Kucoin.com Review 2023 – Pros and Cons of Trading at Kucoin

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Kucoin was founded by Johnny Lyu (LinkedIn) in September 2017. Lyu has extensive experience in the auto, e-commerce, and luxury industry. Today, he’s CEO of KuCoin Global and responsible for the daily operations not only of the platform he founded, but also of Pool X, KuCoin Futures, and KCS ecosystem growth and advancement.

Kucoin Review Overview

Albeit having been born into a fast growing and highly competitive market, KuCoin quickly became one of the most popular cryptocurrency exchange platforms.

Today, it offers Futures, staking, fiat-to-crypto, crypto-to-crypto, borrowing, token launch, and other financial services to its customers, which exceed five million worldwide in number.

The company is based in Singapore. It accepts users from hundreds of countries (view list here) with the notable exception of the US. The centralized exchange boasts a confidence score of 54.48% and offers 192 currencies to choose from, which we’ll look at in more detail later. Its current daily trading volume is $600+million, according to estimates (as of January 2023).

What Мakes the Platform Unique?

A number of elements make KuCoin unique as a platform. Its monthly unique visits are in the top five around the world according to Alexa traffic ranking.

Hathor

Like many other crypto exchanges and trading brokers, Kucoin feature their own unique currency to their platform, Hathor (HTR), which can be exchanged for USDT. Its innovative, proof-of-work based architecture, based on the distributed ledger, uses a combination of blockchain data structures, and DAG. Among its unique features are highly predictable transaction costs, Nano contracts, and easy tokenization. It resolves bottlenecks using the HTR token’s unique economic design with usability, scalability, and decentralization in mind.

First to List Quality Coins

The best thing about the platform is probably that it’s always the first of the major exchanges to list quality coins. Before users can receive approval on higher-volume exchanges, they can become early adopters. If you’re not based in Asia or Europe, KuCoin is the go-to option for exotic coins. The exchanges available to users from other continents don’t typically have so many coins to choose from.

Products: What can You Trade on KuCoin?

Few exchanges in the sector have as many crypto assets available for trading as KuCoin. The exchange is adding more and more coins over time. If you count the other assets, there are more than 500 you can choose from. This is a great deal considering the support for fiat currencies across the globe, which KuCoin offers. Your options are far from limited to spot markets. KuCoin also lets customers trade a large number of futures. You can use margin trading with leverage or trade short or long positions and exchange cryptocurrencies directly with other vendors through the KuCoin P2P trading desk. Payments in USD and other fiat currencies are accepted. The exchange’s available investment products are evidence of its renown in the industry.

Deposit Options

The purchase of USDT with fiat money works through third party FinTech providers. Therefore the money transfer methods are limited. You cannot just make a normal bank transfer to kucoin in order to buy cryptos. For bank transfers there are limited options provided by the third party payment services Banxa, Simplex, Legend Trading and BTC Direct.

The following payment options are available:

• Visa/Mastercard
• SEPA
• Apple Pay

Fiat Currencies Supported and Trading Pairs

The mainstream fiat currencies supported by KuCoin are USD, CAD, CNY, VND, and IDR. Users of the exchange’s P2P Fiat Trade can trade USD/USDT, USD/ETH, and USD/BTC pairs. They can buy cryptocurrencies on the KuCoin P2P Fiat Trade. The number of crypto and fiat currencies is always increasing. KuCoin supports Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Neo (NEO), KuCoin Shares (KCS), Stable Coin (USDⓈ), and more. Kucoin can be used for altcoin short trading as they have margin trading and a lot of markets where leverage is enabled. Examples for 10x leverage are ADA/BTC, BSV/BTC, EOS/BTC, ATOM/BTC, XLM/BTC, and more. There are also USDT-paired markets such as ADA/USDT, KCS/USDT, TRX/USDT, DOT/USDT, and UNI/USDT among others.

Kucoin Review: How User-Friendly is it?

KuCoin is a good fit for beginners because there is a demo account, https://sandbox.kucoin.com/, where novices can test their skills in a simulated environment. Signup is relatively easy. You simply go to the exchange’s website and click on Sign up at the top right. Then, you choose a username and password and enter your email address. To set your password, you must use a combination of numbers and upper- and lower-case letters. You will receive an email after registering. You need to click on the link in the email to activate your account.

Kucoin Review: Platform Security

In the wake of a recent security incident KuCoin eliminated their “hot wallets” and is working on extensive upgrades of their risk management protocols. They ask users to enter a phone number, Skype, email, Telegram, WeChat, or a site address to confirm their domain or contact and prevent fraud.

