CEX io is one of the oldest Bitcoin exchanges, widely known in the crypto space. The list of her offers includes trading and brokerage services available in most countries of the world. When choosing a crypto service, each one is guided by his own considerations, which may be a very great deal.
Our review of the CEX exchange will save time and help you decide whether this platform is suitable for you or not. You will also learn how to use the service, choose a convenient way to replenish your account and withdraw money. Information about CEX io fees and what customers think about it will be helpful.
- What is CEX.io. A Brief History of the Exchange
- CEX io Market Position
- Registration, Verification and Security
- How to Deposit and Withdraw Funds
- Trading and Brokerage Services CEX io
- Support
- CEX io Reviews
What is CEX.io. A Brief History of the Exchange
The history of CEX io began in 2013 in London (UK) with the launch of the cloud mining service. At the same time, an exchange function was added so that customers could easily withdraw their coins. Soon, under the leadership of the founder and talented developer from Ukraine Alexander Lutskevich, the mining pool, known as Ghash.io, became so huge which combined 42% of the total mining power of the bitcoin network. This scope frightened the supporters of the “king of cryptocurrencies” — after all, a little more and the mining pool would have reached 51% of the capacity, and then the company could easily have influenced the entire bitcoin market. The problem was resolved in January 2015, when the startup stopped all cloud mining operations.
"Considering the interests of our users, the recent decline in prices and the increasing complexity of bitcoin mining, exchange CEX.IO announces a temporary suspension of cloud mining services available on the platform"
CEX.io
Since then, CEX io has worked exclusively as a cryptocurrency exchange. Its services are suitable for both experienced crypto players and novice traders.
Of course, we are talking about a legitimate, regulated British exchanger, which also has a license FinCEN ("Network to combat financial crime") USA and provides second-level Data Security Standard (DSS) certificate protection. In other words, everything is ok with CEXio security - throughout the history of the exchange, theft of the assets of its users has never been reported. In the ecosystem of decentralized assets, CEXio has established itself as one of the most reliable trading platforms. It is very important, considering that the crypto industry is under the constant eye of hackers.
Today, CEX io serves more than 2.7 million users and has 5 offices in different countries - in addition to the UK, registration was conducted in Gibraltar, Cyprus and other jurisdictions. Partnerships have been established with dozens of different banks in 12 countries, including the United States.
CEX io Market Position
CEX io has never reached the trading volumes inherent in industry leaders such as Coinbase or Binance, but nevertheless recognized as a reliable option for operations with cryptocurrencies, especially in Europe. According to CoinMarketCap, currently in the ranking of cryptocurrency exchanges CEX io takes 138th place in daily volume equal to over $ 50.5 billion.
On the CEXio platform, you can buy and sell Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Bitcoin Gold (BTG), Litecoin (LTC), Ripple (XRP), Stellar Lumens (XLM), ZCash (ZEC), Ethereum (ETH), Dash (DASH), TRON (TRX), BitTorrent Token (BTT), MetaHash (MCH). And the trade itself is carried out using four currencies - the US dollar (USD), the British pound (GBP), the Russian ruble (RUB) and the euro (EUR).
Registration, Verification and Security
Account registration
CEX io offers two types of accounts: private and corporate. Creating a personal account takes no more than 5 minutes. When registering with CEXio it is safer to use an email address and a strong password, but you can also use the login in one of the social networks ( Facebook, Google, Github). The process of opening an account on the exchange is quite simple and consists of several steps:
- On the main page of the CEXio exchange website, click the "Register" button in the upper right corner.
- Fill out the form: enter the email address and password; confirm that you agree to the terms and conditions and privacy policy of the exchange; solve the captcha and click on the register button.
- Check your email and confirm it. Keep in mind that only 24 hours are allowed for confirmation. Then also verify the phone number.
Verification
The company strictly follows the AML (anti-money laundering) and KYC (know your customer) policies, which require users to verify their identity when registering. So, there are no anonymous accounts on the exchange. So, for full access to the platform, you need to identify yourself as a client of the CEXio exchange. Therefore, you have no choice, you click "Start Scan".
You will start with basic personality identification. However, CEXio immediately warns that there are other levels of verification: address, advanced and corporate (for corporate accounts). The more detailed the verification, the more benefits the CEX io user receives. For example, basic verification allows you to purchase cryptocurrencies for $ 500 daily, and the next level of identification gives the right to increase the limit to $ 10,000 per day.
If, for some reason, you decide to postpone the scan, then simply click on the “Exit Scan” button in the upper right corner of the site.
Prior to verification on CEXio, make scans of identification documents (passport, driver's license) and confirming the address of residence, place of work, etc. Moreover, scans should be color, with high resolution (at least 300 dpi) and in the format of JPG, GIF, PNG, TIFF or PDF. All documents are executed only in Latin. Take a selfie with your passport or other document. Keep a pen and a sheet of paper close by. Now you are quite ready to confirm your identity, and you can safely fill out all the proposed forms.
