OKX

OKX Review – Introduction

OKX is a popular and massively used cryptocurrency exchange based in Seychelles. It’s been operating since 2017, and over this time grew into a top 5 crypto exchange by volume. In the crypto community, OKX is considered safe and reliable.

Our OKX review is based on years of actual usage, as a couple of our staffers use the exchange on a daily basis. We also did additional testing on a new account that went on for several months, where we tackled with every aspect of this crypto exchange multiple times.

In this comprehensive OKX exchange review we will go over the basics such as how to create an account, how to get a fee discount, how to execute trades on spot and futures markets, and how to deposit and withdraw funds.

Then, our OKX review will dig deep into every feature of this exchange. We will explain every aspect of this trading platform such as customer support, altcoin selection, staking, web3 wallet, trading fees, security and safety, customer reviews and feedback, and other factors.

In additional tests specifically done for this review, we tested OKX over 6 months, doing multiple deposits, withdrawals, staking assets, checking out the wallet, and more.

Why use OKX?

OKX is the world’s third biggest exchange. Millions of happy users are trading on this exchange, and it has practically every feature you need.

Let’s take a brief look at what we love about OKX, and what makes it one of the best exchanges in the industry.

Fair warning: this will undoubtedly be the most detailed and longest OKX review you will find, and it may take an hour to fully go through. But, we promise we will answer every possible question you may have about OKX.

You can use the links below to quickly jump to a specific section you are interested in.

New Users – Is OKX good for beginners?

OKX is one of the best crypto exchanges for beginners. There are a number of factors that make it beginner-friendly, including:

• Express Buy – Express Buy feature helps you buy your first Bitcoin with just a few clicks. This is a hassle-free crypto buying experience that is totally newbie-friendly. With express buying on OKX, you can own your first cryptocurrency without having to learn how to use the trading interface, which is generally intended for more experienced investors.
• Quick Convert – another beginner-friendly feature is the Quick Convert, letting you convert fiat (local currency) to digital assets in literally two clicks. In addition, quick convert also lets you convert one cryptocurrency to another with the same ease and simplicity.
• Demo Trading – Another option that’s welcome with new traders is “Demo trading”. This allows you to practice trading crypto without risk. Those who are new on their crypto journey but interest in buying low and selling high can practice trading without any risk of losing funds.
• Staking – Staking on OKX lets everyone earn passive income on their crypto holdings effortlessly. OKX has excellent yields on several dozen popular crypto assets. Their user-friendly interface makes staking simple to understand.
• Web3 Wallet – Industry’s best decentralized wallet is undoubtedly OKX wallet. There’s nothing wrong with many other wallets, but the one made by OKX is the most comprehensive one, providing fantastic user experience and design. It supports over 70 blockchain networks, letting everyone learn about and explore decentralized apps, bridges, liquid staking, lending, and more.
• Web3 Marketplace – OKX’s Web3 marketplace makes first steps into exploring and buying NFTs very simple. The marketplace is seamlessly integrated with the entire platform and OKX’s web3 wallet, allowing easy purchases and self-custody of assets. Furthermore, the marketplace lets you trade different crypto assets in a P2P manner, and join and participate in many free airdrop campaigns and NFT minting whitelists. You can start growing your NFT collection without spending any money.
• Multi-Language – OKX user interface is available in over 20 different languages. Even if English is not your primary language, you will most likely be able to use the exchange in another familiar language.

Features such as web3 wallet and marketplaces may not be aimed for beginners, but OKX makes it very easy to get started and learn as you go. Overall, OKX doesn’t shy away from providing advanced trading and financial features, but at its core they are an exchange aimed at new investors, and this is evident throughout their website.

Account Creation – How to create an account on OKX

OKX makes onboarding new users easy. Here’s a few simple steps in order to create an account on OKX:

1. Visit their website and click the “Sign up” button in top right.
   • Alternatively, use Cexfinder’s special signup link which gives you a lifetime 20% trading fee discount.
   • Or, this link use referral code “29408086” for a $5 welcome bonus credited once you purchase at least $100 worth of crypto.
2. Select your country of region, and agree to the terms of use. Click “Next”.
3. Type in your email, and click “Sign up”.
4. Check your email inbox, and confirm your email address via the link inside.

As convenience, OKX will also let you sign up with an existing Google, Apple or Telegram accounts. Alternatively, you can even signup with the OKX Web3 wallet, if you downloaded it already.

Overall, we found nothing complicated about creating an OKX account. Registration process is quick and intuitive.

Once you register for an account, you will need to go through the KYC process. This is a 5-minute identity verification process required by many exchanges to comply with laws and regulations.

KYC Requirements – How to complete KYC on OKX?

KYC, or Know-Your-Customer, is a necessary step on all major and reputable crypto exchanges. Completing KYC ensures the exchange is compliant with anti-money laundering laws and other regulations, and helps make your account more secure.

Until you complete ID verification, you will not be able to buy, deposit or trade crypto. Thankfully, verifying your identity on OKX is totally painless. You need to provide your name, country or region, and submit photos of your national ID card or other accepted identity documents.

During our test, the entire KYC process barely took 5 minutes. Best thing, barely 10 minutes later our account was fully approved and we had complete access to all features on OKX.

The only important requirement for passing KYC is to be in an available region. OKX does not provide service to several dozen countries.

• Some of the major markets that are restricted include United States, Hong Kong, Japan, Ireland, Belgium, Netherlands, and India. View full list of restricted countries.
• OKX is available in China, Canada, Australia, Russia, Nigeria, South Korea, most of European Union, and many more countries and territories. View full list of available countries.

You will not be able to trade from a restricted region. On OKX, KYC is mandatory. We recommend finding another exchange available in your region rather than trying to bypass KYC verification and policies on OKX.

Signup Rewards – Does OKX have new user welcome bonuses?

You have a lot to be happy about if you’re a newly registered OKX customer. Not only have you selected one of the world’s best exchanges, but with Cexfinder’s help you can get excellent signup rewards.

If you do not care about trading fees, you can use our referral code “29408086” to grab a $5 bonus. To claim the $5, you will need to buy at least $100 worth of cryptocurrency. For new investors who are just getting started and may not trade often, this bonus might be preferable.

Permanent fee discount – 20%

If you use referral code “CEXFINDER” during signup, you will receive a lifetime 20% trading fee rebate. This is a permanent fee discount applicable to any trade you do on spot or futures markets. There is absolutely no downside!

