OKX Reviews 2024: Fees, Features, Safety, Pros & Cons

OKX is an unregulated global cryptocurrency and crypto derivatives exchange. The platform was previously known as OKEx but rebranded itself as OKX in 2022. The exchange is owned by the OkCoin Group.

You read our review below or jump straight to user reviews here.

OKX (formerly OKEx) was launched in China in 2017. When Chinese authorities banned cryptocurrency trading, the exchange moved its operations to Seychelles. The crypto exchange operates in over 100 countries but isn’t available to US and Canada-based (Ontario and Quebec) customers. 

The exchange is ranked among CoinmarketCap’s top exchanges list and has a rating of 6.5. The platform has high liquidity and a large trading volume, though critics have questioned whether the trading volume is legit.

In this OKX review, we’ll look into all aspects of the exchange, including the fees, features, and the platform’s various controversies, so you can decide if it’s the right platform for you.

Pros & Cons of OKX Exchange

Pros

• Over 350 cryptocurrencies for trading
• Competitive fees
• High yields from staking
• Supports many third-party payment apps
• Offers many derivatives products

Cons

• Not available to US-based customers
• Not regulated by financial authorities
• One of the founders was arrested for fraud
• There are complaints of fraudulent user activity on the platform
• A significant portion of the exchange’s trading volume might be due to wash-trading

About OKX

OKX was founded in 2017 as a cryptocurrency and derivatives exchange by Star Xu. The platform experienced several controversies in the following years, including fraud allegations in China. 

The founder, Star Xu, was reportedly arrested for fraud allegations in 2018 and 2020. The platform suspended withdrawals at the time of his alleged arrest, preventing investors from getting their money out of the exchange, though the suspension was soon lifted.

In 2018, OKEx was reported to be the largest cryptocurrency exchange according to trading volume. Trader and investor Sylvain Ribes published a detailed report on the exchange, and the crypto industry at large, claiming that over $3 billion worth of trades were fabricated by the platforms. According to Ribes, 93% of OKEx trading volume was nonexistent.

OKX isn’t the only platform to face such allegations. Traders and platforms often employ wash trading to game the system. Traders seek to increase their trading volume to take advantage of cheaper fees, and platforms gain clout as their trading volumes increase. 

Trading volume inflation has plagued the crypto industry almost from the very beginning. CoinmarketCap was heavily criticized for publishing over-inflated numbers pulled from exchanges without paying critical attention to actual trades. In 2022, a Forbes analysis revealed that over half of reported Bitcoin trading ​​volume is fake.

According to the Forbes report, the trading volumes reported for OKX, FTX, and Crypto.com were significantly different than the real Bitcoin trading volume on these platforms. As you know, FTX has recently declared bankruptcy, and Crypto.com has been fending off rumors of possible bankruptcy ever since FTX fell, with journalists looking into the CEO’s previous ventures.

This isn’t to say OKX is expected to fail, but the way these events unravel doesn’t instil much confidence in the company. 

Crypto Coins Available on OKX

OKX supports over 350 digital currencies, including popular digital assets like

• Bitcoin
• Ethereum
• Litecoin
• TRON
• Solana
• Avalanche
• Polygon
• APENFT
• Dogecoin
• Polkadot
• JUST
• Shiba Inu

OKX also has a native OKEx Utility Token (OKB) that grants its holders trading fee discounts and other benefits on the platform.

Fiat Currencies Supported on OKX

As an unregulated crypto exchange, OKX doesn’t directly deal with fiat currency. Fiat to crypto trading isn’t supported on the spot market.

However, you can still purchase crypto on the exchange with fiat, provided you use their P2P market or the simple buy feature.

OKX works with several fiat gateways and third-party payment providers to handle fiat currencies. You can purchase digital assets with over 30 fiat currencies, including EUR and GBP. 

OKX supports Visa, MasterCard debit, and credit cards, as well as ApplePay and GooglePay services. You can purchase around 100 digital currencies with a credit card. 

You can also use Banxa, Mercuyo, Moonpay, or Advcash to purchase digital assets on the P2P market.

