Okcoin Review
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One of the longest-serving and most traded crypto exchanges for Bitcoin is Okcoin. The exchange offers a safe environment for beginners, investors and traders that want to buy and sell digital currencies. In this review, we will break down its most important features and evaluate its trading fees, security and customer support.
Our Take
Bottom line:
Okcoin is a reputable cryptocurrency exchange for individuals to buy Bitcoin and other popular coins effortlessly with cash using a variety of payment methods. The platform is geared toward beginners with a spot market and DeFi earning platform. While there are good features available for intermediate crypto traders, the overall platform is lacking and the fees of 0.1% (maker) and 0.2% (taker) are not the cheapest. Moreover, existing users have rated OkCoin 3.4/5 stars on TrustPilot with numerous reports of poor customer service.
Promotion:- Straightforward crypto exchange that is designed for beginners with DCA tools
- Good selection of coins that includes the major cryptocurrency projects
- Highly visual and interactive portfolio manager (and app) to check prices and performance 24/7
- Dedicated Pro terminal for experienced crypto-to-crypto traders
- Does not offer futures trading or leveraged tokens
- Earn program is limited and does not include mining pools
- Serious crypto traders will find the trading platform and selection of margin pairs lacking
Okcoin At A Glance
Okcoin is listed among the world's biggest bitcoin exchanges by volume and is ranked 66th at the time of writing, with more than 5.67 million transacted each day by over 100,000 active traders. The globally regulated crypto exchange is supported in 192 countries worldwide with offices in 6 locations such as San Francisco, Hong Kong, Malta, Japan, Singapore, and Korea. The company behind Okcoin was founded in 2013 by Star XU, who is currently the CEO of the exchange which consists of 100+ employees worldwide.
Some notable features of Okcoin are:
- The exchange is designed for beginners and advanced traders
- US traders and investors allowed
- Deposit funds using wire transfer, SEPA, ACH, Etana, Epay, PrimeX, Silvergate, Credit Card, and Debit Card
- Competitive trading fees with high trading volume and liquidity
- Ability to set up recurring orders
- TradingView charting available
- OTC desk for large orders
- $10 free Bitcoin referral program
| Exchange Name | Okcoin |
|---|---|
| Deposit Methods | Wire transfer, ACH, credit/debit card, SEPA, crypto & others |
| Cryptocurrencies | BTC, LTC, ETH, BCH,& 22 others |
| Markets | Spot Trading & Margin Trading, OTC |
| Trading Fees | From 0.10% (maker) and 0.20% (taker) |
| Mobile App | Yes (Android and iOS) |
Okcoin Compared and Alternatives
| Exchange | Crypto Assets | Trading Fees | Rating | Promotion | Website | Review |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Binance | 385 | 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 |
 Coinbase | 241 | 0.4% (maker), 0.6% (taker) | Rating | $5 BTC bonus (USA only) | Visit Coinbase | Coinbase Review |
Okcoin Features & Services Reviewed
Dollar-Cost-Averaging
Dollar-cost-averaging (DCA) is a very simple and easy method for individuals to invest in cryptocurrencies. Okcoin offers DCA for users to gradually build a position over time by purchasing a small amount each day, week, month, or bi-monthly regardless of the asset price. In a volatile market, using a recurring order is beneficial to average into a position that can work well during a bull market. This is a different strategy than trying to time the market and picking the bottom.
Earn Interest On Funds
Earning interest on cryptocurrencies is becoming extremely popular with the emergency of the decentralized finance (DeFi) market and platforms such as Nexo and Crypto.com. To compete with other exchanges offering borrowing and lending services, Okcoin allows its customers to earn up to 10% interest on crypto. For example, Okcoin is offering a flexible term for Polkadot (DOT) with an estimated return of 8% APY. There are zero transaction fees, network gas fees ongoing maintenance fees to earn crypto with Okcoin.
Margin Trading
In addition to the spot trading exchange, Okcoin has introduced a margin trading platform for its users to long or short-sell Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies using leverage up to 10x. The available pairs that can be traded with leverage include BTC/USD, LTC/USD and ETH/USD.
