Last update: Jun 28, 2022
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Bitfinex Review 2022: Features, Pros & Cons

Our Bitfinex exchange review rating
4.0/5

In this review, we will answer all the potential questions you may have about the exchange. We will analyze the past and present of the crypto exchange to understand whether Bitfinex is a suitable choice for most people.

  • Bitfinex


    1. Operating Since 2012
    2. Currencies Supported 199
    3. Fees Varied. Read fees section.
    4. Deposit methods Bank wire transfer and cryptocurrency
    5. Fiat currencies Yes
    6. Verification methods KYC
    7. Margin trading Yes
    8. Futures trading Yes

You might as well consider Bitfinex as a superb place to buy, sell, and trade Bitcoin and altcoins without a doubt.

However, before you go ahead and start trading, you should know a few things about it. If you have just begun with crypto trading, you may have some doubts about fees, deposit methods, features, etc.

History of Bitfinex

Bitfinex Exchange

The history of Bitfinex goes back to the early days of Bitcoin itself. It was founded in December 2012. Since then, the company has offered cryptocurrency trading and related financial services to customers from 52 countries.

Since its inception, it had to face several digital threats, including when an attacker stole 1500BTC from the service. However, the company has learned from these attacks and enhanced the security system to a great extent. As a result, it has managed to regain its image as a reliable and trustworthy international crypto exchange.

As of 2021, it offers an immense variety of crypto-based services to customers from different parts of the world. In addition to providing the typical crypto exchange services, it has added trading-based services to its portfolio.

Location

Even though it has its headquarters in Hong Kong, it has been registered in the British Virgin Islands. The parent company behind this exchange is called iFinex Inc. Due to some restrictions, it does not accept customers from the United States.

Therefore, unless you are from the United States, you can have a smooth cryptocurrency trading experience via it.

Is Bitfinex safe?

Exchange
Bitfinex

Along with being a long-running, top-tier exchange that offers liquidity, Bitfinex allows you to trade Bitcoin as well as other popular digital assets. They also provide margin funding, margin trading, and a customizable interface.

Generate yield by downloading the Bitfinex app on your Android or iOS device today!

4/5
Visit Bitfinex

Bitfinex is one of the most popular crypto exchanges in the market right now. Even without allowing customers from the United States, it has managed to create an impressive user base. It has happened even after the exchange faced some attacks in the early years.

However, we think we should look at these attacks and the following actions from Bitfinex from a positive vantage point. The attacks allowed the crypto exchange to understand the problems in the security system and fix them effectively. More importantly, we could say Bitfinex doubled its security guards to stop further attacks of any kind.

It is one reason why Bitfinex has not faced any kind of security problem in the past couple of years.

It has also followed some additional steps to improve overall security. For instance, customers can use two-factor authentication to prevent attacks. Similarly, the exchange can detect the changes in IP address, which will prevent hijacking attempts. The company also takes the best care to fix the issues if any arise during the usage.

The exchange takes the necessary steps to protect your crypto-assets in hot and cold storage as well. It has also 24/7 customer support.

Long story short, it is one of the safest crypto exchanges in the world. Sure, it does come with a few restrictions.

Bitfinex features at a glance

Many things, other than security, matter when it comes to choosing a crypto exchange. We will look at some of those aspects, such as fees, trading volume, deposit methods, etc.

Bitfinex Fees

As we would expect from a reliable digital currency exchange, it is straightforward about the fees.

The trading platform uses a taker-maker fee system where users who fulfill existing orders are classified as takers, while users that place new limit orders are classified as makers.

But you may need more time to understand the Taker-Maker fee structure it is following. According to the system, you may have to pay either the Taker’s fee or Maker’s fee based on which side of the trade you are.

Take note that fees begin from 0.2% for takers and can drop as low as 0% for large maker orders. For large orders made through the OTC desk, there’s no trading fee.

