Gate.io is a popular cryptocurrency exchange providing a wide range of digital currencies for trading and rather good conditions for their holding. The service aspires to be a universal platform, where you can trade, but also find specific information about certain tokens and the current situation in the market in general. Gate.io is among the top platforms by trading volume. As of November 27, 2021, this indicator amounted to $1,570,025,278, with the number of available currency pairs at 2099.
Gate.io is an old, but not very well known trading platform. It was launched in 2013 in China as a Bter service. In 2017 the company held a rebranding and moved to the US. It is now managed by the American corporation Gate Technology Inc. The unique offers of the exchange include access to trading perpetual futures with leverage up to 100x, copy trading option for passive investing, NFT trading and also comfortable conditions for margin lending and high level of security.
The lion’s share of the trading is carried out in four key markets: Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETN), Tether (USDT), CNYX. The service focuses on English-speaking traders, and the users from Asia (Vietnam, Turkey) and Russia, and also, recently – US traders.
Total score | 7 |
---|---|
Commissions | 9 |
Security and regulation | 4 |
Markets | 9 |
Passive income | 8 |
Account opening | 8 |
Deposit and withdrawal | 9 |
Trading platforms | 9 |
Analytics | 7 |
Education | 7 |
Customer support | 6 |
Bonuses | 0 |
Name | Gate.io |
---|---|
Website | www.gate.io |
Exchange type | Centralized |
Regulation | No regulator |
Taker’s fee | 0,2% |
Maker’s fee | 0,2% |
Demo account | Yes |
Minimum deposit | No |
BTC withdrawal limits | Up to 100 BTC per day, after verification – up to 10,000 BTC per day |
USD withdrawal limits | It is possible to withdraw cryptocurrency, which is credited to user accounts in fiat. At the initial level the limit is equivalent to $100,000, and after full verification – as high as 5,000,000. |
Withdrawal in Fiat | No, under the new technical rules |
Time frame for account opening | 24h, verification included |
Leverage | x3 for spot trading, up to x100 for futures trading |
Markets | As of December 2021, the exchange features 1,153 coins and 2,061 markets. |
Passive income options |
Staking, farming, margin lending, copy trading |
Customer support languages | English, Bulgarian, Japanese, Korean. There is also an automatic machine translation of responses into other languages, which can be configured in the browser. |
Withdrawal fee | The exchange does not charge a withdrawal fee, but the fee is charged in the blockchain network |
Deposit options | Transfers from a crypto wallet, deposits from a debit/credit card or a bank account. The funds are credited to the crypto exchange wallet in cryptocurrency. |
Withdrawal options | Withdrawals from the crypto wallet, withdrawals to a debit/credit card or a bank account. |
Account currencies | Cryptocurrencies featured on the website (it is preferably to use Bitcoin or Ethereum) |
Promo | Not at the moment, when this review was written |
The exchange offers a simple commissions and fees system. You can review the latest information on the matter on a separate page on the website, which is quite convenient.
The exchange charges a fixed Taker’s and Maker’s fee at 0.2% of the trade value. However, it is possible to reduce it based on the 30-day volume indicator. Overall, there are 15 tiers for spot and for futures market each. Let’s review them in more detail.
Market |
Trading volume/ GT Holding |
Taker
Standard fee/
GT debit |
Maker
Standard fee/
GT debit |
---|---|---|---|
Spot | 1,5 BTC/ 0 GT |
0,2%/ 0,15% |
0,2%/ 0,15% |
1,5 BTC/ 20 GT |
0,185%/ 0,139% |
0,195%/ 0,146% |
|
3 BTC/ 50 GT |
0.175%/ 0,131% |
0,185%/ 0,139% |
|
6 BTC/ 200 GT |
0,165%/ 0,124% |
0,175%/ 0,131% |
|
12,5 BTC/ 500 GT |
0,155%/ 0,116% |
0,165%/ 0,124% |
|
25 BTC/ 1000 GT |
0,145%/ 0,109% |
0,155%/ 0,116% |
|
75 BTC/ 2000 GT |
0,135%/ 0,101% |
0,145%/ 0,109% |
|
200 BTC/ 5000 GT |
0,125%/ 0,094% |
0,135%/ 0,101% |
|
500 BTC/ 10000 GT |
