Huobi Review – Does This Cryptocurrency Exchange Measure Up?

There have been many exchanges populating the cryptocurrency space over the last decade, with many seeing fates of failure and closure, exit scams, and crippling hacking breaches. What’s worse is that for the newcomer, navigating the cryptocurrency waters can be a little troublesome when it comes to finding the right cryptocurrency exchange. Huobi is an exchange that has come into the mix in recent years, but what does this exchange have to offer that others do not?

A History Of Huobi

Huobi was founded in 2013 by their current CEO and chairman, Leon Li. Li’s background includes having attended Tshingua University, specializing in Automation. Before starting the Huobi Group, Li spent time as a computer engineer at Oracle. In December of 2013, Huobi was named as the largest digital asset exchange operating in China. 2017 saw Huobi extend their limbs into Korea, Singapore, and Japan. 

Currently, Huobi has headquarters of various financial sectors based in: Singapore; South Korea; Japan; Australia; Indonesia; Russia; Argentina; Thailand; and China. The company has strived to give customers not only a great exchange, but a great resource for any service one may need. Despite the many difficulties faced with the Chinese government in regards to cryptocurrency laws, Huobi has managed to adapt to the changes and thrive globally, eventually branching off into various sectors, including venture capital, a cryptocurrency wallet project, and a division dedicated to working with mining pools.  

Huobi’s Product Offerings

A unique factor to Huobi is the fact that they have over 230 different cryptocurrencies, offered in a few different trading pair bases. Huobi offers the more well-known cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Ethereum, as well as many alternative tokens (altcoins), tradable with USDT and HUSD (Huobi’s stablecoin). In addition to the USDT and HUSD pairs, Huobi offers tokens tradable against BTC, ETH, and H.T. (Huobi Token). A Bittorent/TRON pair also exists on this exchange.

Huobi’s platform makes searching for pairs exciting, as they not only group pairs in their respective trading pair categories, but also have lists of Top Performing pairs, the Newest Listed coins, and the HB10 Index (a sort of index fund comprised of: Bitcoin; Ethereum; Bitcoin Cash; EOS; Bitcoin S.V.; Litecoin; XRP; H.T.; Ethereum Classic; and Monero).

Huobi’s Platforms And Tools

Huobi offers several different platforms to serve any customer’s needs. For starters, Huobi offers a standard spot trading platform that operates similarly to many other spot trading platforms in the industry. The platform features a multi-timeframe chart, a depth chart, and integration with TradingView (including their tools). Customers are able to view the order book and the asset trading history, as well as their own personal order history. Limit orders, Market orders, and Stop-Limit orders are all available options for traders. Trade limits can be found here.

For the trader that prefers to trade with a little more volume or risk, Huobi offers a Margin trading platform. Customers can apply for loans through Huobi to trade a greater quantity of cryptocurrencies and profit from the price spread. The original loan must be paid back, and accounts can be liquidated if the risk ratio falls below 110% (calculated as: [(Loaned Amount + Tradable Balance) Total Asset] / [(Interest Payable + Loaned Amount)] x 100%.) Traders can margin trade with Bitcoin; Ethereum; XRP; Litecoin; Bitcoin Cash; and EOS. These assets can be traded with USDT or BTC.

Huobi also offers a Futures trading platform. While margin trading can be risky, trading contracts is said to be very high-risk. With that being said, Huobi offers Weekly, Bi-Weekly, and Quarterly contracts in Bitcoin; Ethereum Classic; Ethereum; EOS; Litecoin; Bitcoin Cash; XRP; TRX; and Bitcoin S.V.

Similar to a growing number of exchanges in the industry, Huobi offers their own stablecoin, HUSD, which is pegged at a 1:1 ratio with the U.S. Dollar. Customers can deposit USD into their accounts in exchange for HUSD to use on their platform.

In addition to their own stablecoin, the exchange has their own exchange token (H.T., or Huobi Token) that, when used and held, generates a fee discount dependent on the amount in the customer’s account.

A mobile application is also offered through the exchange, allowing customers to trade on-the-go. This application features all of the functions found in Huobi’s various services, conveniently adapted to be in the palm of one’s hand. The application is available for both Android and Apple phones.

