In one of my previous posts, I mentioned that there existed a decentralised alternative to Binance, which was the Binance DEX. I however decided to take a peek and tell you what I found. Let's go!

I decided to create an account on Binance DEX just to test out the features. If you've ever used Loopring exchange before, Binance DEX runs on a similar make up. You need to connect a wallet to the exchange before you can begin using it. Binance DEX is also run on the Binance chain, just like Loopring is run on the Ethereum blockchain.

Once you connect your wallet, you can create an account to take advantage of the features the exchange has to offer. And believe me, there are quite a lot.

For starters, there are BTC pairs on the exchange. This is quite fun because many DEXes don't have BTC pairs becaus zxte of the specialised nature of the chain they are run on. But the Binance chain is a special one, and can run cross pairs, and even fiat pairs. This makes the Binance DEX the best option for anyone who is looking to trade on a DEX.

In my testing however, there were some sad parts. The first of which was the number of pairs. While there was definitely variety in the selection, there weren't a lot of pairs to choose from. The regular Binance has over 500 pairs to choose from. This one has a little over 100.

Many people might say "oh, that's fine. I only trade one pair anyway". But because there are so few pairs, the probability that your favourite pair would be found there is significantly lower.

Equally, there is a flood of BNB pairs as you'd expect. Almost every goddamn thing there is paired with BNB. Even BTC is paired with BNB, which makes absolutely no sense as BNB isn't really a cryptocurrency. This argument will take up its own post, believe me.

There's also just one ETH pair, and you guessed it, it's BNB/ETH. 

There are a fair few BTC pairs also, and a few fiat pairs as well to whet that Fed appetite of yours. However, and this is the funny part, all the dollar pairs are, you guessed it again, Binance USD, or BUSD. Hilarious. I can't think of anyone off the top of my head that purposely holds BUSD for some reason.

However, the show must go on. I did transfer about $5 worth of BTC to test the trading engine for myself. And it is fine. I know I'm not using any size, but when a bunch of orders hit the market at the same time, it can slow down a trading engine. Not this one.

The volume is also ok in some markets. As long as you choose the markets on the front page, you'll be fine. That's to say the volume is crappy on the pairs as you go deeper. I found a pair that only had 50BUSD of volume. Petty.

So should you go DEX? In my opinion, I don't feel that DEXes are ready yet. They have poor volume and not enough pairs. Unless you're absolutely sure you want to be free from centralisation, you can continue using CEXes. They're hands down better.

Thanks for reading.