Huobi Review
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One platform that has been garnering a lot of attention from crypto enthusiasts is Huobi. But how does it compare to other popular crypto trading platforms? Throughout this Huobi review, we'll be taking a deep dive into Huobi's features, accessibility, fees, and security.
Our Take
Bottom line:
Huobi Global is a premium cryptocurrency provider available worldwide, allowing investors and traders to speculate on almost 600 cryptocurrencies. The exchange is an all-in-one solution for buying/selling, trading, earning, storing, and earning on crypto. Furthermore, a wide selection of payment methods, a good variety of supported fiat currencies, and reasonably competitive trading fees of 0.2% make the platform a pleasure to use.
Huobi is an excellent option for experienced international traders that want to invest in the world of crypto. However, the abundance of features will be daunting for new users, and a beginner-friendly crypto exchange like Coinbase could be a better option.
Promotion:- Lots of features
- Low deposit and withdrawal fees
- Automated trading
- Well-designed mobile app
- Not available in the United States
- High trading fees
Pros Explained
- Lots of features. Huobi is a very feature-rich platform that offers almost any feature a crypto enthusiast could need. While some of Huobi's offerings are slightly basic, the convenience of not having to switch between multiple exchanges to access certain features is worthy of consideration.
- Low deposit and withdrawal fees. Nobody wants to pay huge fees just to deposit funds to a crypto exchange. Huobi offers reasonably priced deposits/withdrawals enabling users to maximize their investments.
- Automated trading. Trading crypto can be a time-consuming process. However, Huobi has made the process much more efficient by offering a series of automation tools enabling users to create trading bots and automatically mirror other users, perfect for traders with limited time.
- Well-designed mobile app. In the modern world, trading on a mobile device is becoming increasingly common. Huobi offers a phenomenally designed mobile app making it easy to buy, sell, and stake assets from anywhere in the world.
Cons Explained
- Not available in the United States. Unfortunately, Huobi is in the midst of regulatory issues in the US. Although the company has applied for a license to operate in the region, residents of the US are currently prohibited from trading on Huobi.
- High trading fees. Although the 0.2% trading fee charged by Huobi might seem reasonable, it's double the cost of platforms like Binance and ByBit. As such, high-frequency traders should consider these increased costs when deciding which platform is right for them.
Huobi Compared and Alternatives
| Exchange | Crypto Assets | Trading Fees | Rating | Promotion | Website | Review |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Binance | 350 | 0.1% (spot) and 0.02% / 0.04% (Futures) | Rating  | Up to $100 welcome bonus | Visit Binance | Binance Review |
 ByBit | 331 (608 trading pairs) | 0% (spot), 0.06% / 0.01% (futures) | Rating | 0% trading fees for 30 days (spot only) | Visit ByBit | ByBit Review |
 OKX | 349 | 0.08% (maker) / 0.10% (taker) | Rating | None available at this time | Visit OKX | OKX Review |
Huobi At A Glance
Initially founded in China in 2013 but now based in Seychelles, Huobi is a popular crypto trading exchange that serves tens of millions of users spread across 195 countries. Huobi became a public traded company in Hong Kong in 2018 and has since acquired operational licenses in several countries, including South Korea, Gibraltar, Japan, Dubai, and Canada.
| Exchange Name | Huobi |
|---|---|
| Features | Educational Platform, Copy Trading, Staking, Trading Bot, Crypto Loans, Earning Products, P2P Marketplace |
| Accepted Fiat Currencies | USD, GBP, EUR, AUD, CAD, +45 Others |
| Deposit Methods | Credit/Debit Card, Wire Transfer, Crypto |
| Supported Cryptocurrencies | 595 |
| Number of Trading Pairs | 857 |
| Trading Fee | 0.2% |
| Customer Support | Help Center, Live Chat |
| Security Measures | 2FA, Cold Storage, Reserve Fund |
| Mobile App | Yes (Android and IOS) |
Huobi's Top Features Reviewed
Copy Trading
Huobi has a crypto copy trading system enabling its customers to automatically mirror the positions of other users to boost their holdings passively. Users can view the performance of other traders, including their total profits/losses, win rate, and the number of users copying them. While there are no guarantees of profit, the traders are incentivized to perform as well as possible as they receive a percentage of their follower's profits as a reward.
