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FTX is a cryptocurrency exchange registered in Antigua and Barbuda. It has been up and running since February 2019.
It is a so called derivatives exchange, meaning that they focus on derivatives trading. A derivative is an instrument priced based on the value of another asset (normally stocks, bonds, commodities etc). In the cryptocurrency world, derivatives accordingly derive its values from the prices of specific cryptocurrencies. You can engage in derivatives trading connected to around 20 different cryptos here, which is quite many seeing as a lot of other derivatives exchanges only offer trading in BTC or BTC and ETH.
FTX Mobile Support
Most crypto traders feel that desktop give the best conditions for their trading. The computer has a bigger screen, and on bigger screens, more of the crucial information that most traders base their trading decisions on can be viewed at the same time. The trading chart will also be easier to display. However, not all crypto investors require desktops for their trading. Some prefer to do their crypto trading via their mobile phone. If you are one of those traders, you’ll be happy to learn that FTX’s trading platform is also mobile compatible. You can download it to/from both the AppStore and Google Play:
FTX Trading View
Every trading platform has a trading view. The trading view is the part of the exchange’s website where you can see the price chart of a certain cryptocurrency and what its current price is. There are normally also buy and sell boxes, where you can place orders with respect to the relevant crypto, and, at most platforms, you will also be able to see the order history (i.e., previous transactions involving the relevant crypto). Everything in the same view on your desktop. There are of course also variations to what we have now described. This is the trading view at FTX:
It is up to you – and only you – to decide if the above trading view is suitable to you. Finally, there are usually many different ways in which you can change the settings to tailor the trading view after your very own preferences.
Leveraged Trading
FTX also offers leveraged trading to its users. However, to our understanding, the maximum leverage level is 3x (i.e. three times the relevant amount). There are many exchanges out there where you can have 100x or even more as your leverage level.
A word of caution might be useful for someone contemplating leveraged trading. Leveraged trading can lead to massive returns but – on the contrary – also to equally massive losses.
For instance, let’s say that you have 10,000 USD on your trading account and bet 100 USD on BTC going long (i.e., increasing in value). You do so with 100x leverage. If BTC then increases in value with 10%, if you had only bet 100 USD, you would have earned 10 USD if you simply held Bitcoin. Now, as you bet 100 USD with 100x leverage, you have instead earned an additional 1,000 USD (990 USD more than if you had not leveraged your deal). On the other hand, if BTC decreases in value with 10%, you have lost 1,000 USD (990 USD more than if you had not leveraged your deal). So, as you might imagine, there is potential for huge upside but also for huge downside…
OTC-desk
Let’s say that you hold a very large amount of a certain cryptocurrency. You want to sell that amount. Should you do that on a regular trading platform like everyone else? Maybe not. One of many reasons for executing large trades outside of the normal market place is that large trades may affect the market price of the relevant crypto. Another reason, which is connected to the foregoing, is that the order book might be too thin to execute the relevant trade. A solution to these problems is what we call OTC-trading (Over The Counter).
FTX offers OTC-trading, which might be helpful to all the “whales” out there (and maybe also to all the “dolphins”).
US-investors
Why do so many exchanges not allow US citizens to open accounts with them? The answer has only three letters. S, E and C (the Securities Exchange Commission). The reason the SEC is so scary is because the US does not allow foreign companies to solicit US investors, unless those foreign companies are also registered in the US (with the SEC). If foreign companies solicit US investors anyway, the SEC can sue them. There are many examples of when the SEC has sued crypto exchanges, one of which being when they sued EtherDelta for operating an unregistered exchange. Another example was when they sued Bitfinex and claimed that the stablecoin Tether (USDT) was misleading investors. It is very likely that more cases will follow.
FTX does not allow US-investors on its exchange. So if you’re from the US and would like to engage in crypto trading, you will have to look elsewhere. Luckily for you, if you go to the Exchange List and use our Exchange Filters, you can sort the exchanges based on whether or not they accept US-investors.
FTX Fees
FTX Trading fees
Every time you place an order, the exchange charges you a trading fee. The trading fee is normally a percentage of the value of the trade order. At this exchange, they divide between takers and makers. Takers are the one who “take” an existing order from the order book.
FTX charges takers 0.07%. These taker fees are quite in line with the industry average for derivatives exchanges.
But the taker fees are not even this platform’s strongest edge. At this platform, makers don’t pay any fees at all (0.00%). Naturally, this is a great deal for the makers in the trades at this exchange.
FTX Withdrawal fees
This exchange does not charge any withdrawal fees themselves. However, as always, there are network fees involved when making a transaction. This means that the only fee you need to be concerned with when withdrawing from this platform, is the network fees paid to the miners. This withdrawal fee, or rather lack of withdrawal fee, is below the industry average and very competitive.
Overall, the fee level here is very competitive and consumer friendly.
