Binance Exchange review – Features, fees, Is Binance is secure?

This review post is about the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange that is Binance exchange

About Binance

In this new decade, the cryptocurrency industry has a variety of exchanges to choose from. Making a decision on which exchange or trading platform is best for your needs is quite a hassle for both novices and experienced digital currency users.

Binance exchange is among the most popular exchanges out there in the market. The giant exchange was initially started in China but they had to move due to clashes with authorities in China. Malta is a more crypto-friendlier country and that is why Binance chose to settle there. However, it’s unclear whether Binance is regulated in Malta. The exchange is popular due to its crypto-to-crypto exchange product.

Moreover, Binance which officially launched back in 2017 has been increasing its scope for withdrawals and deposits through fiat integration. Actually, it is referred to as the largest cryptocurrency exchange platform by trading volume as users have access to over 540 crypto-to-crypto.

Indeed, if you are looking to join Binance to take your cryptocurrency investment to the next level, then I suggest you should read ours in-depth review of the giant crypto exchange. In this Binance exchange review, we have covered the very basic details you may be trying to find out from how it works, the crypto pairs that you can exchange, trading fees/limits, security of the platform, and customer support.

What is Binance

Binance exploded into the scene back in 2017. Binance refers to a third-party exchange platform where users can buy, sell and even trade digital currencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Ripple, and hundreds more.

The exchange was founded by Chinese national Changpeng Zhao ‘CZ’ who was recently named the wealthiest man in the cryptocurrency industry in the latest edition of Hurun Global Rich List published on 26 February.

However, it has been unclear where the giant exchange is headquartered due to the latest denial by the Malta authorities who claimed that the exchange is not under its jurisdiction. Well, as CZ said, the time for headquarters is outdated and we should move on. Binance has no specific headquarters and I’d be lying if I say the exchange is ‘headquartered’ in Malta.

Moving forward, in a time-frame of two years since it was launched, Binance has risen to become one of the top cryptocurrency exchange platforms in the world. In fact, the platform often facilitates over $2 billion worth of trades on a daily basis.

In addition, Binance is also famous for its dedication to help the needy. The platform runs several charitable projects though its  Binance Charity Foundation initiative. This includes the firm’s latest campaign to help females who are suffering period poverty in Uganda.

Now lets see how Binance works.

How Binance Exchange Works

Well, when you visit Binance for the very first time, you will notice that the exchange provides two alternatives for cryptocurrency trading that are basic and advanced. However, for a complete beginner, neither of the two options is easy to use. Nevertheless, anyone with experience in cryptocurrencies and an idea of how exchanges function, should be able to use the platform and explore its different services.

The key difference between the basic and the advanced platform is that in the advanced platform, Binance offers an depth analysis of digital currencies’ value over time. Currently, the basic platform offers a number of graphs and charts for the pairs that you are trading, order books, and the trading history. This is the interface of the basic version.

The basic interface is nicely designed and well set with all the information crucial to a trader well provided. Prices are presented on the left, the graph at the center together with the buy and sell boxes. The trade history appears on the right so that a trader can quickly view the recent trade prices.

This is what the advanced version’s interface looks like.

The advanced version’s interface uses a dark theme and amplifies the size of the trading charts. The latest prices are displayed on the right while the buy and sell boxes are placed underneath.

The choice is yours to make; the basic or advanced? I suggest as a beginner you should use the basic one. Experienced traders can use whichever version.

Binance Exchange Registration

To begin your Binance trading journey, one will have to sign up first. The registration process is quite easy and straightforward and you are not required to verify your account for level one which has a withdrawal limit of 2 BTC daily. 

However, for level two you have to upload your ID and wait for verification. Level two has a daily limit of up to 100 BTC. Binance exchange offers higher limits but an account holder should contact them directly to arrange that.

Account verification time depends on how busy the support staff are. Due to this, those wishing to withdraw huge sums should plan ahead and ensure verification is complete before depositing and trading huge amounts on the Binance exchange platform.

