Phemex exchange is one of the fastest-growing cryptocurrency and futures exchanges worldwide. The core values of the exchange are trust and speed in crypto transactions. But does this exchange hold onto these values?
Continue reading this critical Phemex review to get a proper assessment of its products and services, trading fees, pros, and cons.
At a Quick Glance
| Pug Score | 3.8/5 |
| Trading Fees (Maker/Taker) | 0.025%/0.075% |
| Supported Cryptocurrencies | 37+ |
| Best Suited for | Beginner and Advanced Traders |
Key Findings
A revolutionary crypto exchange like Phemex has many offerings and incentives such as zero trading fees on spot trades (exclusive for premium accounts). Additionally, users have access to elite-level derivatives trading and 100x Margin leverage—a massive trade-friendly feature.
| Pros | Cons |
| No KYC is required to get started | Not available for US users |
| Easy-to-use APIs and sub-account features | Phemex is unregulated |
| Industry-standard wallet and exchange security | A limited number of cryptocurrencies (37) available to trade |
| Zero fee trading | |
| Quality educational resources | |
| High-speed website uptime | |
| Wide range of offerings | |
| $100 sign up bonus | |
| Advanced charting system | |
| High leverage derivatives trading | |
| 24/7 live customer support |
What is Phemex?
Phemex is a spot and futures trading exchange founded in Singapore in 2019. Being a product of some eight brainboxes who were former Morgan Stanley executives, Phemex is no doubt a revolutionary crypto exchange.
The exchange sustains a user-focused model, and strives to gain solid grounds by giving its users and investors the necessary tools to enhance profitability.
It’s an off-shore crypto exchange, which implies that flexible regulatory standards and subsidized tax rates apply to users. In addition to its elite executive team of former Morgan Stanley executives, it has a dedicated team of 40 employees, which is excellent for a relatively new company.
Range of Offering
Phemex offers a variety of products and services that can benefit you as a crypto trader or investor.
Phemex Earn
Like many other crypto exchanges, Phemex offers users a profitable offering called Phemex Earn. Usually, you earn up to 10% APY (Annual Percentage Yield) via the Flexible and Fixed Savings options.
In the Earn Program, Phemex partners with profitable funds and professional Fintech managers to create more rewarding revenue strategies. You stake and earn USDT as rewards after the stipulated investment period.
Earning through the Flexible Savings option means you can withdraw your crypto whenever you want for spot trading. Generally, flexible savings provides the advantage of earning on your crypto pending a trade.
Phemex assures users of the program’s profitability. The exchange will cover losses in the case where a strategy performs below expectation. Phemex will pay customers the advertised APYs until they identify and execute a new replacement strategy.
OTC Trading Service
The OTC trading service enables you to buy crypto via bank transfer. It is a secure means to buy or sell your crypto through wire transfer. The service connects to the world’s major liquidity providers to offer greater liquidity than OTC services from competitor exchanges.
Phemex’s OTC trading comes with some benefits you may like. For instance, it offers as low as $0 for wire transfers, but it depends on the trading amount. OTC trades of $50,000 and above attract a $0 wire fee. The fee structure is shown in the image below.
Another excellent OTC trading feature is “quick fiat settlements.” Fiat settlements may take up to two hours to arrive. However, crypto settlements happen instantly. Phemex’s OTC trading supports all the top cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and Tether (USDT).
To partake in OTC trading, you’ll need to undergo the KYC process to activate your OTC account (individual and institutional accounts). You can then deposit crypto or fiat currency into your OTC account and run transactions.
The Phemex Olympics
Think of the Phemex Olympics as a crypto trading Olympic game on Phemex. The trading competition ranks users based on the highest trading volume within the competition period, imitating the actual Olympics. It splits its game into “Weightlifting and Sprinting.”
Weightlifting ranks winners based on the highest trading volume. If any two users eventually come out with a similar trading volume simultaneously, the first one to join the competition will rank higher. Also, API users aren’t allowed, and each participant’s trading volume appears on the landing page and updates every 10 minutes.
However, Sprinting ranks winners based on first to hit 500% ROI. To participate, you must have a minimum net value of 0.003BTC in your BTC trading account during registration. If two participants hit 500% ROI coincidentally, the participant who joined the competition earlier will rank higher.
If no users hit the 500% ROI mark, winners will be ranked based on the highest ROI, and the top 10 users will emerge as the winners. The winners win different prizes based on their ranking.
The Sprinting competition supports just the BTCUSD Contract pair—any other pair will not be recognized. You can check out the page to see the terms and conditions for the competition.
Spot and Contract Trading
Phemex offers zero-fee spot trading for premium members. The contract transactions also offer 100x maximum leverage. With multiple trading pairs and professional-level market and depth charts, users can get the best out of their trades.
Traders can leverage the comprehensive trading support by using mobile, Windows, and Mac devices to carry out trading transactions anytime and anywhere. A suite of trading features and tools makes spot and contract trading more effortless and profitable.
