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OKEX Review 2023
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Sinead Burgess
Cryptocurrency exchanges have come a long way since the early days of crypto trading, and the features and functionalities they provide have evolved to better suit the needs of the modern crypto user. If you’re a non-US crypto trader looking for a decent cryptocurrency exchange packed with features suitable both for beginners and experienced users alike, then look no further than OKEx.
To start things off, we’ll say that OKEx is one of the leading cryptocurrency exchanges standing shoulder to shoulder with well-established exchanges like Coinbase, Binance, and Kraken. OKEx provides to its users crypto financial services, including selling, trading, purchasing, staking, and lending cryptocurrencies. Novices can perform the basic spot trading feature without much technical know-how of advanced trading tools and features.
Follow us as we delve deeper into what makes the OKEx trading platform stand out from the overcrowded cryptocurrency exchange market.
About the OKEx Exchange
OKEx is one of the world’s leading exchanges across the crypto market, except for the United States. The company is headquartered in Malta and has a total of 20 million users from 200 different countries. The OKEx trading platform is considered a safe and secure environment for trading and is ranked on the 21st spot by its trading volume on Coinmarketcap.
OKEx was developed as a sister exchange to the crypto exchange OKCoin. The OKCoin exchange is a simple cryptocurrency platform where users can purchase and sell crypto. OKCoin is pretty straightforward to use but lacks some of OKEx’s features.
The cryptocurrency exchange also sports its own utility token called OKB token and can be used to settle any trading fees or pay for exclusive services like customer support and refined API rate limits.
The interface is available both as a desktop client software installation and as an in-browser platform. Trading platforms are known to be memory-demanding by design, but downloading the OKEx software client will eliminate any browser-memory freezes and technical difficulties. The more technical aspects of the OKEx exchange might be a bit more taxing on the computer hardware, so it’s recommended to have an up-to-date computer. The UI closely resembles that of traditional finance trading platforms, with robust panels and technical charts.
We heard through the grapevine that OKEx is planning to release their own Ethereum-based public blockchain platform, but the exchange hasn’t made an official announcement yet.
Ease of Use
The OKEx platform offers various trading features and financial tools. Some of them include a user-friendly interface, quick crypto purchases with more than 30 different currencies, debit card and credit card purchases, spot trading, futures trading, perpetual swaps, native wallet app, mobile app, Ethereum staking, and a 24/7 customer support team.
The platform allows for crypto-to-crypto as well as fiat-to-crypto trading. For crypto-to-crypto trading, users can initiate the trade as soon as they have funded their trading accounts on the platform. For fiat-to-crypto trading, users will have to click on the “Quick Trade” prompt on the platform, and they will be asked to specify what crypto they wish to purchase and to select one of the supported fiat currencies to complete the transfer. They can link their debit card or credit card to the platform at this stage.
On the homepage, users can find the “Basic Trading” button that will enable them to participate in spot trading and regular options trading. There is also an option for margin trading. Margin trading falls into the advanced section of the exchange and can be used to provide leverage to amplify bigger returns when trading with futures, advanced options, and perpetual swaps.
The great news for beginners is that they also have a demo account where they can test their skills before investing some real money.
How to Create an Account on OKEx
The account creation process on OKEx is a simple task where all you need to do is visit the main website and click on the “Sign Up” prompt in the corner. After this, you will be redirected to a registration form and asked to provide a valid email address, phone number, and password.
After the initial sign-up has been completed, you will receive a confirmation email along with a 6-digit code that acts as an OTP (one-time-password) and has to be entered into the website prompt to finish the registration. To start trading, you will need a verified account if you want to gain access to all of the features.
Disclaimer: Users don’t need to go through a KYC verification, but their accounts will be limited with daily withdrawal restrictions. If users want to get the full experience, they would have to show their government-issued ID card and a bank statement to be granted access.
OKEx Features
After your account has been verified, you can start trading on OKEx. There are several interesting features and trading options available on the OKEx platform that we’ll discuss in more detail below.
OKEx Quick Trade
The Quick Trade option is the simplest way to purchase cryptocurrencies. The process goes like this – users select a cryptocurrency they wish to buy and the fiat currency that they’ll use to pay for them. It’s important to input the correct amount of fiat currency before selecting the payment method. Once the payment has been verified, the newly purchased crypto will be deposited into your account.
OKEx P2P Trading
The P2P (peer-to-peer) trading platform is easy to locate on the UI. Users should click on the dropdown menu to choose the cryptocurrency they wish to purchase. Next, they should enter the amount they wish to buy and choose a payment method. After this is done, users should click on “Buy” to initiate the transaction.
OKEx Staking
The OKEx platform allows users to stake their crypto and offers them interest-bearing staking accounts with more than 100 different tokens and cryptocurrency projects. Each token has its own annual percentage yield or APY and is based on a fixed or flexible holding period. Some tokens have their minimum threshold for staking (e.g. 0.02 ETH for Ethereum).
