BEST EXCHANGE 2024 
KuCoin is consistently ranked among the top exchanges in the CoinMarketCap’s Top 10 centralized exchanges ranking. The exchange was launched in September 2017 in Hong Kong, and has now surpassed 8 millions of registered users, covering 207 countries and regions across the globe, according to KuCoin’s official website.
KuCoin has its own token (KCS) that provides a number of benefits (discounts for trading commission and other services of the exchange, an option to earn a profit simply for holding). The token is also ranked in the TOP 100 cryptocurrencies. A large number of trading pairs combined with high liquidity and relatively low commissions deservedly attracted attention of traders from all across the world. Let’s review the platform in more detail, its features and other goodies.
Rating of KuCoin crypto exchange
| Total score | 9 |
|---|---|
Commissions
|
9 |
Security and regulation
|
9 |
Markets
|
10 |
Passive income
|
9 |
Account opening
|
10 |
Deposit and withdrawal
|
8 |
Trading platform
|
9 |
Analytics
|
5 |
Education
|
8 |
Customer support
|
9 |
Bonuses
|
9 |
KuCoin pros and cons
Basic information
| Name | KuCoin |
|---|---|
| Website | www.kucoin.com |
| Exchange type | Centralized |
| Regulation | Hong Kong |
| Taker commission | from 0.1% to 0.02% |
| Maker commission | from 0.1% to -0.005% |
| Demo account | No |
| Minimum deposit | No |
| BTC withdrawal limits | from 200 to 3,000 over 24 hours |
| USD withdrawal limits | An amount equivalent (BTC 200) at the rate as of the time of withdrawal over 24 hours |
| Withdrawal in Fiat | Not available |
| Time frame for account opening | 10 seconds* (excluding the time for KYC review) |
| Leverage | Up to 1:100 |
| Markets | 207 countries and regions |
| Passive income options |
Lending, Staking, Mining, KCS Holding, Referral program, Promos and prize draws |
| Customer support languages | 15 languages |
| Withdrawal fee | Depends on the currency, zero withdrawal fee for some coins |
| Methods of deposit | Bank cards, Banxa, Simples, BTC Direct, crypto transfers (over 70 payment methods are available for P2P transfers) |
| Methods of withdrawal | Bank cards, crypto transfers (more than 70 methods are available for P2P transfers, although in reality everything is limited to the currently available offers) |
| Account currencies | Only cryptocurrencies, but conversion of over 45 fiat currencies is supported |
| Promo | Referral program, prize draws and special offers, updated KuCoin Media Kit |
KuCoin commissions and fees
It is rather expected that a top-level exchange has an adequate level of commissions and a deliberate discount system in the form of a loyalty program for the holders of KuCoin Token KCS.
Initially, the whole 12-level fee schedule looks a bit too sophisticated and not very clear to understand, but it essentially comes down to two key points, which are calculated every time based on the information for the last 30 days.
- KCS Holding amount over the last 30 days;
- Trading volume over the last 30 days (in BTC);
- Additional discount is provided for payments made in KCS (similarly to BNB on Binance).
Overall, there is a strong similarity to BINANCE. The withdrawal fee and the minimum amount are fixed, but individual for each cryptocurrency.
For example:
You can view the list of conditions for each level here. Also there, using the search feature, you can quickly find the coin you are interested in by using the Deposit&Withdrawal Fee Rate tab.
Here’s what we have on commissions and fees in general: no fee is charged on deposits, and there is a possibility for substantially reducing the expenses, regardless of the trading volume, by using KCS (on average -20%). If you are planning to trade large volumes or use high trading frequency, starting from LV5 Maker's commission becomes zero, and after reaching LV8 you receive a rebate – return of part of the transaction funds in the form of a negative commission.