Supported Countries
Okcoin is regulated worldwide and supported in 192 countries such as the United States, Canada, Australia, Singapore and the United Kingdom to buy and sell cryptocurrency on its premium trading platform. The exchange, however, does not offer services to residents of Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Crimea, Sudan, Syria, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Ecuador and Kyrgyzstan.
The ETH/USD, BTC/USD, BTC/EUR and the USDT/USD pairs are the most popular on OKCoin. Smaller altcoin trading pairs such as LTC/USD, LINK/USD and EOS have much lower trading volumes in the order book compared to Binance for example. For high net-worth traders and institutions, filling large orders on Okcoin without slippage can be an issue when trading low cap pairs. Otherwise, the volume on Okcoin is reasonable for buying the major cryptos with USD and EUR.
Login & Verification
Okcoin does not allow any transactions to be carried out after creating a new account until the user goes through the verification process. There are two verification levels that require different documentation and have varying limits for withdrawals.
Level 1 verification requires personal information such as; name, nationality, birth date, Passport or ID number and address. Users can buy and sell up to $5,000 with basic verification only. However, to increase the daily limits and enable fiat or crypto withdrawals from Okcoin to an external wallet, Level 2 verification must be completed. This will require the upload of a Government backed ID document and proof of residence which can either be a utility bill or bank statement.
Fiat Deposit & Limits
Okcoin exchange supports payment options such as Bank Wire Transfer, SEPA, ACH, Etana, Epay, PrimeX, Silvergate, Credit Card and Debit Card to deposit funds to the platform. Within the United States, credit cards are not allowed, however, a debit card is permitted. A wire transfer from a local bank is a safe and reliable method that takes between 1 and 2 business days to clear. Both a wire transfer and ACH have zero deposit fees.
Using a credit or debit card to purchase crypto is a popular method for safety and convenience, however, a small surcharge is applied to the transaction. For more information on fees, click here to skip to the fees section.
| Country | Currency | Payment Type | Deposit Min. | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| USA | USD | Wire transfer | $100 | 1 - 2 work days |
| USA | USD | ACH | $25 | Instant |
| USA | USD | Debit card | $10 | Instant |
| EUR | EUR | SEPA | €1 | 1 - 2 work days |
| EUR | EUR/USD | Etana | €1/$1 | 1 - 2 work days |
| EUR | EUR/USD | Debit/credit card | €10/$10 | Instant |
Supported Coins
Okcoin supports a wide offering of cryptocurrency coins and projects that can be bought and sold on the exchange. There are in total 24 different coins available which include the major assets such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and Dogecoin. Stablecoins such as USDT and USDC plus the popular DeFi tokens like Yearn Finance and Compound are also supported. The user interface allows the coins to be arranged by price change to find the top movers for the day.
User Interface
The design of the web and mobile app is specifically tailored for ease of use and simplicity. Once an account is created and logged in, the Okcoin dashboard provides a quick snapshot of the portfolio performance, assets within the wallet, open buy/sell orders and recent activity (e.g. deposits and withdrawals).
Navigation on the Okcoin website is straightforward with options along the top menu to return to the dashboard, view the live prices of the supported cryptocurrencies, trade on the advanced platform or deposit funds in a savings wallet to earn crypto interest. Overall, using Okcoin is highly suited to beginners that are purchasing crypto with fiat and want a basic exchange to monitor their investment performance.
Buying Cryptocurrency
There are 2 options to obtain cryptocurrency with fiat money using Okcoin which include a one-off purchase or recurring orders. Customers that want to convert fiat into crypto at a particular price can use the off-off time purchase to select a payment method available to the country of residence. The user can select the coin to buy and the amount of money to deposit. Once the transaction is completed, the purchased asset will appear within the Okcoin wallet once the payment has cleared.
The recurring orders feature allows users to set up automatic deposits using a particular payment method. The frequency options include daily, weekly, bi-monthly or monthly. Okcoin will use the funds to purchase a particular coin. There is no option to select a bundle of coins to split the deposit across a range of cryptos. This means the individual will need to configure multiple recurring orders to buy Bitcoin, Ethereum or other assets and incur additional deposit fees depending on the payment method.
Overall, Okcoin provides a great interface for individuals to buy or sell 24 different cryptocurrency coins using a clean, easy-to-use and safe platform. The coins can be quickly monitored on the dashboard which provides real-time updates over 24-hour, daily, weekly or monthly timeframes. The exchange is recommended for beginners that want to build an investment portfolio without any complications.