Moreover, using the special Cexfinder referral code during signup lets you claim up to $10,000 in signup bonuses. There are strings attached to these cash rewards, such as depositing money or buying and trading a certain amount of volume, but we are confident you will be able to claim at least a portion of the rewards.

Buy First Bitcoin – How to deposit fiat on OKX?

Here’s a 2-step process explaining how to deposit local currencies to OKX and buy your first crypto:

1. To deposit your local currency to OKX, simply select “Quick buy” in the “Buy crypto” category in the main menu.
2. On the next screen, simply select the local currency available to you, and crypto asset you want to purchase.

The selection of fiat currencies and payment methods will be dependent on your location. As for cryptocurrency assets, you can directly purchase Bitcoin, Ethereum, or many other digital currencies, thus saving on subsequent conversion fees. You can also choose USDT, USDT, or other stablecoins.

Once you click the “Buy” button, you will be prompted to select a payment method. You can use a bank transfer deposit by clicking on the “Your balance” tab, or a card deposit.

There are no fees for bank transfer deposits. Zero. OKX is truly awesome, and will not nickel and dime you for depositing local currencies. Keep in mind this may change in the future, but it’s still great to see. Also, don’t forget that your bank may charge fees for standard transfers.

You can also purchase crypto via bank cards on OKX. Both Visa and MasterCard are accepted. Buying with plastic will have a 1.99% fee. This is actually considered cheap: many other exchanges with 3rd party payment providers will charge you 3-4% per transaction. The convenience and speed of card deposits does come at a cost, so bank transfers are often preferable to fee-conscious buyers.

Aside from bank transfers and bank cards, other deposit methods may be available to you, depending on region. Because OKX does not publish a detailed list of available payment methods for every country, it’s best to check the exchange yourself to verify your options.

How fast are deposits processed?

We tested deposits through both payment methods. Bank transfer took several hours, however this was due to the bank we used. In our test, OKX credited our account with funds less than five minutes after our bank processed the transaction.

As for card deposits, the money was credited nearly instantly to our account. As soon as we confirmed the purchase, OKX allowed us to convert cash to crypto without delays.

Withdrawal protection period

As a security and anti-fraud feature, OKX does not let you withdraw crypto for 30 days if you purchase with fiat. This means that you will not be able to take self-custody of your Bitcoin, Ethereum or other cryptocurrencies in the first month.

This limitation does not exist if you deposit crypto assets. Furthermore, you are able to sell your crypto and withdraw money back to your bank account at any time without the 30-day limit.

You do not need to be concerned about OKX scamming you or stealing your money. Further down in our review we will explain why this is a safe and trusted exchange.

P2P Trading – Buying crypto on peer-to-peer market

Peer-to-peer trading is the first option for many investors who have issues depositing local currencies through common methods, such as bank transfers or credit and debit cards. Peer to peer marketplace on OKX connects you with other users on the platform, from whom you can buy or sell crypto directly.

The P2P market on OKX is very vibrant, with plenty of buyers and sellers to choose from. There are always risks when trading with other individuals, but OKX will let you easily see details about each merchant, including successful trades.

You can buy crypto confidently from top-rated merchants on this marketplace. You can select a specific merchant, or you can even leave it up to OKX with their “P2P Express” purchase option.

P2P Express makes the entire process incredibly easy. Here’s a step by step process:

1. Navigate to OKX’s P2P Market and choose the Express tab on top.
2. Select your local currency, then cryptocurrency you’d like to receive.
3. Click “Select payment method” button.

OKX will match you with the best offer based on your selections. Once you pay the seller, you will receive your desired crypto.

Aside from cash in person and various common bank transfers, online payment methods accepted on OKX P2P market include hundreds of different services and payment providers. Some of the most popular ones are Neteller, Revolut, Wirex, Skrill, Wise, Zen, Payoneer, and HSBC. Each seller will accept different payment methods, so it’s best to visit the market and see what your options are.

Local currencies accepted on OKX peer to peer markets include over 100 fiat currencies, including USD, EUR, PHP, GBP, ZAR, VND, UAH, TRY, BRL, CAD, CHF, and many more.

Overall, P2P trading on OKX is incredibly easy. Interface is intuitive and explains the process very well. Finding verified merchants who are thoroughly vetted and have a history of successful transactions is crucial, but also easy.

Withdrawals – How to withdraw money from OKX?

Withdrawing currency from OKX is always just a click away. The “Assets” category in main menu will have a “Withdraw” option. Your withdrawal options include crypto withdrawals (on-chain), and fiat withdrawals (local currency to bank account).

Once on the withdrawal page, selecti either “Crypto” or your local currency. For us, this was Euros.

Withdrawing fiat to bank account

Unbelievably, withdrawing to a bank account has zero fees. We were unable to confirm whether this is the case for all available currencies. Regardless, it is a very welcome and rare thing to see. You can withdraw up to $1 million daily.

OKX claims a bank transfer withdraw can take up to 2 business days, but in our test the transaction was processed within a few hours. If you did not use the same bank account on OKX before, you will need to verify the ownership first with a small transaction.

Withdrawing crypto via blockchain

Withdrawing crypto was even faster. A USDT withdraw request through TRC-20 network was fully processed and confirmed within 10 minutes, and we only paid a $1 fee. Using Optimism is even cheaper, as the fee is $0.15.

If you are doing your first on-chain crypto withdrawal, it’s always a good idea to read basic tutorials provided by the exchange on the withdraw screen. Look for “Related questions” section to ensure your withdraw request goes smoothly.

Withdrawing crypto to another OKX account

You can also directly transfer your crypto coins to another OKX user or account. If you need to send money to friends who also use the exchange, you can do this instantly and with no fees.

To send money to other OKX users, select “Crypto” withdrawal, but instead of “On-chain”, select “Internal” as withdrawal method. You can choose the recipient by phone number or email used to register for OKX, or you can provide their user ID number (UID). You can quickly find your user ID by tapping or hovering over the user profile icon in main menu.

User Experience – Does OKX have a good user interface?

Despite numerous features, we didn’t find the OKX website or mobile app too cluttered. The menus are well organized, and accessing deposits, trading, portfolio management, or staking, was smooth and easy.