0,115%/ 0,086% |
0,125%/ 0,094% |
|
1250 BTC/ 20000 GT |
0,105%/ 0,079% |
0,115%/ 0,086% |
|
2500 BTC/ 40000 GT |
0,095%/ 0,052% |
0,105%/ 0,058% |
|
3000 BTC/ 50000 GT |
0,085%/ 0,015% |
0,095%/ 0,045% |
|
6000 BTC/ 50000 GT |
0,075%/ 0,01% |
0,085%/ 0,04% |
|
11000 BTC/ 50000 GT |
0,065%/ 0,005% |
0,075%/ 0,035% |
|
20000 BTC/ 50000 GT |
0,055%/ 0% |
0,065%/ 0,03% |
|
40000 BTC/ 50000 GT |
0,055%/ 0,005% |
0,065%/ 0,025% |
|
75000 BTC/ 50000 GT |
0,055%/ -0,01% |
0,065%/ 0,025% |
|
Futures | 1,5 BTC/ 0 GT |
0,00% | 0,050%/ 0,075 % |
1,5 BTC/ 20 GT |
-0,005% | 0,048%/ 0,075 % |
|
3 BTC/ 50 GT |
-0,005% | 0,046%/ 0,075 % |
|
6 BTC/ 200 GT |
-0,005% | 0,044%/ 0,075 % |
|
12,5 BTC/ 500 GT |
0,005% | 0,042%/ 0,075 % |
|
25 BTC/ 1000 GT |
-0,005% | 0,040%/ 0,075 % |
|
75 BTC/ 2000 GT |
-0,005% | 0,038%/ 0,075 % |
|
200 BTC/ 5000 GT |
-0,005% | 0,036%/ 0,075 % |
|
500 BTC/ 10000 GT |
-0,005% | 0,034%/ 0,075 % |
|
1250 BTC/ 20000 GT |
-0,005% | 0,032%/ 0,075 % |
|
2500 BTC/ 40000 GT |
-0,005% | 0,030%/ 0,075 % |
|
3000 BTC/ 50000 GT |
-0,008% | 0,030%/ 0,075 % |
|
6000 BTC/ 50000 GT |
-0,01% | 0,030%/ 0,075 % |
|
11000 BTC/ 50000 GT |
-0,012% | 0,030%/ 0,075 % |
|
20000 BTC/ 50000 GT |
-0,015% | 0,030%/ 0,075 % |
|
40000 BTC/ 50000 GT |
-0,020% | 0,030%/ 0,075 % |
|
75000 BTC/ 50000 GT |
-0,025% | 0,030%/ 0,075 % |
Maker’s fee is always lower than taker’s fee and can also be negative, because the makers help create liquidity and increased activity at the crypto exchange.
The cryptocurrency exchange offers one fixed fee rate of 0.2% both for taker and maker. Compared to the other crypto exchanges, the fees are at the same level. However, the fees are reduced proportionally to the 30-day trading volume. It is also possible to pay the fees with GT, which is rather convenient.
The non-trading commissions and fees of the cryptocurrency exchange include:
Let’s take a closer look at them.
The fee on withdrawal of tokens to external wallets or conversion and withdrawal to a debit/credit card as fiat money is calculated for each asset separately. The exchange uses a system of 0% + a certain number of tokens. For example, for Bitcoin, the fee is 0% + 0.001 BTC, for Tether – 0%+40. These rates are considered to be rather high compared to the competing exchanges. This needs to be considered when you withdraw a small number of tokens to external accounts. You also need to consider that the blockchain fee will be calculated additionally.
NOTE! When you register a withdrawal transaction, take into consideration the daily limit, which is calculated separately for every asset.
No fees are charged on the deposits.
Gate.io | Binance | HTX (Huobi) | |
---|---|---|---|
Taker | 0.2% | 0.06% | 0.09% |
Maker | 0.2% | 0.05% | 0.08% |
Gate.io offers its users margin lending. The option was introduced several years ago and is available only for popular digital assets. The maximum leverage is x3, which means that if a trader has 10 BTC, he can borrow 20 BNC and trade with 30 coins.
The margin lending option is quite useful, however, competitors offer much higher leverage. For example, Binance offers a leverage of x20 at the start, which can be increased to x50 for high trading volumes. However, other services offer rather standard conditions, while here a user can independently choose the repayment period, opening long or short positions (10, 20 or 30 days). The fees in this case are calculated on a daily basis.
Notably, the exchange reserves the right to eliminate the positions if the total losses exceed the maximum admissible level. Then the platform reserves the right to close positions and use the tokens in the internal wallet of the exchange to repay the debts. That is why, when you use margin lending, you need to keep in mind that while it is a great opportunity to multiply your capital, there is also a risk of losing everything if you choose a wrong strategy.
As for the fees on loans, the conditions are rather good. There is a VIP program (based on trading volumes) on the platform that enables users to reduce their fees. There is also a fixed discount on each tier.
