Bitfinex exchange (Bitfinex): review of the crypto exchange, nuances, current recommendations

The Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange is one of the top three in terms of capitalization. The trading platform has been popular among traders for 5 years now, especially among those who make money through margin trading. Over the past six months, reviews of Bitfinex have become controversial. If before this the majority were satisfied with the trading conditions, now people complain about many problems in the operation of the exchange. What are the features of Bitfinex, and is it worth trading on it?

General information about the Bitfinex exchange

The Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange is located in Hong Kong. The service provides registered clients with 2 types of financial transactions - trading and exchange, as well as investment activities. It’s worth highlighting the extensive trading opportunities right away, but more on that a little later. The entire leading group of virtual currencies is present on the exchange.

The Bitfinex company began operating in the fall of 2012. The daily turnover exceeds 45,000 BTC (more than $351 million). There are 96 financial instruments representing 296 trading pairs. The most liquid crypto pairs: XRP/USD, BTC/USD/ ETH/USD, EOS/USD, USDT/USD. Approximately 18 million visits from regular users are recorded per month.

Since the trading platform is interested in a large number of clients, the interface has been translated into Chinese, Russian and English.

Bitfinex Exchange Guide:

Setting up an account

As soon as the user has access to his Bitfinex personal account, he should immediately consider the possibility of creating additional security settings. To do this, you need to find the “security” item in the profile menu. After this, a window will open in which the available settings and the current protection level will be displayed (in the upper right corner).

Particular attention should be paid to two-factor authentication. Activating it will significantly reduce the risk of possible hacking.

Bitfinex Features

It is necessary to recognize the professional attitude of the owners and development team towards their creation. They constantly strive to improve the quality of work on the crypto exchange, expand its functionality, introduce useful additions and improve the information and training base. The most significant features of the Bitfinex platform are rightfully considered:

• Huge daily trading volume.
• Ability to create 3 different cryptocurrency wallets. Everything is determined by the client’s desires and capabilities.

Explanation! If the user plans to engage in classic, simple trading or exchange operations, then he needs an “Exchange” crypto wallet. When margin trading is expected, a “Margin” crypto storage facility is created. There is a special option for investors – “Funding”. The first type of account is suitable for ordinary traders, but you can open all three wallets at the same time on Bitfinex!

• Good trading opportunities. Speculators are provided with several types of orders with interesting execution conditions. There are classic transactions, as well as their specific modifications - a half-hidden order, a series of time-limited orders, a dynamic stop order, etc.
• Varying commissions for different traders. There are makers (place an order) and takers (buy out an open transaction) on the exchange. For the former, the floating commission percentage is 0.012-0.2%, and the latter pay the exchange 0.012-0.1%. The commission is calculated taking into account the transaction amount.
• There is a lot of reference guides and training information on the bitfinex.com exchange. There are detailed instructions for all functions of the service.
• Impressive entry deposit. To engage in trading on Bitfinex, you must deposit a minimum of $10,000. Therefore, there are very few novice speculators here.
• Lengthy two-level verification for clients using fiat money. This condition gives rise to some difficulties, however, it is a good demonstration of the serious attitude of the project administration regarding user safety.
• Customizable interface. You can choose a design theme, set the arrangement of elements, configure notification settings and important data.

Mobile app

The presence of an official app for Android and phone is a definite bonus when working with the trading platform.

The mobile application allows you to open new transactions at any time and anywhere, without being tied to a computer, and also be aware of the current price dynamics for the coins you are interested in.

Smart mobile trading features:

• Trading > exchange and margin trading, order and position management;
• Wallets > transfer between internal wallets and check the latest account movements;
• Login > secure account access using API keys and PIN/password protection;
• Margin provision: management of status, rates and offers;
• GUI settings settings;
• Notifications > receive notifications about completed transactions and price dynamics.

Using the convenient Bitfinex apps for iOS and Android, you can easily trade without a computer.

It is enough to have a smartphone with Internet access and earn money wherever you are.