Trading commissions
| Market | Volume (BTC) |
Minimum KCS holding |
Maker/ Taker |
KCS Pay Fees (Maker/ Taker) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spot | <50 | 0 | 0,1%/ 0,1% |
0,8%/ 0,8% |
| ≥50 | 1000 | 0,09%/ 0,1% |
0,072%/ 0,08% |
|
| ≥200 | 10000 | 0,07%/ 0,09% |
0,056%/ 0,072% |
|
| ≥500 | 20000 | 0,05%/ 0,08% |
0,04%/ 0,064% |
|
| ≥1000 | 30000 | 0,03%/ 0,07% |
0,024%/ 0,056% |
|
| ≥2000 | 40000 | 0%/ 0,07% |
0%/ 0,056% |
|
| ≥4000 | 50000 | 0%/ 0,06% |
0%/ 0,048% |
|
| ≥8000 | 60000 | 0%/ 0,05% |
0%/ 0,04% |
|
| ≥15000 | 70000 | -0,005%/ 0,045% |
-0,005%/ 0,036% |
|
| ≥25000 | 80000 | -0,005%/ 0,04% |
-0,005%/ 0,032% |
|
| ≥40000 | 90000 | -0,005%/ 0,035% |
-0,005%/ 0,028% |
|
| ≥60000 | 100000 | -0,005%/ 0,03% |
-0,005%/ 0,024% |
|
| ≥80000 | 150000 | -0,005%/ 0,025% |
-0,005%/ 0,02% |
|
| Futures | <100 | 0 | 0,2%/ 0,06% |
|
| ≥100 | 1000 | 0,015%/ 0,06% |
||
| ≥400 | 10000 | 0,01%/ 0,06% |
||
| ≥1000 | 20000 | 0,01%/ 0,05% |
||
| ≥2000 | 30000 | 0,01%/ 0,04% |
||
| ≥3000 | 40000 | 0%/ 0,04% |
||
| ≥6000 | 50000 | 0%/ 0,038% |
||
| ≥12000 | 60000 | 0%/ 0,035% |
||
| ≥20000 | 70000 | -0,003%/ 0,032% |
||
| ≥40000 | 80000 | -0,006%/ 0,03% |
||
| ≥80000 | 90000 | -0,009%/ 0,03% |
||
| ≥120000 | 100000 | -0,012%/ 0,03% |
||
| ≥160000 | 150000 | -0,015%/ 0,03% |
Non-trading commissions and fees
Except for the deposit and withdrawal fees, we have not discovered anything unexpected.
Average commission compared to the competition
| KuCoin | Binance | HTX (Huobi) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Taker | 0.08% | 0.06% | 0.09% |
| Maker | 0.02% | 0.05% | 0.08% |
To be fair, KuCoin offers some of the best conditions for withdrawal of funds and cryptocurrency trading. Specific withdrawal conditions are determined by the currency you want to use for withdrawal, but the average fee is 0.1% of the amount, and if you are holding KCS on the account – a low 0.05%.
Margin lending
Everything is quite simple and clear about the margin. Also, bonuses are often awarded following registration. We got a $500 coupon at 0% interest for a term of two weeks. Interest is charged per each hour and in included in the total amount of debt, which is shown in the Liabilities box in the Margin Account:
For convenience, Debt Ratio is shown, updated every 5 seconds. When the debt ratio reaches 95% a user receives a warning (a text message and an email with the warning is sent depending on the security settings). When the debt ratio reaches 97%, a forced liquidation is triggered.
KuCoin reliability and regulation
| Registration | Seychelles |
| Founders | Michael Gan and Johnny Lyu (CEO) |
| Owner | Mek Global Limited |
The exchange is not regulated by the official authorities.
Location of the resource in the jurisdiction of the Seychelles holds a number of benefits for the organizers
as well as the users, but it’s not all so straightforward. The exchange is not regulated by the official
authorities of major countries, which lowers the total score for reliability.
In terms of technical security, it is known that the exchange was developed in strict compliance with the
standards of the financial industry. In simple words, data encryption and security is at the level of a
bank. At the operational level, there are risk control units responsible for introduction and observance of
the strict rules of data use.
The exchange guarantees the security of its clients’ assets by using autonomous cold servers. Additionally,
the transactions must be confirmed on the independent secure hubs. According to the information provided by
customer support, KuCoin storage combines several levels of encryption, escrow services and cold storage.
Furthermore, the company never avoids passing regular audits.
Onchain Custodian, a provider of custody services for safekeeping cryptocurrency, works with KuCoin since
spring 2020, and Lockton, one of the largest private insurance brokers, stand out among the official
partners of the exchange responsible for security and safekeeping of the assets.
KuCoin Hack
On September 26, 2020, KuCoin suffered from hacker attack resulting in a heist of crypto assets in the amount of approximately $280 million (mostly Bitcoin and Ethereum). Upon gaining access to private keys to hot wallets, a hacker performed several quick transfers. As soon as the hack was discovered, deposits and withdrawals on the exchange were blocked and the funds remaining on the hot wallets were transferred to new ones, while the exchange continued to work. All in all, the cold wallets were not affected and over $200 million of the stolen amount was returned to the users within a month. The rest was covered by the insurance, as the exchange reported in February 2021.