Trading fees

As we said, trading fees on the platform are split into two: maker’s fee and taker’s fee. In this model, a taker is someone who accepts the trade for an existing order. On the other hand, a maker will place a new order, which will cause different fees.

Bitfinex is one of the exchanges that provide a rebate to customers for being more active in the market. When the trading volume increases, you can expect the maker’s fee to go down.

As of now, if you have traded less than $500,000 in the last 30 days, you have to pay a maker’s fee of 0.10%. However, if you have traded more than $1,000,000, the maker’s fee comes down to 0.06%.

When it comes to Taker’s fee, the numbers are a bit different. If you have traded less than $7,500,000 in the last 30 months, you have to pay a taker’s fee of 0.200%. When you cross that limit, you can enjoy a rebate.

The exchange offers an additional discount for customers who use UNUS SED LEO, the token designed by the parent company of Bitfinex. You can check the official page of Bitfinex to know the fees in detail.

Withdrawal fees

There are a couple of options you can use to withdraw money from it. The fees and minimum limits are different for each of these methods.

You have to pay a fee of 0.100% for a bank wire transfer. The minimum amount for withdrawal is $60 or €60. The withdrawal process may take up to a few business days.

It charges a 1.00% fee if you want an express bank wire transfer, though. In this case, the limit is $100 or €100. However, you can receive the funds within 24 hours.

In addition to these, it allows withdrawals using many crypto-assets. Some of these transactions are free of cost, while others are not. By the way, the internal transfer of digital assets within Bitfinex is free.

By the way, you can earn some extra discounts by verifying your account to the fullest. You can also enjoy additional trading-based features when you do so.

Volume

One of the best things about it is the lack of trading limits. If you have verified your account to the top level, you can enjoy all the trading benefits. Besides, as we mentioned earlier, the platform would charge you cheaper when you trade more.

This characteristic is one of the reasons why experienced traders use it. Therefore, even when it comes to high-value transactions, the platform can scale itself. You may also note that fees are very low when handling a tremendous amount of crypto — even when withdrawing your funds via fiat currencies.

Supported currencies

Bitfinex Trading

Supported countries

Like most crypto exchanges out there, it also supports most of the countries in the world. Due to regulations, the company has to restrict users from the following countries:

  • Bangladesh
  • Bolivia
  • Ecuador
  • Kyrgyzstan
  • United States

Yes, the United States is one of the countries not supported by Bitfinex. If you are from the US, you must not use Bitfinex for buying/selling/trading cryptocurrency. Even the indirect use of the platform is prohibited. If you break these regulations, your transactions could be at risk.

Deposit methods

You can choose between many methods to deposit funds into your account.

Cryptocurrency deposits

Depositing funds to your account using any of the supported cryptocurrencies is easy. The best part is that you can choose between volatile cryptocurrencies and stablecoins like Tether. In either case, there will not be any deposit charges.

FIAT deposits

If you want to use fiat currency to make a deposit, you have many options. You can use USD, Euro (EUR), GBP, and JPY to deposit the amount to the account. Using a bank wire transfer to deposit the amount is a costly affair, and it charges a 0.100% fee.

Besides, the minimum amount should be equivalent to $60 or €60.

How to buy crypto on Bitfinex in 5 easy steps?

Purchasing the desired cryptocurrency using Bitcoin is an easy task. You have a couple of options to choose from, but you can finish the process in a few minutes. Here are the five steps you can follow to do this.

Step 1: Register for an account

You have to register for an account on Bitfinex. You will have to complete the KYC process before you can start buying and selling crypto-assets via the platform. Depending on the verification level you need, the KYC approval process may take up to a few days.

Step 2: Set up payment processors

Once you have got the account approved, you have to set up the payment processors. The options may vary depending on the verification level. They also rely on the amount of trading you have done in the past.

Step 3: Choose payment methods

Now, you have to go to the Deposits page and choose from the available payment methods. You can choose between payment methods like credit cards, debit cards, and bank transfers. You can deposit funds using cryptocurrency assets as well. The transaction fees may vary based on this.

