Okcoin Review – Is This Crypto Exchange Worth Using?

About Okcoin

Okcoin is a globally licensed crypto exchange platform serving 190+ countries. They have 100+ employees with offices in San Francisco, Miami, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Japan. Okcoin supports crypto purchases with credit cards, offers spot and margin trading, and provides earning opportunities through staking and DeFi lending. Okcoin also allows users to enable recurring payments to easily dollar-cost-average into their investments automatically. The platform is very comparable to exchanges like Coinbase and Gemini and, thus, best suited for new and passive investors. 

Okcoin Account Opening

The first step to opening an account with Okcoin is creating your login information (email/password) and then entering the verification code sent to that email.

If you want to actually make use of their services, however, you will have to verify your identity via name, country, address, government-issued ID, photo verification, and last four digits of your social (for Americans). 

Desktop

Okcoin’s desktop interface is very clean and easy to use, although that could partially be attributed to the limited number of services they offer. Nevertheless, it is extremely aesthetic and places a focus on the portfolio rather than trading, which is somewhat rare in the crypto space and reminiscent of traditional investment platforms. With all their services and tabs neatly organized at the top of the page and the beautiful design/layout within each of those tabs, newcomers should have little difficulty familiarizing themselves with the platform.

Mobile App

Okcoin’s mobile app is exceptionally user-friendly, with much of the same aesthetic appeal as the desktop. The four tabs on the bottom (Home, Buy Crypto, Earn, and Account) make it very easy to find what you’re looking for and the app does well to avoid hard-to-see or touch features often found in other crypto apps.

A major drawback to the app, however, is it does not let you view full charts or submit limit orders when purchasing crypto. It will let you easily buy at market or set up recurring payments, but it certainly won’t be an app for traders. Nevertheless, it’s a well-crafted app that passive investors will find quite enjoyable. 

Okcoin Supported Assets

Okcoin has 46 tradable markets and supports a little over 30 actual crypto assets if you exclude stablecoins and repeats like the ETH/BTC pair. Most of the trading pairs are with USD, and only a few assets are tradable with stablecoins (BTC, ETH, and STX to be exact). Anyone interested in purchasing top-tier crypto assets with USD should find what they are looking for, but traders looking for altcoins are to settle directly in stablecoins will definitely want to explore other platforms.

Okcoin Trading

Okcoin’s trading interface, though satisfactory, is a bit underwhelming. Although they have the option to see real charts, and those charts can be toggled to TradingView, the order panel is only accessible from the page with a line chart. They also only offer margin trading on three assets (BTC, LTC, and ETH) with a max of 10x leverage. That said, their markets are easily accessible, and they have an extensive selection of order types, including rather obscure ones like iceberg and TWAP orders. The platform doesn’t seem to be ideal if your focus is trading, but it should certainly do the trick if you only trade periodically or are simply focused on building a long-term portfolio.

Okcoin Earning

As alluded to, Okcoin allows users to earn through either staking or lending. The stake-able assets they support are XTZ, DOT, ATOM, AVAX, ADA, and EOS, and the staking terms/APYs are dictated by the protocols themselves rather than Okcoin, meaning they are flexible and subject to change. 

The assets available to lend are MIA, STX, USDT, USDC, DAI, UNI, SNX, and YFI. These rates are also flexible and sometimes pay interest in different assets than what is being lent. For example, you will earn STX for lending MIA and earn BTC for lending STX, so be sure to double-check what you are earning before you commit to lending.

Okcoin Fees

Okcoin’s trading fees are based on 30-day trading volume with the first tier (less than $100,000) at a 0.1% maker fee and a 0.2% taker fee, which is very reasonable and on par with leading exchanges like Binance. There are a total of 11 tiers, with the final being a 30-day trading volume over $500,000,000 that banks an impressive 0.00% maker fee and 0.02% taker fee. In fact, Okcoin’s 0.00% maker fee actually starts at $10,000,000 in 30-day trading volume. These may be pie in the sky numbers to most, but institutional investors will likely find them noteworthy.

