Binance is the largest cryptocurrency exchange in terms of trading volume, technology and the range of services offered for active trading and investing in cryptocurrencies. It was established in 2017 in China and has continuously grown since. Changpeng Zhao is the CEO of Binance; he also owns OKCoin.
Binance stands out among the competitors by many criteria. The platform has shown the highest trading turnover, which is currently approaching the $50 billion mark; the number of instruments is 1,561, with a wide variety of coins, the total number of which is 403. Notably, the exchange also offers a huge choice of fiat money; Binance supports 46 currencies.
In addition, Binance offers many additional services, such as an NFT marketplace, a launchpad for crypto startups, P2P exchange, cryptocurrency staking, etc. The exchange offers better trading conditions for the clients who hold BNB, the platform’s native token, which holds a stable place in the Top 3 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization.
Binance is rightly considered the leader of the industry, providing a very high level of services and a wide list of opportunities. The table below contains the rating of every aspect of the platform’s operation.
Total score | 9,4 |
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8 |
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9 |
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10 |
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10 |
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10 |
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8 |
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10 |
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10 |
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10 |
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9 |
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9 |
Binance is the leader, but not in all aspects. The exchange offers many benefits, but still has some drawbacks, which we will also mention, as this review aims to provide impartial information about the platform and give you the fullest picture.
Binance is a well-known exchange, partially thanks to the powerful advertising campaign, which is much more extensive than that of competitors. Nonetheless, there are also those who have never heard about it. Let’s take a look at the basic information:
Name | Binance |
---|---|
Website | www.binance.com |
Exchange type | Centralized |
Regulation | Binance Holding Limited – offshore (The Cayman Islands), Binance.US – USA, holds licenses of 34 states, there is no definitive information about a license in Europe |
Taker’s fee | 0.100 – 0.040% |
Maker’s fee | 0.100 – 0.020% |
Demo account | Yes |
Minimum deposit | No |
BTC withdrawal limits | None for verified accounts, minimum withdrawal is 0.002 |
USD withdrawal limits | $50,000 per day, up to $2,000,000 per month |
Withdrawal in Fiat | USD, EUR, GBP, CAD, AUD, CHF, HKD, SGD, ZAR, RUB, TYR, UAH, a total of over 40 currencies |
Time frame for account opening | From 2 minutes for basic registration to 2 days for full registration |
Binance charges rather flexible fees. Initially their level is average, but as the volume increases they can be considerably reduced. Also, the fees are lower if you use BNB. Let’s review the pros and cons:
Binance charges fees both for spot trading and futures trading. The rates cannot be called the best in the industry; they are rather average. Let’s take a closer look at the fees in the spot trading:
Level | 30-day trading volume in BTC and BNB balance | Maker’s fee | Taker’s fee |
---|---|---|---|
1 | < 50 and ⩾0 | 0.1000% | 0.1000% |
2 | ⩾50 and ⩾50 | 0.0900% | 0.1000% |
3 | ⩾1500 and ⩾500 | 0.0800% | 0.1000% |
4 | ⩾7500 and ⩾500 | 0.0700% | 0.1000% |
5 | ⩾4500 and ⩾1000 | 0.0700% | 0.0900% |
6 | ⩾10000 and ⩾2000 | 0.0600% | 0.0800% |
7 | ⩾20000 and ⩾3500 | 0.0500% | 0.0700% |
8 | ⩾40000 and ⩾6000 | 0.0400% | 0.0600% |
9 | ⩾80000 and ⩾9000 | 0.0300% | 0.0500% |
10 | ⩾150000 and ⩾11000 | 0.0200% | 0.0400% |
The higher the trading volume, the lower are the fees, which is a great advantage for active traders. However, in order to reduce the fees considerably, you will have to achieve rather high volume indicators. Next, let’s look at the fees for futures trading, which also depend on the volume:
Level | 30-day trading volume in BTC and BNB balance | Maker’s fee | Taker’s fee |
---|---|---|---|
1 | <250 and ⩾0 | 0.0200% | 0.0400% |
2 | ⩾250 and ⩾50 | 0.0160% | 0.0400% |
3 | ⩾2500 and ⩾200 | 0.0140% | 0.0350% |
4 | ⩾7500 and ⩾500 | 0.0120% | 0.0320% |
5 | ⩾22500 and ⩾1000 | 0.0100% | 0.0300% |
6 | ⩾50000 and ⩾2000 | 0.0080% | 0.0270% |
7 | ⩾100000 and ⩾3500 | 0.0060% | 0.0250% |
8 | ⩾200000 and ⩾6000 | 0.0040% | 0.0220% |
9 | ⩾400000 and ⩾9000 | 0.0020% | 0.0200% |
10 | ⩾750000 and ⩾11000 | 0.0000% | 0.0170% |
There is also an option to reduce your fees by 25% when using BNB; it applies to spot and to futures trading.
