Quick Overview of Huobi
- The Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange was initially founded in Beijing.
- Offers an extensive list of supported cryptocurrencies.
- Offers an insurance policy cover to users to safeguard their assets held in the exchange.
- Multiple channels to reach the customer support team.
What Is the Huobi?
Huobi is one of the largest cryptocurrency exchange platforms based initially in Beijing but currently headquartered in Singapore. The exchange supports both ICO tokens and cryptocurrencies and emphasizes the future development of the Blockchain economy.
After its relocation in Singapore in 2020 following a ban imposed by the Chinese government on ICOs and fiat to crypto trading, Huobi established its offices in other parts of the world like Hong Kong, the USA, South Korea, and started to explore the crypto markets in Japan. However, the crypto ban in China and Huobi’s expulsion from the nation could not prevent the exchange from its operations, and Huobi presently has over 3 million active account holders.
Huobi Summary
Headquarters | Seychelles |
Found in | 2013 |
Native Token | Yes |
Listed Cryptocurrency | 375 |
Trading Pairs | 300+ |
Supported Fiat Currencies | No |
Supported Countries | Worldwide |
Minimum Deposit | 100 USD |
Deposit Fees | Depends on Currency |
Transaction Fees | Depends on Currency |
Withdrawal Fees | Depends on Currency |
Application | Yes |
Customer Support | Email,Telephone,Online chat,Ticket system & Social media |
Huobi Review – Platform Interface
How Does Huobi Work?
More than 100 leading cryptocurrencies are held in the Huobi main (Huobi Pro) exchange. The registered users can select their preferred cryptocurrency pairs and exchange them on the platform without any hassles.
History of Huobi
Huobi’s history starts with Leon Li, a former Oracle engineer who, in 2013, purchased the Huobi domain before taking up BTC live trading later in that year. Prompt to capitalize on the momentum gained around the emerging Bitcoin market in China, Huobi harnessed investments from leading investors, including the Sequoia Capital group.
Soon after its launch, Huobi proved that capturing the crypto market share is no rocket science, and the exchange made over $4 billion in turnover in just three months following its live launch. By 2014, the exchange had quadrupled its turnover and proved that Huobi would finally fulfill Asia’s digital asset exchange needs.
As per Huobi reviews, the exchange reported a turnover of $247 billion in 2016, which is almost half of the world’s cryptocurrency exchange market share. However, everyone knows that the cryptocurrency market is always unpredictable. To everyone’s surprise, it was proved better when the Chinese authorities dropped the banhammer on the cryptocurrency exchanges operating in China last year. To combat this blow, Huobi, in just one single move, decided to pull out all of its crypto operations from China and came up with an alternative plan.
It was then that Huobi relocated to Singapore, and until this moment, Huobi laid all its focus on the Chinese market. However, now that the exchange was out of China, it had to reinvent itself elsewhere to survive in the crypto industry. Thus, the exchange began to globalize its operations; it began exploring markets in Japan, Russia, Korea, etc.
Features of Huobi
The Huobi exchange hosts the following features for its registered clients:-
Easy User Interface
The Huobi exchange website is easy to navigate and balances functionalities, visual pleasure, and elegance. There are proper price feeds, charting tools, market depth data organized structurally within the trading interface. The alternative HADAX crypto market that supports smaller tokens and altcoins also benefits from Huobi’s professional interface and functionalities.
Multiple Order Types
The exchange offers the following order types:-
- Limit order
- Market order
- Stop Limit order
The platform also supports margin trading in bitcoin (BTC) and Litecoin (LTC) with 5x leverage and a fee of 0.1% for 24 hours.
Flash Trade
This is one of the most exciting features on Huobi that incorporates an order book, a chart index, and a market chart. The Flash Trade enables users to try real-time trading volume, especially at times of high volatility.
Compatible Across Multiple Platforms
The Huobi exchange platform is compatible with multiple platforms like Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android.
Security
The security measures at Huobi are robust. The platform is incorporated in Singapore, where the crypto regulations are advanced and support various blockchain startups. Huobi provides multiple security mechanisms to safeguard users’ accounts like the 2-factor authentication is available for both SMS and Authenticator apps.
Swift Customer Service
Huobi promptly responds to customer issues. Contacting the Huobi customer service team is also very easy. The customer support team immediately answers any trading issues within the hour.