Whether you are buying or selling, Okcoin charges a 1-1.5% spread fee, but deposits and withdrawals are free (barring a few exceptions). Card deposits or purchases will incur a 3.99% fee, and ApplePay purchases will incur a 4.25% fee. These fees are on the higher end, so I would encourage anyone on the platform to avoid paying with a credit card. 

Okcoin had some conflicting information on ACH deposits, saying they are free in one section and $0.99 in another, so it’s unclear where they actually stand. In either case, though, it is much cheaper than doing a credit card deposit. Once funds are in your trading or funding account, there are no additional fees.

The last potential fee to consider pertains to margin trading. If you are trading with margin for USD, the historical daily interest rate is 0.02%. If you are trading with margin for BTC, ETH, or LTC, the historical daily interest rate is 0.01%.

Special Offers

Right now, if you refer a friend to Okcoin, both of you will split $100 in BTC. All the referral has to do is complete verification level 2 and purchase $100 worth of crypto, and each of you will earn $50 in BTC. Rewards earned from referrals can’t be withdrawn for 180 days, which could be frustrating, but it’s still free money after all.

Okcoin is also running a special offer of no fees on all recurring payments for October. This may not be applicable at the time you are reading this, but it’s possible they will extend the offer to future months, so it could be helpful to keep in mind.

Security

Like many exchanges, Okcoin offers 2-factor authentication for logins and withdrawals as well as mobile verification, funds password, and/or google authenticator for withdrawals or security setting changes. They also allow users to enable an anti-phishing code to be included in all authentic emails from Okcoin to avoid fraud.

There isn’t any information readily available on how Okcoin stores their assets, and many people have raised concerns about the company due to several high-level employees choosing to leave, but nothing negative has been confirmed. Whenever there is a lack of clarity around a platform’s back-end security, it is usually best to custodian private keys yourself. But given this is a platform most suited for new and passive investors, that could be a lot to ask. If you are very concerned about security and don’t feel comfortable adding keys to your own wallet, it might be better to use another platform.

Customer Support

If you click on the profile icon at the top right of the page, you will see a dropdown window with a ‘Help Center’ tab near the bottom. If you click that tab, you will be taken to Okcoin’s very well-organized help center that I, personally, found to be extremely useful. Not only are the categories they outline from the main page of the help center actually relevant, but they lead you to related FAQs, which, in turn, lead you to very digestible walkthroughs and explanations outlined with bullet points and pictures. Anyone struggling with the platform or just interested in learning everything they can should certainly make use of their help center.

In addition to that, Okcoin allows users to click the ‘Get Support’ tab right under the ‘Help Center’ tab. This will take you to a window where you can submit an issue directly to Okcoin. And, if you prefer, you can also email them at support@okcoin.com.

Conclusion: Okcoin Review

While Okcoin is a very easy-to-use broker with adequate trading pairs for most investors, it is clearly not designed for traders. Although they have fairly low trading fees, they have a limited selection of trading pairs, undesirable charting and order panel layouts, and a mobile app that only has line charts and market orders. The easy-to-use interface (both desktop and mobile), simple staking and lending, and recurring purchase features, however, make it a great option for new or passive investors. Considering Okcoin’s emphasis on investing over trading, anyone looking to simply buy and hold or dollar-cost-average into positions will find their platform to be more than satisfactory. Though their fees for card purchases are a little higher than those of direct competitors like Coinbase and Gemini, their trading fees are much better, and the interface will be just as easy, if not easier, to use. If you are new to crypto or just looking for a more casual investing experience, I would strongly recommend Okcoin if you plan to purchase/fund your account with something other than a credit card, such as ACH or wire transfers, so you can capitalize on the 0.1/0.2% trading fees. If that sounds too complicated and you just want to purchase your crypto with a credit card, then going with something like Coinbase will save you a little more. Overall, Okcoin is a great, easy-to-use platform for new and casual investors, just try to avoid paying with a credit card to make it worth your while.