Making a first crypto purchase through Express buy was truly the easiest thing. In addition, using Convert instead of regular spot trading makes converting local currency or crypto assets easy to grasp regardless of experience level.

Spot and futures trading interface

OKX lets you change between different pre-set layouts on the spot and futures trading interface. You can select between basic and advanced interfaces for quick layout changes. We also really liked how OKX lets you set up a vertical trading layout, making trading on tablets or vertically set-up screens significantly more convenient.

If none of the preset options work for you, OKX will let you change practically any aspect of the trading interface according to your preferences. You can resize any element, including the TradingView chart. You can also add multiple charts to the interface, up to 4 charts. This makes watching different timeframes or trading multiple assets easier.

You can enable or disable the display of chart, asset information, markets, favorites, or other interface elements as you please. If you read some of our other exchange reviews you might know this already, but we love it when exchanges let you hide the order book and latest market trades. OKX lets you hide both.

Generally speaking, this is one of the most customizable and overall best trading interfaces we have seen. It also supports push notifications and alerts for your TP (Take profit) and SL (Stop-loss) orders, with different non-annoying notification sounds.

Spot trading is available in dark or night mode, of course. However, one major interface downside we found is lack of dark mode on other screens. Wallet/portfolio management, quick buying, staking and similar pages are not available in dark theme. This isn’t a deal breaker, but to some users it can matter. During our 6-month OKX review we have observed continuous small improvements to the user interface, so we do expect this will get addressed sooner or later.

Overall, we have found no major or even minor issues with the interface on OKX. The usability is good, explanations and tutorials are available everywhere, and beginner-friendly features allow new buyers to buy Bitcoin and other digital assets, without even touching regular trading interfaces used by those who are more experienced.

Buy and Sell Crypto – How to trade crypto on OKX?

Assuming you already deposited fiat or crypto, you can use several options to buy crypto on OKX. These include:

1. Convert – quick conversion of fiat or crypto assets with zero fees and no slippage.
2. Spot market – standard crypto spot buying experience.

These options can be accessed in the main menu, under “Trade”. Beginner traders can also use “Demo Trading” to practice. Those completely new to crypto buying may want to test a few trades first to get familiar with the interface.

For advanced traders, Margin, Futures, and Options trading is available. Let’s go over each method and explain how it works.

1. Convert

Convert lets you convert two assets with a couple of clicks.

First, you select the currency you wish to sell. In our example, this is Dogecoin (DOGE). Then, select currency you want to buy. We selected Bitcoin (BTC). Lastly, click the Convert button.

After clicking on the Convert button, you will receive a quote in the confirmation window. If you are happy with the price, click “Convert”, and the currency conversion will be instantly completed.

Quick convert does not have fees associated, and there will be no spread. However – and this is important – quoted price will not be the same as on spot market. In our tests, the quoted prices we received were 0.80% lower compared to spot market. This means we paid a convenience premium, and the same conversion on spot trading would be four times cheaper.

This price difference can be acceptable for small amounts and one-time conversions. However, those planning to buy or trade crypto frequently should get used to Spot trading as soon as possible.

2. Spot trading

We already talked a lot about how much we liked OKX’s spot trading interface in the interface section earlier in this review. We haven’t found any issues, and the interface was highly customizable.

Executing trades on spot trading is the same as practically any other crypto exchange. You select your assets, such as BTC/USDC, set a limit order (maker fee), and press the Buy button. Alternatively, if you wish to purchase instantly at any current market price (with slightly higher fees), simply set a market order (taker fee) instead of limit.

To buy Bitcoin on spot trading, pay attention to the following:

1. Set limit or market order. Limit order will fill at your specified price, while market will fill instant at any current market price.
2. Set the price (unavailable if using market order).
3. Input the amount (in BTC, or other selected currency) you wish to buy, or alternatively:
4. Input the amount (in USDC or other asset you’re using) you wish to buy.
5. Press the Buy button and your order will be placed or executed.
6. Hover over the “Fees” in bottom to view your current maker (limit order) and taker (market order) fees.

For advanced traders, this buy and sell interface also has TP/SL (take profit and stop-loss), Trailing stop, Trigger, and Advanced limit orders available.

Tutorials explaining how the entire spot trading process works are also available throughout the interface. Detailed guides are available by clicking the “Information” link in top right corner.

3. Margin Trading

Marin trading allows you to borrow funds in order to increase your position size. Margin trading on OKX lets you select up to 10x leverage.

The interface is slightly different compared to spot and futures, but it will be very familiar. It’s equally customizable, letting you choose which information you want in the forefront.

Margin trading essentially means you are taking loans from the exchange. This is not intended for beginner traders, so make sure you learn how to trade margin before delving into it.

4. Futures Trading

Similarly to spot and margin, futures trading also has a familiar look. Up to 100x leverage is available when trading futures on OKX.

Standard limit and market orders are readily available. Advanced trading orders include TP/SL, trailing stop, trigger, advanced limit, scaled orders. Basic bot trading orders can be placed as well, including Iceberg and TWAP.

Furthermore, OKX also has a position builder, letting you simulate orders for all derivatives trading markets. Just like other markets, the futures interface is also highly customizable.

5. Options Trading

Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) “Options” trading is also available on OKX. You can purchase call options with specific expiry dates, betting on BTC and ETH prices going either up or down.

“Simple Options” is available for those who are new to Options trading, making the entire process very simple to understand. Even those who haven’t traded options before will be able to do it without confusion.

Buying options on OKX is as simple as selecting price direction and target price, picking the available option contract that suits your needs, and placing a buy order.

Options chain is available for expert traders. We won’t go over the complexities of Options trading too much, because this type of trading is not intended for beginners. It’s highly advisable to do proper research before buying calls or putting options.

Find crypto exchanges with options trading

Keep in mind that derivatives trading may be restricted depending on your region. Furthermore, we even noticed OKX restricts futures and derivatives trading in some countries where most other exchanges permit it. Regulatory compliance is not something that warrants criticism, but we did find it surprising that OKX decided to prohibit futures trading in certain jurisdictions where it is perfectly legal.

To quickly find out if derivatives trading is available to you, simply visit OKX and see whether you have Futures, Margin and Options available under “Trade” category in main menu on top of any page.

6. Demo Trading

Those new to crypto trading should start with Demo Trading. This paper trading with fake or mock funds allows you to experience the exact same spot trading interface as regular live trading with real money. Except, there’s no emotions, and mistakes will not cost you anything.

