Huobi Global Review 2023

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.

Huobi Global Exchange Rating

Total score	9
Commissions	8
Security and regulation	9
Markets	9
Passive income	10
Account opening	10
Deposit and withdrawal	8
Trading platform	10
Analytics	7
Education	9
Customer support	9
Bonuses	9

Huobi pros and cons

Basic information

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:

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:

Trading fees

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:

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:

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.

Non-trading fees

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:

• BTC – 0.0005BTC
• ETH – 0.005ETH
• LTC – 0.001LTC
• XRP – 0.1XRP

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.

Average commission compared to competitors

Here’s a comparison of the Huobi fees compared to competitors:

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.

Margin lending

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.

Pros and cons of market diversity on Huobi

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.

Huobi Markets

Let’s compare the key indicators of markets with Huobi Global competitors:

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.

Cryptocurrencies – Spot

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.

Cryptocurrencies – Futures

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:

• 1 Week.
• 2 Weeks.
• 1 Quarter.
• 2 Quarters.
• Perpetual.

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 Referral Program

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:

• Cashback is calculated in USDT, bonus points or HT tokens.
• The duration of the program is 2 years after the registration of the referral.
• The amount of cashback per one referral is limited to 5000 USDT.
• The calculation is performed daily at midnight; the funds are credited within 22 hours.

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.

Residents of which countries can trade at the exchange

Huobi is available to everyone, with the exception of a number of countries, which are divided into two categories:

• A ban on trading futures and options for residents of China, Taiwan, Israel, Iraq, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Ecuador, Kyrgyzstan, Crimea and the UK.
• Cryptocurrency transactions are prohibited for residents of Hong Kong, North Korea, Cuba, Iran, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela and Crimea.

How to open an account on Huobi:
a step-by-step guide

Registration at the Huobi exchange is simple and won’t take more than 15 minutes. Follow these steps:

Step

1

Click Sign Up in the top right corner of the Huobi website homepage.

Step

2

Provide your phone number or email, come up with a password.

Step

3

Enter confirmation code, which was sent to your email.

Step

4

Click on the person’s silhouette and select ID Verification.

Step

5

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.

Minimum deposit

Account types

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:

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:

• USD – US dollar.
• EUR – euro.
• GBP – British pound.
• CAD – Canadian dollar.
• CHF – Swiss franc.
• AUD – Australian dollar.
• MXN – Mexican peso.
• UAH – Ukrainian hryvnia.

A large number of cryptocurrencies is also available, including the main ones:

• BTC
• ETH
• EOS
• LTC
• USDT

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.

Deposit and withdrawal options and processing time

Let’s review both deposit methods in the context of processing time and fees:

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

Comparative table of features

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.

Trading platforms. Comparison with the competition

Let’s now review Huobi Global trading platform in the context of its competitors:

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.

Trading platform specs

The simplest way to describe all trading platforms of Huobi is by the increase of features and options:

• Mobile apps for iOS and Android. These are very simple apps; they have a limited list of available trading orders and do not offer very wide possibilities for chart analysis. They are mostly used to monitor the situation and take quick action in case of serious changes in the market.
• Web version has a wider set of features, larger number of order types and a wide analytical base. It is used for chart analysis and has many different indicators for technical analysis.
• Desktop app has the widest set of features: trading orders, indicators. It can be called the choice of the professionals.

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:

Communication channels

You can contact Huobi Global and check out the latest news on different platforms and social media:

• Telegram: t.me/huobiglobalofficial
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/huobiglobalofficial
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/HuobiGlobal
• Blog on Medium: @huobiglobal
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/huobiglobalofficial/
• YouTube: www.youtube.com/HuobiGlobal

Customer support languages

Huobi is an international cryptocurrency exchange and therefore, not only the website, but also customer support is available in different languages:

• English
• Chinese
• Turkish
• Spanish
• Portuguese
• German
• French
• Dutch
• Italian
• Russian
• Ukrainian

Huobi has its own bonus system, where new users can get a certain bonus amount, which depends on several conditions:

• Registration with specification of your phone or email – 20$.
• Making a deposit for an amount of 0.01$ or higher – 30$.
• Opening a trade in the spot market – 40$.
• Achievement of 10000$ trading volume in the spot market – 50$ + 20DOGE.

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.