Advantages of Bitfinex

The Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange has enough positive qualities. In addition to the noted features, it is necessary to emphasize the following advantages:

• Interface version for Russian-speaking traders and investors. The translation, of course, is very mediocre, but it allows you to thoroughly understand the functionality and conduct profitable trading.
• Advanced graphical tools - changing order properties, price alerts, position visualization, etc.
• Sufficient number of liquid trading pairs. The list of available tools is suitable for all clients of the Bitfinex exchange. Cryptocurrencies include the main assets (ethereum, monero, bitcoin cash, iota, ripple, litecoin, naturally bitcoin, etc.), as well as less common and exotic representatives of the world of digital money (aragon, odem, verge, etc.). Fiat currencies – JPY, USD, RUB, GBP and EUR.
• For cryptocurrency trading, top digital coins and real-life money are used, and all presented currencies are used for exchange and investment.
• High degree of account protection. If users follow the recommendations of developers when working on the Bitfinex site, then their funds will be safe.
• Opportunity to earn money by lending to successful traders.
• High-quality mobile applications. From wherever there is Internet access, you can make transactions via a tablet or smartphone.
• Futures trading available.

Cryptocurrency pairs

The advantage of the exchange is that it supports all known cryptocurrencies, as well as the main types of coins and tokens. Users have access to not only Bitcoin, but also Ripple, Litecoin, Monero, EOS and other types of digital money.

In particular, on the exchange you can find:

• Ethereum
• Ethereum Classic
• NEO
• Bitcoin Cash
• IOTA
• ZCash
• Dash
• Bitcoin Gold
• Metaverse ETP
• QTUM.

The exchange is also a platform for the spot purchase and sale of digital tokens (collateralized and unsecured). Secured transactions in digital tokens are permitted under peer-to-peer funding on the site. Bitcoin accounts for more than half of all trading on the exchange, Ethereum accounts for more than 13%, and EOS accounts for about 8% of total trading volume.

Disadvantages of Bitfinex

Bitfinex has an impressive list of advantages, however, there are also some negative qualities. The disadvantages include:

• Complex, time-consuming verification. To have a deposit in fiat currencies and take advantage of additional features of the Bitfinex platform. The main difficulty that Russian-speaking clients are forced to endure is providing a notarized translation of the necessary documents. In this case, the lawyer must have a special certificate.
• A large amount for the initial deposit replenishment.
• Relatively high commission fees. For example, you can withdraw and deposit fiat currency only in the form of dollars. If you operate with small amounts, the exchange will charge about $20 per transaction. On Poloniex, Binance, HitBTC and EXMO the percentages are significantly lower.

Nuance! Such an impressive limit must be overcome once. Then the main part of the capital can be withdrawn and a small amount left in the account for trading. Lending or investing!

• Some sentences or individual words are extremely incorrectly translated. For experienced traders, this does not present any difficulties, since you can generally understand the essence of the information.

Landing and stacking

For investors, the platform offers two types of crypto investments to generate passive income:

1.

Lending is the transfer of funds to margin traders. The amount transferred to management will ensure transactions made with leverage. A credit line is opened under certain conditions and at an agreed interest rate. The exchange platform not only provides all the necessary technological infrastructure, but also acts as a guarantor between the lender and the borrower. This investment method is quite safe, because the trader can only use capital as a margin, and the annual interest rate can reach 10% or higher.

2.

Staking is a process in which a user’s crypto assets are frozen for use in the Proof of Stake (PoS) algorithm and ensuring the functionality of the blockchain network. All participants whose funds are blocked for a certain period of time receive a financial reward. The size of the bonus directly depends on the amount of investment and the timing of investment.

Another way to earn additional income is to participate in a three-level affiliate program. Invite new members using a referral link and earn part of the commissions charged by the exchange on each transaction.

Register on Bitfinex

New users who come to work on the service are required to go through the registration procedure and agree to the terms of the Bitfinex exchange. Anyone can quickly create an account here. You need to do the following:

• On the main page of the site (bitfinex.com), you should switch the interface language at the top right and click on the “Registration” button.
• Read the rules, conditions, as well as brief information about the trading platform and confirm that the information provided is understandable.
• In the form that opens, enter the data in the fields: password, email and login.
• Solve the text of the captcha and click “Open account”.
• After a minute (if you used the address [email protected]), confirm your desire to register on Bitfinex by clicking on the link in the email received from the system robot.

