AtoZ Markets is committed to conducting reviews on the exchanges available in the market on a regular basis. 

In this review, we talk about Huobi. We will analyse one of the top 5 cryptocurrency exchanges.

Since traders have parted in two teams for this cryptocurrency exchange between with and against, here we are trying to answer the main question - "Is Huobi scam or reliable? Can I trust Huobi?

As a reminder, at AtoZMarkets, Cryptocurrency exchange reviews are not sponsored and they are personal opinions by the authors. If you are a trader, or investor and you want to share your opinion, please refer to our comments section below this review. Meanwhile, if you are from Huobi and you would like to add comments please contact AtoZMarkets editorial team, though, we don't promise changing our opinion.

About Huobi Crypto Exchange

Huobi is one of the oldest crypto-to-crypto exchanges. It started its operation way back in 2013 in China before the 2017 cryptocurrency trading ban in the country. Huobi is also one of the largest and easiest to use crypto exchanges.As of March 2018, Huobi processed about $1 billion in daily trades. It became a publicly-listed Hong-Kong company in August 2018 after it acquired 74% stake in Hong Kong electronics manufacturer - Pantronics Holdings. Huobi has a huge client-base in Asia but has expanded to United States and Europe.

Where is Huobi based?

Huobi is a singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange with offices in Hong Kong, Korea, Japan and the United states. It was founded in China in 2013 by Leon Li, a former computer engineer at Oracle. The company launched its Bitcoin trading platform on 1st September. In 2017,the company stopped Bitcoin withdrawals in its native China after a ban on cryptocurrency exchanges by the Chinese government. The China office however, continues to operate not as an exchange but as a blockchain consulting and research firm. The company has an office in the United States at San Francisco.

Huobi user interface and trade platform is quite easy to deal with. It has two main sections - the lef and the right. If you have a coin pair in mind to trade, just type it in the search button on the left section. Crytpos are paired against BTC, ETH, HT (Huobi token), HUSD and USDT.

Below this, is the trade terminal where you can see your existing orders and orders history.

Once a coin pair is selected, the chart window will be seen clearly on the left section. Huobi chart window is powered by TradingView (TV). TradingView is very popular among traders of all instruments. Here is how TV looks like on Huobi.

You can choose a time frame from 1 minute to 1 month. You can also change the default setting of the window appearance. You change to a white background or any other color. On the left, you can choose any analytical tool for your analysis. You can plot trend, momentum and volume indicators as well.

What happens on the right section of the trading platform?

The top part of this section show ‘tick’ price changes while the lower part shows the trade terminal. You can place limit or market orders. On the left section, you can see your current trade activities and histories as earlier mentioned.

Is Huobi Safe?

Security of funds is top among the major concerns of Crypto traders. Is Huobi safe in this regard?. They time-to-time, educate their clients on the latest development on security, policies and technology. Just make sure you enable the two-factor authentication with Google authenticator and sms verification and follow them on their news outlets. With these, your account should be safe.

Fund Security

Huobi claims to have anti-DDoS protection system. This enables the company to store more than 98% of its digital assets in multi-signature cold wallets.

Huobi Trading Fees

Huobi has a very simple fee system unlike many other exchanges. Despite having so many coin pairs and trading options, it charges 0.2% trading fee.

Huobi Taker-Maker Fees

Taker and maker fees are very common with crypto exchanges. Taker fees are charged when liquidity is removed from the exchange’s order book when a trader places any order that is executed against an order of the orderbook. Maker fee on the other hand are accessed when adding liquidity to Huobi’s orderbook when a trader places a limit order under the last trade price for buy and above the last trade price for sell. These fees are always deducted from the executed total in the value of the final coin exchanged to. Taker and Maker fees are set at a flat 0.2% for all trading coin pairs on Huobi.

Huobi Discount on Fees

Huobi offers 10-50% discount on fees to traders they refer to as VIPs. How do you qualify for the VIP status? The qualification is through the acquisition of at least 120 HT/per month. HT is Huobi token just like Binance’s BNB.

HT can be purchased through the exchange and is also given out as part of loyalty and new user reward programs. HT currently exchanges for $1.05 as of 25th January 2019 and ranked 71 on coinmarketcap with $52 million market capitalization.

Huobi Deposit Fees

Deposits are free. No charges at all. Only blockchain fees from your wallet transfer attracts charges on the same coin.

Trading on Huobi is quite liquid. Funds can be withdrawn quickly into your wallet. You might want to exchange your fund to Bitcoin, Ethereum or Ripple which are the most liquid. You can also sell to a -crypto-to-fiat exchanger and get your fund in your local bank account where you can get solid cash. There are many crypto-to-fiat exchangers out there who are ready for business.

Is Huobi Regulated?

Huobi tends to abide by the regulations of the countries where they are present. They are also ready to seize their operations from residents of countries where cryptocurrency trading is banned.

Huobi Withdrawal Fees

Huobi has withdrawal fees based on the cryptocurrency. The fees for some popular cryptocurrencies are shown below.

Huobi has one of the best customer support service. It offers a 24/7 live chat with users and would-be users.

Their website informs how to reach out to the support team.