Huobi exchange is one of the first platforms to offer the services of buying, selling and exchanging cryptocurrencies. It was established in 2013 and has grown exponentially ever since. Huobi is one of the top exchanges based on such indicators as trading volume, weekly traffic of the exchange, number of trading instruments. The total number of trading pairs is 1,014; also 50 different fiat currencies are supported, which is one of the top indicators in the industry.
Huobi offers a multitude of different services: p2p trading, staking, a platform for earning passive income through cryptocurrency lending. Since 2020, Huobi clients have access to the ETH 2.0 network, where they can become a hub and start earning.
Initially, Huobi was a Chinese exchange. However, after the country started to fight against cryptocurrencies, the exchange was forced to move to other jurisdictions. At the moment, Huobi Global is registered in the Seychelles, and also has offices in Singapore and Japan (licensed). Overall, Huobi operates in 170 countries.
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Huobi is well-known among cryptocurrency traders and investors. In the 8 years of its operation, the exchange succeeded in expanding and becoming one of the key players in the industry. Here is the basic information about the platform:
Name | Huobi |
---|---|
Website | www.huobi.com |
Exchange type | Centralized |
Regulation | There is no information about the licenses at the place of registration of Huobi Global in the Seychelles; there is FSA license for Huobi Japan |
Taker’s fee | 0.20-0.07% |
Maker’s fee | 0.20-0.07% |
Demo account | No |
Minimum deposit | No |
BTC withdrawal limits | The daily limit is 100BTC for verified accounts |
USD withdrawal limits | Not fixed; changed by the company from time to time |
Withdrawal in Fiat | USD, EUR, GBP, CAD, AUD, CHF, HKD, SGD, ZAR, RUB, TYR, UAH, KZT, a total of 50 currencies |
Time frame for account opening | Around 5 minutes for basic level, up to 3 days for full verification |
Overall, Huobi commissions and fees can be considered average. They can be substantially reduced through staking the token of the exchange; in this case the fees will be reduced to the level of the leaders of the cryptocurrency exchanges. Let’s look at the main pros and cons of the fees policy of the platform:
Overall, Huobi commissions and fees can be considered average. They can be substantially reduced through staking the token of the exchange; in this case the fees will be reduced to the level of the leaders of the cryptocurrency exchanges. Let’s look at the main pros and cons of the fees policy of the platform:
Level | HT Holdings | Maker | Taker |
---|---|---|---|
1 | ⩾0 | 0.200% | 0.200% |
2 | ⩾10 | 0.180% | 0.180% |
3 | ⩾100 | 0.160% | 0.160% |
4 | ⩾500 | 0.120% | 0.120% |
5 | ⩾1000 | 0.090% | 0.090% |
6 | ≥2000 | 0.080% | 0.080% |
7 | ⩾5000 | 0.070% | 0.070% |
Huobi also offers another system of reducing trading fees, which depends on the number of the exchange’s tokens held by a trader and also their 30-day trading volume, which is measured in Bitcoin. There are the following levels and fees in the spot market:
Level | 30-day trading volume (BTC) and HT holdings |
Maker | Taker |
---|---|---|---|
1 | ⩾1000 and ⩾2000 | 0.0362% | 0.200% |
2 | ⩾1500 and ⩾2000 | 0.0294% | 0.0420% |
3 | ⩾5000 and ⩾2000 | 0.0294% | 0.0378% |
4 | ⩾10000 and ⩾2000 | 0.0252% | 0.0336% |
5 | ⩾1500 and ⩾2000 | 0.0224% | 0.0308% |
6 | ⩾20000 and ⩾2000 | 0.0210% | 0.0294% |
7 | ⩾40000 and ⩾2000 | 0.0168% | 0.0252% |
8 | ⩾80000 and ⩾2000 | 0.0126% | 0.0210% |
9 | ⩾150000 and ⩾2000 | 0.0097% | 0.0193% |
Maker’s fee in the spot market is 0.02%, taker’s – 0.04%. As you can see, holding tokens and high trading volume allows traders to reduce the fees to very low values, which is very beneficial for active traders with large capital.