Accurate K line, real-time dynamic market data, professional market mechanisms, clearer market trends, and professional indicator customization are some features that enhance trading on the platform.
With over 300,000 transactions per second and ultra-fast order response times, professional traders may want to try spot and contract trading on Phemex.
Phemex Institutional Account
As an extension of Phemex’s reach to its institutional clients worldwide, the derivatives cryptocurrency exchange has launched a trading program for interested institutions.
A VIP Program is available to institutions that meet Phemex’s trading volume criteria. Institutions in the VIP Program will get substantial discounts, and VIP levels depend on trading volume.
That means the more significant your trade, the higher your VIP level, and the better your trading fee discounts. You can visit the page to learn more about the requirements.
Phemex Sub-accounts
Phemex allows you to create sub-accounts, with each account having its permissions and balance. Like that, traders can implement different trading strategies on various sub-accounts. You can transfer balances between sub-accounts and limit the balance in each account.
Commission and Fee Structure
Deposit and Withdrawal Fees
Phemex does not charge fees for deposits and withdrawals on your accounts and sub-accounts. You will only have to pay network fees charged by miners in different blockchain networks to process your transactions.
The network fees may fluctuate depending on prevailing network loads. For instance, you’d pay a minimum fee of 0.0005 BTC to withdraw BTC from your Phemex account.
Spot Trading Fees
Phemex charges zero spot trading fees for its premium members. However, premium users pay a $9.99 30-day fee, a 90-day fee of $19.99, or $69.99 for 365 days. Premium members can enjoy limitless hourly withdrawals, set conditional spot orders, and gift their friends Trial Premium Memberships.
Both standard and premium users pay a 0.1% maker and taker fee for Bot Trading. Trading Bots are programs used to perform automated algorithmic trading, and Phemex partners with a lot of them like NapBots, Goose-AX, Stacked, etc., on the platform.
Contract Trading Fees
Contract Trading on Phemex follows a maker-taker model for their contract trading fee. Makers place an order in the order book, awaiting a matching order to execute it. In essence, they create or “make” liquidity in the market. Phemex charges a maker fee of 0.025%.
The negative sign on the maker fee means market makers are paid to trade. For instance, you place a taker order of say $2,000 in Contract trading. It means that instead of paying $2,000, you’d pay at a discount of 0.025%, which is $1999.50.
However, taker fees operate a little bit differently. Takers are those whose orders come to match existing orders in the order book, i.e., maker orders. In essence, takers are liquidity removers.
Phemex charges a taker fee of 0.075% for taker orders such as market orders. Contracts traders must also consider “funding fees.” Traders pay a funding fee every 8 hours (except for overnight positions), which can be positive or negative, determining whether you lose or gain.
Short holders pay the longs a percentage of their position when there’s a negative funding rate, while long holders earn interest on their position.
Ease of Account Opening
It is straightforward to create an account on Phemex. Like most other cryptocurrency exchanges, you’d need to enter your email and a strong password at the beginning of your registration. You’d then need to confirm your email by entering a one-time password (OTP) that Phemex will send to your email address.
After creating an account on Phemex, you can now log in with the email address and password you provided. However, you must update your security settings by activating the two-factor authentication (2FA) options on Phemex.
KYC Verification
Unlike many crypto exchanges, Phemex exchange doesn’t mandate users to undergo KYC verification before trading on the platform. Registration is fast and straightforward without the very formal and lengthy identity verification process. That works well for you if you’re skeptical about dropping in-depth identity information on an exchange.
Deposit and Withdrawal
It is very easy to deposit into your Phemex account. After signing in, you can select the asset you want to deposit. You can then copy your wallet address to the sending cryptocurrency wallet, choose the amount you wish to deposit, and complete the transaction.
However, it is worth noting that you must deposit the same type of crypto to your target wallet. Your crypto may be rejected or lost if you deposit crypto to wallets that don’t correspond to the crypto you’re sending.
That said, ensure always to enter your correct Phemex wallet address. Phemex supports BTC, USDT, ETH, XRP, and LINK deposits and withdrawals. Withdrawals are easy! All you need to do is:
- Navigate to Assets
- Click on Withdraw
- Enter your withdrawal address,
- Select the withdrawal amount and click Withdraw
Premium users enjoy hourly withdrawals. Whereas, Phemex processes withdrawals for standard users 3 times a day: by 8.00, 16.00, and 24.00 UTC.
Phemex User Interface and Trading Experience
Phemex runs a professional user interface with the essential technical analysis tools for traders. Overall, the tools and charting experience are excellent, with a seamless, clear, and intuitive user experience.
Again, a software product from TradingView and brilliant technical indicators and drawing tools create a more splendid trading experience. You can view available trading pairs close to the Select Markers option on the left-hand side. On selecting your choice pair, you will see the order entry window.
