There are a lot of cryptocurrency exchanges. Among them, only a few number of exchanges in the leaderboard. So I choose one of the best exchanges within them. The poloniex exchange. Is it legit? Is it secure? or is it even trusted? All the questions will be answered in this complete poloniex review.
First of all, what exactly is a cryptocurrency exchange? What is its purpose?
A cryptocurrency exchange is a spot allows you to buy and sell cryptocurrencies. In fact, If you’re into trade or invest and hold cryptocurrency, the first place you are going to go to is a cryptocurrency exchange.
However, there are two main types of cryptocurrency exchange which are centralized exchanges and decentralized exchanges.
Furthermore, the difference between these two, centralized exchanges have a central authority to control it.
So the poloniex exchange is a centralized exchange.
Okay, let’s get into the poloniex review. I will make sure to mention all the important facts that you have to consider when choosing an exchange.
Poloniex Company
The poloniex exchange was founded in 2014 by Tristan d Agosto. This company based in San Francisco, California.
However, Poloniex is one of the largest exchanges with high trading volume which makes it to the leaderboard.
In fact, You may ask, Is poloniex legit or is it safe to use? The simple answer is yes it is legit and yes currently it is safe. For the reason, that poloniex gained a lot of user trust.
Initially, Poloniex targeted the united states markets. But coin traders attracted this exchange from around the world. So this caused a high trading volume of this exchange.
But here is a thing. Poloniex exchange is not fulfilled with only good things. Somehow, this exchange got hacked when it was new. And hackers took 3% of all bitcoins poloniex exchange had.
It’s a bad sign for an exchange.
However, It doesn’t stop Poloniex from growing. Currently, Poloniex had released its official mobile application for trading. It is available on both Android and iOS.
Let’s discuss the most important factors that we need to consider when choosing the right exchange.
Fees Of Poloniex
One of the main things need to look at. What is a fee? Do you remember that I mentioned this is a centralized exchange?
So in this case when you exchanging coins of a centralized exchange, the exchange acts as the third party. So the exchange charges you for using their service. That is the basic explanation for Fee.
However what about fees on poloniex? This exchange uses a tier-based fee system. What does that mean?
The fees depend on your 30-day trading volume on poloniex. That means if your monthly trading volume increases, the percentage of your fees will also deduct. This system also running on Cex.io.
Therefore, here are the fees.
What are Maker and Taker fees?
You know there are two parties in a successful trade. Who are they? The maker and the taker.
They are most commonly known as the seller and buyer. But in cryptocurrency trading, we don’t call them seller and buyer. So if you understand, whose orders increasing the liquidity in the market?
Yes. The maker. However, when placing orders by these two parties, they have to pay fees for the service of the exchange which are in the above image.
Additionally, there are including transaction fees. Poloniex doesn’t charge for deposit. But there is a fixed withdrawal fee. (Varies coin to coin.) Here are some of them.
Click on this image to see the full list.
Security
Why security is so important consideration factor when choosing a cryptocurrency exchange? You know unlike decentralized exchanges, centralized exchanges have a headquarters that manages everything related to the exchange.
So think about this way. If a hacker trying to hack this exchange. It’s so easy to hack unless the developers had some high-level encryption methods. Besides, there always a risk.
As a result, Poloniex got hacked in 2014. However, we can predict that was happened because of the lower security in 2014. Besides, the exchange also started in 2014.
But in present, Poloniex has upgraded its security. It offers two-factor authentication to the account holders which is a strong point that increases the security.
Private keys are encrypted locally. Means poloniex controls all the private keys of account owners. It is a good thing. But like I mentioned encryption methods are so important.
Supported Coins
This poloniex review is not a complete review without mentioning supported coins. Coins in an exchange directly affects the total liquidity of that exchange.
So the number of coins in that exchange is really important. Also, it can be recognized as a trust factor.
