Background
OKEX is a cryptocurrency exchange launched in 2017 by Chinese bitcoin mogul OKCoin. Besides operating bitcoin exchanges, OKCoin has a mobile consumer payment and lending application. They also manage to keep strong liquidity in the CNY/BTC pair. OKCoin maintains two main entities, including one focused on China’s domestic market and another, centered on the international market. Together, the exchanges constitute one of the largest digital assets exchanges in the world regarding overall trading volume.
OKEX is the more trading-centered version of its mother company, OKCoin. The fact that OKEX is based in China explains its relatively low popularity in the west. This low repute is also connected with the concerns about the actions being taking against the cryptocurrency space by the Chinese financial market regulatory body, as the country recently placed a ban on ICOs.
The unique things about this exchange are the stand-alone desktop platform and how Bitcoin and Litecoin futures contracts are readily available on the platform. OKEx announced late in 2017 that it basically invented the original Bitcoin Cash market, which lets users the trade against BCH without any intermediary like ETH or BTC.
Given its age, OKEX hasn’t been the target of significant hacks yet. While this brings some confidence, regarding security, it does not prove this will not happen in the future.
Account Verification
The verification process on OKEX is by standard practices in the industry.There are two levels of verification on this platform. With a newly created account your deposit and withdrawal options will be heavily restricted until your account verification will be finalized. In order to complete the first stage of account verification you will be required to provide your name, nationality, birth date, copy of government-issued ID and proof of residence. In order to complete the second level of verification you will also have to submit a bank statement on top of the documents mentioned above. As such, the procedure fully reflects the requirements of the industry and does not require anything extraordinary from the trader. Please note that once the second stag is complete, your daily withdrawal limit will be increased to 50,000 USD for personal accounts and 500,000 USD for institutional ones.
OKEX supports only two Fiat currencies, namely US dollar (USD) and Chinese Yuan (CNY). There are only three supported digital currencies – only Bitcoin (BTC), Litecoin (LTC), and Ethereum(ETH) are available for trading.There are also special VIP levels, which are identified by the number of reward points collected. Users earn reward points by trading and complying with the Company’s KYC (Know Your Client) requirements.Each of the VIP levels is used to determine the level of user trading leverage, fee and limits for borrowing. The number of points required for VIP levels are:
- Basic User – < 8,888 points
- VIP 1 – > 88,888 points
- VIP 2 – > 88,888 points
- VIP 3 – > 288,888 points
- VIP 4 – > 588,888 points
- VIP 5 – > 888,888 points
Gold Account – Additionally paid upgrade from VIP 5 level.
Trading Platform
OKEX is one of the few cryptocurrencies-exchanges which allows a stand-alone desktop platform. While you may be used to browser-based trading, there are quite some advantages to having a separate piece of the trading application on your computer. For instance, if you are using low or middle-end hardware and have many browser tabs opened simultaneously, you might have probably run into memory issues already and having a web-based trading application adding to the memory load will definitely not make things easier. Also, OKEX trading platform provides multiple-monitor support. With a click of a button, you can duplicate the whole layout many times and move it to another monitor.
The OKCoin proprietary system is powered with professional charting packages and a decent amount of indicators and overlays to complement your experience. The order book and tape are positioned on the right, and while the numbers may seem to be somewhat small, there presumably is an option to increase the font. The biggest weakness of the trading platform is that it is only in Chinese.
OKEX Fees
At the time of writing of this review, OKEX fees are probably the lowest in the industry. Fees start from 0.15 for makers and 0.2% for takers. Fees may be further discounted with increase in monthly trading volume. For more detailed information on fees charged by OKex please look at the screenshot below
| Tier | Spot Trading | Futures Trading | 24hr Withdrawal Limit (BTC) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30day Trading Volume (BTC) | Maker Fee | Taker Fee | 30day Trading Volume (BTC) | Maker Fee | Taker Fee | ||
| Lv1 | < 600 | 0.15% | 0.2% | < 10000 | 0.03% | 0.05% | 100 |
| Lv2 | ≥ 600 | 0.14% | 0.19% | ≥ 10000 | 0.025% | 0.045% | 150 |
| Lv3 | ≥ 1200 | 0.13% | 0.18% | ≥ 20000 | 0.02% | 0.04% | 200 |
| Lv4 | ≥ 2400 | 0.12% | 0.17% | ≥ 30000 | 0.015% | 0.035% | 250 |
| Lv5 | ≥ 12000 | 0.11% | 0.15% | ≥ 60000 | 0.01% | 0.03% | 300 |
| Lv6 | ≥ 24000 | 0.08% | 0.11% | ≥ 100000 | 0.005% | 0.025% | 400 |
| Lv7 | ≥ 60000 | 0.05% | 0.08% | ≥ 200000 | 0% | 0.02% | 500 |
| Lv8 | ≥ 120000 | 0.02% | 0.05% | ≥ 300000 | -0.01% | 0.02% | 1000 |
Deposits and Withdrawals
The only accepted currency for deposits is the USD, and the only two ways to deposit them are through Bank and Wire Transfer. For corporate users, fund transfer is free, while fund transfers made by individual users incur a fee of 0.1 percent of the amount transferred. Note that the fee does not include bank fee.
Withdrawals in US dollars are available as well and are also possible through Bank or Wire Transfer with 0.1% fee and a minimum of 15 USD.
Additionally, cryptocurrency transfers in BTC, ETH, and LTC are accepted.
Is OKEX Safe?
OKEX is a cryptocurrency exchange owned by OKCoin, with the company behind both of them is based in China and primarily centers on the domestic market. OKEX charges extremely low trading fees when compared to other exchanges. We have not been able to find any unfavorable criticism directed towards OKEx -the company has built up quite a reputation since its formation in 2014 and its user base is claimed to be in excess of 2000,000 active customers.