Advanced Trading
To cater to active investors and intermediate traders, Okcoin offers an advanced trading platform to speculate on 18 pairs against the USD, EUR, BTC and USDT. The number of available trading pairs is quite limited when compared to the larger exchanges such as Coinbase Pro, Kraken, Binance, Huobi and FTX. There are currently no trading pairs using Ethereum, Litecoin or XRP as collateral.
Okcoin provides a basic and advanced user interface for beginners and experienced traders. The default view shows the basic interface and includes all the tools required to view the current price of the selected asset, choose an order type, entry price and amount. Switching to the full-screen mode brings up more functionality and the ability to choose between Okcoin's native charting platform or TradingView.
In our opinion, using the TradingView mode is far superior as it offers hundreds of technical indicators, chart patterns, and drawing tools that can be applied to each trading pair. Compared to other software packages such as Coinigy, Quadency and Shrimpy, Tradingview is one of the best places to chart crypto.
Examples of indicators that can be added include moving averages, stochastics, Bollinger bands and many more. Users can right-click the chart to change the time frame, add indicators and customize the scale. Switching between trading pairs using the top menu does not remove any tools, patterns or lines that have been drawn on the charts.
Okcoin's advanced trading platform includes several orders to enter or exit a position that will suit individuals that rely on certain orders for their particular style of trading and risk management. The available order types are market, limit, stop-limit, trailing, iceberg and TWAP. The trailing order can be beneficial when used to trail the market with a stop-loss order. It allows the users to lock in potential profits for long-term traders. Likewise, an iceberg order is recommended for high net-worth individuals and advanced users that want to hide their full order size from the order books by splitting a large single order into multiple limit orders.
Overall, charting and trading on Okcoin is excellent with its advanced tools, features and indicators offer by the Tradingview integration. The selection of order types will suit both beginners and professional retail traders, however, the selection of trading pairs is limited and could be improved to offer collateral in other large-cap assets such as Ethereum, Litecoin or XRP.
Trading Fees
Okcoin uses the maker and taker fee structure to determine the applicable fees based on the type of order placed. The maker fees and taker fees start from 0.10% to 0.20% respectively. The fees are competitive in the market when compared to top trading platforms such as Binance, Huobi and KuCoin. There is also a spread charge when buying cryptocurrencies, which is a standard cost of a transaction that can fluctuate depending on market conditions and market depth within the order book.
| Trading Volume (30 day) | Fees (Maker / Taker) |
|---|---|
| <$100,000 | 0.1% / 0.2% |
| $100,000 - $500,000 | 0.09% / 0.18% |
| $500,000 - 1 Million | 0.07% / 0.16% |
Users that are part of the Okcoin Premier are eligible for fee discounts based on the trading volume over a 30-day period. The lowest fee available on Okcoin is 0% and 0.02% for maker and takers that have a trading volume that exceeds $500M per month. For retail investors and beginners, the 0.1% and 0.2% fees will be applicable for accumulative volume under $100,000 per month.
Deposit & Withdrawal Fees
Deposit and withdrawal fees on the Okcoin exchange depend on the payment option used. Debit cards are available for users globally and have the highest deposit fee of 3.99% which is similar to using Coinbase. The cheapest method to deposit funds to Okcoin within the USA is using a wire transfer which does not have any fees. There are no foreign conversion fees for customers that deposit funds from the US. For users in Europe, SEPA has a small fee of €0.20 +0.3% to deposit Euros which is fairly reasonable.
| Country | Payment Type | Deposit Fee | Withdrawal Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| USA | Wire transfer | None | None |
| USA | ACH | None | N/A |
| USA | Debit card | 3.99% | N/A |
| EUR | SEPA | €0.20 +0.3% | €1.5 |
| EUR | Etana | None | None |
| EUR | Debit/credit card | 3.99% | N/A |
There are no fees to withdraw money from Okcoin into a bank account except for SEPA and international wire transfers. Withdrawing Euros via SEPA and international wire has a fee of €1.5 and €35 respectively. It is free to withdraw funds using a wire transfer in the USA and Etana with Europe. To view the full list of deposit and withdrawal fees, visit the Okcoin website.
