Today, the Crypto currency can be freely purchased and sold at many sites. One of these is the famous Bitfinex exchange. How to register, replenish account and trade on Bitfinex – we will consider in our review.
Overview of the Bitfinex exchange, pros and cons
The Bitfinex exchange is one of the first to trade crypto currency. It was established on July 11, 2012, and over the past 5 years the company has earned the status of a reliable trading platform. An exchange in Hong Kong is registered, and its official operator is iFinex Inc.
Using Bitfinex for trading can be traders from different countries. At the moment the official web-resource of the exchange is translated into the following languages: English, Chinese and Russian.
Bitfinex has repeatedly been subjected to hacking attacks and hacking. In April 2016, the theft of 120,000 BTC from Bitfinex became the second largest hacker attack, exceeding only the loss of about 750,000 BTC per Mt. GOx. Bitfinex shared the loss between customers, although some accounts were not affected. As a result, 36% of all accounts were retained from all users. A year later, all customers received full compensation.
This is not the end of Bitfinex’s problems. In April 2017, Bitfinex bank accounts were frozen by the correspondent bank Wells Fargo. This situation lasted several weeks and provoked a lot of complaints. The service was eventually restored, but customers from the US no longer have to deal with Bitfinex.
In this regard, the Exchange pays special attention to the issue of security. For better protection, two-factor authorization, enhanced by the universal 2nd factor (it is a question of authorization with a hardware token), is an open two-factor authentication protocol. The exchange also uses verification tools, such as monitoring IP addresses and alerting you of suspicious activity. Only 0.5% of the crypto-currency assets are kept online for daily operations. The rest of the coins are stored in cold purses beyond the reach of hackers. In order for these wallets to become available, manual authorization of several members of the management team is required.
Among the advantages of Bitfinex are:
- Russian interface language;
- a large number of pairs, all popular crypto-currencies are available;
- high level of security;
- presence of mobile application;
- a large number of orders to improve trade;
- the possibility of margin trading;
- availability of a guide on the exchange, and in Russian.
Among the many advantages, Bitfinex has its drawbacks:
- Verification when working with US dollars. If you are set to trade dollars or replenish / withdraw, then verification is very difficult. Documents must be in English, even receipts and bank statements are translated;
- the commission is slightly overstated. Especially when refilling the account in USD.
Registration and verification on Bitfinex
Registration on the exchange is quite simple, you need to enter: name, email and password.
After this, a notification will be sent to the mail with a request to verify the e-mail. Only then the user will have access to the private cabinet and will be able to replenish the account.
Bitfinex strictly observes the antiterrorist legislation of different countries. If you want to transfer money to purses in a purse, then you need to verify your account. However, if you are comfortable using crypto-currencies, you do not need to verify your identity. When money is transferred and withdrawn only with digital money, Bitfinex does not need to provide documents and pass other verification procedures.
The “Verification” section is located in the account settings menu. Click on the little man icon and select the fifth item from the drop-down menu. First you need to choose between two types of accounts: for a physical or legal person. Next, choose the country of residence and tick the reasons for which we need verification. Among the reasons offered are:
– limit the amount of both input and output per day;
– inaccessibility of certain pairs and currencies in the market;
– transactions directly between users of the exchange;
– the inability to trade in pairs in which the US dollar is included;
– the inability to trade in pairs in which Tether enters;
– Access to all APIs is restricted.
If you want to create an account for an individual, verification requires the following conditions:
- Entering all data into an online form.
- Confirmation of age is over 18 years.
- Provision of two identity documents (for example, a passport and driver’s card) or one document with the organization of a video call.
- An extract from the bank, confirming that deposits on Bitfinex come from your account.
- Confirmation of the address of residence (accounts for utility services or telephone, but not older than 3 months).
It is very important that all documents must either be in the original in English or have a notarized translation. Without this, you will not be able to verify.
Then the verification process begins on Bitfinex. It will be necessary to fill out sections “Name and contact information”, “Address”, “Identification”, “Finance”, “Know your customer”, “Document management”. Once you have entered all the information, the Exchange experts will start checking documents.
How to use Bitfinex
At Bitfinex you will find most of the major crypto-currencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, EOS, OmiseGO, Iota, Ethereum Classic, Zcash, Ripple, Dash, Santiment, Monero and others. The trading platform has a customizable graphical interface with more than 50 trading pairs, it displays several sections of analytical data, such as a chart with candles, a book of orders, too, in the form of a schedule and the latest trade data.
You can create simple limit, market and stop-loss warrants, as well as more advanced stop-limits, trailing stop orders, and also “fill or kill” orders.
You can also use margin trading. This is an opportunity to leverage from the platform of equitable financing. Thus, each trader can take a loan from another user of the Bitfinex exchange and trade for that money. However, if after the transaction the course of the crypto currency is unfavorable and will strongly take hold, the trader may lose capital, since the open position will be closed automatically, and the money will be returned to the creditor with all interest.
To exchange the crypto currency you need to go to the “Trade” section, and in the “Order form” row the “Stock exchange” option should be selected. Next, you need the required Crypto currency from the list of currencies, and then fill out the order form. The market price of the crypt is by default, it can be changed.
Also, on the OTC tab there is a function “OTC Market”. This is the market on which off-exchange transactions for the sale and purchase of crypto-currencies are conducted. At the same time, you negotiate with the counterparty about the price of the crypto currency, and both of you will be charged 0.1% of the tax. Access to this exchange opens only after applying for support.
Another option for Bitfinex operations is margin investing. It consists in the fact that the user holds a special currency in his special account, which traders can use when making margin trading. At the same time, you will receive interest for using your funds. You can set the interest and terms of the loan yourself. In order to become such an investor, on your wallet “funding wallet” should be at least 50 dollars or an equal in value of the amount of crypto currency. With this kind of operations on Bitfinex, there are practically no risks for investors.
How to replenish your wallet and withdraw funds?
The replenishment menu is opened by clicking on the “Deposit” button at the top of the site. A deposit on Bitfinex can be made in three currencies (EUR, USD and Bitfinex Tether), as well as 22 types of digital money. Before you add funds to Bitfinex, your account will be verified for verification.
Bitfinex supports three types of user wallets, designed for different operations:
Margin – for margin trading.
Exchange – to transfer funds from one crypto currency to another.
Funding – for marginal investment.
You can withdraw funds on the same tab “Withdraw funds”, where you will be given step-by-step instructions for actions.
Bitfinex commission
Bitfinex charges traders for execution of orders. Current commissions are presented below:
When replenishing the wallet, Bitfinex will not take a commission for the transaction if you use the crypto currency. A fee of 0.1% of the transfer amount is collected from bank transfers.
The amount of commission for withdrawals differs depending on the chosen currency:
Reviews for Bitfinex
The Bitfinex exchange deserves mostly positive reviews from users. The hacker attack of 2016 was a serious blow to the company. However, they did everything they could to adequately get out of this situation, together with which the trust of users to the exchange increased.
Strengths of crypto-instruments are a variety of orders and trading modes, support for a large number of crypto-currencies and a convenient interface. In addition, traders distinguish the lack of commissions when entering and large trading volumes, so that Bitfinex can always find a profitable offer.
The minus of the exchange is a long and complicated verification. But, on the other hand, it is done solely to ensure the security of your assets.