All! The account has been created. You can now visit your personal account on the crypto exchange. To log into the Bitfinex website you need to provide an email and password. When you first log in, you will be required to agree to the terms of service.

Reviews

The Bitfinex exchange deserves mostly positive reviews from users.

The strengths of the crypto exchange are the variety of orders and trading modes, support for a large number of cryptocurrencies and a user-friendly interface. In addition, traders highlight the absence of commissions when entering and large trading volumes, thanks to which you can always find a profitable offer on Bitfinex.

The downside of the exchange is the lack of such an important function as a demo account. Because of this, it is impossible to complete training on the Bitfinex website before starting trading. True, this problem is partially solved by the “Demonstration” mode, in which the user can explore the menu of the web resource and become familiar with its functionality.

#bitfinex#exchange

Verification

To carry out operations to deposit or withdraw funds in rubles and other fiat currencies and activate access to advanced functionality, you must be verified on the Bitfinex crypto exchange. The steps to confirm your identity are as follows:

• In the main account menu (the outermost icon at the top right), select the “Verification” section. Next, click “Start verification”.

• You need to answer the following questions: select the type of account (individual), country of residence, reason.

• Confirm that you are willing to wait 6-8 weeks and that all documents must be sent to begin the process.
• Select account type: individual or corporate. Familiarize yourself with the requirements and procedure for confirming your account.

• Verification process. Name and contact details. You must enter data in the fields of a special form.
• Provide photographs (scanned copies) of documents translated into English and certified by a notary.

Important! You should not use your national passport for verification. The administration of the Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange only considers applications that have copies of an international driver's license or international passport!

• Financial. Attach a copy of the bank account statement that is intended to be used for withdrawal/deposit of funds. This is necessary if transactions will be carried out through a bank.
• Identity. Provide an identification document (passport, license, etc.)
• Address. You can attach a snapshot of the bill from the housing office (utilities) indicating your place of residence. An invoice that is no more than three months old.
• Know your client. Sign the document of the same name.

All these documents sent electronically must be accompanied by copies translated into English and certified by a notary. This is important for verification on Bitfinex.

Professional Services

There are a number of additional services for institutional clients:

Main sections of the site bitfinex.com

The Bitfinex trading platform has a very unique interface. Beginners first need to at least orient themselves in the arrangement of blocks and the localization of significant sections. There is no point in describing every interface element in this article. Practice is key here. You will definitely need specially allocated time to work out all the nuances yourself. Therefore, a general diagram of the structure of the crypto exchange interface will now be presented.

Top menu – the important buttons here are:

• “Trade” – transition to the Bitfinex trading platform.
• “Financing” – opens a page with investment offers.
• “Top up account” and “Withdraw” - here money is credited to the balance and funds are withdrawn from here.
• “Wallets” – you can create online wallets for any cryptocurrencies presented on the service.
• The button on the far right is a submenu with account settings, verification, reports, notifications and other auxiliary sections.

Left or right sitebar (side menu). It can be pinned from any edge of the page. This column contains all the main working functionality - blocks for processing transactions, switching order types, quotes, summaries and account balance.

3. The central area is the basis of the page. In principle, elements from the side sitebar are duplicated here, but, first of all, the price chart with indicators is important here.

4. Bottom menu (page footer). There are tabs with organizational and legal information, a thematic library, commissions, communication with technical support, an overview of the Bitfinex exchange, etc.

Everything is not difficult, you just need to set aside time and put in a little effort to fully master the Bitfinex crypto exchange.

Support

Where to look for answers to your questions and where to turn if problems arise?

The site has a Bitfinex Help Center, where all information about working with the trading platform is structured into sections: Introduction, Security, Verification, Trading, Commissions, Order types, Margin financing, etc.

Moreover, the information is translated into Russian, which makes searching and perception easier.

Having found a specific section, the user can receive a detailed answer to his question.

For example, in the Introduction > Account replenishment section or in the Verification section > How long will verification take.

If the user does not find the answer in the Bitfinex Help Center, he can write to support through the feedback form.

Bitfinex customer support is available 24 hours a day.