No fees are charged on cryptocurrency and fiat deposits to the exchange. The platform, however, does charge withdrawal fees both on cryptocurrency and fiat withdrawals. Let’s review the most typical fees:
These are rather good rates, especially for cheap coins. There are withdrawal limits, which are set individually for each coin. For example, for XRP, the limit is 20 coins. It is not possible to withdraw a lower amount. The upper limit is determined by the level of verification.
Here’s a comparison of the Huobi fees compared to competitors:
Huobi | Kraken | Binance | |
---|---|---|---|
Taker | 0.13% | 0.1% | 0.08% |
Maker | 0.13% | 0.1% | 0.06% |
Huobi commissions and fees can be considered high compared to Binance and Kraken. However, the fee reduction system allows users to achieve good indicators at the same level as the competitors.
Huobi Global offers an opportunity to trade with borrowed money. Margin trading became a standard service, which the exchanges provide. Traders receive an opportunity to operate larger amounts compared to those that they own; the multiplicity of this value in relation to own funds is called leverage.
Huobi offers trading a large number of instruments with leverage 1:3 and some instruments – up to 1:5. The indicator cannot be considered high, but this also reduces the possibility of losing all your money due to price fluctuations. Borrowed funds are provided at a certain interest rate; the rate is floating at the Huobi exchange and it is set by the management. For comparison, the interest rate at Binance is also not fixed and depends on the period of the loan. At the moment, the platform applies daily rate of 0.098% to the base payment for servicing margin lending; in addition, the users that meet certain conditions also have the right to a multi-level servicing fee, which is updated at 4:00 am (GMT + 8) daily on the platform and can be viewed by the users on the corresponding pages in their personal accounts. The rates are practically identical to Binance.
Initially, Huobi was a Chinese platform registered in China. Later, the platform obtained licenses to officially operate in Hong Kong. However, as China started fighting against cryptocurrencies, Huobi Global was forced to move to the jurisdiction of the Seychelles. At the moment, no information is available on the legal entity (Huobi Global) holding the license of the Seychelles. Therefore, essentially, it is simply the registration of the company.
In order to be able to operate in other countries, Huobi registered an office in Japan, which obtained the license of FSA, the Japanese regulator. There is no information about any other licenses. The company has plans to establish headquarters in Europe and the UK. Huobi will work to obtain the licenses in these regions. It is a laborious process that takes a lot of time, as there are simply no special cryptocurrency regulatory bodies.
Huobi boasts a high level of security; in the entire period of its operation, there were only several cases of the accounts being hacked. They happened because of the negligence of the users and not the security issues of the platform. There have been no high-profile scandals or losses. Two-factor authentication allows users to ensure highest protection of their funds.
The exchange offers its clients a rather wide variety of trading instruments. They are divided by the spot market and futures. Huobi Global is not the leader by the number of pairs, but it has more than enough for the majority of traders. The platform also has a wide choice of futures with different expiration dates; they are not limited to just quarterly and perpetual.
First, let’s review the pros and cons:
Huobi has its own stablecoin titled HUSD. It can be used in the same manner as USDT. The pegging to the US dollar makes the coin very convenient both for storing a reserve in the form of a stable cryptocurrency and for performing exchange transactions. It is essentially an analogue of USDT and BUSD.
Let’s compare the key indicators of markets with Huobi Global competitors:
Huobi | Kraken | Binance | |
---|---|---|---|
Cryptocurrencies | 584 | 195 | 395 |
Trading pairs | 1135 | 598 | 1682 |
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 | No | Yes |
The lag behind the leaders in terms of the number of available coins is compensated by the opportunities of the derivatives market – in terms of this feature Huobi is ahead of both Binance and Kraken. A variety of contracts allows traders to choose the most optimal expiration period. Options trading is nothing special, with industry standard contracts available on the platform.