After you complete all the identification steps, CEX io will check you as soon as possible and will notify you of the completion in an email.
CEX io does not disclose the sources consulted to verify customer information. However, the platform does not hide that it stores user credentials and credit card information for five years after deleting an account.
Security
Over the years, many large crypto exchangers have been seriously affected by hacks, but not CEX io. The only incident occurred at a time when the exchange was still taking its first steps, but then the vulnerability was quickly closed, and since then everything has been fine.
Among the measures taken by CEX.io to protect customer assets:
- Two-factor authentication (2FA), which uses SMS, the Google Authenticator application or automatic phone call;
- Autonomous cold storage for cryptocurrencies of users, although the exchange does not provide any additional information about it.
The platform carefully complies with legal and regulatory requirements. So, CEX io applies the whole range of security measures, including the already mentioned KYC and AML. It is also known that the company together with Coinbase, BlockEx, eToro and other large trading crypto platforms Helps UK regulators develop “relevant regulations” to support the healthy crypto industry in the UK.
How to Deposit and Withdraw Funds
Deposit on the CEX Exchange
When replenishing the account and withdrawing assets from the CEXio platform, several conditions should be taken into account:
- The limits for depositing and withdrawing funds depend on the level of verification;
- The client must confirm the account if he plans to withdraw assets in traditional currencies;
- An account of a higher level than the basic one allows you to use more payment methods, for example, deposit and withdraw funds using bank transfers.
Now you can replenish your account by choosing one of the following options:
- Buy cryptocurrency directly using VISA and Mastercard;
- Deposit funds into the account by bank transfer;
- Use SEPA translation if you are from an EU country. Then you will need to add your credit or debit card to your account. Checking the cards will take about 48 hours, but after that you will be able to instantly purchase bitcoin and ether through your account on the exchange. By the way, you will again need a selfie credit / debit card against the background of your satisfied person.
And one more small nuance — a commission is charged for the verification, which, however, is then automatically returned.
Bank transfer is also easy. CEX io currently accepts US dollars, euros, pounds and rubles. We'll have to fork out for a commission of around $ 10.
You can transfer funds using VISA and Mastercard. Just fill out the form and "voila" - the deposit has taken place.
Actually, now we are smoothly moving on to how to buy bitcoin or other supported cryptocurrency on the exchange. But a little patience - at first just a little about how to withdraw funds.
We will name only one thing that does not suit users — regardless of the method of withdrawing money, sometimes you have to wait up to 48 hours until the exchange allows the withdrawal of assets.
Trading and Brokerage Services CEX io
The site provides two ways to purchase cryptocurrency - a trading platform and brokerage services, including cryptocurrency margin trading. Please note that you cannot use any fiat currency to buy cryptocurrencies that are on the CEX io listing list: for example, the ruble traded only in tandem with Bitcoins. The dollar, euro and pound also have their own pairs.
CEX io has several tools that are very useful for traders. Let's start with a brief description.
Trading Interface
The CEXio trading interface is intuitive and offers customers a number of tools to facilitate trading. Among them are API, time series chart, depth chart, BTC calculator, price widget, mobile application, affiliate program, etc.
A complete set of APIs is available to both CEX io retail and institutional customers. So, the REST API enables retailers to automate their transactions, and the Web Socket API provides the ability to fully exchange data online between professional browsers and exchange servers. Thus, the CEX io platform allows financial institutions to integrate cryptocurrency exchange markets with their systems.
The chart below shows bitcoin markets in all four currencies. It is convenient to watch prices and trading volume at selected time intervals. The red boxes represent the losses of the trading day, and the green boxes represent the profit.
If you click on the “Graph” button, a new window will open for a more detailed study of trends. The drop-down menus at the top of the window allow you to customize the chart, change the default studies, and lay out the charts using the drawing tool.
At the bottom of the main market data screen, you will find a depth chart suitable for assessing the sensitivity of the market to large orders.
Finally, the tables of current orders located at the bottom of the page will give an idea of what is happening in the market.
Thanks to CEX io mobile apps for Android and iOS, exchange customers can track prices online, conduct card transactions, manage their account and keep in touch with support.
Applications work well. This is evidenced by user ratings: 4.5 stars for iOS and 4.2 for Android.
How to Trade on CEX io
Before starting trading on the CEX exchange, determine how to deposit the necessary amount into your wallet to purchase cryptocurrency.
Then select the coin that you are going to purchase, and proceed with the plan, for example, using Mastercard or VISA. Traders on CEX io are allowed to adjust the amount by which they want to purchase, and the calculator translates it into the amount of cryptocurrency purchased.
The site has limit and market orders:
- A limit order allows you to buy or sell a predetermined amount of cryptocurrencies for a fixed amount;
- A market order, known as an instant order, allows you to quickly buy / sell digital currencies at the best prices.
The difference between these two types of orders is that limit orders are executed only when another user places a deal at the corresponding price; and, conversely, a market order is matched with available offers in the order book and sold immediately.