After researching for our Huobi exchange review, we were impressed by the platform's copy feature which was both user-friendly and transparent when compared to other copy trading platforms. However, it would be beneficial if traders could add a brief description explaining their methodology.
Grid Trading Bot
Huobi has introduced grid trading bots to automate spot trading on the crypto exchange. The grid trading feature is an automated bot that places buy and sell orders within a predefined price range. Users can manually set up their own grids or use an automated bot prebuilt by Huobi.
Although the inclusion of a grid trading bot is valuable, Huobi currently doesn't offer any bots with support for advanced strategies based on technical analysis. As such, investors looking to build a more complex trading bot will be better off using another platform like Pionex.
Huobi Staking
Huobi has a coin staking feature that allows its verified users to earn rewards for holding digital currencies within a Huobi wallet. With low fees, competitive yields, and support for 13 cryptocurrencies, including LINK, ATOM, and CRO, Huobi is one of the top-rated platforms for staking crypto.
Unfortunately, staking on the Huobi exchange platform is less flexible than most other crypto exchanges. Users must lock up their assets for a full 365 days, which could cause issues if a significant price movement or macroeconomic event takes place that the trader would otherwise capitalize on.
Despite staking on Huobi being inflexible, the platform does offer fairly high yields, with ApeCoin at 35% APY and ATOM offering 15%. As such, Huobi could be a solid platform for anyone looking to stake crypto assets over an extended period.
Huobi Earn
Huobi has a new feature called Huobi Earn which offers flexible and fixed lock-up terms to earn interest on coins and tokens in a Huobi wallet. Customers can deposit funds to earn interest compounded daily on popular cryptocurrencies and DeFi tokens. For example, deposit USDT to Huobi Earn to gain up to 15% APY, and with a total of 20 supported assets, Huobi has one of the most diverse earning platforms out there. However, it's a fairly new feature and users may be better served using trusted interest platforms such as Nexo and Binance Earn.
Crypto Loans From Huobi
Verified Huobi customers can collateralize crypto assets to obtain a loan in cash or digital currency that can be used for trading or withdrawn to an external wallet or bank account.
Huobi loans have a fixed term of 30, 45, or 90 days with flexible repayment options. In addition, there are no penalties or fees for early repayments. The interest rate is calculated based on hours of use and determined from the loan's start date. Overdue interest payments after seven days will be charged three times the interest rate, which is quite steep compared to other crypto lending websites.
P2P Marketplace
Huobi offers a peer-to-peer (P2P) marketplace that provides its customers with a means to seamlessly and effortlessly exchange fiat and cryptocurrencies. With zero trading fees, six supported assets, and a minimum trade amount of $100, the Huobi P2P marketplace is excellent for anyone looking for an alternative to centralized exchanges.
Huobi has one of the better P2P exchanges for crypto due to its modern filtering system. P2P users can sort merchants based on reviews and ratings on the platform, making it suitable for newcomers as well as experienced P2P traders.
Account Creation and ID Verification
The initial registration for Huobi can be completed within a couple of minutes and requires only an email address and password. Users can also register via Google or Telegram to expedite the process.
Customers can deposit crypto and trade crypto or make a purchase through a third party without verification, meaning that Huobi is technically a no-KYC exchange. However, to take advantage of the low fees and deposit natively with the exchange, users must complete Know-Your-Customer (KYC) verification by providing a photo ID (passport, driving license, ID card).
Supported Fiat Currency and Deposit Methods
Users wishing to deposit fiat to Huobi can do so with seven currencies, including USD, GBP, and EUR. However, more options are available for those wanting to directly buy crypto, as the exchange supports an impressive 50 fiat currencies for credit/debit card purchases.
Although Huobi supports a substantial number of fiat currencies, the exchange only offers a few payment methods. Huobi users can choose between credit/debit cards, bank transfers, and crypto. However, Huobi also works with a few third-party payment providers to offer more payment methods, but they charge high fees of around 3%.
Supported Cryptocurrencies and Trading Pairs
In addition to Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and XRP, Huobi supports 591 other crypto coins on its trading platform. The exchange regularly adds new coins in emerging blockchain industries, such as big data and AI, which have gained widespread popularity recently. The selection of coins on Huobi is very impressive, with the exchange beating out Binance's 386 at the time of writing. The coins are paired against USDT, HT, BTC, ETH, UDD, USDC, and EUR to provide 857 markets to find trading opportunities.