Tier | Discount | Rate |
---|---|---|
VIP 0 | – | 18,0% |
VIP 1 | 5% off | 17,1% |
VIP 2 | 10% off | 16,2% |
VIP 3 | 15% off | 15,3% |
VIP 4 | 20% off | 14,4% |
VIP 5 | 25% off | 13,5% |
VIP 6 | 30% off | 12,6% |
VIP 7 | 35% off | 11,7% |
VIP 8 | 40% off | 10,8% |
VIP 9 | 45% off | 9,9% |
VIP 10 | 50% off | 9,0% |
VIP 11 | 55% off | 8,1% |
VIP 12 | 60% off | 7,2% |
VIP 13 | 65% off | 6,3% |
VIP 14 | 70% off | 5,4% |
VIP 15 | 70% off | 5,4% |
VIP 16 | 70% off | 5,4% |
The rates are universal for Bitcoin and other assets.
The cryptocurrency exchange does not hold a license and is not regulated. The only known fact is that the legal entity is registered in the Cayman Islands, which are an offshore zone. Therefore, when you register with the company, keep in mind that in case of unforeseen circumstances or theft of money, it will be impossible to file a claim for compensation.
Over the years of operation, Gate.io has gained a huge client base, with over 10 billion transactions performed at the exchange daily. This clearly speaks in favor of the high level of security of the service. During registration, every user passes a verification based on KYC (Know Your Customer) algorithms. Also, when you create an account, you need to enter a one-time password (TOTP) or link the number of your phone. The platform uses SSL encryption, ensuring full safety of client funds and user data.
As an additional option, there is a two-factor authentication on the website. In order to activate it, you need to:
Your two-factor authentication has now been activated.
Users have access to cold wallets, where they can hold their assets, transferring part of them to the
main account in order to actively trade. Therefore, there is a multi-level security of user funds held
in the encrypted cold wallets.
Speaking about the hacker attack attempts, there were several in 2019. Fortunately, the IT experts of
the company quickly strengthened the security and none of the traders suffered from the attacks.
Based on the results of the studies of the largest cryptocurrency data aggregator CoinGecko of 2020,
Gate.io ranked 4 with a complete credit of trust among the cryptocurrency trading services. The
selection criteria included traffic data, determined using Trust Score, range of assets and loyalty
programs.
The exchange offers a large number of different kinds of cryptocurrencies, including both popular assets and rare tokens.
The selection offered by the exchange is more than just big. Every trader can find a suitable token for investing and trading, or launch their own token. Certain categories of assets operate on their own blockchain (for example MEME) and have very enticing conditions for purchase.
Gate.io | Binance | HTX (Huobi) | |
---|---|---|---|
Cryptocurrencies* | 1431 | 395 | 584 |
Trading pairs* | 2403 | 1682 | 1135 |
Bitcoin | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Etherium | 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 | Yes | Yes |
The total number of pairs today on the platform is 1,187; they form 2,099 trading pairs. This is a rather large number not every licensed platform can even boast.
For convenience, all trading positions are divided by groups, which makes the search much easier. There are 16 categories in the Market section on the platform. You can click on each of them to see how many assets are available or just to trade. There are De-Fi tokens, NFT contracts, MEME coins and a lot of other assets on the website.
Notably, there are certain limits for trading at the exchange. The minimum amount you can open an order with is $10 or an equivalent amount in digital coins.
The selection of long-term contracts is represented by two groups: token+BTC (23 trading positions) and token+USDT (175 trading positions). The available list of assets allows you to choose the most beneficial positions. The leverage for trading in this group of contracts varies from 5x to 100x, while a part of the fees can be paid with GT.
In order to start trading futures, a trader needs to transfer some funds to a separate account.
The crypto exchange is a rather active participant of the IEO movement. Initial Exchange Offering is a fundraising event, which is administered by the cryptocurrency exchange.
Anybody can participate in an IEO. The only requirement is that the user must have an account and full verification on the platform. Anybody can offer to sell assets here or to buy them. You can participate in the transactions and review the rules in detail in the Startup section.
Two years ago, the exchange held an IEO for launching the blockchain of its own token GT. Initially the digital coin was launched simply as another token at the exchange. However, later on, the administration allowed the users to use it to pay trading fees and participate in the sales held in the IEO section.
Also, one should not mix GT and Gate Points tokens, as it often happens with novice traders.
In addition to active trading and investing, the exchange offers several passive income options with a rather high return rate. Let’s take a closer look at them:
Margin lending under the conditions of the exchange.
If you have some uncommitted funds on your account, which you don’t plan to use any time soon,
you can launch margin trade. The profitability in this case ranges within 3.65%-15% per year.