KuCoin users are advised to check if their e-mails have been compromised. They can do this at https://haveibeenpwned.com/ or https://hacked-emails.com/verified_leaks.

The exchange offers two-step verification through google authenticator or similar apps, but doesn’t make it mandatory. We urge you to activate this feature. Anonymous accounts are possible, but all transactions in BTC are tracked and logged. The platform’s KYC has two levels: Basic Verification (KYC1) and Advanced Verification (KYC2). More benefits are available to traders who complete Advanced Verification, which is only natural. You will be asked to confirm your information and perhaps provide additional such.

Another recommended security measurement is to turn on the feature “Restrict login IP”. When there is a change of one’s login IP, it triggers the account protection mechanism at once and the user is logged out. Email 2FA is recommended too.

Basic Verification

To complete Level 1 verification, you must click on “Start Verification” on the screen, then press enter. You’ll be asked for some very basic information. Then, you click “Submit” and wait for them to approve your KYC1, which they’ll do shortly.

Advanced Verification

After this happens, users proceed to level 2 verification for the extra perks. You need to click “Continue to Get More Benefits” and provide further details.

Institutional Verification

There is a third verification level, which applies to institutional accounts. If you’re signing up as a business, you need to go to “Switch to Institutional Verification” under “KYC Verification”. Then, click “Start” to complete the process.

Most traders are very happy about the fact that KuCoin doesn’t impose any limits on deposits and withdrawals. They also don’t ask for things like bank statements and passwords, which can take days, even weeks to verify. No one can dispute the fact that this is a very big plus.

Kucoin Review: Margin Trading with KuCoin

To enable margin trading with KuCoin, you click the “Trade” button in the menu on the main page, then enter the area after clicking “Margin”. To open margin trading, click on the “Enable” button in the lower right hand corner. KuCoin offers leverage of 100x maximum, the default leverage is 20x. If you have one Bitcoin, you can borrow to increase it to 20. However, you need to have a principal sum in your account to do this. It’s easy to transfer this sum to the margin account, which you can use to amplify your principal based on the existing amount.

Margin Trading Restrictions

Margin trading cannot be enabled in restricted countries and regions, even if the respective user has undergone KYC. The same goes for IP addresses in restricted countries and regions. Margin trading isn’t accessible to users who have been blacklisted by KuCoin.

Kucoin.com Review: Dashboard Walkthrough

The trading platform is quite intuitive as far as exchange platforms go. It features efficient order execution and a visually appealing design. Beginners are advised to navigate to the order window to see the available order types. The window is easy to access. More advanced users can conduct detailed technical analysis or use TradingView to chart.

In the image above, we view the price history over a recent period of time. Each candlestick represents a different period. These periods can be adjusted in the top left. Technical indicators can be added as well.

Order Book

In the order fill area, you can see recent fills on the right hand side and open orders on the left hand one. The current price is in the middle. You can see your trade history, open orders, and order history under Your Orders. Any open ones that haven’t been filled can be canceled here as well. The “Place Orders” section is where you do the main part of trading. If two-factor authentication is enabled, you’ll need to enter the key to get access.

The above screenshot shows the trading pairs available. Before you begin, make sure you’ve selected the right one! The respective pair will be shown on the top left. In this case, it’s XRB/ETH (Nano to Ethereum). To see the diverse options, you can hover over it. Choose this trading pair after clicking the ETH section to show the available Ethereum pairs. Your graph will be updated now too. Then, go the fourth box (order box) and unlock trading by inputting your 2FA code. The exchange allows you to set the desired price as well as the sum you’d like to purchase. If you just want to buy at the next price available, click the link next to “Best Price” and it will fill it automatically. If you want to get a better rate, you can set a different price. The latter option is better for advanced traders because beginners risk ultimately paying more than the market price.

After the trader has chosen a price, they set the amount they want to buy. This is in the line Max XRB in the screenshot above. If math isn’t your forte, just prefill the amounts on the basis of market price and whatever ETH you have. The ratio is adjusted using a slider. Click “buy” once you’ve chosen the amount.

Order Types

KuCoin has four order types: market order, limit order, market stop loss order, and stop limit order. We tell you more about each type below.

