***Star rating updated – see bottom of page ***
The HitBTC boasts that they’re the most advanced bitcoin exchange around. But how do they really measure up to their competitors?
This exchange was founded by Dave Merrill and is based in Estonia. It began as a joint venture between expert traders, developers, and finance professionals in 2013.
This company focuses on the European market in general, however, it offers its services anywhere AML laws are enforced.
Sign Up Process
There are a few other top exchanges that have a sign-up process that’s similar to HitBTC’s, such as BitPanda. With HitBTC, just like on the BitPanda exchange, all you have to do is enter your email address and choose a password. Verification isn’t mandatory unless you plan to trade with fiat. After you have registered you’ll have access to a general account with unlimited withdrawals and deposits.
How to Fund Your Account
In terms of payment methods accepted, this exchange is pretty limiting including only cryptocurrencies, wire transfers, and SEPA.
To make transactions with fiat, a user must first verify their account. This is done by providing proof of bank account ownership, residence, and identity. The verification process takes up to three business days. Once approved, your limit will be set to two thousand EUR a week or up to ten thousand EUR a month. If you want an even higher limit you can contact customer support and request that your status is upgraded to Qualified.
Transaction fees will depend on the currency used and the amount you deposit. For EUR you can expect a flat fee of five EUR for any deposit that’s less than fifty thousand EUR, with an additional one percent after. For USD, there’s a flat one percent fee charged regardless of the amount.
With cryptocurrency, there are no transaction limits or fees. Currently, this exchange accepts fifty types of altcoin currency.
You can also expect a two percent fee for deposits that are under fifty thousand EUR.
Trading
This exchange currently offers the following types of orders: fill or kill, immediate or cancel, day, good till date/time, good till canceled, and market. They also offer support for more than fifty altcoins, USD, and EUR, plus they offer a large variety of pairs. Altcoin options include ripple, litecoin, Ethereum, dogecoin, bitcoin, and more.
Beginner Friendly
There’s a demo section on the site that allows beginners to test out the site as well as their API, all without using real currency. However, many members had complaints that the demo often failed to load.
If you’re interested in trading, you’ll find everything trading related under the exchange tab. This way you can change from trading view to the HitBTC chart with just one click.
With the HitBTC chart, you’ll find a couple of boxes for selling or buying with the current pair. If you want to open an order just select the type, fill in the parameters, and click a button to place the order.
Near this section, you’ll find another box, which contains a list of your past orders. These orders are labeled as filled, closed, or active trades. You can easily manage an active order in this section.
Mobile Site Access
While the site is responsive to some extent, they currently don’t offer an in-house app and they don’t support third-party platforms. However, you can still access your account and execute a trade via your smartphone, but it’s no easy task.
Site Security
When it comes to security, this exchange goes above and beyond. It begins with 2FA for accounts. This type of security is offered separately in order to protect withdrawals and logins. Aside from the option of adding an extra step for signing in, this exchange also tracks login history, so you’ll be notified via email if a login is detected from new IPs.
An email verification is sent after a withdrawal has been requested, so you’ll need to confirm it in order to complete the transaction.
The site’s database is backed up on a daily basis, as an extra precaution against loss or damage.
You’ll also find wallets available to store your coin for each type of cryptocurrency available.
So far, this exchange has never been hacked, which goes to show their impressive security measures really work.
Withdrawal and Deposit Times
On average, it’s been reported that funding your account can take up to two weeks or fourteen business days. When it comes to withdrawing funds, it can take up to twenty days, depending on currency type. This is a major problem for pro traders and it can leave newbies afraid that the exchange is holding their funds hostage, which many scam-type exchanges have been known to do.
User Friendliness
The site interface is very easy to use, responsive, and intuitive. Which makes HitBTC very beginner friendly. However, the site also remains complex enough that it appeals to seasoned traders as well.
Pros
- Low transaction and withdrawal fees
- Easy to use interface
- Great trading platform
- Stellar site security
- Users can enjoy anonymous accounts
- This exchange supports over fifty altcoin currencies
- Multi-language chat features available
Cons
- The withdrawal process has a reputation for being very slow
- There have been some unproven claims of fund retention
- Limited payment options
- Issues with the demo interface
- Verification process can be time-consuming
- No mobile app is available at this time
Crypto Exchange Focus.com Product Rating:
*** We originally had given HitBTC 5 stars but recently I have seen reports of people having issues with having token stolen and hence why we have adjusted our ratings. We are not afraid to change our initial reviews and owe it to our readers to be a 100% honest with our readers *** Check out our best altcoin exchange page for alternatives.
I will also be doing a reviews on other sites so make to subcripbe to my email updates or like my twitter or facebook pages.
If you’d like to check out an exchange designed for the pro trader, check out our review on the Localbitcoins exchange.
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