Step 4: Select an asset to buy

After you have added sufficient funds, you can select the cryptocurrency or digital token you want to buy. As we said, Bitfinex supports an immense variety of tokens, and you can choose any of them.

If you want to get an instant execution at the available price, select market order. Next, place the price in USD and the number of coins you want to purchase in cryptos. Lastly, tap on ‘Exchange Buy’ to finish your transaction.

Step 5: Withdraw to your wallet

In the last step, you have to provide the destination wallet. The next step is processing the payment, which may take up to a few minutes. Once Bitfinex has approved the payment, you can find the coins in your wallet.

As you can see, the process is straightforward and does not require any kind of technical knowledge. Even if you have not bought crypto-assets before, you can complete this process in a few minutes.

Other features of Bitfinex

Margin trading

It is another reason why experienced investors choose Bitfinex over other trading platforms in the market. As you know, making a profit from cryptocurrency requires a considerable amount of capital. Not everyone might have this amount of funds ready at their hand.

At such times, you can use the peer-to-peer margin funding platform from Bitfinex to borrow money and trade. Bitfinex has integrated it into the service so that customers can even choose between multiple funding options at times.

Of course, you need to complete extra steps of verifications to enable it for your account. Even when you are approved, there are some restrictions based on the trading pair. For instance, when you want to trade specific pairs, you may need higher collateral.

However, the wallet should have 10% of the value position you want to open. For instance, if you’re going to open a position of 10000USD value, your margin wallet should have 100USD.

As you can guess, Bitfinex will charge interest for the funds you borrow via the platform. There are also options to manually reserve funding. You can know more about it once you have registered for an account on Bitfinex. Bitfinex has a fully-fledged support page for it as well.

Mobile trading

Bitfinex Mobile

Bitfinex also offers one of the best mobile trading experiences in the market. The Bitfinex mobile app is available for Android and iOS and allows advanced trading through a simple User Interface. First of all, the app shows all your portfolio details on a single screen.

You can easily navigate between trading pairs and different assets to make and manage order types. The system updates the app regularly to give you instant updates for executing trades.

The Bitfinex trading app is not plug-and-play, though. Once you have installed the app on your device, you have to create an API key and set it up. After this, you can scan the QR code from the Bitfinex dashboard and keep running the mobile trading app.

Lending options

You can use the Bitfinex account to engage in lending services as well.

As we said, Bitfinex is a peer-to-peer platform, and it provides funds to users via margin trading. If you have cryptocurrency investments sitting idle, you can check out various lending products from Bitfinex.

You can use BTC, USDT, ZRX, ETH, etc., for lending and the payout options are very easy. As a trader, you will not have trouble navigating around the lending services dashboard either.

Bitfinex also has a crypto loan service called Bitfinex Borrow. This service allows you to borrow crypto and fiat currencies by submitting the coins you have as collateral. For instance, you can borrow 100USD by providing the corresponding amount of BTC as the collateral.

We believe these features make Bitfinex a superior crypto exchange and trading platform by a long shot.

Derivatives Trading

The trading platform also offers derivatives trading. This gives users the ability to speculate on the price of an asset, without selling or buying it outright. Advanced traders simply have to collateralize their derivatives account with USDT for them to trade. Derivatives trading is connected with CFDs.

