Gate.io Review – How Does This Cryptocurrency Exchange Compare?

About Gate.io

Navigating the cryptocurrency space can be a little tricky when it comes to finding a legitimate exchange that is worth the customer’s time. Certainly, each person’s crypto exchange needs differ significantly from one another. Some people need a vast amount of tradable tokens; some people need liquidity and leverage to maximize their positions and trade efficiently; others require a simple interface to buy and sell their desired cryptocurrency without the need for trading the markets. 

In the boom of 2017, the industry saw a large amount of newcomer exchanges establishing their names in the cryptocurrency space. Some have withstood the test of time, and others have fallen to the wayside. One such exchange, Gate.io, has been providing services since 2017, but is it a legitimate and trustworthy exchange? What services do they offer, and how does it compare to other exchanges in the industry?

A Brief History Of Gate.io

The exchange, Gate.io, has, in reality, been in existence since 2013. CEO Lin Han founded the exchange (then called Bter.com) in China and had been operating the exchange successfully until the Chinese government banned fiat-crypto trading in 2017. This essentially forced Lin Han to close the exchange and rebrand into what we know today as Gate.io. Before the rebranding, Bter.com had been the victim of a severe hack in 2015, with 7000 BTC ultimately being lost from cold storage. Since the hack and the rebranding, the exchange has managed to reboot successfully into an exchange that has much to offer to customers.

Gate.io Product Offerings

Gate.io has many products available to trade in several different markets. Currently, for spot trading, the exchange has USD Stable Coin markets; Bitcoin markets; Ethereum markets; CNYX markets; Low Liquidity markets; Crypto ETF markets; Exchange Token markets; as well as markets with tokens in which the supply undergoes halving periods (BTC; ZEC; etc.).  The types of tokens available to trade greatly depend on where the customer is located. For instance, due to regulations, the tokens tradable in the United Kingdom greatly differ from those in the United States. 

The exchange also has a Futures market with cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Monero, Litecoin, Ontology, and more. A Lending platform also exists on the exchange, allowing customers to borrow assets such as USDT, BTC, and ETH, at a daily interest rate, or an annualized rate.

Gate.io Platforms And Tools

When it comes to providing platforms and tools to traders and cryptocurrency users, Gate.io has truly attempted to be the “gateway to cryptocurrency,” with a number of different services aimed at meeting any customer’s needs. 

In terms of trading, Gate.io has both a traditional spot trading platform, as well as a margin trading platform. These operate much in the same way, except that the margin trading platform allows customers to leverage their positions into larger quantities, effectively maximizing their profits (or losses). Cryptocurrencies are able to be leveraged by 3x, 5x, and 10x.

For the professional trader, the exchange has a Futures contracts market, allowing customers to buy and sell contracts of a large number of cryptocurrencies. These contracts are mostly settled in USDT, with some as a BTC settled contract. Some of the cryptocurrencies offered on the Futures platform include ATOM, ALGO, LINK, Tezos, and more.

For any trader unsure about the process of trading contracts on a Futures market, Gate.io has offered a demo market. This simulation market operates on a testnet and features all of the same features found on the actual live market. This tool is invaluable for any trader interested in learning how futures contracts work, as no money can be lost by using it to learn the ropes of trading the futures markets. The testnet simulation market is live with BTC/USD, ETH/USD, and XTZ/USD pairs.

Gate.io also has crypto ETFs available to trade, allowing customers to take advantage of market moves, as well as helping to diversify portfolios. Combined, Leveraged, and Inverse ETFs are all available on the platform. 

The exchange also has a number of services that allow customers to maximize their capital and diversify investments. The first in this category of services is their “HODL and Earn” service. This service enables customers to accumulate more wealth via either a “lock-up” period or just by merely holding a certain cryptocurrency token. This seems similar to some of the Lock-Up programs that Binance has, which allows users to stake tokens in return for a reward.

Gate.io also has a service called Periodic Investment Plan. This allows users to make contributions to an investment strategy of their choice, set in a periodic recurrence as designated by the customer. Users can also use other strategies created by other users. This can either be a convenient tool (if the strategy works, and is solid), or a disaster (in the event that the strategy is poorly formed).

With regards to the “Decentralized Finance” phenomenon that seems to be sweeping across the cryptocurrency industry, Gate.io has indeed implemented various services to not only satisfy their customers’ every need, but to also compete with some of the DeFi companies out there that allow users to loan crypto out in return for an interest payment, as well as borrowing assets using holdings as collateral. Doing this helps keep their customers on one platform by attending to any possible need the customer may have.

The Crypto Lending service offered by the exchange allows users to loan their holdings to the exchange. In return, participating customers will receive an interest payment, with a rate based on the asset and the duration of the loan.

Similarly, Gate.io offers its Crypto Loan service, which allows users to borrow assets from the exchange. Customers can borrow nearly 20 different cryptocurrencies (all tradable on the exchange). Each loan has its own interest rate, with the loan duration lasting up to 10 days. Customers who wish to open a loan will have to provide their own cryptocurrency holdings as collateral.

The exchange also has a Margin Borrowing service. This allows users to temporarily add mass to the size of their holdings, effectively allowing for larger positions to be opened in markets.

For convenient, on-the-go trading, Gate.io offers a mobile application that encompasses the full breadth of services found on the website. This can be incredibly handy for the person that likes to trade, but keep an eye on things while out-and-about and away from the computer. The mobile application can be found for Apple and Android phones. An application also exists for MacOS and Windows based computer systems.