After the account verification process iks over, users can go ahead and fund their account. One can choose from a variety of digital currencies but i’d suggest you pick one between BTCand ETH. After clicking the choosing your prefered cryptocurrency to fund the account, you can click the deposit button and you will be provided with a wallet address. 

You can transfer funds to the given wallet address of your preferred digital currency to fund your account. The time frame for the funds to reflect in your account will depend on the currency chosen as it will rely on that currency’s blockchain. For example, transactions in Ethereum are faster than Bitcoin which may take a while.

Now with the account loaded funds, a user can start trading, exchanging and investing in the several currency pairs provided. Binance exchange platform supports all the major cryptocurrencies so there are a variety of options to choose from. 

To get verified, a user should provide Binance with their full name, country, gender, a photo of passport/government-issued ID, and a selfie with the passport or ID.

How to Trade on Binance

If you have ever traded on any other exchange before, then cryptocurrency trading on Binance should be straightforward. Once your funds reflect on the platform, at the top right menu you can click on the éxchange’ button. There you will select your preferred version between basic and advanced. Let us use the basic version.

On the right side of the basic version’s interface, you can select a tab from BTC, ETH, BNB, or USDT. This is basically what you will be trading in. Afterward, you can choose the currency you want from the provided list.

After your desired currency has loaded, on the left-hand side, there is a column that displays prices that people are willing to sell at in the top half in red and prices people are willing to buy at in green in the bottom half. The middle figure in green represents the last buy price.

7 BEST ALTCOIN TRADING PLATFORM FOR ALTCOIN TRADING 2019

Supported Digital Currencies on Binance

This Binance exchange review lets us now check the details of the cryptos supported by the exchange.

Binance exchange has received a lot of plaudit for its wide variety of cryptocurrencies supported. Traders can use multiple cryptocurrencies on Binance including Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Gold, Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, EOS, Dash, LiteCoin, NEO, GAS, Zcash, Dash, Ripple, and hundreds more. 

Additionally, the Binance exchange also supports multiple tokens on its platform as part of its ICO listings. Traders can take advantage of these listings to make profits too.

The platform currently provides trading pairs in pairs of either BTC, BNB, ETH or USDT.

Altcoin prices live – 2500+ Cryptocurrency live prices, charts, volume

 Binance ICO and its Native BNB Coin

Binance exchange firm issued its own native coin, the BNB Coin during its ICO. Binance users can use BNB coin to pay fees incurred and also it will be used in Binance’s decentralized exchange future plans where it will be among the key base currencies.

Purchasing a Binance coin is a good future investment as well as the exchange plans to buy back a portion of BNB coins every quarter using their profits and burn them. This action will decrease the supply of BNB coins and as a result, its value will increase benefiting the holders.

“Every quarter, we will use 20% of our profits to buy back BNB and destroy them, until we buy 50% of all the BNB (100MM) back. All buy-back transactions will be announced on the blockchain. We eventually will destroy 100MM BNB, leaving 100MM BNB remaining.”

Binance Exchange Review of VIP program

Promotion Period: 2021-05-10 00:00 (UTC) – 2021-10-31 23:59 (UTC)

How to Apply:

To get a VIP tag please email vip@binance.com with details (e.g. screenshots or a short video) of your 30-day trading volumes on competing exchanges. If you qualify, a Binance Key Account Manager will get back to you shortly with the next steps.