Advantages and disadvantages of Bitfinex

Pros

  • Bitfinex is an all-in-one trading platform that is 100% scalable. As a crypto exchange, it can catch up with your varying needs as well. First and foremost, there are no trading limits, which means you can take your trades to practically any level.
  • Bitfinex also offers a bunch of lending and staking options to its customers. They are an excellent way to earn revenue without involving in risky trading. On the bright side, the service offers flexible payout options as well.
  • Even though the User Interface of Bitfinex is a little complex, it provides all the information you need for an informed market decision. Once you have gotten the hang of the UI, managing your assets is an easy task via Bitfinex.
  • The margin trading options are beneficial to traders who do not have much capital. The exchange allows you to borrow money from peers and pay back the loan after making some profit. It is superb that the borrowing options are well-integrated into the platform.
  • Compared to its competitors like Binance, Bitfinex allows you to buy and trade an immense variety of crypto coins and digital tokens. You can even use a credit card or debit card to purchase the crypto-assets you like on your portfolio.
  • While the taker fee system is a little complex to understand, it is very effective. You can save a lot of money by trading more on the platform. In comparison with competitors, the withdrawal fees on Bitfinex are negligible.
  • Bitfinex.com‘s trading platform’s interface can be customized. Users can also get access to API access and advanced charting functionality.
  • Bitfinex provides the most liquid order book in the crypto space. High volume is crucial for traders, as this guarantees a low spread, which is the difference between the best ask and bid prices.
  • The trading platform is well-known for being the exchange choice for institutional investors and professional traders. Bitfinex offers many features that appeal to this user base. Sophisticated performance tracking tools, several different order types, and up to 100x leverage are some of their excellent features.

Cons

  • If you are among the beginners in cryptocurrencies and trading, you may need a lot of time to get used to the dashboard. Sometimes, we feel Bitfinex presents too much information on the dashboards.
  • The verification process for Bitfinex KYC is extensive and time-consuming. At times, the process may take up to a few business days, which is not convenient.
  • The platform is not yet available for customers from the United States. However, you can use US Dollar (USD) as a payment/deposit/withdrawal currency.
  • Their customer support team can only be contacted through email.

Bitfinex Review Australia 2022: Features, Pros & Cons

If you are located outside of the US, let’s say you’re in Australia, opening an account on Bitfinex begins with creating a username and password. And of course, a bank account for the minimum deposit.

For anti-money laundering and KYC requirements, Bitfinex needs two valid forms of government-issued IDs and personal contact information to open and fully verify your Bitfinex account.

If you are an advanced trader outside of the US and looking to trade big amounts, then Bitfinex is surely an excellent option. On the other hand, if you’re one of those crypto beginners and just excited to get your first coins, the platform is probably not meant for you.

Bitfinex’s not-really user-friendly interface plus the lack of easy deposit methods will surely take time for you to master. And could potentially make costly mistakes more likely. We highly advised those novice crypto traders to stick with simpler exchanges that offer a variety of familiar payment methods such as Binance, Coinbase, Kraken, Coinmama, or CEX.

Meanwhile, if you’re an advanced trader, Bitfinex likely provides everything you will need and more. The platform’s high liquidy combined with advanced trading features such as multiple order types, leverage, and margin funding makes Bitfinex an outstanding trading platform.

For individuals thinking about the safety of their funds because of past hacks, there’s really not a lot to say other than Bitfinex has made it their priority to reimburse their users in such cases until today. For us, we see these unfortunate hacks on a positive side because the platform is certainly now much more resistant to future attacks.

Overall, Bitfinex is still one of the most reliable cryptocurrency exchanges in the crypto world. They have a comprehensive list of support coins that allow their customers to buy or sell their favorite cryptocurrencies. Bitfinex is primarily the exchange platform for experienced traders proficient in utilizing top-grade charting tools with significantly high liquidity volumes.

For Aussie exchange options, have a look at this list of the best Bitcoin exchange platforms in Australia!

Bitfinex Review Canada 2022: Features, Pros & Cons

The most frequently asked question (FAQ) we always receive from our Canadian followers is: Is Bitfinex available in Canada? The short answer is yes and no.

Bitfinex announced on March 1 that they will no longer offer their services in Ontario, telling users to close out their accounts and withdraw their funds by that time.

Cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex will no longer offer services in Ontario as of March 1, telling users on Friday to close out their accounts and withdraw their funds by that time.