To access Demo trading, choose it in the “Trade” category in main menu. OKX will give you 1 Bitcoin, 1 Ethereum, and $5,000 to play around with and test trading without risk. Best of all, you can reset anytime to replenish your funds.

If you need help, click the “Information” link in top right to access beginner tutorials. Otherwise, play around as much as you like, because your trades are free of losses in demo trading.

Trading Fees – Does OKX have cheap trade fees?

Trading fees on OKX are sometimes in line and sometimes slightly above industry averages. Fees are dependent on your region, type of market (spot, futures, etc.), and VIP levels. VIP levels are decided by your trading volume or value of assets you hold on the exchange.

Spot trading fees

For most territories, fees on spot market are 0.08% for maker, and 0.1% for taker. On most other exchanges, these fees are between 0.10% and 0.20%. As such, OKX is slightly cheaper for spot trading compared to some other reputable crypto brokers.

In addition, using our referral code “CEXFINDER” during signup gives you a lifetime 20% fee discount, thus ensuring your OKX spot trading fees are even cheaper than industry averages.

Here’s the kicker though: in certain countries, fees will be different! OKX has variable fees for different jurisdictions. Once logged in on OKX, visit okx.com/fees to view how much you need to pay for trades.

OKX’s spot trade fees can be further reduced with VIP levels. To increase your status from regular user to VIP 1, you need to hold assets worth over $20,000/€20,000, or have 30-day spot trading volume over $100,000. VIP 1 will reduce your spot trade fee by an additional 22%-35%. Additional VIP levels and cheaper fees are available with either larger asset holdings or higher monthly trade volume.

Futures trading fees

Futures trading fees on OKX are in line with industry averages. You will pay 0.02% as maker, or 0.05% as taker. These fees can be cut nearly in half to 0.01% and 0.03% if your asset holdings are over $100,000 (VIP 1). You can further reduce these fees with additional assets deposited, or high trading volume.

Of course, using Cexfinder’s code will also reduce your futures trading fees. This will actually make OKX one of the cheapest exchanges to trade futures on.

Options trading fees are 0.02% for makers, and 0.03% for takers.

Native token – OKB

OKB is the native utility token for the OKX exchange. OKB is an ERC-20 token launched on the Ethereum mainnet, with a total supply of 300 million. Its main benefit is a trading fee reduction on the exchange. You can get up to 40% reduced trade fees, depending on how much OKB your account holds.

Additionally, OKB grants you access to Jumpstart (launchpad) projects, and other airdrops and giveaways. OKX also does a quarterly buyback and burn, reducing the token’s supply which in turns helps it increase in value.

Trading fees overview – is OKX cheap for buying crypto?

In general, most traders will find OKX trade fees quite competitive. Even if fees in your country are initially higher than industry averages, you can bring them down with our referral code. By the way, using our code has absolutely no downside or cost to you, so don’t hesitate to take advantage of it.

High-volume traders and those with large account holdings are able to reduce fees even further. Zero fiat deposit and withdrawal fees with reasonable trading fees on spot and futures, all on a highly trusted and safe exchange – this makes using OKX for trading a no-brainer.

Altcoins – Is OKX good for altcoin trading?

OKX has over 300 altcoins and over 500 trading pairs listed on spot market. On futures, you can trade over 200 altcoins and nearly 400 trading pairs.

Unlike many other exchanges which list tons of altcoins, OKX has a more curated selection of safer and more reliable ones. For most investors, 300 altcoins provides an adequate selection and portfolio diversification.

When it comes to trading volumes, you will find absolutely no issues with spreads or liquidity. OKX is within top 5 crypto trading platforms on both spot and futures.

Overall, OKX is excellent for altcoin investing. It has zero liquidity issues, good spot trading fees, and a solid selection of alternative cryptocurrency coins and tokens. Because they have a more rigorous listing criteria, it may even be better for beginners compared to some other crypto exchanges.

Staking – Does OKX have good staking yields?

OKX has over 30 crypto assets available for staking, both on and off-chain. Staking yields (displayed as APY % – yearly percentage return) are excellent and some of the best you can find. Staking can be accessed in the “Grow” category in site’s main menu.

Staking yields are always variable and subject to change, but when we compared them with other exchanges, OKX had very high yields. At the time of our comparison, we were able to stake SUI at 3.24%, DYDX at 24.81%, INJ at 17.18%, DOT at 16.91%, TIA at 10.24%, and SOL at 6.91%. If any of these coins are in your spot holdings, you can earn consistent passive income with staking.

Additionally, OKX will let you stake other popular currencies, including Ethereum (ETH), Cardano (ADA), USDT, Hedera (HBAR), Toncoin (TON), Tron (TRX), Polygon (MATIC), Aptos (APT), Near Protocol (NEAR), Ronin (RON), Cosmos (ATOM), and others.

All assets are available for flexible staking, meaning you can un-stake at any time, and keep all interest accumulated. Redemption periods are between 24 hours and 21 days, depending on asset.

We tested staking with a small amount of Ronin (RON). It was easy, took about 3 clicks, and terms were very easy to understand.

Because OKX is considered one of the safest exchanges in the crypto industry, there’s very little risk to holding spot assets here. Being able to get these lucrative interest rates on idle holdings is just icing on the cake, and some of these high APRs certainly make it worthwhile.

Overall, the selection of popular cryptos is excellent, and yields are very competitive.

Other Earn products

Aside from staking, OKX has additional structured earning products to help you boost your portfolio. These include Snowball, Snowball HODL, Dual Investment, Seagull, and Shark Fin.

These structured earn options are not beginner-friendly, so we will not go over them in more detail during this review. Suffice to say, OKX provides their customers plenty of ways to earn additional income with an entire array of options and financial services besides simple trading and staking.

Loans – How to borrow crypto on OKX?

On top of other financial services on OKX, you can also borrow assets. Taking out a loan on OKX allows you to get funds without selling assets. For example, if you hold 1 BTC and need USDT to trade with or stake, you can put up your Bitcoin as collateral and get up to 65% of the value as cash.

Loans on OKX can be flexible, meaning you can repay them at any time. To take out a loan, you need to deposit collateral, and visit the “Loan” page under “Earn” in main site menu. You will receive your funds immediately, and you can repay the loan whenever you wish. Once you repay the loan, your initial collateral will be returned. Any profits made with borrowed funds are yours to keep.