We start trading by going to the “Trade” tab on the top panel of the screen.
A trading interface opens with a chart and a list of available pairs for trading. And at the very bottom of the window you will see a list of orders. There is also a form for buying / selling, in which you must first select the operation type "Buy BTC" or "Sell BTC", and then enter the amount and your price for the completed order.
Brokerage Services and Margin Trading
CEX io provides brokerage services for the purchase of cryptocurrencies, which is very convenient for beginners who first invest in decentralized assets. The only and significant drawback is the high spread of 7%.
The buying process works like this: after a deal is offered, CEX io slows down the current price for 2 minutes. After the client presses the Buy or Sell button, the system calculates the transaction price and checks if the user has enough funds for the transaction.
By the way, a transaction on CEX io will be carried out only when the market shows conditions no worse than agreed. In the case of trade will continue falling market, but if the exchange rate will rise sharply since the opening of the transaction, the transaction is canceled. The user will receive a notification about this. And he must either confirm the operation under new conditions, or refuse it. If agreed, the order is compared with other orders on the exchange, and the balance is adjusted again if necessary. Thus, the amount (for example, in BTC) may become even greater, but will never decrease.
An important feature of CEX io is the possibility of margin trading. In 2019, the exchange opened its margin trading platform — CEX.IO Broker, which is currently in beta. How is it interesting?
At least by the fact that now on the platform you can open a free demo account for 3 months. After this time, the account will be automatically closed. However, you can open a new demo account again.
The platform offers cryptocurrency trading through price difference contracts (CFDs) with various types of orders and has advanced trading and technical analysis tools. Here you can trade bitcoins and ethers in pairs of BTC / USD, BTC / EUR and ETH / BTC.
!!For the time being, leverage of 1: 2 and 1: 3 is allowed with automatic borrowing and protection against negative balance. However, when the platform will work in the main version, it will be possible to trade with a leverage of 1:10.
Who does not know — leverage means the ability to borrow money from CEX.io to open a position if you do not have enough money. If successful, higher profits can be achieved.
For example, a leverage of 1:10 means that you can trade with an amount 10 times the amount in your brokerage account. But we warn you — the risk here is very high. If you fail, you will be required to make up the payment. To limit the amount of loss in advance, select a special type of order — stop loss, which automatically closes a position after reaching the desired price level.
Commissions on the CEX Exchange
Like other cryptocurrency exchanges, there is a tariff line on CEX io, but, in comparison with them, fairly high commissions are set on the platform. An important detail is the exchangeable commission plan on the exchange. The table below shows possible payment changes. Do not forget: transaction rates are calculated every day at 00:00 GMT.
At the same time, CEX io charges a fairly reasonable amount for deposits and withdrawals. So, for a VISA or Mastercard deposit in US dollars, a fee of 2.99% is charged, and when withdrawing funds from any of these accounts, a fee of up to 3% plus a processing fee of 5% is charged.
Wallet
You can find the CEX io wallet in the main menu in the "Finance" section → the "Balance" tab. Under the wallet is Crypto Balance. Here in the "Deposit" and "Withdrawal" you can see the addresses of all your transactions.
However, given that cryptocurrency exchanges are super popular with hackers, we advise you to manage your cryptocurrencies on an external wallet. Since CEX io does not offer deposit insurance, it is better to secure your assets in this way.
Support
The support service on the exchange is not bad. In case of problems, customers of the platform can ask for help by e-mail, in social networks and on the site itself. According to user reviews, they respond promptly, especially on the exchange’s Twitter page.
CEX io Reviews
In the cryptocurrency community, CEX io enjoys an ambiguous reputation, however, like many other cryptocurrency exchanges. It’s enough to look at several different sites where they suggested users evaluate the platform’s performance in order to notice how different opinions are.
The average rating for evaluating the work of the exchange is mainly 3.5 stars - for example, on the pages of Uk.trustpilot.com and g2.
Among the problems that are responsible for the downgrade, most often customers name verification problems and high service charges. Some even suspect the platform of hidden charges, but, in our opinion, this is unjustified, since any client of the exchange can easily find on the site a list of all commissions. Others do not like delays in the withdrawal of funds, the third minimum of cryptocurrencies for trading, etc.
Here are two recent examples of dissatisfaction with traders: the first recall reported a problem with 2FA, the second that he was unable to make deposits.
There are a lot of users who positively evaluate the work of CEX io. They note the reliability and functionality of the platform, a simple and intuitive interface, the possibility of convenient work for beginners, the benefits of margin trading. And you will be surprised — there are those that list among the advantages of the site: low fees (!), quick withdrawals of money to bank cards (!).
Many CEX io users thank the platform for the new features.
Opinions are opinions, but CEX io is really a reliable and trustworthy trading platform that makes a lot of efforts to create a convenient service. Of course, this is not an ideal crypto-exchanger — by the way, such and does not exist. But now that you know a lot about CEX io and have a pretty good idea of how to use the service, it's up to you to decide whether to put the information into practice or not.