Detailed Terms:

• Based on your trading volumes on competing exchanges, Binance team will look at what VIP tier you would qualify for if you traded this amount on Binance.
• To qualify, your past 30-day trading volumes on competing exchanges must be equal to or higher than 50 BTC on spot or 250 BTC on futures. You will also be required to present proof of your trading volume.
• You will be assigned a VIP tier that is one level higher than what your volumes qualify you for.
• For example, if your 30-day futures volume on another exchange is 225,000 BTC, which is equivalent to VIP 7 on Binance Futures, you can immediately become VIP 8 for the first 2 months through the VIP Invitation Program promotion.
• Or, if your 30-day spot volume is 81,000 BTC, which translates to VIP 8 based on Binance spot volumes, Binance will offer you VIP 9 for 2 months.
• Your VIP tier allows you to enjoy fee discounts and other benefits across the entire Binance ecosystem, whether it’s Spot, Futures, or Margin trading.
• After the two-month period, your VIP tier level will be adjusted depending on your actual trading volume on Binance according to the VIP tier requirements.
• Each account can apply for this promotion once and must be KYC verified.

VIP FEES

The higher your volumes, the higher your VIP status and the lower your fees.

VIP Privileges

• Discount in Fee
• 24-hour withdrawal
• Can create a Sub account ( 2 accounts)

Binance Trading options – Future

We have found that there is a broad range of crypto derivative instruments on offer, Binance Futures also provides investors and traders numerous ways to enter the market. Binance Futures offers access to four product lines:

1. USDⓈ-Margined Futures Contracts 

Binance exchange supports perpetual and delivery contracts and settled in USDT or BUSD- stablecoins pegged to the value of the U.S. dollar.

One of the key benefits of USD-settled contracts is that you can easily calculate your returns in fiat. This makes USDⓈ-margined contracts more intuitive. For example, when you make 500 USDT in profit, you can easily estimate that the profit is worth approximately $500 – since the value of 1 USDT is pegged closely to 1 USD.

USDⓈ-margined contracts offer the following characteristics:

Settlement in USDⓈ: Contracts are denominated and settled in BUSD or USDT.

Expiration: Perpetual and Quarterly

Clear pricing rules: Each USDⓈ-margined futures contract specifies the base asset’s quantity delivered for a single contract, also known as “Contract Unit”. For instance, BTC/USDT, ETH/USDT, and BCH/USDT futures contracts represent only one unit of its respective base asset, similar to spot markets.

Funding fee: USDⓈ-M Perpetual contracts carry a funding fee. Funding payments are transferred between traders and are charged every eight hours.

2. Coin-Margined Futures Contracts –

Binance Exchange Supports perpetual and delivery contracts and is settled in cryptocurrency.  Instead of using stablecoins as collateral, you can use cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum as margin assets for your futures positions.

COIN-margined contracts offer the following characteristics:

Collateral and settlement in cryptocurrency: Contracts are collateralized and settled in cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB, and many more.

Expiration: Perpetual, Quarterly, and Bi-Quarterly.

Contract Multiplier: Contract multiplier represents the value of a contract. The contract multiplier for BTC coin-margined contracts is 100 USD. Meanwhile, altcoin contracts have a multiplier of 10 USD.

Funding rate: This only applies to perpetual contracts. Every eight hours, funding rates are paid either to traders who are long or those who are short, based on differences with the spot price.

3. Binance Options

Binance Exchange offerr an option is a financial instrument that allows traders to buy or sell the underlying asset at a predetermined price, either before or at a certain date. 

It simplifies options trading for retail users. With the built-in leverage offered, users can maximize profits while minimizing downside risk.

Types of Options on Binance

There are two basic types of options Binance provide: call options and put options.

Call options allow contract traders to buy the underlying asset while put options allow the contract owner to sell the underlying asset.

 A trader would buy a call option with the expectation that it will rise in value in the future. Conversely, a trader buys a put option with the expectation that the price of the underlying asset will decline in the future.

Options are further categorized into American-style options and European-style options based on the dates on which the options may be exercised. American-style options allow traders to exercise the rights at any time before and including on the expiration date of the options, whereas European-style options can only be exercised on the expiration date. 