Huobi Fees
Trading fees
Huobi has a base trading fee of 0.20% per transaction for spot trades. However, holding and paying fees with the Huobi Token (HT) can provide a 25% discount, taking the effective base rate to 0.15%. Furthermore, Huobi offers trading volume discounts for users that conduct over $100,000 worth of futures trades within 30 days.
| 30-Day Trading Volume | Trading Fee (Maker / Taker) | Trading Fee with HT (Maker / Taker) |
|---|---|---|
| < 10,000 | 0.20% / 0.20% | 0.15% / 0.15% |
| ≥ 10,000 | 0.16% / 0.16% | 0.12% / 0.12% |
| ≥ 80,000 | 0.14% / 0.14% | 0.075% / 0.0750% |
| ≥ 500,000 | 0.1% / 0.15% | 0.0600% / 0.0675% |
| ≥ 3,000,000 | 0.08% / 0.09% | 0.0487% / 0.0675% |
Derivatives and margin fees
In addition to its fees for spot trading, Huobi has slightly different costs for derivatives and margin trading. The digital asset exchange charges 0.02% on maker orders and 0.05% on taker orders. However, the Huobi platform offers volume-based discounts enabling high-frequency traders to attain reduced costs.
| 30-Day Trading Volume | Derivatives Trading Fee (Maker / Taker) |
|---|---|
| < 10,000 | 0.20% / 0.50% |
| ≥ 10,000 | 0.015% / 0.04% |
| ≥ 80,000 | 0.012% / 0.038% |
| ≥ 500,000 | 0.01% / 0.035% |
| ≥ 3,000,000 | 0.007% / 0.032% |
Deposit and Withdrawal Fees
Huobi charges a fairly reasonable 0.15% + $1 (or applicable local currency) for fiat deposits and withdrawals. Furthermore, Huobi offers fee-free credit/debit card deposits for KYC-verified users. Additionally, crypto withdrawals incur a small network-base fee ranging from 0.001 USDT for Algorand to $4.94 USDT for ERC-20 assets.
Huobi Fees Compared
Overall, the spot trading fees on Huobi are competitive but slightly higher than Binance, OKCoin, and KuCoin, which start from 0.1% per transaction. Below, we've highlighted how Huobi compares to a few other popular cryptocurrency exchanges.
| Exchange Name | Trading Fee |
|---|---|
| Binance | 0.1% |
| Huobi | 0.2% |
| eToro | 1% |
| Gemini | 1.49% |
Huobi Ease of Use
Huobi offers its users a well-designed trading platform that's packed with valuable tools. Although the main navigation menu is somewhat crowded, key features are easily accessible via clearly labeled buttons, making it simple to find particular features.
Anyone with a Huobi account can trade the spot or the margin and derivatives platform with 200x leverage and comparable features to Binance and ByBit, making it a great alternative to both platforms. In addition, customers can access the same cryptocurrency trading tools regardless of which market they're trading in, providing a consistent experience.
Users can choose between two trading interfaces, one developed by Huobi and the other provided by leading crypto charting software, TradingView. While the native trading interface was similar to most other cryptocurrency exchanges, it lacked the technical indicators and charting tools offered by the TradingView-powered interface.
Overall, Huobi will be simple for anyone with previous experience using an order book-based platform for cryptocurrency trading. While it would be beneficial to add a beginner or lite mode for less experienced traders, Huobi remains a solid platform for spot and derivatives trading that's suitable for the vast majority of crypto enthusiasts.
Huobi Mobile App
Huobi Global offers a sleek and intuitive mobile trading app that can be downloaded for iOS and Android devices. Users can create an account on the app, complete ID verification, deposit and withdraw funds, place trades/monitor live positions. The app has a 4.5/5 star rating on the App Store based on more than 2,000 reviews.
While creating our mobile Huobi review, we were impressed to see the app offers similar functionality as the web platform, plus the range of technical indicators provided by the web platform's integration with TradingView. However, the Huobi app ran very slowly, with basic actions like loading a chart taking substantially longer than other platforms.