Taking out loans on centralized exchanges has no inherent risks, that is, your assets will always be returned to you. However, there are never guarantees you will be able to repay the loan if you end up using and losing borrowed funds on trading. Needless to say, make sure you know what you are doing before deciding to take out crypto loans.

Mobile App – OKX Mobile app review

We mainly focused on the desktop experience so far, but OKX has a top notch mobile app, letting you access nearly all features of the exchange on Android or iOS platforms. The apps provide a good trading experience regardless of your choice in platforms.

The app allows you to check prices, place buy and sell orders, and manage your portfolio on the move. We found the app interface to be very intuitive with barely any learning required.

What we really liked about the mobile app is its two different operational modes: standard and “Lite” version. Lite mode is a simplified version of the app, without all the bells and whistles. For basic trading and portfolio management, OKX app’s lite version will be sufficient.

For advanced traders, the regular trading app will provide every tool and feature needed to make the right trading decisions. Most of the information found on desktop version of OKX trading platform is also found on mobile version, but hidden from initial view due to smaller screen real estate.

On Apple’s App Store, OKX is rated with 4.7. On Google Play, the app scores 4.5. We went through quite a few user reviews on app stores, and here’s what they had to say!

Apple customer reviews:

Positive reviews for the OKX app highlight its user-friendly interface and versatile features. A lot of users love its seamless connection to Web3 platforms and appreciate the range of trading options available. The educational resources and responsive customer support add to the positive experience, making it suitable for both new and experienced crypto traders.

Negative reviews focus on issues with accessibility, particularly in the US due to regulatory restrictions. Additionally, there are occasional complaints about bugs and the app’s performance. Some users also mentioned transaction delays, which negatively impacted their trading experience.

Android customer reviews:

On the positive side, we see many users rave about the OKX app’s user-friendly interface and powerful features. Many appreciate how easy it is to navigate and find information on various cryptocurrencies, making it perfect for both beginners and seasoned traders.

The app’s live-tracker and portfolio tracking features are highly praised for their reliability and up-to-date information. Users also like the broad range of supported cryptocurrencies, allowing for comprehensive market planning and trading. The customer support, available 24/7, receives positive mentions for its responsiveness and helpfulness, adding to the overall positive experience.

For negative reviews, some users expressed frustration with OKX’s occasional slow transaction times and higher fees compared to other platforms. There’s feedback on the app’s performance issues, particularly during high-traffic periods which can cause delays. Some users have encountered bugs and glitches, impacting their trading experience.

It’s worth noting that OKX is very responsive to customer complaints on app stores. They frequently respond to users and provide assistance with issues, explain how to use app features, and direct customers to their help center for guidance and customer support.

OKX Wallet – Best decentralized wallet in the industry

The centralized OKX exchange is so seamlessly integrated with their decentralized features, that you will sometimes barely notice the difference. In line with this good user experience, OKX also has an industry-leading decentralized wallet.

If you want to explore the decentralized web, or mint and trade NFTs or Inscriptions, OKX with its Wallet is the best place to get started. With OKX wallet, you can access over 70 different decentralized networks: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, Polygon, Avalanche, Fantom, BSC, Arbitrum, Optimism, Doge, Metis, Stacks, Pulse Chain, and many more.

So many different networks means you can use OKX wallet to store, send and receive thousands of digital assets. Wallet is integrated with over 400 decentralized apps (DApps), and has an NFT marketplace and browser. It’s the most comprehensive solution to exploring the Web3.

You can earn through the wallet, too. Aside from constant airdrops and giveaways, you can also earn yields on DeFi (decentralized finance) through savings, staking, pools, and farms.

The wallet also has a built-in DEX (decentralized exchange), which you can use to trade your coins. In addition, OKX wallet features a DEX & Bridge aggregator, letting you swap crypto across 20+ networks and over 400 DEXs, and over 20 cross-chain bridges. This helps you find best decentralized exchanges to trade the assets on for cheapest prices.

OKX’s wallet is also non-custodial, meaning you are the only one who knows the private key used to access the assets. This makes it impossible for anyone to access your wallet and steal or seize your assets without your knowledge. The wallet is available as a Windows or macOS app, Chrome and Safari extension, or as a mobile app for both Android and iOS platforms.

As for security, the OKX wallet is open-source, letting anyone review the code for potential vulnerabilities. Additionally, frequent security audits by leading independent companies add additional confidence in the wallet’s security. To top it off, there’s also a Bug Bounty program in place, making it more likely that bugs and security vulnerabilities get reported instead of exploited.

Decentralized finance (DeFi) made easy

Top-performing DeFi products from multiple blockchain protocols are easily accessible through OKX’s wallet and website. This allows you to stake and invest without restrictions, navigate liquidity pools or lending protocols, and access other financial and investment opportunities on the decentralized web.

Needless to say, all of this is without any extra fees or payments (aside from typical on-chain transaction fees). In fact, you can even save a lot in gas fees by accessing yield aggregators through OKX.

Exploring DApps

OKX has a comprehensive decentralized apps explorer. This allows you to find and learn about top DApps in multiple categories and blockchain networks: decentralized finance, decentralized exchanges, NFT and Inscriptions markets, bridges, liquid staking, lending, yield aggregators, GameFi, or various other applications, platforms and services that can help you manage assets.

With OKX’s Cryptopedia, you can also learn more about various DApps and participate in frequent airdrops and NFT giveaways by doing so.

Airdrops – Does OKX have airdrops and giveaways?

OKX has very frequent and valuable airdrops. However, these are exclusively for wallet users. You will need to download and use the OKX Wallet to participate in airdrops and giveaways.

You can access the airdrops and giveaways in OKX’s Rewards center. Once on the web platform, swap from “Exchange” to “Wallet” in the main menu to access decentralized features. Rewards center will be under the “Discover” category in the menus.

Alternatively, you can also view available promotional events with token or NFT rewards in the wallet itself. NFT airdrops are found in “Marketplace”, under “Drops” category.

The wallet is available as a mobile app or as a browser extension, therefore you can use it on any platform. Just in case we didn’t make it obvious already, our staff agrees that the OKX Wallet is the best wallet in the industry, so you should definitely try it if you are curious about exploring decentralized apps and other web3 features.