Options Contract Specifications

Underlying Asset	The security on which an option contract is based upon
Contract Size	The size of the options contract refers to the amount of the underlying asset
Strike Price	Also known as the exercise price. It is the price that traders can buy or sell the underlying asset when the options are exercised
Premium	The price that traders acquire the options
Expiry Date	The last day that options are valid, which means traders can exercise options on or before that
Exercise Style	The dates on which the option may be exercised, either American or European options

4. Binance Leveraged Tokens

 An innovative product that allows users to gain increased exposure to a specific crypto asset without worrying about liquidation risk

Binance Leveraged Tokens (BLVT) are tradable assets in the spot market that allows you to gain leveraged exposure to a cryptocurrency without the risk of liquidation. Binance leveraged tokens eliminate the intricacies of managing a conventional leveraged position as users are not required to pledge collateral or maintain margin.

The first pair of Binance Leveraged Tokens is BTCUP and BTCDOWN. BTCUP allows you to generate leveraged gains when Bitcoin goes up. On the other hand, BTCDOWN enables you to generate leveraged gains when Bitcoin goes down.

Understanding Leveraged Tokens

Each leveraged token represents a basket of perpetual contract positions.

Net asset value (NAV) refers to the price of a leveraged token. The price of the leveraged tokens tracks the change in the notional amount of the perpetual contract positions in the basket and changes in the multiples of leverage level. Simply put, the price of a token is driven by the underlying fund’s performance and its associated leverage.

Net asset value (NAV) = ((1 / Actual leverage multiplier) × Basket position × Price of underlying asset) / Issued tokens.

Binance Leveraged Tokens do not maintain constant leverage. Instead, Binance Leveraged Tokens attempt to maintain a variable target leverage range between 1.25x and 4x. This would maximize profitability on upswings and minimize losses to avoid liquidation. However, do note that the real leverage may fluctuate beyond the target range in extreme market movements.

The true target leverage is constantly changing and hidden from outside observation. The target leverage of the rebalance is not shown to observers or algorithms and is unpredictable to reduce the vulnerability of front-running tactics. At all times, the token info page will always show the “realized” target leverage post rebalancing event.

The real leverage ratio is the actual leverage ratio held by the algorithm. Real leverage ratio changes when the ratio of futures position (notional value) to fund size.

Real Leverage Ratio = Futures Position (notional value in USDT) / Fund Size

Notes:

Futures position (notional value) = Number of contracts x Price of BTCUSDT futures

Fund size = Number of tokens issued x NAV

Let us understand with an Example

For example, the token information of BTCUP is as follows:

• Number of tokens issued = 10,000 BTCUP
• NAV = 10,000 USDT
• Basket = 18,000 BTCUSDT futures
• Price of BTCUSDT = 10,000 USDT (the exact number is not disclosed to avoid frontrunning)

The fund size of BTCUP would be $100 million (10,000 BTCUP * 10,000 USDT). BTCUP would have a total futures position of $180 million in the basket. The real leverage ratio would be 1.8x ($180 million/$100 million).

Target leverage ratio is decided by the algorithm in case of a rebalancing event. It will always be between 1.25-4x, but the exact number will be confidential. The target leverage ratio on the token info page will be the realized target leverage post-rebalancing event. If the real leverage ratio is out of the target leverage range, Binance Leveraged Tokens will rebalance to make sure the real leverage ratio is within the target leverage range.

For example, BTCUP’s initial real leverage ratio is 1.8x. The real leverage ratio will decrease when the BTCUSDT perpetual futures price moves up by another 50%. If the real leverage ratio decreases to 1.25x and below, the algorithm will decide on a new target leverage ratio and trigger the rebalancing mechanism. If the algorithm decides to bring the real leverage ratio to 1.75x (target leverage range), the algorithm will increase futures positions based on the new targeted leverage ratio predetermined by the algorithm.

Since Binance Leveraged Tokens are not forced to maintain constant leverage, Binance Leveraged Tokens rebalance on an as-needed basis only, such as during extreme market movements only.