Trading on the Huobi app is pleasant and based on the order-book-style interface most traders will be familiar with. However, as the app only supports eight technical indicators, it's likely unsuitable for plotting most strategies. As such, Mobile traders wishing to perform detailed on-the-go analysis should look for another platform.
For mobile investors able to deal with the Huobi app's lack of responsiveness, it provides access to a good variety of features, including copy trading, futures trading, grid bots, and crypto options trading. As such, the Huobi app is one of the most versatile mobile trading platforms.
Customer Support
The Huobi team has built a help center containing a treasure trove of articles on topics ranging from account creation to futures trading. Furthermore, Huobi offers a live chat not, which can point users to the right guide or connect them to customer service agents.
Unfortunately, the live chatbot was tricky to find as it used an ambiguous icon at the bottom right of the platform, and the help center had no live chat option. However, we received a response from an advisor within seconds, which is extremely impressive, considering the average support wait time for an exchange can vary from hours to days.
Security of Assets
Huobi has proven to be one of the most secure platforms for cryptocurrency purchases and trading. The exchange is a relatively safe place to temporarily store assets without worry, thanks to it utilizing cold storage for 98% of client assets and offering a Huobi Security Reserve with a total value of 20,000 BTC to compensate users should something go awry.
For customers wishing to add more protection to their accounts, Huobi offers a variety of tools, including Two-Factor Authentication (2FA), an anti-phishing code for confirming communications from Huobi are legitimate, and the option of setting up a beneficiary to gain access to the account should the worst happen.
Frequently Asked Questions
Huobi is a safe platform with multiple bank-like security measures, such as cold wallet storage and Two-Factor-Authentication, ensuring a reliable and secure trading environment. Additionally, unlike other crypto exchanges, Huobi has never been hacked.
Huobi Global is a Seychelles-based cryptocurrency exchange licensed to operate in several countries, including Japan, South Korea, and Thailand. With tightening crypto regulations worldwide, Huobi has committed to compliance with Elaine Sun stating, "If regulatory compliance is the future of digital assets, we need all industry players to act in a compliant manner."
Creating a new account with Huobi or maintaining a Huobi wallet is free. Some fees involve using a Huobi account, such as depositing money to the exchange, buying/selling assets, and withdrawing to an external wallet. These fees are typical for any centralized exchange and cover the company's expenses for providing a safe trading environment.
The Huobi Token (HT) is the native cryptocurrency of the Huobi ecosystem and is issued by the Huobi Group. The asset utilizes Ethereum's ERC-20 architecture and boasts a fixed supply of 500 million tokens. In addition, the Huobi Token provides incentives such as VIP access, trading fee discounts, rebates, and voting rights for new coin listings.
Huobi Global is available to cryptocurrency investors and traders in over 190 countries worldwide. However, according to Huobi's User Agreement, US residents are prohibited from using the exchange. This is due to strict regulations that govern the provision of financial products and services.
Huobi Global is one of the top 10 derivatives exchanges in the world by traffic, liquidity, trading volumes, and confidence in the legitimacy of trading volumes reported. At the time of writing, Huobi processes over $1 Billion in daily transaction volume, with BTC/USD and ETH/USD making up most of all transaction volume on the exchange. The BTC/USD trading pair on Huobi has an average liquidity score of 446 which is subpar and could result in high slippage for large-volume traders.
Final Verdict and Scores
To conclude our Huobi review, the platform has been a leading cryptocurrency exchange since 2013 and offers excellent features, security, and competitive trading fees. Additionally, the user interface is well-designed, and the range of supported coins/trading pairs will suit most altcoin traders.
Huobi is a well-rounded exchange with something for everyone. From staking to trading bots, and crypto loans, Huobi is an extremely versatile all-in-one crypto exchange likely to appeal to experienced traders looking for a single central hub to interact with the crypto space. Overall, Huobi is suitable for experienced traders and novice traders looking for a platform to facilitate a varied range of activities within the crypto space.
| Review Criteria | HedgewithCrypto Rating |
|---|---|
| Features | 4 / 5 |
| Supported Fiat and Deposit Methods | 4 / 5 |
| Supported Crypto & Trading Pairs | 4.5 / 5 |
| Fees | 4.1 / 5 |
| Ease of Use | 4 / 5 |
| Customer support | 4.5 / 5 |
| Security Measures | 4 / 5 |
| Mobile App | 4.5 / 5 |
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