit address for BTC and USDT.

Once you’ve deposited Bitcoin or Tether, you’re ready to start trading on the platform. BaseFEX doesn’t accept fiat currency, making it difficult for brokers not to immediately start trading.

The withdrawal process is the same as the deposit. You simply need to copy your destination address into the Withdraw tab. Once you’ve done that, BaseFEX will initiate a transaction to your wallet.

BaseFEX Fees and Limits

Platform fees are one of the most important aspects of every crypto exchange platform since they can have a heavy impact on the profitability of your trading deals. A high percentage fee can literally eat into your profits, especially for active traders who deal with large amounts of crypto.

Most crypto exchanges use a market maker and market taker fee model to charge users for trading deals. BaseFEX also uses this fee model in order to reward active market makers with a fee discount. The platform uses a multi-tier fee structure that rewards high-volume traders with lower trading fees. Traders with a monthly trading volume lower than 100 BTC are charged a taker fee of 0.06%, while maker fees start at 0.02%.

There are six additional fee tiers that progressively lower the fees, up until the highest tier, LV 6, which awards market takers who have a monthly trading volume of at least 60,000 BTC with a 0.03% fee, while market makers incur a 0.005% fee.

For margin trading orders, there’s a funding rate added every 8 hours to maintain open positions. This fee is 0.01% for all trading pairs, no matter whether you’re funding a long or short position.

As far as trading limits and withdrawal limits, BaseFEX doesn’t state any limitations. There aren’t any minimum deposit amounts either.

BaseFEX Exchange Trading View Features

BaseFEX doesn’t have instant buy/sell, but it does offer a wide variety of trading options to help traders who are experienced in trading decide which type of cryptocurrency futures, margin trading orders, or perpetual contract they want to use.

BaseFEX’s price charts trading interface is the key tool to monitor the market. Every asset and every trading pair on the platform have their own price chart, accessible at all times by selecting the appropriate tab in the upper left section of the trading view, where the list of digital assets is located.

The chart occupies the upper middle section of the trading view and comes with a high number of details, such as candlesticks for showing market sentiments and price change directions, along with the possibility of setting specific labels on the chart, analyzing price depth, and selecting specific time frames.

In the lower right section of the trading view, you’ll see the order book for the selected trading pair, along with a list of recent trades to help you navigate the average prices for trading deals of the selected asset pair.

The section to the left is for your market positions as well as your account balance. To the right of your trading positions and your balance, there’s a small section for initiating market orders and limit orders.

The platform also has a great mobile app for Android and iOS devices. Experienced users can easily navigate the browser version of the platform, but the mobile app is much more user-friendly for less-experienced traders.

BaseFEX Order Types

BaseFEX allows traders access to futures, initial margin trading, and perpetual contracts via various order types. There are not all orders types available for all trading operations. Futures trading, for instance, cannot be performed through a market order used to settle trading transactions at the current market price of trading pairs.

Users have access to several advanced order types on BaseFEX, such as limit orders which have specific buy or sell limits that automatically trigger a trade once reached. It can take some time to fulfill a limit order, so it’s important to set realistic limits in line with the current market circumstances and price change directions.

Users can also place trigger orders which are somewhat similar to limit orders because they are automatically triggered once certain market circumstances are met. Trigger orders, however, are used to take certain actions like limiting losses or making gains.

That’s why they are classified into stop loss and take profit orders. A stop loss is a trigger order that lets users enter a trading position and set up a selling price that’s automatically carried out if the underlying asset’s price drops down to the stop-loss threshold. This order is used to limit trading losses. Crypto traders don’t need to constantly monitor the market if they set up a stop-loss order.

Take profit orders use the same mechanism, except that they are designed to help users automatically take profits once a trading pair reaches a profitable sell zone specified by the trader. BaseFEX has two types of orders: SLTP. Stop loss and take profit orders can be combined into one. These triggers are easily customizable by traders via the BaseFEX trading views.

Platform Security

BaseFEX holds all assets of the platform offline, in multisignature (multi-signature), cold wallets that require multiple keys for access. This means that the funds are safe from any type of cyber hacks since they are stored in cold storage devices. Furthermore, even if someone managed to get one of the multisig key, it would not be possible to access the other keys.

Every withdrawal on BaseFEX goes through a manual verification process to make sure that the request is authentic and not made by bots or unauthorized third parties. This process double-checks the validity of every withdrawal request.