Binance Exchange – Fees for Trading

Currently, Binance exchange charges an average fee of 0.1% for each trade executed on the platform. Traders who wish to use the BNB coin to pay the fees are given a 50% discount  on each trade which is excellent by Binance. These are the current charges on spot trading;

On the other hand, withdrawal fees depend on the cryptocurrency you are using. Binance exchange charges 0.0005 for BTC and 0.005 for ETH.withdarwal. The figure below shows the charges of different cryptocurrencies at the time of writing. 

 On transfers, the platform does not limit users on the number of funds to deposit. However, the platform limits withdrawals depending on the verification of the user. Unverified users are limited.

A verified level two user has a higher withdrawal limit which provides the user with more freedom while using the platform.
ALTCOIN EXCHANGE LIVE – 250+ LIST OF CRYPTOCURRENCY EXCHANGES 2020

Binance Exchange Security Features

Binance exchange has somehow managed to win a high level of trust from users and the entire if not, the majority of the cryptocurrency community; despite operating for less than three years. The platform provides two-factor authentication which is very impressive. However, the platform offers a multi-tier and multi-tier system architecture.

Back in March 2018, hackers attempted to hack Binance but luckily the attack was caught by the automated systems. Fortunately, nobody lost their funds and the only losers were the hackers whose funds were donated to charity. 

The attempted hack was made possible by users who entered their login and 2FA details into a fake website. Binance always wants you to make sure you are using the correct URL while trying to log in to avoid such an incident again. Users should bookmark the official Binance URL and avoid the links given on social media platforms. Following the hacking attempt, Binance responded swiftly and resolved the problem. This was highly praised by the crypto community.

Binance Exchange – Trade Type

There are six type of trade Binance offer today

1. Convert:  It helps convert one type of cryptocurrency to another cryptocurrency.

The benefit of convert portal are:

• Zero fee
• No slippage
• More cross pairs

2. Classic: Simple and easy-to-use interface. This is the simplest view of the exchange where one can find all the latest values of different crypto coins available on the exchange.

3. Advanced: Full access to all trading tools, With the Advanced feature user, can access all the tools available on the exchange and can increase productivity and earning or saving on the trade.

4. Margin: increase your profit with leverage

 5. P2P: Buy/Sell Your Crypto Locally, Peer-to-peer exchange (or P2P exchange) is a marketplace where people can trade crypto directly with each other on their own terms, in virtually any country.

6. Stock Token: Trade equity share with crypto coin.

Payment Methods Accepted By Binance Exchange

Binance exchange used to be a cryptocurrency-only platform but currently, they are accepting fiat deposits. Deposits can be done using crypto, credit/debit cards, and swift transfers.

Binance Exchange Customer Support

A successful business should always have the best customer support in place. The Binance support staff are responsive and always try to support traders who are in need. Users in need submit a support ticket through the Binance website and their queries are responded to through email.

Moreover, the platform has provided an extensive list of FAQs; which are meant to help users navigate through the platform without hassles. However, there is no live chat support nor a phone number where users can get in touch with the support staff.

I would recommend Binance to do some work on their customer support though. They are quite slow in responding to queries. Users can provide sufficient information to the support staff to ensure that they are sorted fast.

binance exchange Review Verdict

It is easy for everyone to see why Binance is one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges on the planet. There are quite a number of reasons why you should choose Binance. Here are quite a few reasons:

•  Binance’s matching engine has the ability to process approximately 1.4 million orders per second. This makes it among the fastest exchanges in the market.
• The exchange works on all forms of devices such as the web, android, apple, WeChat, and HTML5.
•  It is available in multiple languages including English, Mandarin, Korean and Japanese.
• Super low trading fees.
• Hundreds of cryptocurrency pairs to choose from.
• The most important, enhanced security measures to ensure the security of users’ holdings.

The only disadvantage of using the Binance exchange has to be slow customer support. I believe they are working on this. Binance right now is highly recommendable to anyone who wishes to trade cryptocurrencies. It is among the best exchanges in the world.

FAQ