Markets and products
Pros and cons of market diversity on KuCoin exchange
KuCoin markets
| KuCoin | Binance | HTX (Huobi) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cryptocurrencies* | 719 | 395 | 584 |
| Trading pairs* | 1343 | 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 |
Passive income on KuCoin
-
Bonus for holding KCS, the so-called cryptocurrency cashback. KuCoin was one of the first exchanges to introduce this method of ‘financial gratitude’ to its users. Inside the system, these rewards are called KuCoin Bonus. The bonus is paid once a day and its amount is proportionate to the number of KCS coins held in your account. Naturally, the more KCS coins you have on your deposit, the higher the bonus will be. The process is automatic and does not require any actions from the user, which is an added bonus. Important detail – the minimum number of coins on your account to be eligible for the bonus is 6 KCS.
-
Staking
(POOL-X Earn) – thanks to a special algorithm, KuCoin users are now able to earn profit for holding their chosen cryptocurrency on their account. How to use it: Access POOL-X platform at POOL-X and choose the currency from the list. For each coin, the percentage of its yield from staking and the minimum volume required are specified. After deciding on the program, select (or buy at the exchange) and register the required number of coins. Pool-X also supports POL (Proof of Liquidity), which is a decentralized zero-reservation credit based on TRON’s TRC-20 protocol. This provides an opportunity to earn a bonus for holding coins and tokens (annual yield is up to 15%, while minimum deposits are extremely low). -
Lending
(KuCoin Lend) is a system of providing cryptocurrencies on a loan to other users. The key requirement is that the chosen asset should not be traded while it is put up for lending. The creditor earns a return depending on the interest rate after the borrower places an order for a credit. As for the benefits, there are no commissions and risks, while for most major cryptocurrencies the average annual return rate ranges from 8% to 12%. In terms of drawbacks, this section on the website does not have a Russian translation. -
Referral program.
Of course the platform supports a referral program to attract new users. And there is a special feature in it as well. There are three levels for an ordinary user; initially the exchange transfers part of its commission earned from the new user, who registered using a referral link (you can see your referral link by moving the cursor to the circle of your profile and choosing Referral Program from the pop-down menu). The user whose referral link was used is awarded up to 40$ of the commission paid by the referred user and those he refers.
If you have a blog on social media with a rather large audience, you have a good chance of connecting to the program on special conditions, earning 50% of the commission. Most importantly, in the traditional referral program, the bonuses are awarded only for the first year of active trading of your referrals, while in this program, the bonuses will be paid without time limitations (in other words, for as long as the user your referred trades).
An interesting detail about KuCoin exchange
Looking at the daily trading volume of the exchange (at the time (the day) this article was being written it was nearly $2 billion), you can imagine rather large bonuses just for holding this coin in your wallet. However, you can find rather angry reviews of the “great mathematicians” online claiming that the “exchange scams everybody and steals our money”. It is all about the peculiarity of such a feature as rebate (negative commission, which is available at the exchange starting from LV8). If you go from viewing percentage directly to money, this type of bonus, which is received by a specific client for his trading transactions, is deducted from the total amount of commissions and fees. Though rebate is available only on the spot market, it is available to those clients who have VERY big trading volumes and can quite substantially impact the total amount of the commission collected by the exchange in terms of percentage. Therefore, purely mathematically, having only 24h trading volume, it is simply impossible to calculate the exact amount of the commissions and fees. Still, personally I like this approach, which some call a cashback analog from the crypto exchange. In any case, it really proves that the exchange addresses the needs of the users, which gives optimism and hope for further success of KuCoin Token and the KuCoin platform.
Account opening on KuCoin
Account opening on KuCoin
Residents of which countries can trade at KuCoin exchange?
The exchange is available in more than 200 countries across the globe, including Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, European countries, Australia and the U.S.. However, despite general availability in the U.S., there are no KYC services, which imposes a number of restrictions. Also, the platform does not work in New York since it does not have BitLicense. Therefore, if you are in the U.S. or another country with strict regulation of crypto exchanges, we recommend that you first clarify the actual status for your region and only then make the decision about how to register. Based on what we managed to find out, KuCoin is not available in Bolivia, Iraq, Cuba, and some other countries. Residents of the CIS all have access to the exchange.
How to open an account on KuCoin:
a step-by-step guide
The registration at the exchange is entirely online and does not require a lot of time. It comes down to several simple steps, specifically:
First open your email, which you will be using for the registration and then access the exchange’s official website: www.kucoin.com
Select your language, provide email address, come up and enter a complex password, made up from at least 10 symbols. You can link your phone right there, but it is not a mandatory action, which is currently available to mobile operators from 22 countries. In any case, you can always do it later in the Security Settings tab in your already registered account.
