KuCoin Reviews 2024: Fees, Safety, Pro & Cons

Kucoin is an unregulated global cryptocurrency exchange based in Seychelles. It’s available in over 200 countries and offers high trading traffic as well as deep liquidity. According to CoinmarketCap’s top exchanges list, it’s one of the world’s top-performing cryptocurrency exchanges.

The platform offers over 600 digital currencies and more than 1,000 trading pairs. Users can take advantage of spot, derivatives, futures, and margin trading markets in addition to a P2P market for local currencies.   

In this KuCoin review, we’ll look at all the features this exchange offers and see if it’s the right crypto trading platform for you.

Pros & Cons of KuCoin

Pros

• Low trading fees start at 0.1% per trade.
• The platform offers over 600 digital assets.
• You can find over 1,000 trading pairs on the platform.
• High trading volume and deep liquidity.
• Enables crypto purchases with debit and credit cards. 
• The platform offers staking and lending opportunities to earn interest.

Cons

• Kucoin isn’t licensed in the US.
• US customers can only access basic features.
• The exchange isn’t beginner friendly, and the user interface can be hard to navigate.
• Very limited fiat deposit options.
• Users report poor customer support.

KuCoin Review: About the Exchange

KuCoin is a digital currency exchange that was launched in September 2017. The platform quickly became one of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world and now has over 10 million users in over 200 countries.

KuCoin offers more than 600 digital assets for trading, with very competitive fees. In addition to basic trading activities like buying, selling, and trading crypto, users can also take advantage of advanced features like margin and futures trading on the platform. 

It’s important to note that KuCoin isn’t licensed to operate in the US. While US-based users are allowed to open KuCoin accounts, they can’t access most platform features and may be unable to withdraw their funds if the US authorities clamp down on the exchange. As such, it isn’t recommended for US-based users.

Crypto Coins Available on KuCoin

KuCoin supports over 600 digital assets and more than 1,000 trading pairs.

Some of the more popular crypto offerings include:

• Bitcoin
• Ethereum
• Litecoin
• Monero
• Polkadot
• Shiba Inu
• Ripple

KuCoin also offers a native KuCoin token (KCS). Users are ranked into tiers according to their KCS balances and can receive fee discounts based on their holdings. Users who hold 6 or more KCS tokens in their accounts receive daily rewards.

Fiat Currencies Supported on KuCoin

You can deposit fiat currency to KuCoin through third-party apps like Simplex, Banxa, BTC Direct, and Legend trading. You need to open an account at these payment services and complete KYC before you can fund your account. 

Once you complete the KYC requirements, you can deposit USD, GBP, EUR, AUD, and other currencies into your account. Third-party payment services charge separate, varying fees for their services.

Europe-based customers can also fund their KuCoin accounts with EUR via SEPA bank transfers. SEPA transfers are free and take 1-2 business days to arrive.

You have limited options for withdrawing fiat currency from the platform. While P2P traders can withdraw fiat to bank accounts, Alipay accounts, or WeChat payment accounts, exchange users have to use Legend trading for cash withdrawals.

KuCoin plans to enable SEPA withdrawals for EUR balances in the future.

Countries Supported on KuCoin

KuCoin operates in over 200 countries worldwide, including the UK, the US, India, Turkey, and many others.

However, KuCoin isn’t licensed to offer services in many areas it operates in, including the US. Most recently, it was banned in Ontario for providing unregistered services.

KuCoin Trading Fees

KuCoin users pay varying fees depending on their tier levels. Your tier levels adjust based on your KuCoin token holdings. The platform has a maker/taker fee schedule, and trading fees start at 0.10% at the lowest tier. 

KuCoin crypto deposits are free, but withdrawal fees vary depending on the asset and market conditions.

You may have to pay extra transaction fees for depositing or withdrawing fiat currency via a third-party payment provider.

Main Features of the KuCoin Platform

KuCoin offers multiple features that improve your trading experience. Let’s look at the main features of the platform.

Margin Trading

With margin trading, traders can borrow funds from KuCoin to increase their investment capital. This is useful for traders who want to take advantage of market opportunities but need more starting capital.

KuCoin allows you to margin trade with up to 10X leverage in the ETH/BTC market. You can also trade XRP/BTC, ADA/BTC, and TRX/BTC pairings with up to 5x leverage.

Futures Trading

Futures trading allows traders to speculate on the future price of an asset. In the futures market, you make a contract to buy or sell an asset at a predetermined price and for a predetermined time.

You can only trade with BTC/ETH on the KuCoin Futures platform. All the profits and losses are calculated in Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Tether.

Lending

You can also earn a profit by lending your crypto holdings to other traders with interest. Interest rates vary depending on the asset, the duration of lending, and market conditions.