NFT Marketplace – Buying and selling NFTs made easy

NFTs may not be as glorious as they used to be, but they still have dedicated and enthusiastic communities always looking for interesting digital collectibles. OKX’s NFT marketplaces makes searching, buying and selling NFTs just as easy as using any other popular marketplace such as OpenSea.

Seamlessly integrated with the best decentralized wallet is also the best decentralized web3 market. Aside from typical NFTs, you can also explore BRC-20 Inscriptions/Ordinals and ARC-20 Atomicals or Runes.

The marketplace supports multiple blockchains, including Ethereum, Polygon, Solana, Binance Chain, and others. If you’re not yet ready to spend money on web3, you can also participate in many free airdrop campaigns and NFT minting whitelists. These airdrops will let you start growing your NFT collections without having to spend any money.

NFT Studio – Easiest NFT creation

Ever thought about creating your own NFT collection? You will not find an easier tool than this. OKX NFT Studio is a robust and intuitive NFT creation tool that makes minting NFTs extremely easy. You do not need to learn how to code or create smart contracts.

The NFT Studio will let you deploy smart contracts without having to write a single line of code. To create your first NFT, simply upload your content, add desired name, description and traits, and the Studio will let you mint an NFT with ease.

You can create just one NFT, or even upload multiple in bulk, creating a fully-fledged collection to showcase. Bulk minting is just as intuitive as creating individual NFTs. And if you don’t want to pay for gas fees, OKX NFT Studio will even let you lazy-mint your NFTs, ensuring you will not pay a dime for creating NFTs.

OKX NFT Studio is completely free to use, too. You can start creating and selling your NFTs with zero investment or cost.

Copy Trading – Automated trading made easy

OKX has copy trading, letting you copy trades done by expert traders automatically. Browsing through expert traders on OKX’s copy trading feature lets you select one based on past performance and factors such as profit and loss (PnL), win rate, assets under management (AUM), and more. Copy trading on OKX is available on both spot and futures markets.

Despite enticing profit numbers, we haven’t found copytrading to be particularly profitable (on any crypto exchange). Copy trading is intended for beginners, but in all likelihood it will lead to financial losses. Unless you have a deeper understanding of crypto trading, do not expect to make an easy profit by copying trades of other people.

Nevertheless, if you want to risk small amounts, you can attempt to copy one or more traders on OKX and determine for yourself whether you can make profits with copytrading or not.

Trading Bots – How to trade automatically on OKX?

Trading bots lets you create automated trading strategies based on specific criteria and settings. Several other exchanges such as Bitget and Pionex offer even more trading bots, but OKX has a good selection of basic and advanced bots that can be used by both experienced and inexperienced crypto buyers.

On OKX, you can select from five categories of trading bots, each for specific purposes:

• Grid Bots (Spot, Futures and Infinity Grid): These bots allow you to buy low and sell high in both bullish and bearish markets.
• Signal Trading: Signal bot lets you use advanced trading signals to open and close positions automatically based on specific technical indicators. This is fully integrated with TradingView, too.
• Dollar Cost Average (DCA) Bots: Martingale bots are available for both spot and futures markets. Basic Recurring buy bot is excellent for easy DCA investing, often proven as one of the best investment methods.
• Arbitrage Bots: Smart portfolio bot lets you automatically rebalance a portfolio, Dip and Peak sniper bots let you catch highs and lows, while Arbitrage lets you profit from arbitrage opportunities.
• Slicing Bots: Slicing bots are used by high-volume traders to split purchases into smaller orders and reduce slippage, with Iceberg and TWAP available.

Find more exchanges with trading bots

Trading bots are not always a great idea for beginners, and most are intended for experienced traders. You should know that all trading bots are also available to use in OKX’s mobile apps.

DCA bot – best trading bot for beginners

Great trading bot for beginners is the Recurring Buy bot, letting you easily dollar-cost-average over time. You can set up daily, weekly or monthly purchases on Bitcoin or other crypto assets. You can even buy up to 20 different cryptocurrencies simultaneously.

For example, you can set up a monthly buy of $100 worth of crypto, and allocate 50% to Bitcoin, 30% to Ethereum, and 20% to Solana.

Find exchanges with recurring buys

OKX has an incredibly detailed “Learn” section about how to use trading bots, so you will always be able to learn more about each bot and how to make the most out of them.

Trading bot marketplace

OKX also has an excellent marketplace for trading bots. This lets you follow trading bot strategies created by other users.

You can select from a great deal of user-created bot strategies to jumpstart your automated trading adventure. The marketplace has categories for all available trading bots, and you can sort and filter by crypto assets, profit and loss percentages, leverage, and other aspects.

Our overall impression of trading bots on OKX is very positive:

• The selection of bots is excellent, mostly catering to advanced traders, but some are usable by complete beginners.
• All bots are completely free to use.
• Learning resources are detailed and available for any explanations.
• The integrated bot marketplace has a great deal of pre-made strategies by other traders that you can copy and use.

Again, be careful with automating trades. This can lead to quick losses. It’s always a good idea to manage trades manually until you get a better grasp of crypto trading.

Launchpad – How does Jumpstart on OKX work?

Jumpstart on OKX is what most exchanges call a “Launchpad” or “Launchpool”. On OKX, these are called Jumpstart projects, and can be either Mining or On Sale.

The On-Sale model (Launchpad) allows you to invest in and purchase upcoming cryptocurrency tokens that are yet to be released. This allows investors to potentially get in early on token sales.

On the other hand, Mining model (Launchpool) lets you stake specific crypto assets and get free allocation in newly launched coins. These promotional events are essentially airdrops, allowing you to earn free crypto with practically no risk.

TradingView – How to trade on OKX via TradingView charts

TradingView is the top charting platform for cryptocurrency assets, but also traditional markets including stocks and commodities. OKX uses TradingView for charts on its spot and futures markets, but they also go a step further than other exchanges.

OKX has seamless integration with TradingView, allowing you to trade and manage your positions directly from TradingView‘s web, desktop, or mobile trading interface.

OKX is the largest and featured crypto broker on TradingView, rated with 4.7 out of 5.

The OKX community on TradingView is also very active, and frequently publishing trade ideas that can help with your technical and fundamental analysis. In addition, you can also do automated signal trading on OKX via TradingView with Pine scripts.

Safety & Security – Is OKX a safe exchange?