Huobi’s Fees

The fee structure for Huobi greatly depends on the service the customer is using. In general, the platform operates with a standard Maker/Taker fee schedule, which calculates a fee that corresponds with the amount of volume traded over a 30-day period. 

The spot trading fees are as follows:

Accounts with VIP status (also known as Professional users) have a different fee structure, and is outlined as follows:

For margin trading, customers will have a varying interest rate on the loans they have opened through Huobi. Similar to the spot trading platform, the interest rate is tiered into different levels, and are as follows:

VIP accounts have different interest rates, and are outlined as follows:

The Futures contract trading platform offered by Huobi has different fees, also based on a Maker/Taker model:

Just like the other platforms offered through Huobi, Futures accounts can have VIP status dependent upon the amount of volume traded over a 30-day period. These accounts experience different fee rates:

Huobi Customer Service And Resources

For customers experiencing issues or contemplating questions, Huobi has made sure that plenty of resources are available for assistance. The platform offers a wide range of commonly found questions and answers relating to the various segments of the platform in their Help Center. Articles and press releases can also be found in this resource.

A live chat feature is also available to assist any customer at any given moment in time, should their answer not be found in the Help Center.

Huobi also has an official blog, featuring important press releases and news articles relating to Huobi. A live ticker trails the top of the window to continually inform readers of the current prices. Weekly and Monthly Report can be accessed here, as well as information about upcoming events.

The exchange is also highly active on various social media websites and cryptocurrency informational sites, including: Youtube; Telegram; Facebook; Reddit; Twitter; Instagram; CoinMarketCap; Weibo; Medium; CoinGecko; and LinkedIn.

Is Huobi Trustworthy?

Huobi, like many exchanges in the space, has had, at one time, some shady history, but for the most part, has managed to maintain a clean reputation. Historically, Chinese exchanges have shown to operate in accordance with different standards, with many exchanges having to suffer at the will and whim of the Chinese government. Some of the controversy Huobi has seen in the past has been a result of this (particularly with the Chinese ban on ICO tokens). It should be noted that in 2017, the exchange did invest into “wealth-management products” using idle customer funds. This sort of activity shouldn’t be taken lightly.

However, with that being said, the exchange continues to turn over a large amount of volume. For the most part, the exchange can be considered a trustworthy platform to trade popular and exotic cryptocurrencies. This does not mean it is entirely safe to store user funds on the exchange, as the exchange (or the user funds) can be susceptible to risk at any given moment. No matter how comfortable one may be with the internet, one should always remember that the internet is not as safe as many would like to believe. Huobi does have measures in place in the unfortunate event that an account is breached, and if verifiable, the customer may be able to retrieve lost funds.

A unique feature offered on Huobi is their Official Media Authenticator. This essentially lets users enter the URL of a content channel to see if the channel is authentic. A feature like this, while seemingly simple, could save anyone from potentially losing their funds due to a scam or phishing website.

Opening An Account On Huobi

The process of opening an account on Huobi is fairly straightforward. It should be noted that the U.S. version of Huobi is currently stopping all operations (as of December 15, 2019). This means that Huobi is currently unavailable to all United States residents. For customers to see if they are legally allowed to use the website, it is recommended they look to see if their country is listed on the Sign-Up page (if not found, it is likely the country is not supported).

New customers can sign up using their phone, or by entering their residing country, a valid email, and a desired password.

After agreeing to the Terms & Conditions and clicking Submit, the user will be directed to perform at CAPTCHA, after which, Huobi will ask to verify the user’s email via a code sent to their inbox.

From there, the user has access to their account. It is recommended to link a phone number and enable 2-Factor Authentication for heightened account security, as well as Individual ID information for greater account freedom.

Conclusions For Huobi

Huobi can be a great exchange for the savvy trader that likes to trade spot, margin, and contract trades. Huobi makes their platform a seamless experience, not only between the various markets available, but with their mobile application as well. With well over 200 different cryptocurrencies available to trade, with decent security, and many options for a trader, Huobi is an attractive exchange for any trader.