You can now trade via spot exchange or perpetual contracts, plus, you can explore the various order types on Phemex, including limit orders, market orders, and conditional orders. The order window shows amount percentages for spot trading, and for contract markets, it includes a leverage slider.
The order book on the right-hand side shows all the prices for which traders want to buy or sell a particular cryptocurrency. Generally, the trading interface meets professional crypto trading requirements.
Mobile Application
In addition to its support for Mac and Windows operating systems, Phemex also provides a mobile app for android and iOS devices. With the mobile app and an internet connection, crypto traders can trade anytime and from any part of the world.
During the course of this Phemex review, we discovered the ease of use of the mobile app and how much users love it.
Supported Cryptocurrencies
Phemex lists 37 cryptocurrencies in total and six trading pairs. These supported cryptos include Bitcoin, Ethereum, Polkadot, Cardano, Dogecoin, Litecoin, BTC Cash, Tezos, Tron, XRP, etc. Check out the list to see more of Phemex’s supported cryptocurrencies and trading pairs.
Educational Tools
There are two primary educational resources on Phemex; the Phemex Learn and Earn Program and the Phemex Academy. Keep reading to find out more about these educational resources.
Phemex Learn and Earn
The learn and earn program gives users incentives for learning about crypto. It is a fun way to learn about crypto and exchange basics. All you have to do is watch several educational videos, after which you’ll take a simple quiz to test your knowledge.
For instance, the program will pay you $6 to take a course on the Earn page titled “Fiat Currency vs. Cryptocurrency.” After each short video course and the quizzes that follow, you’d receive incentives as crypto rewards or trading bonuses.
Phemex Academy
Phemex Academy is Phemex’s free library with a diverse selection of crypto educational resources. It is a suite of various blockchain-related articles that are rich and easy to understand.
Customer Support
Phemex runs robust 24/7 live chat customer support. You can reach out to their Twitter, Telegram, or Facebook platform. Or you can send them a mail on the following addresses:
- Complaints: [email protected].
- Feedback: [email protected]
- Support: [email protected]
- Bugs and Issues: [email protected]
Presently Phemex has no telephone line, but they may include one in the future. The Help Center is rich with a plentiful supply of self-help articles, recent blog posts, and FAQs. You can visit the help center to find most of the answers you’re looking for and access resources that can aid your navigation of the platform’s features.
Regulation and Security
Unfortunately, Phemex currently has no regulation despite being a recognized cryptocurrency exchange. An off-shore company runs it. Most investors don’t trust off-shore companies because they may become unstable in the case of a compromise or hack or fold up completely.
In such a situation, you may have no one to help you retrieve your funds, and that forces you to take an unprecedented loss. However, judging from the credibility of Phemex’s top executives and their record so far, there is a slim chance of such a compromise or loss.
Is Phemex Safe?
Phemex ensures that users’ funds and details are protected from hackers, seeing that crypto exchanges are prime targets to hackers. There are several security measures it uses to that end, and the foundation is its highly experienced executive team.
Phemex’s executive team, with their standard Wall street risk control experience, built a system that can detect malicious activities and trigger relevant protection mechanisms. Also, Phemex processes eligible withdrawal requests through offline signatures.
Every user is assigned their unique cold wallet deposit address under Phemex’s cold wallet (offline data storage) system. The result is a 100% cold wallet storage system where Phemex periodically gathers all deposits to its offline, multi-signature cold wallet.
Phemex ensures server security using Amazon Web Service (AWS). In addition, firewalls separate Phemex trading zones in its internal network. So, to answer the safety question: Based on our extensive Phemex review, we discovered that the platform is a safe crypto derivatives exchange judging from the security measures they employ.
Conclusion
It is evident from this Phemex review that it stands out as a cryptocurrency trading platform worthy of a trial. Phemex, with its wide range of offerings, low-fee memberships, and incentives, aims to attract investors and newbies in the crypto trading sphere to make profitable trades.
Frequently Asked Questions
No, it isn’t. The reason is that the US follows a strict regulatory process for crypto derivatives trading, considering that cryptocurrencies generally are highly volatile.
Yes, you can. On Phemex, you can purchase Bitcoin with credit or debit cards. The platform accepts Mastercard, Visa, POLi, and Union pay. You can also buy with your bank account through Direct Transfer, PayID, SEPA, SOFORT, and iDEAL.
Yes, it is. Phemex is a legitimate cryptocurrency exchange based in Singapore with an executive team of eight former Morgan Stanley staff.
No. Conditional orders are only available to premium users. A conditional order functions as a limit order, except that it has a triggering price.
Yes. In May 2021, Phemex in partnership with Onfido, a tech company that partners with businesses to verify user identities, launched its KYC module, to shield investors from non-compliant KYC and AML policies and regulations in their local jurisdictions.
Phemex Review 2021: Features, Pros, Cons, Trading Fees, Security
Phemex Review 2021: Features, Pros, Cons, Trading Fees, Security-
Pug Score3.8/5 Good