Gate.io Fees

To maintain the exchange, Gate.io does charge fees for the usage of all of its services. The fee one will pay greatly depends on the service (and oftentimes the frequency of times the service was used). For the most part, the trading services rely on a traditional Maker/Taker fee schedule, with the fee dependent on the amount of volume traded over a 30-day period (more volume equals lower fees). The full scale of Gate.io’s fees can be found at https://www.gate.io/fee. 

Gate.io Customer Service And Resources

When it comes to customer service and information resources, Gate.io has several solutions to help any customer in need. The exchange has a User Guide that gives the customer instructions on how all of Gate.io’s services work. The User Guide is in-depth, complete with an FAQ, guides on Margin and Futures trading, research articles conducted by the exchange, as well as instructional videos. This guide covers topics such as how leveraged ETF tokens work, how to trade perpetual contracts, and more. For the customer who is new to many of these concepts, this area of the website is worth looking into.

If by chance, the customer has an issue in which the resolution cannot be found in the User Guide, the customer has a couple of options. Customers can either open a Support Ticket, in which customer service will respond promptly, or they can open a live chat with a customer support representative. The live chat option can be found on the right-hand side of Gate.io’s webpages, toggled by a button inscribed with a person wearing a headset. 

One may notice that there are other buttons along the right-hand side of the exchange’s webpages other than the Live Chat button. Indeed, the exchange offers a few other handy tools on this toolbar, including a Calculator; a Feedback feature that allows users to give feedback and suggestions to support; a Calendar button that will take users to the exchange’s calendar full of important dates and announcements; as well as a button for the Mobile app, which brings up a handy QR code to download the app without having to go to the webpage.

Gate.io has a dedicated Video channel that features a live show, as well as announcements and promotions.

The exchange also has a News section, allowing users to keep up with the latest breaking news in the industry. The section seems to be an aggregate of news stories from all around the cryptocurrency space, which allows users to trade, manage their investments, and stay informed on the latest news, all in one place.

A unique feature the exchange offers is their Cryptopedia. This is an excellent resource for all cryptocurrency users, whether a veteran or a newcomer. The section is essentially an educational resource full of definitions of crypto terms, educational blockchain comics, and videos, as well as an event calendar of important cryptocurrency events taking place all around the world.

Another unique function that the exchange offers is its Voting section. This service allows customers to vote on their preferred cryptocurrency in a head-to-head duel between two different cryptocurrencies. Voters may receive an airdrop of said token into their accounts if all parameters are successfully met.

For those interested or curious about when the next Bitcoin Halving will take place, Gate.io has a handy Countdown available. The countdown features the current block height, blocks remaining, as well as the estimated time and date that the halving will take place. For those who do not know what the Bitcoin Halving is, it can be understood that it is an event in which, from that point on, the reward (amount of BTC miners receive) for each new block mined on the blockchain will be cut in half. This essentially controls Bitcoin’s supply, which is in direct contrast to how most of the world’s countries operate their economic principles and is argued that this is one of the reasons Bitcoin could be considered hard, sound money.

Is Gate.io Trustworthy?

For the most part, Gate.io does seem trustworthy to a certain degree. They have gone great lengths to provide a large trove of educational resources for every crypto user. Their customer support seems to be fairly par for the industry, as well. Their funds are held in cold storage, and users can attach 2-Factor Authentication to their accounts. 

One must always remember not to leave more on an exchange (any exchange) than they are willing to lose at any moment in time. While it is easy for customers to blindly trust that their assets and money will still be on the exchange and that exchanges should be credible enough not to steal user’s funds, the reality is that no exchange is safe from unwarranted attacks and breaches. Many exchanges over the years have suffered crippling losses, and while some exchanges have had safeguards in preparation for these events, many other exchanges have had to take customer’s funds to make up for the loss. And still, other exchanges have had the very unfortunate (and almost too good to be true) histories of CEOs running off with user funds, never to be found again. While these warnings are not directed at Gate.io, they should be taken seriously when conducting business on any exchange. 

Opening An Account On Gate.io

Should the interested user want to open an account on the exchange, the process is fairly easy and straightforward. Before signing up, users that are citizens of the states of Washington or New York (U.S.A.), Iran, North Korea, Sudan, Pakistan, Cuba, Crimea, and Venezuela are not supported at this time. Furthermore, some research may be necessary as some tokens may not be tradable in certain regions around the world  (the exchange will generally restrict the user beforehand).

To begin, the user must enter their residing country, desired username and password, email address, and a funding password. If the customer has a referral code, they can also enter it here. Users must also check the box that they are 18 or older and agree to the exchange’s Privacy Policy and User Agreement.

Once the initial form is completed, Gate.io will send an email to the provided email to verify that the email address is valid. After verifying that the email is correct and valid, the user is then free to login to the exchange.

Before the user can make trades on the exchange, they must first provide personal information to the exchange. This is called KYC, or Know-Your-Customer, and is often a requirement for exchanges and banks to operate legally. The information needed covers full name, as well as the uploading of personal documents such as a driver’s license or passport.

Conclusions For Gate.io

For the user looking for an all-in-one exchange, Gate.io might just be the right fit. The exchange has gone great lengths to provide resources and services for nearly every type of customer. One serious drawback to the exchange is that there are sections on the website that are not translated fully into English, leaving English-speaking users to their own devices.