If the password turns out to be not complex enough, later you will see the following message:
This means that you will have to repeat the entire procedure – getting the code sent to your email (+entering captcha) again. So make sure you come up with a good password right from the start.
Click on the Send Code button and then open the message in your email, and copy the code, which looks like this:
Next, go back to our registration form, paste the code into the corresponding box and click on the Sign Up button!
There, you’ve registered!
Usually, you will see a welcome message and an offer to get a bonus.
As a bonus, we got a coupon for up to $500 at 0% for one week.
This registration is enough to start trading, and if you add your phone number for SMS or Google Verification, you will be able to deposit/withdraw funds with some restrictions.
The website features a short video, with a simple video tutorial in English on how to pass KYC verification. Also, in the FAQ, there is a step-by-step guide. By the way, although support is available in 14 languages, it is certainly better to use English if you want to resolve your issues for sure. The requirements for the documents are rather standard and mine were accepted on the first attempt (for example on Binance I had to take photos of my documents and send them again, and a selfie more than 5 times, and every time I had to wait from 1 to 4 hours).
- Increase of the daily withdrawal limit from 2 to 200 BTC;
- Purchase of cryptocurrency with a credit/debit card;
- Increase of leverage to 100x on futures trading.
The program consists of the basic verification KYC1 and extended verification KYC2. For KYC1 you need to provide your country of residence, First Name and Last Name, select the type of the document (foreign passport, ID card or driver’s license), specify its number, read and agree with the Guide for User Identity Verification.
For KYC2 you need to upload a photo of the front and back side of the ID document, a portrait photo of you and the document, and also a piece of paper with your signature, dynamic code and a handwritten date. Make sure that your face is clear and the information on your document is legible.
Minimum deposit
You need to keep in mind that KuCoin is a cryptocurrency exchange, which means that you cannot deposit fiat money to your account. However, you can use reliable instruments for purchasing cryptocurrency.
| KuCoin | Binance | HTX (Huobi) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum deposit | $1 | $1 (for trading Spot 10) | $1 (for trading Spot 20) |
Account types
The account type is determined by the account name.
Main Account
is exactly that – the main account used for holding, deposit and withdrawal of cryptocurrencies, payment
of commissions (if you use KCS, that's where they will be) and P2P trading. Also the funds resulting from
purchase of cryptocurrency with a debit/credit card and margin lending are credited to this account.
Trading Account
the assents from this account are mainly used for transactions in cryptocurrency spot trading;
Margin Account
as you can deduce from the name of the account, the assets on it are used for margin loan and margin
trading. The tokens transferred here can be used for trading with leverage up to 10x;
Futures Account
is an account for trading futures. The cryptocurrency assets transferred here can be used for trading
with leverage up to 100x. However, keep in mind that futures is a complex financial instrument and we
recommend that the beginners refrain from using such contracts.
Pool-X Earn
is an account for staking.
Transfer of funds between your accounts is almost instant and commission free.
Deposit and withdrawal
In order to fund your account on KuCoin, you need to go to the Buy Cryptocurrency tab and select Debit/Credit card.
The interface is very simple, showing specific amounts, all commissions and fees included.
The methods and channels of payment depend on the choice of your currency: for example for USD Visa/Mastercard, Apple Pay are available, and two channels: simplex and banxa.
At the same time, Visa/Mastercard, SEPA, Apple Pay, iDEAL, iDEAL, Giropay, SOFORT Banking, EPS via simplex, banxa and btcdirect channels are available for the EUR:
The P2P method is also available in the Buy Cryptocurrency tab.
In order to use the P2P method, you need to take certain preliminary actions regarding verification of your account, otherwise you will get this message:
These actions can be performed right there in the P2P tab by selecting Payment Settings.
NOTE!
If you change your contact number, in order to ensure security of your account, the services of
deposits to KuCoin and KuMEX will be temporarily unavailable for 24 hours after confirmation/change of
the settings.