Huobi Review – Features
Services Offered by Huobi Exchange
Huobi provides the following core services to its users:-
An Extensive List of Trading Pairs
Huobi offers an extensive list of digital currencies available to trade. Huobi’s wide selection of available crypto pairs focuses more on bringing in projects from Asia. For the same reason, it is also considered the best crypto trading destination for more upcoming projects from Korea, China, and Singapore.
User Protection Fund
Much like the leading regulated exchange like Binance’s that offers an insurance policy called SAFU, Huobi channels its profits into its ‘User Protection Fund,’ which is more like an insurance policy to cover against thefts, hacks, or other unforeseen events that may affect the users’ wallets. This is a massive plus for Huobi customers because getting an insurance cover like this means an assurance of getting their funds back if anything goes out of control while trading on the exchange.
Derivatives and Margin Trading
The founders of the Huobi exchange realized that it is not enough to provide a trading platform for cryptocurrency only; clients seek something more from the exchange to survive in the cryptocurrency market. Thus, Huobi launched their own derivatives products for both Swap trading and Futures markets.
Soon after launching its derivative products, Huobi focussed on margin trading, and now it is one of the market leaders offering support for C2C and Margin lending.
Institutional Trading Accounts
As one of the largest crypto exchange, Huobi has attracted institutional investors and traders from all over the world. To cater to the needs of these institutional traders, Huobi has launched a separate trading desk that involves both OTC (Over-the-counter) and dark pool trading.
Smart-Chain Analysis
The Smart-Chain analysis is a very useful value-added functionality offered on the Huobi platform. It provides insights to the users on various blockchain assets and more than 50 different trade indicators.
Huobi API
Huobi global allows its users to code their trading bots via the Huobi API key or the REST API.to begin trading with the Huobi API, users first need to generate their API key that they should not share with anyone.
Huobi Review: Pros and Cons
Pros | Cons |
Impressive user interface. | Does not support fiat deposits and withdrawals. |
The Main exchange supports over 300 cryptocurrencies and tokens. | The verification process is a bit lengthy. |
Employs high-level cyber security mechanisms. | |
Responsive customer support team. | |
Huobi users enjoy the right to vote on the alternative HADAX exchange that supports multiple altcoins. |
Huobi Exchange Registration Process
Opening an account on the Huobi exchange is very simple. The only complicated part is choosing the exchange version; all the arrangements like hbus.com, Huobi.com, Huobi.pro, or hbg.com are equally helpful, but separate versions are available for users in different locations. Like for the Americans, Huobi US or HBUS will be the right site. To start trading on the Huobi exchange, users should follow these steps:-
Sign Up
As soon as users find their perfect version of the exchange according to their citizenship, they need to click on the “Sign Up” tab on the upper right-hand corner of the home page. This will take them to the registration page, where they will have to fill up a registration form with some basic details like email, phone number, country of residence, and a strong password. Soon after successful registration, the Huobi team will send an auto-generated activation mail into the user’s registered email address that they need to click on to activate their account. At this stage, users are prompted to add 2FA (two-factor-authentication) security in their account along with the password to add an extra layer of security to their funds and data.
Verification
After successful account creation and verification of email address, Huobi requires the users to verify their name and nationality. The user’s name as registered on Huobi should be precisely the same as it appears in any user’s bank accounts that he intends to link with the Huobi account.
Users need to upload government-issued IDs for nationality verification like passports, driver’s licenses, Social Insurance numbers, Military certificates, etc. Once the documents are uploaded, users are required to upload a selfie with any government-issued document and submit the snapshot of the latest three deposit transactions.
Begin Trading
After successful verification, users will be directed to a page where they can find a neat summary of supported crypto coins attached, like for nationality verification Users The total supply of that coin, its purpose, etc. It becomes much easier for crypto traders to choose their preferred crypto pair on the platform with all this information. However, users should always do their research before proceeding, this nifty feature on the Huobi platform should always be considered a reference.
Huobi Review – Registration Process
Huobi Fees & Limits
Huobi trading fees are super competitive and thus owe to the platform’s transition to a native token-based economy like KuCoin, BIbox, and Binance. Because deposits and withdrawals in and out of the Huobi trading accounts are made in cryptocurrencies, the platform used to support both USD and Fiat Yuan withdrawals and deposits before the Chinese government imposition of the crypto ban, and thus there are no fees attached. Trading fees are also very reasonable, and the exchange does not discriminate between the maker and the taker and charges a flat rate of 0.2% from them (taker and maker). However, the trading fees can also be reduced to 0.1% on a sliding scale depending on trading volumes.
