Phemex Review: Is It Legit & Safe To Use?

Trading cryptocurrency does not need to involve expensive trading fees. There are now options in the market for individuals to exchange cryptocurrencies between each other with zero trading fees or commissions. One exchange that has pioneered the no fee trading is Phemex.

In this review, we will compare and assess one of the first exchanges to introduce zero fee crypto trading by examining its features, charting interface, trading pairs, other fees, security and customer support.

Our methodology includes creating an account, depositing USDT, buying Bitcoin on the spot exchange and withdrawing to a hardware wallet to experience the basic features of the platform.

Phemex is a world-class spot and perpetual swap platform for Bitcoin and other digital currencies. The exchanges includes a fiat gateway to buy crypto directly, a spot exchange for premium members, convert to swap crypto-to-crypto and the ability to earn interest through savings options. The two most notable features are the zero-fee trading fees for premium members and the rapid trade execution speeds on the spot market.

Phemex is a cryptocurrency derivatives trading exchange located in Singapore that was founded in 2019. The company behind Phemex is led by 8 former Morgan Stanley Executives who aim to offer the best leverage trading platform for digital assets. The exchange allows individuals to trade perpetual contracts such as BTCUSD, ETHUSD, XRPUSD, LTCUSD, XTZUSD and LINKUSD with up to 100x leverage.

The cryptocurrency platform allows individuals all around the world to access digital currencies through a user-friendly, safe and efficient crypto trading exchange. Phemex is currently ranked #38 for daily trading volume, which has decreased from our initial review when it was ranked 6th.

Phemex is geared towards beginners and serious crypto traders with an all-in-one platform to buy, trade, store and sell cryptocurrencies. It's advantage over competitors is the 0% trading fees on its spot exchange. However, the exchange has a limited number of trading pairs and is not available for US customers.

Phemex was founded by 8 former Morgan Stanley Executives with 40+ years of combined experience in delivering HFT (high-frequency technology) with great stability. The owners of the exchange aim to bring millions of potential users into a digital currency system by enabling access to a user-friendly, safe and efficient trading platform.

Phemex is appears to be a legitimate company that is registered in BVI with employees and users located all over the globe. The exchange is not regulated and is restricted in various countries with strict financial laws such as the United States and the United Kingdom which ban the use of cryptocurrency derivatives platforms at the time of writing.

Advanced features, an intuitive user interface and high leverage trading are important features on Phemex. This comparison table lists other top-rated crypto exchanges like Phemex that offer world-class features.

Phemex users of the platform have access to several innovative trading features and financial tools to increase potential profits trading cryptocurrencies. The exchange includes features such as:

Phemex has bank-like security measures to ensure the safety of its customers funds and personal information. Examples of security features that have been implemented include a 100% cold wallet system, multi-signature withdrawal process and Two Factor Authentication (2FA) option for all user accounts. Since Phemex was launched in 2019, the exchange has not been hacked or compromised resulting in the loss of funds or client information according on our research.

Phemex supports 13 spot cryptocurrency assets that can be bought and sold on the exchange such as BTC, ETH, XRP, LTC, LINK, XTZ, LTC, ADA, DOGE and USDT. The list of accepted coins is quite limited compared to other trading platforms such as Binance, Huobi and Kucoin which have over 300 coins to trade.

To start trading with Phemex, the registration process is very straight forward and only takes a few minutes. There is no cost to create an account or maintain a wallet with Phemex. To get started, follow these simple steps:

Phemex exchange allows you to transfer cryptocurrency from a crypto hardware wallet directly to the digital asset trading platform to begin trading. Bitcoin and USDT deposits are secured within the wallet. The speed for a deposit to reach the wallet depends on the crypto asset, number of confirmations required and the blockchain network load. Read our article on how long it takes to send Bitcoin for more information on transaction speeds.

To make a deposit into Phemex, follow these steps:

Phemex has partnered with Banxa, an internationally compliant fiat-to-crypto gateway to allow its users to buy crypto using a credit/debit card or bank transfer directly from the Phemex website. Currently, the interface allows the purchase of Bitcoin, Ethereum and Tether. Purchased funds are credited to your Phemex wallet to trade of withdraw to a hardware wallet.

The user interface is a critical aspect for crypto traders that use technical analysis. After using the Phemex trading platform, we were impressed with the charting interface and tools. The experience was simple, smooth and features excellent technical indicators and drawing tools that you would expect. The charting software is provided by Tradingview, which most crypto traders will be familiar with.