Since its inception in 2017, OKX has not suffered any major security breaches that would result in lost funds. This exchange is regulated, trusted, and we consider OKX safe to use and trade on due to a number of factors.

Corporate structure

In Europe, OKX operates as OKCoin Europe LTD, company incorporated in Malta. This company is also licensed and authorized by the Malta Financial Services Authority for related financial business. To service local customers legally, OKX also has companies registered in Hong Kong, Malta, Brazil, Bahamas, Singapore and Australia. For all other users, Aux Cayes FinTech Co. Ltd. is the parent company registered in Seychelles.

Regulatory approvals

OKX’s Australian business is an AUSTRAC-registered entity holding an Australian Financial Services (AFS) license. OKX also holds a VARA registration in Dubai, and an in-principle MPI in Singapore.

OKX also complies with money laundering and terrorist financing laws, and cooperates with international organizations and standards such as Financial Action Task Force (FATF). The exchange also restricts customers from using their services based United Nations’, Hong Kong, and United States sanctions lists.

In addition, the company also complies with law enforcement requests, and proactively screens and does due diligence on customer accounts in order to prevent any illegal money transfers.

While there are no major governments or institutions that regulate OKX’s operations, the exchange complies with local laws and regulations. As a result of regulatory challenges, they stopped servicing customers in Hong Kong and stopped providing services in India. In Europe, they also discontinued USDT trading to comply with MiCA laws.

On the other end, OKX also established presence in Turkey in 2024 with a local and compliant exchange.

Funds safety

OKX uses secure online and offline storage systems for assets, with multi-signature protection and redundant backups.

95% of user funds on OKX are stored in offline, cold wallets. These wallets are on isolated systems, ensuring they are not hackable and can’t even be compromised with malware or viruses.

Additionally, every cold wallet used by OKX never stores more than 1,000 BTC. Private keys never interact with other devices, are highly encrypted, with backups stored in secure bank vaults.

There are more intricacies about OKX’s safety protocols available on their website’s wallet security page. Suffice to say, this exchange has secure protocols and methods to ensure funds can not be hacked or misused. Even in the event of a major security breach, 95% of user funds will still be secure in offline wallets.

Risk Shield – risk reserve fund

OKX also has an asset risk reserve fund. A portion of earnings generated by the exchange is allocated to this fund. The fund’s purpose is to have available assets to reimburse users in case of losses due to thefts, hacks, scams, or other security issues.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t find any data detailing the specifics of this Risk Shield fund. Some sources claim this fund is $700 million in size, but we do not know the exact size and do not have access to verifiable recent data on it. Most exchanges do not publicly provide addresses of their safety funds for security reasons.

Proof of Reserves

For transparency, OKX also publishes monthly proof of reserve reports. These reports provide much-needed verification to ensure they are not mishandling any funds.

In all PoR published so far, all customer funds have been accounted for, and even over-collateralized.

Past security incidents

As for recent security issues, hackers stole $11 million from two user accounts on OKX. The accounts were compromised through sophisticated SMS swap attacks and email hijacking. To prevent these types of attacks in the future, OKX made using 2FA (2-factor authentication) with Google Authenticator mandatory for all accounts.

https://twitter.com/WuBlockchain/status/1800761716651049360

While the attacks were complex, the solution was not. OKX also compensated the affected users with a full refund on funds lost.

Account security

Hovering over or tapping your profile icon, and selecting “Security” in the menu will reveal your account security settings.

For 2-factor authentication, you can use Passkeys, or an authenticator app such as Google Authenticator. Using 2FA is mandatory on OKX, as it is a basic but crucial security feature. Additional authentication methods can be completed through SMS or WhatsApp messages and emails. These methods will be required for certain features, such as withdrawals.

Anti-phishing code will help you identify official OKX emails from phishing ones. This only takes a moment to set up, and makes it far less likely you will fall victim to phishing attempts and scams through emails.

In advanced security section of your profile, you can review devices used to log into your account recently under “Device management“. If you receive any suspicious notifications about logins, you should immediately review the list of devices. Furthermore, you can temporarily freeze your account to ensure no loss of funds.

OKX also permits withdrawal address whitelists (called “Allowlist” on the platform). Any withdrawal attempts to addresses not found on your whitelist will require additional verification before being processed. Similarly, you can permanently verify certain addresses in your address book to ensure quicker processing. In addition, the address book also has “New address withdrawal lock” option to prevent withdrawals to newly added addresses for 24 hours.

Lastly, OKX will also let you set “Trading clearance settings“. These settings will let you place specific limits on your account, such as which crypto assets are available for trading, or maximum amount of leverage. In case your account gets compromised, this can limit the amount of potential damage and financial losses that can occur.

All in all, OKX has a comprehensive selection of essential and optional account security features to ensure unauthorized logins are very difficult. By activating proper account security settings, funds withdrawal is nearly impossible without your knowledge and plenty of time to prevent them.

Legit or Scam – Is OKX a legitimate exchange?

It’s not hard to find out if OKX is legit or a fake exchange. But, let’s summarize everything important to give you peace of mind and explain why OKX is not only a legitimate crypto exchange, but one that’s also reliable and trusted.

• OKX has been operating without issues since 2017.
• No previous large-scale or major security incidents or hacks took place.
• Company structure is clear and transparent. Main company is registered in Seychelles.
• For local regulatory compliance, additional local companies are established in Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, Brazil, and Malta, each servicing local or regional customers.
• OKX complies with KYC/AML regulations and avoids knowingly servicing customers from sanctioned countries, or countries where crypto trading is illegal.
• A cybersecurity company CER ranked OKX with 78/100 score based on tests such as server and user security, penetration testing, etc.
• Regular monthly proof of reports are published to ensure exchange does not mishandle user funds.
• User account security measures are sufficient to prevent unauthorized attempts, with 2FA being mandatory.
• OKX uses cold wallets for 95% of customer funds, and has strong security measures in place to prevent any unauthorized money transfers.
• Protection fund is in place to ensure customers can be reimbursed in case of hacks or security issues.
• OKX is rated 7.8 on CoinMarketCap, and 10/10 on CoinGecko, two reliable coin tracker websites. This is 3rd best rated exchange on both websites.
• Same websites place it among top 5 crypto exchanges by trading volume on both spot and derivatives, meaning it’s highly trusted by investors and traders.