Huobi Withdrawal Fee and Limits
Huobi charges a withdrawal fee which is the mining fee that is paid for the network services. The withdrawal fee charged for the top 7 coins are as follows:-
- Bitcoin- 0.001 to 0.001
- Bitcoin Cash-0.0001
- EOS-0.5
- Ethereum- 0.01
- XRP- 0.1
- Litecoin-0.001
- Tether-20
Huobi allows users to create an account on the platform without any KYC compliances for nationality verification Users. This implies that there will be restrictions on the amount that users can withdraw within a given period. Unverified account holders can withdraw up to a maximum of 0.1 BTC once a day which is currently worth $600 a day. For Ethereum (ETH), the maximum withdrawal limit is up to 2.5 per day; for Bitcoin Cash (BCH), it is 0.6; for Ripple (XRP), it is 2500; and for Litecoin (LTC), it is 5 per day.
Huobi Accepted Payment Methods
The Huobi exchange accepts 2 FIAT currencies – US Dollar (USD) and the Chinese Yuan (CNY). They also accept two leading digital currencies – Bitcoin (BTC) and Litecoin (LTC).
Huobi Token (HT)
In its operation, Huobi launched its token HT, which runs on the Ethereum blockchain. Unlike most native tokens established by cryptocurrency exchanges, HT price (Huobi token price) was not released through an ICO but was given out as a loyalty scheme to account holders. HT token holders can pay for service-fee packages or vote for new tokens added to the alternative HADAX platform. $300 million worth of HT tokens were in the first 14 days of its launch.
HT gives users the right to slash the crypto trading fees on the exchange in half, allows users to engage in governance decisions regarding the exchange, and participate in several IEOs. Moreover, fee reduction on Huobi using HT is effortless. Users just need to hold the HT tokens in their wallets and then select the option to use HT from the token configuration panel for trading fees. Now, they can enjoy huge discounts against the standard trading fees.
Additionally, there are VIP memberships available to users that they can book to reduce the same fees to a maximum of 65%.
Huobi Mobile Application
Huobi offers a robust mobile application compatible with both iOS and Android devices and allows traders to trade on the go. It is easy to navigate and provides the same functionalities as the desktop version. Moreover, the app enables the users to complete all the required verification and registration compliances directly from the mobile phone itself.
Huobi Review – Mobile App
Huobi Security & Safety
The security measures employed by the Huobi exchange are well structured, as it is expected from a huge and the best cryptocurrency exchange like Huobi. The exchange is built on an advanced distributed system architecture with almost 98% of its clients’ assets being held in multi-signature offline cold storage wallets, adding extra security. Since its launch, there have not been any incidents of cybersecurity hacks reported against the exchange. Therefore, it can be concluded that Huobi is a trustworthy cryptocurrency exchange catering to the needs of the highest traditional standards. Financial as well as cryptocurrency markets worldwide.
Huobi Customer Support
To reach its huge customer base settled worldwide, Huobi provides customer services in dual languages- in English and Mandarin. According to a Huobi review, traders can report to the customer service agents via telephone, email, or online chat. They can also raise tickets against their issues, and they will be resolved within a few hours.Huobi provides a great customer support experience for users, it also has several social media networks and has a dedicated messaging app community wherein traders can help with constructive solutions.
Huobi Review – Customer Support
Huobi Review: Conclusion
Thus, the Huobi exchange review confirms that the platform is indeed a reliable one. Apart from the other unique features that the platform hosts, the User Protection Fund surely deserves a special mention. It is pretty impressive for a platform like Huobi to set aside reserve funds for users that will act as an insurance cover if any unforeseen breaches or hacks occur, which is truly commendable.
FAQs
Can Us Citizens Trade on Huobi?
Yes, citizens of the US can trade on Huobi from late 2020. However, the platform recommends its US-based customers transfer their assets to HBUS, the U.S. affiliated firm operating with the global brand Huobi.
Is Huobi Safe?
Yes, Huobi is a safe platform to trade, and thus, the platform has been gaining vast popularity since its launch.
How Do I Exchange Coins in Huobi?
Users can exchange their preferred crypto coins in Huobi by following these steps:-
- Visit the homepage of Huobi exchange and click on the “Trade” button.
- Click on the “Exchange” tab and choose the digital currency and the preferred amount that they want to exchange.
- Confirm the amount and the USDT worth of crypto coins that they wish to exchange with bitcoin or any other crypto coins.
- Click on the “Confirm” tab to complete the transaction.
Are Huobi Fees High?
As per various Huobi reviews available online, the Huobi fees appear to be a little higher than the global industry average.