You can also contact support specialists in Russian.

How to top up your balance on Bitfinex

Since the Bitfinex exchange offers users three ways to earn money, 3 separate accounts are automatically provided after registration:

• Credit – allows you to earn money by investing from other traders.
• Margin – to speculate with leverage.
• Trading – for conversions and simple trading.

These accounts are separated, so they are topped up separately. There is the possibility of internal transfers between these balances.

To deposit funds, you need to open the “Top up your account” tab and select the digital or fiat currency that you intend to deposit on the Bitfinex exchange.

Then you need to generate a virtual wallet, the address of which is specified in the details when completing the transaction. Now you just need to confirm the operation.

Take it into account! You should remember about verification. Fiat money cannot be entered until the identity confirmation procedure approved on the service has been completed. Also, the exchange functionality will not work!

There is no commission for a cryptocurrency transfer when the amount equivalent to more than $1000 is entered. For microdeposits and transfers, individual interest is charged for each currency. All details are in the lower account menu in the “Commissions” tab.

Personal account overview

Welcome to the bitfinex exchange. Here you are given the opportunity to trade 33 pairs, which you can view by clicking on the “trade” button, which is located near the main logo of the exchange. If you select any other pair, the graph in the main part of the site will also change.

If we are already talking about charts, it is worth noting that it is very convenient and is no different from the charts and functionality of the most popular trading platform MetaTrader4. We won’t dwell on the charts for a long time; it’s better to devote a separate article to this.

In the left sidebar of the site, the “Order Form” section is available, where you are provided with various order options: Limit, By Market, Stop, Stop Limit, Trailing Stop, Fill or Kill. If you scroll the site a little lower, you will be provided with a price order book, which here is called “Order Book”.

The Depth of Market on the Bitphoenix exchange has a very interesting design. On the left side there are buy transactions, and on the right side there are sell transactions. In the background of the glass, we see a diagram that shows which side has more volume.

There is one more function in this window. Traders have the opportunity to set an “alarm clock” for themselves at the moment of the desired price on the market; to do this, you need to click the cursor on the empty field, next to the quantity, i.e. transaction volume near the desired price.

Work on the stock exchange - conversion, trading, lending

Any registered user who has endured all the hardships of the verification procedure can earn money on Bitfinex in three main ways, with one direction being unique. Lending, fully developed and optimized for convenient use, is available only on this trading platform.

The Bitfinex exchange offers traders and investors to work with:

• 13 top-rated cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin (BTC), Litecoin (LTC), Ethereum (ETH), Ripple (XRP), Monero (XMR), Iota (IOTA), Ethereum Classic (ETC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), etc.
• More than 30 exotic or lesser-known crypto coins: golem (GNT), verge (XVG), limpo (LYM), aragon (ANT), etc.
• 4 fiat currencies – JPY (Japanese yen), EUR (euro), GBP (pound sterling), and USD (American dollar).

Top and fiat currencies are available for trading, and all types of electronic money are available for lending and conversion.

So, let's analyze the general principles of operation.

1. Exchange operations. Each registered user can convert all available currencies in different combinations on the exchange platform. It is necessary that the appropriate wallets be formed. The procedure is simple. It is performed in the “Trade” section. You need to enter the currency you are purchasing and indicate the amount and type of funds that need to be spent from the trade balance. Mark the addresses of the required crypto wallets. The system will independently calculate the preliminary result of the transaction. The user will only have to click on the “Buy” button. The reverse transaction is the same, only the currencies need to be swapped.
2. Cryptocurrency trading. It is presented here in two versions: ordinary speculative operations - sale/purchase. They are drawn up in special blocks located under the price chart of the selected currency. You need to specify the required data and click “Sell” or “Buy”; margin trading – the ability to conclude transactions using leverage. The actions are similar to the previous version of crypto trading, only when placing an order you need to enable the “Margin” option. Maximum leverage on Bitfinex is x3 (1 to 3). For your information, on the Bitmex exchange the leverage for Bitcoin reaches 1:100.
   Note! Margin trading on the platform in question is very unique. The trader is provided with leverage not by the exchange, but by the investors working here. Profit is distributed in proportion to the funds invested in the order. Investors' losses are covered by money from the trader's account!