Customer Support & Reviews
Okcoin users can contact the exchange by direct email, using a live chat service or telephone number. Okcoin has an extensive Help Centre and FAQ page that provides guidance and answers to commonly asked questions regarding creating an account, verification, deposits and withdraws and trading. The System Status page can be useful to see if there is scheduled maintenance that can cause delays with withdrawal requests.
The reviews on Trustpilot provide mixed opinions on customer service with an overall 3.4/5 star rating based on 270 reviews. There are numerous comments on user's difficulties depositing funds and using the app, however, the exchange appears to directly respond to each comment to provide further assistance. Overall, the customer feedback on Okcoin's support service is good with complimentary comments on the exchange's features, the number of coins offered and low trading fees.
Mobile App
The Okcoin mobile app is designed with a simple user interface that is ideal for beginners to quickly and safely buy crypto and monitor the live coin prices. The app has a 4.2- star rating on Google's Play Store from 1,693 voters. However, there are a number of concerns by existing Okcoin app users regarding network connectivity issues and minor glitches preventing login, ID verification and withdrawing funds. The response time on help tickets for customer support issues using the mobile app also appear to be slower when compared to the desktop site.
Frequently Asked Questions
Okcoin is a globally available cryptocurrency exchange that is headquartered in San Francisco, California, with supporting offices in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malta and Japan. Okcoin is regulated in the United States for individuals to buy and sell digital assets with fiat currencies. The exchange is a registered company with the Money Services Business (MSB) and licensed with the Financial Crime Enforcement Network (FinCEN).
OKCoin appears to be a safe cryptocurrency exchange that has implemented several security features on its platform to protect against hackers and fraudulent account access. Features include over 95% cold wallet storage, multi-sig hot wallets, two-factor authentication for deposits and withdrawals and real-time account monitoring. The exchange also sends email and SMS notifications, and it also uses PGP encryption in all email correspondence.
Based on our research, Okcoin has never been hacked or compromised resulting in the loss of customer's funds or personal information. This can be attributed to Okcoin's robust security practices to deter, detect and address any risks or vulnerabilities.
According to the Okcoin website, the company is a regulated provider that can offer a cryptocurrency exchange within Canadian provinces that includes Nova Scotia, Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick and Manitoba.
A practice mode to trade cryptocurrencies is not provided by Okcoin. Traders on the platform will need to make an initial deposit to begin trading. To trade Bitcoin or cryptocurrencies without using virtual funds, individuals will need to find a suitable demo trading platform that offers crypto assets to get used to the volatility associated with the digital currency market.
Okcoin offers a referral program for inviting new customers to the exchange when they sign up using a unique link that can be shared on social media. The existing and referred user will both receive $10 in Bitcoin when they deposit or trade $100 or more using Okcoin. The new customer must complete verification level 2 to qualify for the referral bonus.
Final Verdict
To conclude our review of Okcoin, overall the exchange is well-suited for beginners to use a regulated and trusted platform to buy cryptocurrencies. The exchange is simple to use and offers major cryptocurrency projects which can be bought with a wide array of payment methods and converted back to fiat currency with low trading fees. The advanced trading platform with TradingView charts is ideal for intermediate and experienced traders with the added option of margin trading.
One of the best features is the recurring orders that are ideal for beginners to accumulate a position over time, as opposed to attempting to time the market with individual purchases. Combined with an easy-to-use mobile app and a responsive customer support team, Okcoin is one of the better fiat-to-crypto exchanges in the world. However, there are several improvements that could be made:
- Increase the number of trading pairs (e.g. against fiat currency and stablecoins)
- Expand the number of pairs for margin trading (only 3)
- Add a P&L calculator for margin trading
- Offer coin bundles with the recurring orders
- Include crypto tax reporting tools to make it easier to declare capital gains
- Biometric login for the mobile app
| Category | HedgewithCrypto Rating |
|---|---|
| Features | 3.8 / 5 |
| Supported Fiat and Deposit Methods | 3.8 / 5 |
| Supported Crypto & Trading Pairs | 4.2 / 5 |
| Fees | 4 / 5 |
| Ease of Use | 5 / 5 |
| Customer support | 4.5 / 5 |
| Security Measures | 4.7 / 5 |
| Mobile App | 4.4 / 5 |
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