KuCoin Earn 

You can earn profits on the exchange by staking crypto. KuCoin offers staking opportunities for Bitcoin (BTC), Tether (USDT), Cardano (ADA), Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), Binance Coin (BNB), and many other digital currencies.

KuCoin offers soft staking, which allows you to earn rewards without locking in your assets for long periods of time. That means you can earn rewards on a daily basis.

You can also lock your crypto holdings for longer periods to take advantage of better APY rates.

Advanced Trading Options

The platform supports advanced order types, including market, limit, stop-limit, and stop-market orders. 

Trading Bot

KuCoin offers a free trading bot software to execute different trading strategies automatically. 

Both beginners and advanced users can take advantage of the trading bot. You simply select one of the five offered strategies and make an investment. The bot trades for you to execute your chosen strategy.

The trading bot supports smart re-balance, dollar-cost averaging, futures grid, spot grid, and infinity grid strategies.

Beginner’s Zone

If you’re a beginner, you might be intimidated by the many features of KuCoin. If you don’t have much experience, start at the Beginner Zone when you first sign up with KuCoin and earn up to $10 in rewards. 

Once you complete a few trades, you can earn up to $500 in rewards by playing the mystery box game.

Also, check out the Beginner’s Guide on KuCoin for step-by-step instructions and information on all things crypto.

How Easy Is It to Open a KuCoin Account?

Opening a KuCoin account is very easy and only takes a few minutes. All you need to do is to visit the official KuCoin homepage and register with an email address or phone number. You’ll receive a verification code that allows you to sign in and start trading.

If you want to access more features on the platform, you should complete the KYC verification process on the platform. Margin and futures trading and fiat funding options are only available to users who pass KYC verification.

There are different levels of KYC verification on the platform. You can easily complete the basic procedure by providing your name, country of residence, and photo ID. Advanced KYC verification requires a selfie and a scan of both sides of your ID document.

How Secure Is KuCoin?

When it comes to cryptocurrency exchanges, security is always a primary concern. So, how secure is KuCoin?

The platform complies with KYC verification regulations and enables industry-standard security features, including two-factor authentication and data encryption.

The platform requires a secondary password for trading on the exchange (different from your login password) as an additional security measure. You can only trade or withdraw from the exchange if you have the second password.

However, like many other crypto exchanges, KuCoin is often targeted by hackers. Furthermore, the exchange is an offshore company based in Seychelles and isn’t regulated or licensed.

Has KuCoin Ever Been Hacked?

KuCoin was hacked in September 2020 and lost $280 worth of cryptocurrencies in the attack. KuCoin managed to retrieve $239.45 million worth of assets within a year after the attack.

The company claims losses were covered by the exchange’s insurance fund, and customers weren’t affected by the hack.

Is KuCoin a Regulated Exchange?

No. KuCoin is an unregulated exchange and isn’t licensed to operate in several countries, including the US.

How Does KuCoin Compare to Other Crypto Exchanges?

KuCoin is a popular global exchange thanks to its wide cryptocurrency selection, low fees, and margin and futures trading options. Let’s look at how this popular exchange stacks up against its rivals.

Fees

Fees are important to take into account when choosing an exchange. KuCoin charges very competitive fees, especially if you pay using KCS, the exchange’s native token.

Trading fees start at 0.10% and decrease based on your KCS holdings. Binance, KuCoin’s biggest competitor, also charges 0.10% for trade fees. However, Binance also frequently lowers trading fees for fiat/BTC, stablecoin/BTC, and BTC/ETH pairings.

Features

KuCoin offers 700 cryptocurrencies and over 1000 trading pairs. Binance Global, on the other hand, offers around 350 cryptocurrencies for trading.

Both platforms offer futures, margin, and leveraged trading, as well as staking opportunities. However, if you want to invest in low-cap altcoins, KuCoin is the better option.

Security

Security is one of the most important features of a crypto exchange, but good security is hard to come by. Global exchanges rivaling KuCoin, including Binance and HTX, have all been hacked before. 

If you’re looking for improved security, you can check out Kraken, which remains unhacked. 

Does KuCoin Have an App?

Yes, you can download the KuCoin mobile app from App Store and Google Play store for iOS and Android devices. 

Final Thoughts

KuCoin is one of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges on the market in terms of trading volume. It isn’t very suitable for US-based customers since it doesn’t have an operating license in the US, but it can be an attractive option for global investors due to its high trading volume and low fees. 

The biggest advantage of KuCoin is the number of different coins on the platform. You can find low-cap altcoins that you won’t find on other exchanges here. Another plus is the competitive fee schedule.

Overall, KuCoin can be a good exchange if you’re looking for variety. However, beginners can have difficulty navigating the many features of the KuCoin platform. 

Also, remember that low-cap altcoins can be very volatile and margin and futures trading can be risky. The risks are exacerbated when trading on an unregulated platform like KuCoin. 

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