OKX (formerly OKEx) Review, Usage Tips and Referral Benefits
[Dec 2021]: OKX appears to have stopped providing their services to users in Singapore.
[Mar 2023]: Received e-mail advising to withdraw assets
e-mail extract
Our system shows that you still have funds in your account. Due to local regulations, you need to:
- Close all margin positions, as well as positions in perpetuals, futures, and options (if any)
- Redeem all funds from Grow products: Earn, Loan, Jumpstart (if any)
- Withdraw all funds from your account
Please do this by March 24, 3:59 PM (UTC). After this date, you’ll still be able to withdraw, but other functions will become unavailable. Your funds are and will be safe and available to you anytime.
Thank you for understanding. If you have any questions or concerns, contact us at support@okx.com.
Table of Contents
Company
OKX is a Seychelles-based cryptocurrency exchange founded in 2017 that provides a platform for trading various cryptocurrencies. OKX is owned by Ok Group (OKG) which also owns crypto exchange Okcoin.
OKX lists over 250 digital assets and has long held the #1 rank for cryptocurrency futures trading volumes. Recently (Jan 2022), it became the second largest cryptocurrency spot trading platform in the world.
In 2021, total trading volume on the platform, including spot and derivatives instruments, grew over 700%, while the number of trades executed on the platform increased over 480%.
Global ad campaign Youtube video (Sep 2022) with appearances from:
- Manchester City F.C. Coach Pep Guardiola
- F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo
- Olympic medalist snowboarder Scotty James
- Golfing legend Ian Poulter.
Key metrics
- 20+ million users [Sep 2021]
Notable developments
- OKX is ceasing services for users in India, advising them to withdraw their funds by the end of April 2024. [Mar 2024]
- Rebranding from OKEx to OKX [18 Jan 2022]
Presence in Singapore
Unknown
Regulation by Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)
Unknown Status
Transparency
Shared via email on 25 Nov 2022:
- OKX operates on full reserves: OKX published a full Proof-of-Reserves (PoR) audit.
- Proof of Reserves (PoR) is an advanced cryptographic accounting procedure commonly used to confirm whether a custodian holds sufficient funds to cover all assets under their management.
- none of the reserves consist of OKX native tokens
- PoR code is open-source and available on Github
- OKX custodies quality assets: reserves listed on the Nansen dashboard are made up of 98% high quality assets (top 5 tokens by market capitalization). This helps minimize risk in the treasury or balance sheet.
- OKX stores funds with maximum safety: Most reserves haven’t moved since September 2021. That’s because OKX keeps customers’ funds safe in cold wallets, for maximum safety.
- OKX doesn’t use OKB for leverage: OKB is a utility token that helps customers unlock more value on the OKX platform. OKX does not use it for leverage or collateral.
OKX has also launched a self-audit feature, making it easy for clients to confirm that OKX holds their assets and verify OKX’s total reserve holdings and reserve ratio.
Moving forward, OKX intends to conduct regular audits to update their reserve ratio and the status of clients' assets.
Ecosystem
DeFi Hub
DeFi Hub is a decentralized digital asset ecosystem. The platform currently features two core products:
- NFT Marketplace
- via the platform, anyone can buy, sell and trade NFTs directly, with zero fees paid out to OKX.
- anyone can use the platform to mint their own NFTs of any kind, using the OEC (previously known as OKExChain) or Ethereum blockchains.
- creators are given the flexibility to set their own royalty fees. Royalty fees for creators are then paid out to them in every subsequent transaction on NFT Marketplace’s secondary market.
- NFT Marketplace also lets users import NFTs that have been generated on other supported platforms.
- DeFi Dashboard
- offers a way to view and manage decentralized assets across major blockchain networks and DeFi protocols.
- displays both a full portfolio view, as well as a separate view for digital collectibles.
To use DeFi Hub, like any decentralized application, users need to connect their decentralized wallet to the platform. One option is OKX’s own multi-chain, decentralized wallet, OKX Wallet.
Jumpstart
Launched in March 2019, OKX Jumpstart is a platform that enables its users to farm (i.e liquidity mining) DeFi, GameFi and other new-to-market tokens, while supporting chosen projects by staking OKB, OKX’s ecosystem token.
Some marketing material present Jumpstart as a ‘token sale platform’, thus I was initially mistaken that it is a platform to take part in Initial Coin Offerings (ICO).
OKB: OKX utility token
OKB is a cryptocurrency released by the OK Blockchain Foundation and OKX. OKB is the OKX utility token that enables users to access the crypto exchange’s special features. The coin is used to calculate and pay trading fees, grant users access to voting and governance on the platform, and reward users for holding OKB.
OKX Earn
OKX Earn is an aggregation of ways to earn interest on your crypto portfolio. There are options from OKX, decentralized finance, and staking so that you can maximize your earning potential options.
Staking, savings and DeFi offerings via OKX Earn saw over $5.1 billion deposited by users, and paid out over $314 million in passive income in 2021.
My personal experience has been positive, as the feature is easy to use, and I have received payouts as high as 22% APY for staking my MINA assets. To my knowledge, another plus point is that there is no minimum value required for subscription.
DOT&KSM Slot Auction
You can also take part in DOT&KSM slot auctions to earn rewards.
OKX Loan
Loan USDT or BTC by using your assets as collaterals.
Trading bots
The OKX Bot Marketplace offers a wide range of crypto trading bots suitable for all traders, whether you’re a beginner or an expert. Trading bots are free to use. Users can also copy the settings from top performing bots launched by experienced traders in the Bot Marketplace.
Iceberg
Iceberg is a trading bot feature that helps manage large trades by breaking them down into smaller orders over time. This often results in better average price, and faster execution.
You can set parameters such as the amount of slippage you are willing to accept and your ideal entry or exit price.
Infinity Grid
Added in May 2023, Infinity Grid is an advanced version of the Spot Grid. The key difference between Infinity Grid and Spot Grid is that the Infinity Grid does not require users to set an upper price limit, allowing the user to hold their cryptos in a rising market.
Spot DCA (Martingale)
An example of an advanced bot, OKX’s DCA (Martingale) bot is designed to help you avoid the mistake of “buying too early”.
The Martingale strategy opens trades based on market signals, such as lower average cost by incremental orders when the price drops, and closes positions when the take profit objective is reached.
✔️ Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
Industry leading low trade commission
Trading fees are different for regular and VIP users. Regular users are divided into tiers by total OKB holding. VIP users are divided by 30-day trading volume. The tier calculation is updated daily.
Fees begin at 0.1% for the most basic regular user, and fall to as low as 0.06% for the highest tier regular users.
For the higher tiers of VIP, some fees are even negative, meaning OKX pays you to trade with them.
Social login
Conveniently login with Google and Telegram accounts.
Usage Notes and Tips
Meme altcoins
OKX is comparatively fast in listing meme altcoins, which might interest the punter and speculators.