BitMEX Review | Zignaly

Our BitMEX review covers the key details you need to know before you use the BitMEX exchange for the first time. We explore leveraged trading, fees, and more.

BitMEX, a Seychelles-based crypto exchange, has become one of the largest derivatives exchanges since it was founded in 2014. As of June 2020, BitMEX’s 24-hour trading volume amounted to a staggering $1.58bn, earning it the number-three spot on a list of derivatives exchanges boasting the top 24-hour trading volumes (on Coinmarketcap). What took the top two spaces on that list? Huobi Global and Binance.

Still, BitMEX has achieved a lot in a fairly short period of time and continues to be regarded as one of the leading crypto exchanges. Our BitMEX review explores everything else you need to know to get started with this platform today.

Are Investors from the United States Welcome at BitMEX?

Sadly, investors based in the United States are unable to trade at the BitMEX exchange. The same applies to investors from Japan.

Understanding BitMEX Corporate

BitMEX Corporate was announced by email in late June 2020. This was designed for BitMEX’s corporate user base, and offers a number of advantages:

BitMEX Corporate provides dedicated managers responsible for client coverage relationships and corporate events
Strong security setups, with extra options for allocating access to accounts and control, through authorized signatories and dedicated account managers
Enhanced accounting requirements allow for clarification of account ownership and domicile
Users can access BitMEX’s Account Audit features and support

The Trading Platform Database

The BitMEX trading platform was made in the column-based database kdb+. This database type is also used by banks’ trading platforms.

As a result, BitMEX is incredibly fast and dependable, particularly when compared to a lot of its competitors (such as Poloniex). Its trading view is well designed: it’s clear and makes a lot of sense. You can view key diagrams in the centre, while the history is positioned on the right. The current order book appears on the left.

This simple trading view ensures an accessible user experience. Furthermore, BitMEX’s mobile site is outstanding, and you can even turn on the night mode setting whenever you like. This is ideal if you’re prone to checking your trading activities in bed before you sleep, or just want to give your eyes a rest from glaring screens.

BitMEX’s Leveraged Trading

BitMEX provides the option to try leveraged trading, with a maximum of 100x for spot and futures. This applies to both going short and long.

There’s a potential for large returns and, sadly, large losses. For example, if you added $20,000 to your account and placed $200 on ETH’s value increasing 10 percent at 100x leverage, you would earn $2000. But if you placed $200 on the same outcome without the 100x leverage, you would get just $20.

Still, if ETH were to decrease by 10 percent, you would lose $2000 instead. You can see there are real advantages and disadvantages to consider with BitMEX’s leveraged trading.

The Fees at BitMEX

Three types of fees apply to BitMEX: trading fees, deposit fees, and withdrawal fees.

The size of your deposit fees will differ depending on the payment method you use to add money to your account. Trading fees, though, are 0.075 percent of the order’s total value for takers. Makers will receive 0.025 percent when they make trades, which means their trading fees are -0.025 percent.

Finally, withdrawal fees align with the network fees: around 0.000154 BTC for withdrawals in Bitcoin.

Trading Fees at BitMEX

It’s crucial that you check all trading fees at any exchange you choose to use. But before we get to that part of this BitMEX review, we’ll clarify what the terms “taker” and “maker” mean.

All trades are conducted between two separate parties: one is the taker, the other is the maker. The taker’s role is to place an order which matches the maker’s order, while the maker’s orders create a market’s liquidity. Takers remove said liquidity by making sure their order matches the maker’s own.

This model of trading stimulates market liquidity, and provides its makers with a fee discount as a reward. Another benefit is the tighter market spread, thanks to makers’ increased incentive to keep outbidding one another.

The 0.075 percent BitMEX charges takers in trading fees is fairly standard for derivatives exchanges. But it actually pays makers for making orders, as they have a negative fee in place.

For instance, if you place a maker order with a value of $100,000 and a taker picks it up, you’d receive $25 for being responsible for the liquidity. Yes, that might not be a huge amount for an order on such a large scale, but the fact that you will be receiving payment for making orders is incredibly impressive.

However, let’s be clear: BitMEX’s focus is firmly on option trading, unlike many other cryptocurrency exchanges. Fees are split into multiple contract types: traditional futures, perpetual contracts, downside profit contracts, and upside profit contracts.

Explaining BitMEX’s WIthdrawal Fees

We’ve covered the BitMEX exchange’s fees in depth, but there’s still a little more to consider: withdrawal fees. This can be easy to overlook, but you need to know this before you start using BitMEX.

Let’s consider this example. You trade at a major cryptocurrency exchange with competitive trading fees, meet any personal investment targets, and want to purchase a property with Ethereum. But you have to withdraw the money first, which is where the exchange is designed to make up the money it loses in those competitive trading fees.

Here is where BitMEX differs: it only charges the network fee for users who make withdrawals. This gives it a significant competitive edge and helps it stand out.

Deposit Options at BitMEX

The only deposit method the BitMEX exchange accepts is cryptocurrencies. This means if you’re new to crypto trading, you would need to purchase cryptocurrency coins from a different exchange before depositing them at BitMEX. You can’t use fiat money.

Security at BitMEX

Security is crucial at BitMEX, and at any crypto exchange for that matter. It processes countless trades and stores a wealth of sensitive data related to its users.

As a result, the most cutting-edge security measures are required to safeguard users’ information. BitMEX implements the latest technologies and techniques to protect your account round the clock.

We hope this BitMEX review has given you all the information you need to know before you sign up!