There is no fee on deposits in cryptocurrency and the withdrawal rates are determined by the blockchain network only. If your deposit is in fiat money, the fee will be floating, up to 3.3%. Also electronic payment systems are available; for example AdvCash or Payeer can be used for depositing funds with no fee charged.
The exchange does charge a withdrawal fee. For every currency, there is a different fee. For example, if you withdraw to a card, the fee is $15 for the US dollars. Withdrawals in cryptocurrencies are also charged with a fee. Here are the most popular ones:
For the clients with small amounts, a fixed withdrawal fee may turn out to be rather inconvenient, while for large amounts, it will definitely be a big plus.
The best way to evaluate the level of the fees is to compare the exchange to its competitors:
Binance | Kraken | Huobi | |
---|---|---|---|
Taker | 0.08% | 0.1% | 0.13% |
Maker | 0.06% | 0.1% | 0.13% |
The rates of Binance commissions and fees can be considered average; they do not match the level of the best offers in the industry, although they are better than those charged by the majority of competitors.
Binance provides clients with an opportunity for margin trading. This means that the traders can use borrowed funds provided by the company. For example, if you have 1 BTC, you can trade 3 BTC with the provided loan. This raises your potential profit, but also the risks.
The rate changes depending on the coin; for the most popular ones it is often 7.3% annual, while for rare coins it can exceed 100%. Let’s take a look at the most popular ones:
Currency | Interest rate, % annual |
---|---|
BNB | 109.50 |
USDT | 21.90 |
BTC | 7.30 |
ETH | 7.30 |
LTC | 7.30 |
In over four years of its operation, Binance cryptocurrency exchange has grown to be an undisputed leader of
the industry with its name known to every person, who is interested in cryptocurrency. The exchange has not
been involved in any major scandals and the reviews about the platform are mostly positive. There was an
incident involving the theft of funds, but the exchange learned from it and improved its security, including
by introducing two-factor authentication. Additionally,
the exchange holds licenses in 34 US states.
However, the holding itself is registered in an offshore jurisdiction; only certain companies of the holding
are licensed. The company is officially called Binance Holdings Limited and it is registered at Sertus
Chambers, Governors Square, Suite # 5-204, 23 Lime Tree Bay Avenue, P.O. Box 2547, Grand Cayman KY1-1104,
Cayman Islands. Prior to that, Binance was registered in Hong Kong and Malta. Such moves happen often and
they are mostly due to the changes of the law, as the cryptocurrency industry still does not have the level
of regulation that is usually typical for other financial markets. On the one hand, such jurisdiction makes
the operation of the company easier and the tax burden lighter, while on the other hand not all clients are
prepared to open accounts and put money into an offshore exchange.
Changpeng Zhao works to expand the geography of Binance, actively obtaining licenses, where it is required.
Binance offers its clients a very large list of trading instruments. It is not the largest there is, but the platform is not chasing this record. Usually the cryptocurrencies that pass the inspection in terms of their reliability and legality are admitted to the exchange. This allows the platform to prevent ‘image’ losses due to listing dubious projects.
Let’s review the pros and cons of the list of markets the exchange offers:
Binance offers its users its own stablecoin BUSD, which is secured by fiat and tied to the US dollar rate. Lately, there has been a lot of talk around the security issues of the popular USDT, and therefore many are interested in the alternative offered by Binance.
Notably, there are also interesting crosses between altcoins and ETFs.
Let’s review and compare trading instruments offered by Binance and the competitors of the exchange:
Binance | Kraken | Huobi | |
---|---|---|---|
Cryptocurrencies | 395 | 195 | 584 |
Trading pairs | 1682 | 598 | 1135 |
Bitcoin | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Ethereum | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Altcoins | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Futures and options |
Yes | Yes | Yes |
Cryptocurrency funds (a basket of cryptocurrencies in one lot) | No | No | No |
NFT | Yes | No | Yes |
Binance is one of the best platforms in terms of the offered trading instruments, which includes the number of the coins and the pairs, including exotic ones. Binance does not hold the record in terms of this and there are exchanges even with a larger choice of instruments, but what Binance offers is more than enough. Not every trader will be able to view this number of charts, but it is definitely an advantage for professional traders.
Binance also has a developed NFT marketplace. This is a new, but already popular area of trading, where you can buy ownership rights to a cryptographic artifact. In other words, you can buy a tune or an image in the form of a token, which is non-fungible.