Countries Supported on OKX

OKX is available in around 100 countries, but users from the United States and Canada (provinces of Ontario and Quebec) can’t access the company’s services. Other restricted regions include Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Crimea, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Bolivia, and Malta.

Users from Syria, the United Kingdom, and Hong Kong are only restricted from derivatives-related services on the exchange.

OKX Trading Fees

Spot Trading and Futures Fees

OKX has different fee schedules for VIP users and regular users, as well as different fees for each market.

The platform uses a maker/taker fee model. Regular users are categorized into five levels according to their OKB token holdings. VIP users are categorized according to their trading volumes and assets.

For regular users, spot trading fees for USDT/USD/crypto pairs start at 0.08% maker fees and 0.10% taker fees. Trading fees for USDC pairs start at 0.07% for takers and are free for maker orders.

The daily withdrawal limit is 200 BTC for tier 1 regular users.

Futures trading, perpetual swaps, and options trading all have their own rate schedules and fluctuating fees. Perpetual and futures trading fees start at 0.020% for makers and 0.050% for takers.

Deposit and Withdrawal Fees

OKX doesn’t disclose deposit and withdrawal fees, so always exercise caution and budget wisely when transacting via the platform.

Beware that buying crypto with fiat on the platform can be costly. Credit card companies and fiat gateways often charge 1% to 5% fees for each purchase. You may also have to pay a spread between 1%-5%. Overall, buying and selling crypto on the platform can be very costly.

Main Features of the OKX Platform

OKX offers a lot of trading options, including spot and derivatives trading, P2P and NFT markets, DeFi and Web3 support, crypto loans, mining pools, and trading bots. The exchange also announced copy trading would become available to users in early 2023.

 Let’s see some of the most notable features of OKX in more detail.

OKX Convert

You can convert any cryptocurrency to another without paying trading fees. Simply select the cryptocurrency pair you want to convert and enter the amount. Conversion is instant, and you receive your coins in your OKX account.

Derivatives Trading and Margin Trading

Margin trading allows you to borrow funds from other users to trade with higher amounts of crypto. It is quite risky but can be profitable.  

Derivatives trading allows you to buy and sell contracts for the future price of an asset at a predetermined time. These are speculative investments and can be quite volatile.

P2P Marketplace

P2P trading allows you to buy and sell crypto directly from other users. OKX uses an escrow service to guarantee the security of P2P market deals. You can buy and sell crypto with different local currencies and various payment methods on the P2P market.

OKX Earn

There are several OKX Earn products, including staking, third-party DeFi services, and loans. Each option allows you to earn passive income from your holdings. The rewards can be bonus tokens or annual percentage yield (APY).

While OKX helps you connect to DeFi apps, it doesn’t accept any responsibility in case these DeFi protocols fail.

Bot Trading

Bot trading helps you execute trading strategies automatically. OKX offers grid bots, DCA bots,

arbitrage bots, and slicing bots. Users can customize the bots for optimum performance.

OKX Learn

OKX learn is a good feature for beginner traders as it provides a plethora of educational resources on various crypto trading topics, such as trading strategies, managing a crypto wallet, and how to start trading on the platform. You can also find good explanations on futures and derivatives trading products. 

The learn feature includes tutorials, trading strategies, and market analysis articles.

How Easy Is It to Open an OKX Account?

Opening an OKX account is very easy. Visit the official OKX website and sign up with your email address or phone number. Once you log in to your account, you should complete level 1 identity verification for KYC purposes. 

OKX has a pretty relaxed verification scheme. All you have to do to complete level 1 account verification is to enter your legal name, basic personal details, and your official identity number (for example, your government ID).

You can complete level 2 verification by uploading a photo of an official ID. Level 2 verification may take up to 3 days to confirm.

You can enable Google Authenticator to add an extra security measure to your account, but it’s not mandatory.

How Secure Is OKX?

OKX employs industry-standard security measures, including cold storage for assets and two-factor authentication for withdrawals. You can enable extra security measures like sms authentication, enabling anti-phishing, or setting up a password to withdraw funds.