On the left, users can choose and select a crypto pairs to buy or sell. When you select a pair, the order entry window is displayed below to place trades using the spot exchange or crypto perpetual contracts. There are several order types that include:

The order window amount percentages (e.g. 25%, 50% and 100%) to populate the trade volume as a ratio of the available trading account balance. This is fairly standard across the majority of cryptocurrency trading exchanges. The order window is slightly different for the contract markets which has a leverage slider.

On the right, you can see the order book which shows all the prices that people are willing to buy and sell the selected cryptocurrency for. The numbers in the middle show the last sale price and the volume or amount traded at each price level. By click on a recent trade, it will populate the order entry form with the exact price of the pair. This saves time and prevents making a mistake when typing the prices manually.

To start trading with Phemex, follow these simple steps:

The exchange also provides a trading contract for GOLD/USD and with more assets such as S&P 500 stocks, stock indexes, interest rates, FOREX, commodities, energy and metals that will be released on the platform shortly according to the Phemex website.

Phemex offers a testnet to allow users to practice crypto trading using a demo account without making a deposit. The simulated trading environment provides the same features and functionality as the main exchange. The Phemex testnet account can be accessed under 'Products' along the top menu.

Phemex spot exchange is available to Premium and Premium trial users who can buy or sell crypto with zero fees or commissions using the website or app. This is one of the cheapest ways to trade between digital currencies. Traders that use an API transaction will incur a 0.1% transaction fees. In addition to the below coins: XTZ, LTC, ADA, TRX and ONT trading pairs with zero fees will be coming soon. There are limits to be aware of which is USD 10 minimum size.

Phemex users that register an account are eligible for a 7-day free Premium Membership trial. The Phemex Premium account offers additional features that are not available on a free account such as:

Phemex Premium account is a paid subscription that allows traders to buy and sell cryptocurrencies on the spot exchange with zero fees. The Phemex Premium membership price starts from:

Users that trade large volumes or make frequent trades using a spot crypto exchange will benefit from paying no fees on their transactions which can eat into your profits. A membership that starts from 0.19 USD per day is a fair price and can make a large difference to the overall profit and loss at the end of the year.

The Premium account will automatically expire at the end of its term and cannot be cancelled within its period of validity. Automatic subscription renewal can be cancelled at any time.

Phemex's contract trading fee is based on a maker and taker model and applies a fee based on whether the user places a market or limit order. Traders that provide liquidity to the order book (e.g. limit orders) will receive a -0.025% rebate on their transaction. Traders that remove liquidity from the order book (e.g. market orders) are charged a 0.075% fee on execution.

Phemex funding fees are charged or issued between long and short positions holders every 8 hours. The exchange does not charge a fee for holding positions overnight. Overall, the trading fees are very competitive compared to other crypto platforms such as Bybit, FTX, BitMEX and Bitfinex. These exchanges offer higher liquidity than Phemex according to Coinmarketcap which is an advantage for day-traders and high-net worth individuals that long or short Bitcoin with leverage.

Phemex does not charge any fees for deposits or withdrawals to and from its trading account. A withdrawal from the Phemex wallet does incur the standard blockchain fee that varies on the crypto asset and the network load. For Bitcoin withdrawals, the network fee is 0.0005BTC which is reasonable compared to other exchanges for a standard processing time.

To compete with trading platforms such as Binance and Crypto.com, Phemex has introduced a Earn Program that allows its customers to earn up to 10% APY through Fixed and Flexible Saving options. Currently, the exchange only offers a savings account for USDT wallets.

The funds within a flexible term can be easily withdrawn at any time to use on the spot exchange. The feature is a great way to earn interest on crypto while waiting for a trade setup, however support for more coins needs to be added to rival the larger lending and borrowing sites such as BlockFi, Nexo and Hodlnaut which offer up to 12% APY on USDT.

The website does not mention if the funds within a USDT interest account are covered by an insurance program.

To conclude our Phemex review, the crypto platform is packed with excellent features for traders looking to speculate on digital currencies with leverage on the derivatives exchange. The platform includes a cutting-edge user-interface and advanced risk management tools and drawing tools that are available on desktop and mobile app versions.

While there is a small membership cost, serious crypto traders should consider an upgrade to the Premium account for spot trading. This can potentially increase your profitability by NOT incurring trade fees and could pay for an annual subscription many times over. Visit the website to start trading crypto with zero fees.