A large number of coins available on Binance allows the platform to create many cryptocurrency pairs, the spot market is represented by 1,561 trading pairs. The competitors do not have such a number of pairs and only 2 platforms offer a bigger selection. However, Binance management does not add just any coin; it is rather an advantage, since it takes some time to understand the prospects of a new coin. Binance offers a separate section with cryptocurrencies that were recently added to the listing. If you want, you can start trading them.
Binance provides access to trading cryptocurrency futures. It is a convenient and simple instrument that allows you to reduce your commission expenses, as they are much lower than in the spot market.
There are futures of two types:
This type of trading attracts speculators with a large number of trades the most. They don’t hold positions for long and some can open several dozen positions within a trading day. In these conditions, the expenses become an important factor and they are the lowest for futures.
Binance provides great opportunities for earning passive income. It will require either capital or equipment. Let’s take a look at the offers:
Staking
The assets are frozen for a specific period of time and bring profit. For example, freezing BNB
brings around 5.23% annual profit and the profit is credited also in BNB. This means if you stake
100 BNB, in a year you will have 105.23 BNB. If you don’t want to risk freezing volatile
cryptocurrencies, you can stake stablecoins – USDT, with expected profitability at 4.79% annual.
Mining
Binance created its own mining pool, where you can join to mine several cryptocurrencies, including
BTC, ETH, LTC. The pool is not considered big, but it is growing. It is very easy to withdraw to the
exchange’s wallet and this feature attracts new users.
Binance Referral Program
Binance cryptocurrency exchange offers a very simple and convenient system of referral bonuses that
allows you to make passive income by referring new clients. You only need to generate a referral
link in your personal account and send it to the future client of the exchange and that person needs
to use it during registration. After that, the commission will be calculated in real time mode and
will be credited once an hour. You can also specify some settings:
The referral rate
It is set depending on the daily volume. If it is less than 500 BNB the referral rate is 20. If it
is higher than that, the referral rate can be up to 40%.
You can also share the commission with the invited friend.
You can also set it up on your own.
Notably, there are different links for spot and futures markets. They can also be generated as a QR code, as this technology is becoming increasingly popular.
Opening an account on Binance literally takes a couple of minutes. First, basic features will be available and you will need to verify your account in order to have access to wider features. Verification of documents may take up to 2 days. Once it is complete, you will be able to use the full range of the services offered by the exchange and with rather extended limits.
The situation with client service and account registration changes constantly due to the pressure of the authorities. Nonetheless, Binance cryptocurrency exchange manages to get some limitations lifted. At the moment, registration is prohibited for the residents of Belarus, Iran, and North Korea. This, however, is a standard list for many platforms and not only cryptocurrency exchanges.
A separate company was established for the US residents, which obtained licenses for each state and this process continues. Despite the statements about stopping the services for the clients from Europe, registration for EU residents is currently available.
In order to become a client of the exchange, you need to access binance.com and take several simple steps:
Click Register www.binance.com
Provide your email and come up with a password. Pass security verification (anti-spam).
The account has been created. Now you need to verify your ID. Select Individual.
Provide your name, country/area of residence. Next, enter your mobile phone number, where the text message with a code will be sent. Also provide your date of birth.
After you’ve entered the code, you will be assigned Level 1. This means that you can trade and withdraw cryptocurrency with a daily limit of $2,000.
Next, you need to pass personal verification.
Upload the documents and wait for the verification to be completed.
As you can see, everything is simple and clear. You shouldn’t experience any difficulties. In order to have all trading features and expanded limits, upload documents for verification. Usually, it does not take longer than 2 days for Binance specialists to verify your documents and upgrade your status.
You can trade any amounts on Binance; the limitations apply only to the transfers. If the exchange accepts 0.01 of any cryptocurrencies, then that is the minimum deposit. As for fiat money, deposits through providers usually have a minimum amount of $10. Accordingly, those amounts should be viewed as minimum deposits.
Trading possibilities of Binance clients depend on the volume of information they provided about themselves. There are three verification levels:
Level | Withdrawal limit | Specifics |
---|---|---|
Basic verification | Up to 0.06 BTC per day | Email, Full Name, Phone Number |
Full verification | Up to 100 BTC per day | Scanned copy of the passport with a photo and address, photo holding the passport |
Verification for funds and businesses | Individual | Additional information upon the company’s request |
Binance cryptocurrency exchange boasts one of the longest lists of supported fiat, which includes 46 currencies. Here are the most popular ones:
There is also a long list of cryptocurrencies. It is important to see which blockchain network you choose when making a deposit. The most popular coins are:
The best way to deposit funds to your account on Binance is with cryptocurrency as no fees are charged on those deposits.