Also, users have the highly recommended two-factor authentication (2FA) feature at their disposal. This option allows users to manually approve transactions via an email verification code or by sending a SMS code to the user’s phone. With 2FA, if a cyber attacker somehow gains access to your account and initiates a withdrawal, you’ll be notified immediately, and the attacker won’t be able to withdraw your crypto to their private wallet. In case a successful hack doesn’t happen somehow, BaseFEX also has an insurance fund for user assets.

Unlike many popular exchanges, BaseFEX doesn’t require users to go through a Know Your Customer (KYC) protocol and provide sensitive personal information. This adds an additional layer of privacy to the use of BaseFEX, which is rarely seen among crypto exchanges as they tend to gather extensive user data. The company states on the BaseFEX website that it’ll never share any user details with governments or authorities.

Customer Support

The BaseFEX customer support is really top quality, and it comes in three forms. When you run into an issue with your platform account or simply can’t find the features you need, you can initially look at the BaseFEX FAQ section. If you can’t find an answer to your issue there, you can either contact the support team through email and get a fast response from the team or contact them through the on-site, live chat feature or via their social media channels such as Telegram.

The chat is managed by live people, not chatbots. Additionally, it’s available 24/7, which is really rare for a crypto exchange support team. All members of the team are experienced crypto professionals and can quickly resolve any platform issues. The support team’s response time on live chat is also exceptional, which means you can quickly contact support and start solving whichever issue you have with the platform.

Pros & Cons

Pros

  • Up to 100x leverage for Bitcoin futures contracts, and up to 20x leverage for perpetual contracts for other cryptos.
  • No KYC protocol
  • The platform offers excellent liquidity and functionality
  • Excellent security measures and user interface.
  • A wide range of technical analysis tools are available and detailed price charts are included.
  • Supports advanced trading order types.
  • Low trading fees

Cons

  • The platform isn’t fiat-friendly, users can’t deposit USD or other fiat currencies, and users need to deposit BTC or USDT into their platform account before initiating a trade.
  • The USA doesn’t allow the use of this platform because it’s not licensed or regulated by US financial authorities.
  • Futures trading is only available for BTC.
  • The platform isn’t beginner-friendly, and it’s only suitable for experienced traders.

FAQ

Can I deposit fiat currency directly into my BaseFEX account?

No, you can’t since BaseFEX doesn’t support fiat deposits. Tether and Bitcoin are the only valid deposits. You cannot use them to trade futures contracts, margin trading, perpetual futures contracts or perpetual futures.

Can I use BaseFEX to conduct standard spot trading buy/sell orders?

BaseFEX doesn’t support spot trading. In fact, only Bitcoin and Tether are accepted by the exchange. The platform’s trading deals regarding other cryptos actually deal with trading contracts, which deal with the price movement of underlying assets and not trading. BaseFEX does not deal with Ethereum as a cryptocurrency, but only with its price.

Why isn’t BaseFEX regulated and licensed by US financial authorities?

The platform doesn’t use a KYC protocol to identify users or gather their personal information, which is a key requirement for all licensed crypto exchanges to operate in the US.

What are the supported countries by BaseFEX?

The platform is accessible to almost all countries. Due to the lack of US regulation, the exchange cannot accept US traders. The platform prohibits customers from other countries such as Canada, China, Crimea, Sevastopol and Syria, Iran, North Korea and Sudan from holding positions or entering contracts. The availability of languages is a very positive aspect of this exchange. English, French (italic), Spanish, Portuguese and Chinese are all supported.

Conclusion

BaseFEX can be used for leveraged margin and futures trading as well as perpetual contracts. However, the platform isn’t recommended for crypto beginners who are new to advanced trading orders and complex trading tactics that require extensive crypto market knowledge.

BaseFEX is best suited for experienced brokers who are familiar with the crypto market. They use a combination of spot trading, margin and futures trading to manage their crypto portfolio. If you’re a beginner, BaseFEX might lead you to considerable losses, but if you’re a pro trader looking for crazy high leveraged trading features, then BaseFEX is the perfect place for you.

Here’s a complete list of the best Bitcoin exchange platforms in Canada.

author Marco Vela

A crypto obssessed digital marketer passionate about making a difference in the world. When he's not behind the computer he can be found hiking, camping and relaxing with his dog.