However, there are a lot of cryptocurrencies available with 5 markets. Which are,
- BTC – Bitcoin
- USDC – USD Coin
- USDT – Tether USD
- TRX – Tron Foundation
- ETH – Ethereum
Here is the total supported coin list. Also, check here for the updated list
| ARDR – Ardor | |
| ATOM – Cosmos | |
| BAT – Basic Attention Token | |
| BCHABC – Bitcoin Cash | |
| BCHSV – Bitcoin SV | |
| BCN – Bytecoin | |
| BNT – Bancor | |
| BTC – Bitcoin | |
| BTS – BitShares | |
| BTT – BitTorrent | |
| CVC – Civic | |
| DASH – Dash | |
| DCR – Decred | |
| DOGE – Dogecoin | |
| EOS – EOS | |
| ETC – Ethereum Classic | |
| ETH – Ethereum | |
| ETHBNT – Bancor ETH Smart Token Relay | |
| FOAM – Foam | |
| GAS – Gas | |
| GNT – Golem | |
| GRIN – Grin | |
| KNC – Kyber | |
| LINK – Chainlink | |
| LOOM – LOOM Network | |
| LPT – Livepeer | |
| LSK – Lisk | |
| LTC – Litecoin | |
| MANA – Decentraland | |
| NMR – Numeraire | |
| NXT – NXT | |
| OMG – OmiseGO | |
| POLY – Polymath | |
| QTUM – Qtum | |
| REP – Augur | |
| SC – Siacoin | |
| SNT – Status | |
| STEEM – STEEM | |
| STORJ – Storj | |
| STR – Stellar | |
| STRAT – Stratis | |
| TRX – Tron | |
| USDC – USD Coin | |
| USDT – Tether USD | |
| WIN – WINK | |
| XEM – NEM | |
| XMR – Monero | |
| XRP – Ripple | |
| ZEC – Zcash | |
| ZRX – 0x |
Poloniex is one of the best cryptocurrency exchange. So the currencies you see above, are legit. Because the poloniex exchange only lists legit and bright cryptocurrencies.
Payment Methods
Initially, there were no payment methods specified. Only supported coin deposits and withdrawals.
But now poloniex exchange does support Visa and MasterCard as payment methods. In simple, you can now buy bitcoins directly with debit/credit cards in poloniex.
However, this feature supported in limited regions.
In order to use card payment options, you need to be a verified user which I’m going to discuss next.
And also there is a fee. 3.5% Or $10. Whichever is greater will be charged as a card transaction fee.
Verification Process
New to Poloniex? Let’s create a new account.
Why do you need to get verified? This is also known as KYC. In most exchanges, Verification required to enable card payments, increase daily withdrawal limits, etc.
In poloniex, there are two verification steps. Both steps will unlock features as follows.
Please note that these details from my personal account. If you’re new to poloniex, then you will see a $10,000/day withdrawal limit without verification.
Let’s find out how to set up verification in poloniex.
After you successfully created your account, Go to your profile.
You can see you’re level 1 verified. But your daily withdrawal limit is $10,000. It will increase to $750,000 once you’re verified and also you unlock margin trading.
If you need to proceed with verification, click Get started.
Then you have to complete a form with your legit details. Make sure that details are the same exact details appears in your verification documents. (Identity/Driving license).
Because you need to upload photos of your documents in the next steps.
Check out this video showing how to successfully verify your identity on poloniex.
Advantages And Disadvantages Of Poloniex
In this poloniex review, I would like to mention the advantages and disadvantages of poloniex exchange. Because it’s simple take-away factors so you can easily get points of what kind of exchange you are seeking.
Advantages
1) Low trading fees. It is a good thing for a beginner. Poloniex trading fees are lower than some major exchanges.
2) A lot of cryptocurrencies listed. As I mentioned earlier, a lot of cryptocurrencies listed means higher trust. Besides, beginners have a lot of cheap cryptocurrencies to invest in.
3) Verification is not required unless you withdraw more than $10,000.
4) It only includes each blockchain fee when you making a cryptocurrency withdrawal.
5) Credit/Debit card support.
Disadvantages
1) The exchange experienced a major hack back in 2014. I considered this as a disadvantage because a hack is not a good thing for a cryptocurrency exchange.
2) Slow loading speed. Here is a thing I personally experienced. The poloniex exchange user interface tends to load slowly comparing to other cryptocurrency exchanges.
Final Thoughts
I hope this poloniex review is worth your time. You have learned the most important facts in poloniex exchange such as fees, security, supported assets, etc.
However, when you’re choosing a cryptocurrency exchange, make sure to consider the above facts and also, read some user reviews.
That will help a lot more than this review. Go to Reddit / Quora and simply search the term. that will show the most common threads related. Read each one of them.
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Also, don’t forget to share this post among beginners.
You forgot to mention that they took 1800 BTC from their users one year ago and only returned 10%.
Thanks for the information, Sven. Sure I will mention that.