For example, in the last 7 days, the profitability indicator for the USDT token amounted to
5.57%, and for AXS –53.08%. The profitability indicators of the assets can be found in the
Margin Trading section.
Farming.
This option is simpler. You earn by pledging your own assets or placing new tokens. It is one of
the latest decentralized finance trade related to De-Fi tokens. The system allows you to earn
maximum profit over a rather short period of time. You can add tokens for earning passive income
in the Yield Farming section. At the moment, only three pairs are available: ETH/BTC, ETH/USDT
and SUSHI/ETH.
Staking.
You can freeze your assets at an interest rate (just like with a savings account at a bank) in
the HODL & Earn and Lending & Single-Asset Vault sections. At the moment, purchase and sale of
ETH, BTC, BNB, TRX, ATOM and USDT are available. The interest rates range from 1% to 71,53%,
varying depending on the asset. You can also choose the period for freezing your assets.
Copy trading on Gate.io.
It is a system, where each user can publish their own trading strategy. Such traders are called
signalers. Other users can ‘borrow’ the trading strategy and the signalers will earn 5% of the
trades made under his strategy. Notably, the larger the number of users that show interest in
the strategy, the higher the profitability indicators will be. The website section offers a
rather convenient toolbar and search, where you can find the most profitable strategy and a
trading plan for a specific asset. The upgraded copy trading toolbar now offers Spot Grid
Trading, Grid Contracts, MACD, MACF-RSI, double moving average and double average RSI. Users can
quickly create, test and launch their strategies with just a click on the mouse. Furthermore,
now the toolbar also features My Strategies, Strategy Settings, Top Ranking, News, books on
Quantitative analysis.
In order to start trading, a user needs to register and create an account on the platform. This process will take you no longer than 15 minutes if you follow the pop-up instructions.
Registration and trading on the platform is available to users from all over the world. However, the service may be unavailable to the citizens of certain countries as a result of internal blocking, confirmed by the government of a specific country.
This was the situation with the US citizens. Several years ago the administration of the exchange stated it did not wish to work with the US users due to the lack of clarity from the SEC, which is the regulator of the stock market in the country. However, in December 2021, the exchange announced that the users from the US, Canada and Japan could now freely trade at the exchange.
Also the citizens or residents of Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela and Crimea cannot open an account.
In order to register an account, access the official website of the exchange and click Sign Up in the top right corner. www.gate.io
Provide your email and come up with a username and password. Check the boxes at the bottom, confirming that you agree to your data being processed.
Now you need to come up with the fund password. It must be different than the one you chose before, as it will be used for trading transactions and withdrawals to external wallets/accounts. The password must have at least 6 characters.
Confirm registration by following the link that will be sent to your email.
When you login to the website, you will see the phishing warning, the list of official websites and additional services.
At the moment, account verification is not mandatory, but it allows you to have higher deposit/withdrawal limits.
In order to confirm your account, you need to pass KYC verification. In order to do that, go to the settings and select KYC verification.
Next, open the tab KYC (Identification) and click Verify Now.
In the form, you need to enter the information about the user: full name, country, identity document type, upload a good quality photo or a scanned copy. This can be your passport or driver’s license or other ID document. Also, you will need to take a selfie holding your passport and attach it to the form.
Make sure you’ve entered the correct information and click Send. On average, it doesn’t take longer than 24 hours for an account to be verified, provided that you’ve followed all the rules. The notification confirming that your account has been verified or a request for additional documents will be sent to the email that you specified during registration.
Gate.io | Binance | HTX (Huobi) | |
---|---|---|---|
Minimum deposit | No | $1 (for trading Spot 10) | $1 (for trading Spot 20) |
Compared to other cryptocurrency exchanges, Gate.io offers very good conditions for funding the account and subsequent trading. However, you need to keep in mind that the platform does not work with fiat currencies, and therefore you need to deposit cryptocurrency to your account. Also remember that the minimum order is $10.
After analyzing the platform, we discovered that there is only one trading account with several wallets (separately for staking, spot trading and futures trading). It is rather convenient. After you’ve deposited funds, you can transfer part of them to the active wallet and keep the rest in the cold wallet.
There are two levels of verification at the exchange. Notably, the procedure is not mandatory, but it does allow you to lift withdrawal limits. Once you’ve passed Level 1, the daily limit is increased to $200,000 (the equivalent cryptocurrency amount in US dollars, and Level 2 - $5,000,000.