Another popular method is P2P service. This means direct interaction between the clients of Binance, where different kinds of exchanges are offered. All you need to do is to find the most suitable option and execute a trade. For example, you have fiat and you want to deposit funds to your account on Binance without having to pay a fee. In order to do that, you can simply buy cryptocurrency with fiat through P2P.
Let’s review the information about fees in the table below:
Method | Deposit/Withdrawal processing time | Fee |
---|---|---|
Cryptocurrencies | Determined by the regulation for transaction confirmation. Usually up to 1 hour | Specific for each cryptocurrency |
Wire transfers | 1-3 working days, depends on the bank and whether there are intermediaries for the transfer | Up to 3.3% depending on the bank and 0% for electronic payment systems |
Binance stands out among other cryptocurrency exchanges by having its own desktop application. Not everybody finds it convenient to trade in the browser, particularly professional traders. Taking into account the large number of clients and different demands, the company decided to provide a trading platform for PCs featuring increased performance and advanced functionality.
If you look at the trading platforms offered by the exchanges, you will see that all of them have more or less the same features. Binance stands out with its PC version, which can also be installed on a Linux OS, which many people consider an advantage.
Web | Desktop | Mobile | |
---|---|---|---|
Two-factor authentication | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Time frame range | From one minute to one month | From one minute to one month | From one minute to one month |
Order types | Stop, Limit, Trailing Stop, Stop Market, Post Only | Full set – Limit, Market, Stop Limit, Stop Market, Trailing Stop, Post Only, Limit TP and SL | Basic set with Stop and Limit orders |
Quote history | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Number of indicators | Over 100 | Over 100 | Over 100 |
TradingView charts | Yes | Yes | No |
The desktop version is characterized by the widest functionality, which fully duplicates the web platform and has a number of additional features, for example, a larger list of order types. Notably, it is particularly popular among miners, including on Binance pool, as it is easy to manage farms on Linux OS – a special version was created on the basis of this operating system.
Let’s look at the list of Binance platform as compared to the competitors:
Binance | Kraken | Huobi Global | |
---|---|---|---|
Web | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Android | Yes | Yes | Yes |
iOS | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Desktop | Yes | No | Yes |
Cryptocurrency exchanges are similar in terms of the software they offer, although the largest platforms try to offer the widest list of options and also offer desktop apps. In terms of this, Binance is definitely the leader, offering not only Windows, but also Linux.
Moreover, as of May 2023, Binance has enabled the ability to execute direct spot transactions via TradingView, the leading platform for chart analysis and research. To activate this new tool, users must link their Binance accounts through TradingView's settings, after which their transaction history will be synchronized, and users will be able to manage their orders directly on the TradingView platform. Additional information regarding the connection and use of this new feature can be found at the Binance link.
Despite the generally similar features, the platforms do have some distinctions. First, let’s list the common features:
The web app also offers:
A possibility to use TradingView charts
Overall, analytics on Binance corresponds to the level of the industry leader. The exchange’s website features a large number of articles and materials dedicated to new projects, analysis of the existing ones and general research on the digital assets. Let’s look at the pros and cons:
There is a section on the website titled Binance Academy, where you can find useful articles with information about cryptocurrencies – from what a blockchain is to technical analysis. In addition, the exchange holds webinars on its YouTube channel.
Information for beginners is divided into categories, which allows one to learn about cryptocurrencies and how they work step by step. This also provides an opportunity to quickly learn basic information. After you’ve done that, you can move on to more complex materials, for example, detailed descriptions of specific projects, their pros and cons. Binance educational program is one of the most extensive ones online and it is well structured.
The exchange offers an extensive FAQ section with answers to the most popular questions. If you still haven’t found the answer, you can contact customer support via a live chat. First, a bot will respond and try to help you and then, if that does not help, an operator will respond within a minute and help you resolve your issue. There is also a feedback form; in this case the response is sent to your email within 24 hours. Let’s review the pros and cons of Binance customer support:
The exchange has accounts on social media, where you can ask questions and learn useful information:
Due to the fact that Binance is available in many countries, customer support of the exchange is available in several languages:
Binance does not hold any promo campaigns and does not award bonuses. The clients are not offered anything extra, other than the referral program and commission reduction system.
Summing up, we can definitely agree that Binance is the true leader of the industry. While you can find better offers in certain aspects, in terms of their totality the exchange does not have many competitors. Binance will be an ideal choice for:
Traders with small capital are the only category of crypto traders, for whom Binance may not be as interesting. Commissions are not favorable for trading with a small deposit. In order to reduce them, you need to either have BNB or high turnover. It is possible to trade exclusively futures, as the commissions are lower there, although there are exchanges that don’t charge fees on futures.