Deposit and withdrawal methods
| Deposit/withdrawal method | Fee (only withdrawal fee is charged) | Time frame for deposit/withdrawal |
|---|---|---|
| Bitcoin | 0.0005 BTC | Usually 10 minutes, but depends on the volume and other factors*. |
| Ethereum | 0.004 ETH | Usually 10 minutes, but depends on the volume and other factors*. |
| Visa/Mastercard cards | Depends on the currency | Up to 30 minute |
| Electronic payment systems |
Wire transfer (SEPA) Perfect Money Skrill (Moneybookers) Alipay ADVCash Apple Pay, Google Pay Etf Paypal Payeer Papara Wire transfer |
Up to 30 minute |
| Other methods, if any. | P2P | 15 minutes |
Trading Platforms
The exchange does not have its Desktop app, but we gave high scores to the Web and Mobile versions. KuCoin exchange can be accessed through mobile apps for Android and iOS, while the web version worked well in all browsers, including Firefox, Chrome, Iron, Opera and Vivaldi, regardless of the operating system.
Comparative table of features
| Web | Mobile | Desktop | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Two-factor authentication | Yes | Yes | - |
| Time frame range |
1, 3, 5, 15, 30 min; 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 12 hours; 1 day; 1 week |
1, 5, 15, 30 min; 1, 2, 4, 8 hours; 1 day; 1 week |
- |
| Order types | Limit, Market, Stop Limit, Market Stop | Limit, Market, Stop Limit, Market Stop | - |
| Quote history | Yes | Yes | - |
| Number of indicators | Over 80 | Over 80 | - |
| Tradingview charts | Yes | Yes | - |
Trading platforms. Comparison with the competition
| KuCoin | Binance | HTX (Huobi) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Web platform | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Android | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Desktop | No | Yes | Yes |
Analytics
KuCoin trading platform is easy to use, while it has been developed taking into consideration all levels of cryptocurrency trading. The clients have access to the news section. Also, using the continuously growing community, you can always be up to date about the latest changes in the market, which directly or indirectly can impact cryptocurrency markets or KuCoin exchange. TradingView platform is available, and the current chart even on the mobile app can show over 80 different indicators.
Once you click on the News and Announcements you will see a conveniently structured section, which you can access regularly to stay up to date or to restore the chronology of events based on Logs.
There, you can view all events in the chronological order or sort by Stocks, New Coin Listing, Important Announcements, General News, Futures News, Pool-X News, DeFi News and more specific news.
Education
KuCoin exchange has a rather developed community represented in different languages.
For example, YouTube channel features many short educational materials designed to help users understand the basic instruments and specifics of registration and operation of the platform. There is also an excellent Beginner’s Guide.
Customer support
Communication channels
KuCoin provides 24h customer support for its clients by a competent team using the following communication channels:
- Live chat on the website
- Ticket system
In addition, the number of participants on social media is growing steadily. At the moment, the following is available in Russian:
- Telegram channel (Russian) – nearly 9,000 followers
- Facebook group (Russian) – over 500 followers
- Vk group – over 4,500 followers
- YouTube channel – 14,500 subscribers
A good and rather detailed section of FAQ can also be added to the aforementioned list of the support the exchange provides.
Customer support languages:
Despite that the exchange claims to provide support in 15 languages, including Russian, Italian, French, Turkish and others, as you correspond with the support team you get a strong impression that the support uses machine translation. Therefore, I would recommend using exclusively English for these purposes. Other than that, the exchange is one of the platforms that enjoys rather frequent positive reviews about its customer support, which reacts quickly and competently in most cases.
Bonuses and promo
The exchange awards gifts to all new users at every stage: right after the registration, after activation of the trading account, opening of a margin account, etc. The bonuses are awarded individually. For example, after registration we got a coupon for margin crediting with a low interest rate - $500 at 0% for one week.
In addition, you can always see all available bonus offers after registration in the More tab, which features the pages of Prize Draws, Token Listing, Promos, Latest News and Announcements.
Summary
Summing up this review, I’d like to say that KuCoin is deservedly considered one of the TOP exchanges. It is very friendly to the beginners, providing prompts and reminders before all important actions and quickly reacting to the questions for customer support and giving pleasant bonuses. At the same time, low level of commission, excellent selection of instruments for analysis and general platform performance create beneficial conditions also for experienced traders.
Creators of the exchange work continuously to offer something new, also quickly adopting successful experiences of the competitors. High daily trading volume, a multitude of cryptocurrencies and the Coingecko trust score at 9/10 (September 2021) prove that KuCoin deserves the right to be among the leaders.
KuCoin was hacked in 2020 and therefore, there is an experience of how the exchange acts in this situation. Let me remind you that all users were returned the stolen funds (the majority of the stolen funds was found and returned to the exchange and the rest was covered by insurance). This makes the exchange one of the most reliable companies that protect you as a trader.