Crypto Mining Pools
The OKEx platform allows users to participate in mining pools and take a shot at mining their own crypto. Mining pools connect miners from different locations and pool their available hash rate into one mining rig/pool. This mining method increases their odds at solving the block equation.
The reward is divided among the mining pool participants when the block is solved according to their computing power contribution. The more computing power, the greater the block reward the miner will receive. The OKEx platform has 11 PoW mining pools to choose from for different cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Ethereum, along with detailed tutorials for beginner-miners.
Bitcoin and Other Supported Cryptocurrencies
The OKEx crypto exchange supports more than 100 digital assets and trading pairs. For the most popular cryptocurrencies, the instant buy/sell feature is available without any order books, options, graphs, etc.
These cryptocurrencies include Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), Tether (USDT), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), EOSiO (EOS), Ripple (XRP), Cardano (ADA), Dogecoin (DOGE), Polygon (MATIC), and Polkadot (DOT).
The platform supports more than 30 fiat currencies, including USD, EUR, GBP, AUD, JPY, KRW, TRY, CNY, and more.
Payment Methods
There are different payment methods on the OKEx platform that you can choose from, without any interface congestion. The list includes Visa and Mastercard debit/credit cards, bank transfers, Google Play payments, Apple Store payments, Skrill, PayPal, and Western Union. Additionally, users can purchase OKEx gift cards from Amazon, Google Play, and Steam.
Trading Fees and Limits
The fee system on OKEx is a bit different from other exchanges as it’s based on the maker/taker model.
Trading Fees
The taker fee charged by the platform is a maximum of 0.15% for spot trading for users who hold less than 500 OKB tokens. This fee can be lowered to 0.9% for users who have more than 2,000 OKB tokens in their portfolio.
The maker fee and taker fee for perpetual contracts or futures trading start at 0.02% and 0.05% and can also be reduced depending on how many OKB tokens the user has. This makes the OKEx fees competitive, and high-liquidity users with a large net-worth and trading volume within a 30-period can expect further rebates and other trading fee discounts.
Deposit Fees and Withdrawal Fees
There aren’t any deposit fees on OKEx, and users will only have to pay a withdrawal fee which is sometimes referred to as a work fee. The fees on OKEx are considered to be low, especially when compared to other cryptocurrency exchanges.
The withdrawal fee for Bitcoin amounts to 0.0005BTC, 0.01ETH for Ethereum, and 0.15 XRP for Ripple.
Margin Fees
The OKEx platform allows users to undertake margin trading. This allows verified users to borrow assets from the crypto exchange in order to open a trading position with more capital than they had initially deposited.
The margin trading ratio on OKEx is 10:1, 20:1, and 100:1 when users purchase tokens through perpetual swap contracts. The platform charges a fixed interest rate in positions that are held overnight and a margin interest rate whenever tokens are borrowed. You can see the full list of fees here.
Is OKEx Safe to Use?
The OKEx platform is a regulated platform in Malta and Hong Kong, and their trading services are backed by the Virtual Financial Asset Act (VFAA), a regulated authority under Malta Financial Services.
In terms of crypto security, the OKEx platform is deemed as one of the safest platforms for trading crypto and has never been under attack from hackers, nor has any user filed a complaint of hacks and malware.
Asset security on OKEx is based on a core private key encryption algorithm with both hot and cold wallet technology designed around advanced privacy encryption tech. The platform also offers industry-standard security features like two-factor authentication (2FA), email verification OTP codes, and mobile verification for withdrawals.
Customer Support
OKEx provides its users with solid 24/7 customer support that offers technical assistance in different tiers. Users can utilise the extensive FAQ section on the website or submit a request for any issues. Additionally, there is a chat option for contacting other users under the “Join The Community” section of the platform. For email support, users can contact the support team at [email protected].
A Few Words Before You Go...
To put the finishing touches on our review, we’ll say that OKEx is a refined and secure cryptocurrency trading platform with many options and interesting features. OKEx charges low fees, and there is no mandatory KYC verification. The choice for both crypto and fiat is vast, and the platform is supported in many countries, including Australia and New Zealand.
The main drawback of the platform is that it is not available inside the United States. The good news is that US users can enjoy the sister exchange of OKEx, OKCoin. OKCoin lacks some of the features that OKEx offers, but the platform was designed just to conduct crypto transactions.
frequently asked questions
OKEx provides its users with a feature-packed mobile app that’s available for mobile devices like Android and iOS. Moreover, the app can be installed on operating systems like Windows and Mac. The mobile app has all of the features and identical UI like that of the main platform and can be utilised for any remote trading.
OKEx is available in more than 100 countries worldwide, excluding the United States and all of its territories, Sudan, North Korea, Malaysia, Ecuador, Iran, Syria, Iraq, Bolivia, Bangladesh, and Kyrgyzstan, among others.