Huobi Global works with NFTs, the non-fungible digital assets. It is a rather new area, which allows users to buy any digital artifacts and hold the rights to them, which are registered digitally. The area is developing actively, with experts claiming that it has great potential.
The number of coins traded at the spot market is 357. They form 1,014 currency pairs, including crosses formed between altcoins. Notably, it is also possible to trade the pairs of main cryptocurrencies and stablecoins and also USD. There is practically no rate difference, but many traders believe that availability of the fiat dollar as a quoted currency is a big advantage, and to some even a mandatory condition of trust towards the platform.
Futures market on Huobi Global is rather big; the list includes 206 trading instruments, which is more than Binance offers. The platform features different futures and options on main cryptocurrencies. Availability of a wide list of expirations is a clear advantage of Huobi. There are the following expirations:
Huobi offers interesting passive income options. There is a variety of them, including different kinds of staking, with annual rates for several currencies reaching 88%. Let’s review the main areas:
Classic staking of SOL, LUNA, ELF, XPRT, CSPR coins with rates from 3.5% to 15% annual.
Huobi Earn
These are the offers for novice traders, where they can earn from short-term staking of main coins. The rate is up to 88% annual, the period of staking – 7 days.
PrimePool
This is a separate type of staking, where recently listed coins or coins expected to be listed are given as rewards.
ETH 2.0
Ethereum blockchain, which operates based on the PoS protocol. The reward is distributed among the wallets with blocked ETH coins.
Huobi provides an opportunity to earn from the referral program. It is relatively simple, one-tier, but there are no limitations on the number of people you can invite. The key conditions are:
The process of account registration on Huobi is simple and clear. A client needs to take a few steps that take approximately 10-15 minutes. After that, the account will be registered and you can proceed with the verification in order to have full access to trading and working with cryptocurrency.
Huobi is available to everyone, with the exception of a number of countries, which are divided into two categories:
Registration at the Huobi exchange is simple and won’t take more than 15 minutes. Follow these steps:
Click Sign Up in the top right corner of the Huobi website homepage.
Provide your phone number or email, come up with a password.
Enter confirmation code, which was sent to your email.
Click on the person’s silhouette and select ID Verification.
Compare the provided limits with your needs and make a decision on the verification. In order to verify your ID, you need to provide the documents that are requested.
You can deposit any amount to your account on Huobi, which is higher than the limit set for each coin. Since these limits are very low, you can say that the exchange does not have a minimum deposit. You can deposit 1 XRP, which is currently worth less than 1$.
After you pass ID verification, all features of the exchange become available. Depending on the volume of provided information the clients are assigned one of the two verification levels:
Level | Withdrawal limit | Specifics |
---|---|---|
Basic verification | Fiat is unavailable, low limits on cryptocurrencies, set for each coin, 0.06 BTC for Bitcoin. Futures are unavailable. | Email, Full Name, Phone Number, Country of Residence |
Full verification | Possibility to withdraw fiat, limits on cryptocurrencies increase by hundreds of times, 100 BTC for Bitcoin. | Uploading scanned ID documents, a selfie. Upon request, proof of address is provided. |
In order to ensure security, the platform offers two-factor authentication. Also within the framework of protection from phishing, users can set up a signature of each letter from Huobi with a special code; this way users will be able to identify scammers.
You can deposit both cryptocurrencies and fiat to your account. The list of available fiat is one of the biggest in the industry. Let’s list the main currencies of the 50 available:
A large number of cryptocurrencies is also available, including the main ones:
Since no fees are charged on deposits in cryptocurrencies and fiat, traders should choose the most convenient option. As for withdrawal, you need to check the minimum amount for each specific coin and the fee. Withdrawals in USD are charged with 1% fee, with the fee no less than 33 USD.
