About a month ago I wrote this post about the best alternatives to Binance that do not require KYC. In that post I omitted one relatively little known exchange that I feel really deserves to be mentioned with the rest of them, CoinEx. CoinEx is a well established exchange currently based in Samoa (formerly Hong Kong), and operational since 2017. It is also a rare example of a truly global exchange, in that it is open to ALL customers, including those in the U.S. and Europe. In this post I'd like to describe my experiences with this exchange after using it for several weeks, and why I plan to continue using it.

1. The sign up process

This part is pretty simple and straight forward, but varies from other exchanges in the following two ways. You will have to confirm your email BEFORE you enter your password. You will also have to click on confirmation links sent to your email several times during the sign up process. You will also have to confirm your phone number, but any other KYC information is entirely optional. It is also recommended you set up 2FA (referred to as TOTP code on the site) as soon as possible, otherwise you will have to do all your login confirmations via email or SMS. Overall, the process took a couple of minutes longer than on most other exchanges, but still fairly painless.

2. Markets and other features

CoinEx features a staggering 363(!) tokens, ranging from the very popular to low market cap gems. Some of these that may be of interest to Publish0x readers are PRE, BAN, LBRY, KIN, WAXP, ERG, and many many more. Beyond spot trading, you also have the options for margin trading, perpetual contracts, staking, mining or supplying a liquidity pool, the latter of these often has quite lucrative rates, but does require a minimum US$200 investment. There are options for sub-accounts to keep your funds better organized, as well as a dust sweeper. For FIAT gateways, credit card purchases are available in most currencies, however cashing out only seems to be available into Russian rubles for me (I'm not located in Russia, and do not use a Russian VPN).

3. Layout and functionality

The website has a fairly standard layout similar to many other trading sites, though at times may be overly cramped and thereby slow. The dark mode is quite nice, and the trading view is customizable in a standard way.

CoinEx also offers an app, and I feel this is where the exchange really shines. The app feels snappy, well designed, without sacrificing detailed information. A particular feature that stood out to me was the description of each coin easily viewable when you click on the coin name, with 363 coins and counting being listed, this is an invaluable feature for low market cap gem hunters.

4. CET token

This is the native token of CoinEx, nowadays you won't find an exchange without it's own token. The CET token provides holders with discounts on trading fees, starting with 1000 CET. CET can also be used for paying exchange fees and getting a discount (similar to BNB).

There are plans to expand the CET smart chain in the future, which I won't get into here, and you can read all about it on the CoinEx website. All in all, the road map seems very similar to BNB, and considering the low price of CET at the moment, if they are even a fraction as successful with their token as Binance was with theirs, it may be a fantastic investment (obligatory - not financial advice!).

5. Deposit/withdrawals and fees

There are no deposit fees on CoinEx. Withdrawal fees range from very competitive and even industry leading in some cases, and from many free options to absurd ones like over $160 for AAVE or DYDX. As always, its best to check the fees for any coin you plan on withdrawing before you purchase it. This site is a great resource for checking the fees for CoinEx and many other exchanges. Without KYC your withdrawals are limited to $10000/day. Withdrawal minimums also range from coin to coin, and can be confirmed at the above link. Withdrawals are secured with 2FA and email confirmation click, and for me where very fast.

Spot trading fees start at 0.2% for both maker and taker. I consider these to be a bit too high compared to other exchanges. Fees can be reduced by holding CET, paying in CET or being a market maker (minimum $10,000,000 USD volume/month to see any discount). You can also use my referral code: a25qe when signing up for a 15% kickback (this is the maximum possible) on all your fees. A detailed list of all possible fee discount combinations can be found here.

6. Conclusion

All in all CoinEx is a great exchange for traders looking to buy low cap gems. I would say it most closely resembles an exchange like KuCoin, which also offers many hard to find tokens, but personally the user experience on CoinEx has been much better for me. Both the trading and withdrawal fees can understandably be a dealbreaker for some, in that case I would recommend FTX exchange (reviewed here) which has the most competitive fees in the industry, and free withdrawals for many coins. In short, I won't be using CoinEx for trading ETH or BTC, but it will certainly be my go to for lesser known tokens, and I do hope to take advantage of their staking pools as well.

If you have read this far, I want to thank you for your attention, and announce that I'm currently working on creating my own NFT collection (who isn't?). I will be doing an exclusive giveaway here on Publish0x, so if this is something you're interested in, please follow this blog, and stay tuned for the giveaway later this month!

As always, thank you for reading, and remember to enjoy the good things in life!