Last update: Jun 28, 2022

BaseFEX Review for UK

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. In 2010, the first crypto exchanges opened their doors to multi-currency trading.

Popular crypto exchanges like Kraken, Binance and others allow users to execute spot market orders as well as advanced high leverage trading. BaseFEX.com, a newer crypto exchange, focuses more on pro traders and crypto derivatives trading strategies. This allows them to trade with a very limited selection of the most popular global digital currencies.

BaseFEX isn’t a platform for those new to crypto trading. This exchange is best for experienced traders who have an in-depth understanding of the crypto market volatility and are able to read detailed price chart data.

BaseFEX Trading platform: Bitcoin (BTC), Cryptocurrency Derivatives exchange at upto 100X leverage

BaseFEX is a cryptocurrency derivatives platform that was created in 2018 by experienced crypto traders led by Jesse Wu. Jesse Wu is a serial entrepreneur with in-depth experience in IT as well as forex trading. The group wanted to offer users worldwide a trusted platform for trading crypto futures and perpetual contracts. The platform is registered in the Seychelles Islands, but the headquarters of the company is located in Hong Kong.

BaseFEX, unlike other cryptocurrency exchange platforms, doesn’t provide users a broad range crypto trading pairs such as btcusd. They also don’t have the ability to quickly execute asset swaps or place spot trading orders like instant buy/sell. 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.

You can only trade Bitcoin futures with up to 100x leverage. Perpetual contracts, however, are available at maximum 20x leverage. 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. The leverage number also multiplies your losses if your order goes wrong.

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 & Altcoins

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. Users can use their historical data to estimate future price changes for assets.

Users can engage 100x leveraged Futures Trading for Bitcoin (BTC), while Binance Coin, BNB, Eos (EOS), Bitcoin Cash(BCH), Ripple (XRP), Ethereum Cash (ETH), Litecoin (LTC) are available for margin trading and perpetual trading at 20x leverage.

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 for traders to pay via wire transfer, bank account transfer, debit or credit card. 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, BTC, or USDT in your private cryptocurrency wallet, it’s a good idea to visit a fiat-friendly trading platform like BitMEX (provides Auto-Deleveraging), Coinbase or Binance where you can buy some crypto with fiat. Once you have purchased the coins, the Deposit feature will allow you to send them directly via email to BaseFEX. This will generate a deposit or wallet address for BTC/USDT.

Once you’ve deposited Bitcoin or Tether, you’re ready to start trading on the platform. BaseFEX does not accept fiat currencies, which makes it difficult for brokers to start trading on the platform. But, for those who want super-high leveraged cryptocurrency futures trading with Tether or Bitcoin, it is worth the extra steps.

The withdrawal procedure is very similar to the deposit. Simply copy your destination wallet address and initiate a transaction with BaseFEX to transfer funds 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. You can easily lose a lot of your profits if you are an active trader dealing with high volumes.

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 is not able to instantly buy/sell but offers many trading options and tools for experienced traders to help them choose which type of cryptocurrency trading contract, margin trading order or perpetual contract to put into place.

BaseFEX’s price trading interface, which is accessible via the BaseFEX trading view, is the main trading tool. 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 lower section of your market positions is reserved as well 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 entry into initial margin trading, futures, or perpetual contracts through a variety of order types. All order types are not available for all trading operations. For example, futures trading can’t be conducted through a classic market market order, which is used to instantly settle trading contracts at current market prices.

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. Triggers can be used to limit losses or take profits.

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 meant to limit trading loss automatically. 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’s stop loss and take-profit orders are combined into a single type called SLTP. These triggers can easily be specified by traders under the BaseFEX trading perspective’s order specifications.

Platform Security

BaseFEX has all the platform assets stored offline in multisignature cold wallets, which require multiple keys for any access. This means that the funds are safe from any type of cyber hacks since they are stored in cold storage devices. Also, if anyone were to gain access one of the multisigkey keys, they would not work without 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 procedure double-checks each withdrawal request.

Also, users have the highly recommended two-factor authentication (2FA) feature at their disposal. This option requires that users approve each transaction by manually authorizing it either via email verification codes or SMS. 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.

Chatbots cannot run the live chat. Additionally, it’s available 24/7, which is really rare for a crypto exchange support team. All of the team members are highly skilled crypto professionals that can quickly solve 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
  • Security measures taken to the highest standards
  • Numerous technical analysis tools, detailed price charts and extensive technical analysis.
  • 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.
  • Because the platform isn’t licensed by USA financial institutions, it isn’t legally available.
  • 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 or Bitcoin cannot be deposited. It can only be used to enter futures or margin trading contracts.

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. Trades on the platform that involve other cryptos are trading contracts that deal in the price of the underlying assets. BaseFEX’s perpetual ETH/BTC contracts are only available in BTC. The platform does not support Ethereum as a currency.

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 can be used in almost every country. Because of its lack US regulation, however, the exchange doesn’t accept US traders. It is also forbidden to hold positions on the platform or enter into contracts with customers from certain other countries like Canada, China and Crimea and Sevastopol. It is very beneficial to have languages available. English, French, Italian and Spanish are supported.

Conclusion

BaseFEX, a crypto exchange, is reliable for leveraged margin trades, futures trading and 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’s platform is best for experienced brokers who have a good understanding of the crypto market. 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.

Check this list of the best Bitcoin trading platforms in the UK.

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.