Let’s review both deposit methods in the context of processing time and fees:
Method | Processing time | Fee |
---|---|---|
Cryptocurrencies | Depends on the coin; the exchange applies minimum transaction confirmation time. For the majority of coins, it will be less than an hour, and much faster for the most popular ones | No |
Wire transfers | 1-3 working days, depending on the sender bank and presences of intermediaries in the transfer | No deposit fee, 1% withdrawal fee, but no less than USD 33 |
Each coin has its own number of network confirmations, after which the transaction can be considered completed. Huobi sticks to the minimum values.
Huobi trading platforms practically do not differ from the platforms of other cryptocurrency platforms. There is a desktop app, which is often used by active traders, who perform serious chart analysis. Let’s review the pros and cons of the exchange’s apps
Web | Mobile | Desktop | |
---|---|---|---|
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 | Full set: Limit, Market, Stop Limit, Stop Market, Trailing Stop, Limit TP and SL | Basic set, containing Stop Orders and Limit Orders |
Quote history | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Number of indicators | Over 100 | Over 100 | Over 30 |
Tradingview charts | Yes | Yes | Yes |
The features of the mobile apps for iOS and Android are practically identical to the apps of other large exchanges. The desktop version has more features, including a larger number of order types.
Let’s now review Huobi Global trading platform in the context of its competitors:
Huobi Global | Kraken | Binance | |
---|---|---|---|
Web platform | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Android | Yes | Yes | Yes |
iOS | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Desktop | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Availability of the desktop version of the platform for MAC devices is a clear advantage of Huobi; however Binance has a version for Linux. Accordingly, Huobi is on par with the leader.
The simplest way to describe all trading platforms of Huobi is by the increase of features and options:
The exchange conducts analytical research, analyzing the current market condition, prospects of specific macroeconomic events and publications, and changes in the policy of central banks. Huobi Research covers all key issues and news, while the level of analytical support cannot be compared to that of Binance, as it is much lower.
There is also the Huobi Global channel on YouTube, featuring pieces on new opportunities and different events from the world of cryptocurrencies.
The exchange’s website features a lot of information that will be useful to the beginners. There are articles with analysis of different aspects of cryptocurrency functioning, basic notions, principles of trading, etc. There is also a series of articles explaining the features of the exchange and its specifics, for example a guide on using the Huobi Wallet. The YouTube channel of the platform has a section titled Learn and Earn, featuring current trends and earning options.
There is a big Help section on the Huobi website with descriptions of practically all notions, terms and conditions of working with the exchange. Before contacting customer support, it is recommended to review this section first. In most cases, you will be able to find an answer to your question there. If you still need to contact customer support, you need to click on the Customer Service button in the bottom right corner, then review the list of top questions and then ask your question. After you describe your problem, an employee of the support service will contact you. Let’s review the pros and cons:
You can contact Huobi Global and check out the latest news on different platforms and social media:
Huobi is an international cryptocurrency exchange and therefore, not only the website, but also customer support is available in different languages:
Huobi has its own bonus system, where new users can get a certain bonus amount, which depends on several conditions:
The last three points can be doubled if you perform the specified actions within 72 hours after registration. Additionally, there is a $10 bonus for inviting a friend, creating a Huobi Wallet, trading in the spot market and depositing 200$ in Huobi Earn.
Huobi Global cryptocurrency exchange is an example of well-balanced simplicity of use, number of trading instruments and the list of additional services. The platform is not chasing the top position by the number of coins, but provides an impressive list of trading instruments and a good spot market.
Huobi can be called a universal solution that will be convenient for any category of traders and investors, although there are two substantial drawbacks that make the exchange unattractive to traders with small deposits:
To put it simply, the expenses will be high if you don’t work with a large amount. At the same time, traders with large capital will be rather comfortable here with the many trading instruments and excellent opportunities for staking. Multi-currency Huobi Wallet supports over a thousand of coins; it is a great opportunity to build crypto wallets and easily manage them, and, if necessary, quickly rebalance at the exchange.