Level of Verification | Withdrawal limit | Specific details |
---|---|---|
Basic | $100 000 | Only email is required. |
Level 1 | $200 000 | You need to fill out a form with personal information and upload an ID document. |
Level 2 | $5 000 000 | You need to provide proof of residence. |
Cryptocurrency exchange offers very good conditions for performing financial transactions on the platform.
The deposit/withdrawal algorithm is very simple and you should not experience any difficulties if you follow the recommendations:
After confirmation of the transaction on the blockchain (two blocks), the funds will be credited to your account at the exchange and you will receive a notification with the status Done.
You can also use the same page to withdraw funds. The algorithm is the same; the only difference is that on the transaction page, you need to specify the address of the wallet, where you want to send your tokens.
Deposit/withdrawal method | Fee | Deposit/Withdrawal processing time |
---|---|---|
Bitcoin | The exchange does not charge a fee, but the fee is charged by the blockchain. | From several minutes to 4-5 hours, depending on the workload of the blockchain. |
Ethereum | The exchange does not charge a fee, but the fee is charged by the blockchain. | From several minutes to 4-5 hours, depending on the workload of the blockchain. |
The cryptocurrency exchange has a simple and rather laconic design. All features and sections are well structured and you don’t have to look for something you need for long. The website also features a wide selection of market analysis tools. Overall, the design of the trading platform is very similar to the Bitfinex exchange:
There is a candlestick chart and TradingView for market analysis.
The traders can use the following order types:
A provisional order will be filled or activated in the market only if certain criteria are met.
Web | Mobile | |
---|---|---|
Two-factor authentication | + | + |
Time frame range | + | + |
Order types | Limit, Stop Order, Market Order, Iceberg, Hidden, Conditional | Limit, Stop Order, Market Order, Iceberg, Hidden, Conditional |
Quote history | + | + |
Tradingview charts | + | + |
Gate.io | Binance | HTX (Huobi) | |
---|---|---|---|
Web platform | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Android | Yes | Yes | Yes |
iOS | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Desktop | No | Yes | Yes |
You can trade with Gate.io using a web platform or a mobile app. Let’s take a closer view of both options.
The web version of the exchange is rather simple, but contains all the necessary features for comfortable trading. Starting from the home page, all features are structured by categories and groups. The home screen features popular digital assets and price growth/decline indicators over the past day, infographics on the services of the platform and active promo offers. On the top, there is a menu with pop-up contextual prompts for each category.
All transactions are performed in the Market section, where you can choose an asset, analyze the market and open/close an order.
The mobile app of the exchange is concise and user-friendly. All key features are structured in the bottom menu. The features of the app fully replicate the main website.
The platform features a rather extensive section with information on the key events of the digital market. Registered users have access to the company’s blog containing big analytical reviews and short news releases. Also, the exchange offers a series of audio podcasts, each dedicated to a specific topic. You can listen to them on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
Also, the website has a News section and all key events are covered on the social media of the exchange.
There is a large selection of educational materials on the website. This includes FAQ and detailed articles regarding certain topics (for example margin trading or staking), published on the platform. However, you can find the biggest volume of information on the allied platform Cryptopedia. All materials are structured by categories and form (texts, video tutorials, comics).
There is also a search feature on the homepage of the website, which you can use to quickly find information.
Customer support is available on the website, which is convenient, as there may be many questions at the initial stage.
There are the following ways to contact customer support:
You can send a ticket on the website only in English, Japanese and Korean. You can also ask for advice or a question on a live chat, where the representatives of the exchange and other traders communicate.
At the time this review was being prepared, there were no bonuses or promos. However, from time to time, the exchange has big offers, where traders can buy tokens at a good discount.
Overall, Gate.io cryptocurrency exchange is a rather good platform for trading digital assets. The platform offers a big selection of tokens and long-term contracts and also an opportunity to list your own asset. Deposits and withdrawals are executed exclusively in crypto. This means that the money credited to your account has already been converted into digital coins. Withdrawals are also available only in cryptocurrencies, but the money will be converted and credited to your bank account as fiat. Speaking about the basic fees, they are much higher than those charged by the competitors. However, the users with large monthly trading volume can enjoy reduced fees, up to negative.
One of the key drawbacks of the exchange is that it does not hold the license for cryptocurrency trading. However, over the years of its operation, it has proven to everybody that the platform does offer good conditions and cares about its clients, employing multi-level security, two-factor authentication and phishing prevention measures.
In addition to traditional trading, you can earn a good income by staking or loaning funds to other users.
The website also features a lot of analytical and educational information, making the trading process very comfortable.
In conclusion, one can say that the exchange is generally a rather good one. If it removes the small drawbacks (for example poor or partial translation to other languages) and obtains a license, it has a very good chance of becoming the best.