In 2012, the crypto exchange company was established in Hong Kong by its operator iFinex, Inc. and it is registered in the British Virgin Islands.

Bitfinex’s departure comes after Binance made a similar move to leave Ontario following a crypto crackdown in June 2021. Bitfinex and Binance are not the only crypto exchanges that had departed from Ontario. Other crypto companies like KuCoin, Bitmex, and Poloniex had been issued notices by the OSC over the past 2 years for not being able to comply with regulations and had encouraged Ontario users to close their accounts.

In Ontario, crypto trading platforms must hold their assets under a qualified custodian, which is licensed as a depositing institution. Crypto exchanges are also not allowed to provide crypto assets as a derivative or security (enabling users to, for instance, trade on margin), which would require exchanges such as Bitfinex and Binance to cut these services from their business model.

But don’t worry, there are currently six cryptocurrency exchanges that are registered within the province. These include Bitbuy, Coinberry, Coinsmart, Netcoins, Fidelity, and Wealthsimple.

Now, it looks like this ban is only exclusive to Ontario cryptocurrency traders and not the other parts of Canada. If this is the case, then you can still use Bitfinex even if you are in Canada. Plus, you also have the option to use a trusted and reliable US VPN if you want to try Bitfinex.

If that’s not enough, here are the other alternatives to buy Bitcoin in Canada that you might be interested in.

Bitfinex Review UK 2022: Features, Pros & Cons

Established in 2012 by Raphael Nicolle and Giancarlo Devasini, the Bitfinex platform is a Bitcoin and digital asset exchange based in Hong Kong that is operated and owned by iFinex Inc. At first, Bitfinex was founded as a peer-to-peer blockchain network for Bitcoin exchange transactions.

But throughout the years, the exchange platform has added a large number of coins. Currently, Bitfinex offers more than 200 coins and tokens on its platform. Moreover, the company offers many trading features such as margin trading, OTC, derivatives, and spot.

Overall, Bitfinex is an excellent choice for day traders in the UK that are looking for a crypto exchange with high liquidy and effective crypto trading tools and features. So, if you’re looking to trade altcoins and want to try margin trading and staking platform, then for sure, Bitfinex is one of the best crypto platforms in the UK.

But for experienced UK traders and investors, our Bitfinex review tells us that eToro might be a better platform. The main reason is that eToro is regulated by UK’s top regulator, which is the Financial Conduct Authority. Furthermore, eToro doesn’t require the hassle of getting familiar with how crypto platforms work and storing the coins on a hard wallet to keep the users’ funds safe and secure.

Also, While Bitfinex gives you a huge list of crypto assets to trade on and extra crypto features such as shopping and staking, it doesn’t offer you to trade on other markets like what eToro offers.

Aside from crypto assets, with eToro, you will be able to purchase shares and trade on the best ETFs from 17 different exchanges, FX currency pairs, commodities, and global stock indices.

The last aspect that really gives eToro the edge over Bitfinex is that the former supports PayPal as a payment method aside from Neteller, Skrill, bank wire transfer, and debit cards. The Israeli social trading and multi-asset brokerage company also offers a wide range of passive investing features in the form of built-in CopyPortfolios.

For a list of UK-based crypto exchanges, click here for our list of the most popular British crypto exchanges.

The bottom line

This is the end of the Bitfinex review, and here is what we think.

Bitfinex may have had a rough beginning as a crypto exchange due to the hacks and everything. But that did not stop the company from growing into a fully-fledged crypto-based service provider.

Today, you can count on Bitfinex for a variety of trading needs. The dashboard offers a pretty advanced overview of the assets. Finally, Bitfinex offers one of the best mobile trading apps we can find in the current market.

The only major problem is that US residents cannot use the platform. Also, you may need some more time to understand all the features of the exchange/trading platform. However, if you can take that effort, Bitfinex is the perfect choice for you.

If you’d like to see how Bitfinex compares against Coinbase, click here.

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.