3. Lending. This is an activity where the trader himself becomes an investor. You need to lend to other speculators, giving your funds for use. This strategy is almost a win-win, however, traders rarely use this function. The Bitfinex crypto exchange consists of 85% wealthy professionals who do not need borrowed funds.

Making a deposit

Depending on the level of verification passed, the account can be topped up with cryptocurrencies, bank transfer or using credit and debit cards. Please note that card payments are serviced by third-party services (mercuryo and ownr wallet), for which the exchange is not responsible.

Cryptocurrency deposits usually arrive after a certain number of confirmations on the Blockchain network. The final time will depend on the selected currency and network load.

Bank payments may take up to 7 days to process. Once the money transfer is processed by your local bank and deposited into your Bitfinex account, the amount will immediately appear in your wallet balance.

All financial transactions take place on one of three wallets:

1.

Exchange is the main wallet used for stock trading.

2.

Margin is a wallet for margin trading and leveraged positions.

3.

Funding is a wallet for participating in margin financing of other traders.

Withdrawing funds from the Bitfinex exchange

It is not difficult to withdraw cryptocurrency and receive money earned on the Bitfinex trading platform. You should select the “Withdrawal” tab in the top menu. The steps are simple:

• Choose a cryptocurrency account or a balance with fiat currency.
• Enter the transaction amount taking into account the commission charged. The percentage is different for all currencies, so you should first study the tariffs in the “Commissions” section.
• Double-check the accuracy of the specified data, especially the crypto wallet number.
• Click on the “Create request” button.

Crypto coins are withdrawn from the exchange quickly, usually within 24 hours.
With fiat currency there are delays of up to 12-15 business days. Attention! Since the Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange closely monitors suspicious activities and strange behavior of clients, you should always try to log into your account exclusively from one IP address. If visits to the exchange occur from different places, the administration immediately blocks all funds and the account. The proceedings last for more than 2 months, and users are often left without the money that was in their wallets on the service!

Trading terminal

The company's programmers tried to make the exchange modern and accessible to all categories of users. The intuitive interface is suitable for beginners and advanced users. Most modules, windows, and tabs can be customized and moved around in the workspace. A ready-made solution based on TradingView is used as charts.

There are several dark and light color schemes that can be changed in the settings under Interface. There, using switches, you can set the values ​​of saturation, contrast and brightness. If desired, the colors of the graphs can be changed separately.

For graphical analysis, 7 types of quote visualization are implemented:

• Bars;
• Japanese candles;
• Empty candles;
• Heiken Ashi;
• Line graph;
• Region;
• Baseline.

In addition, more than 100 technical indicators and dozens of additional objects are preinstalled, which can be placed directly on the charts of the Bitfinex crypto exchange. APIs and WebSockets are provided for developers to provide direct interaction with most features of the web platform and mobile applications.

Security

The Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange has been operating for a long time. She had problems with hacker thieves who attacked the service more than once. In recent years, developers have mostly switched to improving protective mechanisms and introducing new security schemes.

The crypto exchange offers clients the following protection options:

• Two-factor authentication;
• Disabling the “open session” option;
• PGP encryption of data sent via electronic channels;
• Account blocking if you frequently log in from new IP addresses;
• seed phrase for verifying outgoing transactions and some other features.

Enabling these options significantly minimizes the risk of hackers gaining access to your account. If an attacker manages to steal the account code, he will not be able to withdraw money from cryptocurrency wallets.

Let's sum it up

Summarizing all of the above, I would like to say that it is not for nothing that Bitfinex enjoys such great popularity around the world. A large trading volume, excellent tools and the Russian language make this exchange very attractive to residents of the Russian Federation and the CIS. However, there are some negatives: the unreasonable complexity of verification and large commissions in dollars add their own fly in the ointment. In addition, there have been rumors lately that the Russian authorities have taken a close grip on this exchange and soon access to it may be limited, just as they once restricted access to the Eksmo exchange. Although everyone has long been accustomed to this, and such restrictions are more likely to irritate than to actually prevent one from using the resource. We hope for the best and wish you successful trading.