Market Order

Traders will place a market order to buy or sell a certain amount or volume of assets at the best possible price at that given time. There is no fixed commission price in this case. Only the order amount or volume is fixed. You make the purchase by the amount or quantity set. Market orders are executed at once, making them the best way to sell or buy fast. Let’s take the XRB (Nano) to USDT (Tether) pair as an example. The current exchange rate is 1 XRB to 2,7950000 USDT. You can place a market order if you want to buy some USDT without setting prices. To do this, select Market Order on the interface / portal and enter whatever amount you want to exchange in the box “amount edit”, then click on “buy” to place the order. As it will be executed at once, you can’t cancel it. More details are available in the “Trade History” and “Order History” sections.

Limit Order

Traders place limit orders to sell or buy a certain amount of assets at a certain limit price or a better price. To do this, they must set the right amount and the commission price. Continuing with the above example, let’s say you want to buy 1000 XRB when the price drops to 2.6 USDT. You would then place a limit order. To do this, choose “Limit Order” on the interface and enter 2.6 USDT in the edit box. In the quantity edit box, enter 1000 XRB. Then, place the order by clicking on “Buy USDT”.

Market Stop Loss Order

When the most recent price reaches the predetermined trigger one, you can place a market stop loss order to purchase a predetermined amount or quantity of assets at the current price. The order amount or quantity and the trigger price are set for this order type, but the commission price isn’t.

Stop Limit Order

The last option is when you want to sell or buy a predetermined asset amount at a predetermined limit price when the most recent price reaches the preset one. In this case, everything is set: the trigger price, the amount, and the commission price. Most people can’t follow the market nonstop. It’s a good idea to place this type of order to cut your losses. However, it’s one of the most complicated. The price you want to buy a certain cryptocurrency at should be entered in the price edit box. Then, you press “sell”. When the market reaches that price, the system will trigger your order and you’ll place your order at that price.

Benefits of TradingView Embedded Chart

More advanced traders find TradingView a great source of support. It gives them market insight and data in real time. They improve their trading by reading and posting trading ideas and receive server side alerts. Further benefits include customized technical analysis, a mobile app, and trade alerts.

KuCoin Alerts and Notifications

Following a recent update, KuCoin now offers SMS notifications and authentication as well as newly added app notifications. Its mobile app, available for both iOS and Android users, will keep you trading without functionality loss and with the utmost convenience. You can download it from here.

Kucoin Review: Customer Support

KuCoin claims to offer 24/7/365 customer support. This is entirely by email. Their team is readily available to help users with any issues or questions. The exchange introduced a technical support channel to ensure users enjoy a better trading experience. The channel is staffed by technical experts, whom you can reach at “tech-support { at } kucoin.com”. The engineers can solve different problems people face when using KUCOIN products and help them do so more effectively and quickly.

Typical technical problems handled by KuCoin’s customer support include:

• An exception occurring during API use
• Network connection
• API access error
• Incompatible mobile software
• Product bugs and security issues
• Technical cooperation

Kucoin Hacks

In September of last year, the digital platform suffered a major hack, where almost $300 million was stolen. KuCoin was able to reinstate deposit and withdrawal services soon thereafter. They set daily withdrawal limits on some tokens due to ongoing judicial proceedings. After a decision has been made, the limits will be removed. To appease users, they lifted all trading fees on the currencies with daily limits.

What Went Wrong?

Hackers took control of large amounts of ETH, BTC, TRX, XRP, XLM, and ERC-20 after getting their hands on the private keys to KuCoin’s hot wallets. The exchange froze all wallets and disabled all services almost at once. Exchange founder and CEO Johnny Lyu ensures all funds stolen will be restored because they have full insurance coverage.

Kucoin Review Recap: Pros & Cons

Pros

• Secure
• Anonymous trading possible (with restrictions)
• Supports a variety of cryptocurrencies
• Many crypto assets to trade
• Many assets to hold in the platform’s wallet.
• Platforms shows each coin’s fiat equivalent in the trading section
• You see your balance at all times
• 32 different fiat currencies
• Stable and fair platform rates
• Appealing prizes from trade competitions
• Platform API accessible on mobile and web
• You can list any coin or token directly

Cons

• Occasional outages
• Relatively low trading volume
• Occasionally lengthy maintenance periods, during which wallets for specific cryptos are down (Nano is an example)
• You can’t withdraw funds to a bank account
• You can’t make a deposit via credit card

Conclusion

Since KuCoin is so simple to use, it works great for beginners as well as more experienced users. There are many ways to analyze pricing trends on this platform. Candlestick bars are just one of them. Not to forget the great selection of altcoins they offer for trading. For many smaller altcoins kucoin is the number 1 choice.