It’s important to note that OKEx has been hacked before, and users have reported losing their funds in platform-wide attacks. We’ll cover these in the next section.

Aside from hacks, OKX had its fair share of scandals and controversies. In 2018, the exchange was accused of wash trading, and 93% of all trades on the exchange were claimed to be nonexistent. 

In 2022, a Forbes analysis showed that wash trading continues to be a problem for the cryptocurrency exchange.

The exchange suspended withdrawals in 2020, claiming that an employee who held the private key was “cooperating” with the Chinese government on an investigation. The employee in question was identified by the media as Mingxing Xu, the founder of the site. 

As you can guess, allowing one person to hold the private keys to an entire exchange’s wallet is pretty unwise. OKX has since denied they used a single-sig Bitcoin wallet and described their multi-sig system to the media.

In December 2022, the exchange suspended deposits and withdrawals due to a “3rd cloud service error”.

Has OKX Ever Been Hacked?

In 2017, several OKEx users claimed the platform was hacked, with funds disappearing from users’ accounts. Victims lost around 600 BTC. OKEx denied the claims and suggested the thefts were due to user carelessness. 

In August 2020, hackers managed to steal $5.6 million worth of crypto from the platform by exploiting a vulnerability in the Ethereum Classic blockchain. The attackers successfully performed a %51 attack and managed to pull 800,000 ETC from OKEx.

Is OKX a Regulated Exchange?

No. OKX isn’t a regulated exchange. It’s unavailable to users from Canada and the United States.

How Does OKX Compare to Other Crypto Exchanges?

OKX is a comprehensive platform with its own crypto wallet service,  NFT market, and Web3 portal. It’s also known as one of the top crypto derivatives exchanges. Let’s see how it compares to Binance, another comprehensive crypto platform.

Fees

OKX charges 0.08% maker fees and 0.10% taker fees on the spot market. Binance spot market fees start at 0.10% for both makers and takers, but there are also several zero-fee trading pairs.

It’s also important to note that depositing fiat or buying crypto on OKX can be quite costly. OKX doesn’t publish deposit and withdrawal fees. There is also little info about credit card and third-party payment provider fees you must pay if you want to purchase crypto with fiat.

Features

OKX and Binance are very similar when it comes to features. Both platforms offer around 350 cryptocurrencies for trading and support complex order types, APIs, and other professional trading tools.

Overall, both exchanges are quite similar. Depositing and withdrawing fiat to Binance is easier compared to OKX. 

Binance also has a higher trading volume, though both exchanges have been accused of wash trading.

Security

Both Binance and OKX have been hacked in the past years and experienced security breaches, withdrawal suspensions, and regulatory issues. Neither platform has undergone an official audit, so it’s not possible to say how they deal with the funds in their care. 

It’s a good idea to avoid leaving large sums of crypto in centralized crypto exchanges. If the exchange is bankrupt or inaccessible due to regulatory issues, you may lose access to your funds. 

Does OKX Have an App?

Yes, OKX does have a mobile app. The app is available on both the App Store and Google Play stores. You can trade, deposit and withdraw funds on the mobile app.

Make sure you download the official app, as there are unofficial scam apps that can use your information to access your funds.

OKX Review: Final Thoughts

OKX is a popular exchange that offers a large number of cryptocurrencies and markets. The platform had its fair share of controversies, especially regarding wash trading on the exchange, but it has rebranded in an attempt to make a clean slate. 

OKX is one of the few large crypto platforms that doesn’t make you confirm your identity as soon as you sign up, but the company does have a KYC policy.

The platform features include a spot market, P2P market, derivatives trading, options, futures, margin trading, perpetual swaps, staking opportunities, DeFi, and crypto loans. Most of these features can be hard to navigate for newbie traders but using simple buy and convert services is pretty easy.

If you want to learn more about other cryptocurrency exchange platforms, check out our post on the Best 22 Crypto Exchanges and 8 Alternatives.

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