We could go on, in fact. But to keep it reasonable, let’s just say that any claims about OKX being a scam are likely from inexperienced investors who lost money with bad trading habits, We have not seen any proof that OKX is scamming customers or engaging in any unsavory behavior. In fact, the exchange is transparent with its operations, and has some of the best safety and security protocols for customer assets.

On top of all this, we checked Reddit, TrustPilot, and several other review websites and resources and looked at common customer complaints. We haven’t found any verifiable evidence about OKX doing anything illegal or suspicious.

Customer Support – How to get help on OKX?

For added confidence, it’s important to know that you can get the right help when you need it. OKX does an excellent job at providing customer support through different methods and channels:

• Comprehensive Support Center: OKX’s Support Center features articles and guides on every feature of their website and app.
• Email support: Customer support through email is very responsive, and our previous help requests were typically answered within a couple of hours.
• Live chat: Live chat option is always available by clicking the chat button displayed in bottom-right corner of the website or app.
• Social media: OKX provides support through Telegram and Discord chats.

For safety reasons, you must always contact OKX support staff through official channels. Always verify that you are talking with actual employees. Always be aware of scammers trying to pose as official customer support representatives.

99% of your problems can be solved by going to their Support center, because it has hundreds of articles and answers to common issues.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Is OKX available in United States?

  OKX as a centralized exchange is not available in United States. Because OKX has mandatory KYC policies in place, trading with VPNs is also not possible.

  Find exchanges available in United States.

  Users from US can use OKX’s decentralized wallet and its features. The wallet is available as Windows or Mac application, browser extension, or mobile app. You can use it on all major platforms.

  Aside from United States, OKX also restricts traders from Hong Kong, India, and Japan. Restricted European countries include Belgium, Netherlands, and Ireland. You can find a full list of OKX restricted countries here.

• Is OKX a Chinese exchange?

  OKX was initially headquartered in Beijing, China. Because crypto trading is not legal in China, the company is now headquartered in Seychelles, with offices in several other locations throughout the globe. OKX (then known as OKEx) was founded by Star Xu in 2017.

• Does OKX have a referral program?

  OKX has a referral program. Users in most countries can refer their friends and get small bonuses for signups. These bonuses are in the form of Mystery Box, usually containing $5-$10 worth of crypto.

  You will not be able to give fee discounts to your friends unless you apply for Affiliate, which requires a certain number of signups. For fee discounts, you and your friends are welcome to use Cexfinder’s referral code.

• Which local currencies are available on OKX?

  On OKX, you can purchase your first cryptocurrency using more than 100 local currencies. By clicking the “Buy crypto” option in site’s main menu, you will be able to see a complete list of currencies available to you.

  This list of currencies will be based on your current location (country or region). If you are browsing with a VPN, you should turn it off to see an accurate list of fiat deposit currencies available to you.

• Is OKX a decentralized exchange?

  OKX’s main platform is a centralized exchange. However, you can quickly swap to OKX’s decentralized features in the website’s main menu, toggling between “Exchange” and “Wallet” options. Then, look for “Swap” under “Trade” category.

  

  Decentralized trading on OKX does not require KYC, therefore can be used without geographical restrictions. This means you can trade spot or even derivatives markets in the United States, and other restricted countries. Currently, derivatives trading (futures) is only available on testnet.

  This decentralized Swap feature will let you trade hundreds of assets on 40 different blockchain networks. You will also be able to use Bridge and transfer assets from one network to another. On Swap, you can place regular Limit orders, same as spot trading. Placing and canceling limit orders is free of fees, but successful trades will involve fees depending on network, asset, and current blockchain congestion.

  For DEX trading on OKX, you can use OKX’s native Wallet, either as app for browser extension. Additionally, you can connect with an existing MetaMask wallet, or use WalletConnect to access DEX trading with dozens of other wallets.

Reach us through our contact page in case you have additional questions about OKX that our review failed to answer.

OKX Alternatives – Best Alternative Exchanges

If OKX is restricted in your territory or if you have other reasons for not using it, there are several alternatives you can use. The alternatives depend on your specific preferences and trading interests. The following list has a few crypto exchanges we recommend as top OKX alternatives based on specific criteria:

• Fiat deposits: Binance, Bybit, Gemini, HTX, Kraken.
• Spot trading: Binance, Bybit, HTX.
• Futures trading: Bybit, HTX, Gate, KuCoin.
• Altcoin variety: MEXC, Gate, BitMart, KuCoin, LBank, Bitrue, HTX, Bitget.
• Lowest fees: HTX, WhiteBIT, XT, CoinW, LBank.
• Staking and savings: Gate, Bitget, Bitrue, HTX, KuCoin.
• Trading bots: Bitget, Bybit, Binance, Pionex.
• Safest and regulated: Binance, Gemini, Kraken, Coinbase, Bitfinex.
• Decentralized Wallet: Binance, Bitget, Bybit, Kraken, Coinbase.
• Optional KYC: MEXC, BingX, Blofin, LBank, XT, BitMart.

Some of the exchanges may be unavailable in your region, so do not forget to use our country list to find top exchanges available in your jurisdiction.

Final Verdict – Is OKX a good exchange?

Our OKX review looked at every conceivable feature and aspect of the exchange.

• We established that OKX is a highly trusted, reliable, and safe crypto exchange that complies with laws and regulations.
• Numerous beginner-friendly features such as quick Convert and zero fee fiat deposits make it excellent for first-time investors.
• For small-time investors, OKX provides a solid selection of reliable altcoins, and trading fees at or below industry averages.
• For frequent crypto traders, all markets have excellent volume and liquidity, and very cheap trade fees for high volume traders.
• An entire array of additional financial and other services is available: staking, trading bots, copy trading, NFT marketplace, launchpad, loans, P2P trading.
• Detailed tutorials, videos and guides are available to explain how to use OKX features.
• Seamless switching between centralized and decentralized web features lets everyone take first steps into Web3.
• Decentralized trading and even NFT creation is beginner-friendly and intuitive.

This list can just keep going. There is no shortage of features on OKX exchange, and our review went through each and every one. And OKX doesn’t just have those features: they are all polished, intuitive and easy to use for everyone.

OKX isn’t just an alternative exchange to Binance, Bybit or others, it even surpasses them in some aspects. If you decide to create an account, we promise you will not regret trading on OKX.