Huobi appeared before the "boom" cryptocurrency - in 2013, in the capital of China. At the moment, it is the most popular cryptotocompany in the Asian market, especially among Chinese users, and one of the world's largest platforms for buying and selling cryptocurrencies. Huobi is in the TOP-3 exchanges in terms of daily trading according to the CoinMarketCap website.
The site offers convenient tools for both beginners and advanced users. In this review we will look at the specifics of this exchange in detail and determine its strengths and weaknesses.
Creation history and team
Huobi was founded in 2013 by the Chinese developer Leon Lee, who before the opening of his own project worked for Oracle Corporation. In mid-May of the same 2013, the domain huobi.com was registered, in early August a test version of the trading platform was launched, and in early September, the site earned full value.
The project almost immediately became famous, and in November of the 2013 of the year, the Dai Zhikang and Zhen Fund funds paid attention to it, making “angel” investments. A year later, Huobi received an investment of $ 10 million from the American venture capital firm Sequoia Capital. Huobi's popularity grew rapidly: if in June 2016, the trade volume of transactions was 1 trillion yuan (~ $ 144,2 billion), then in November of that year, this figure rose to 1,7 trillion yuan (~ $ 245,2 billion).
However, in September 2017, China banned crypto exchanges and ICOs, forcing the leadership in October of that year to move Huobi's headquarters to South Korea, which had a more loyal attitude. Trading was resumed only in March 2018 under the huobi.pro domain. Within six months after the "move", the exchange launches divisions in Singapore, Japan and the United States. In 2018, Huobi acquired BitYes, expanding its European and American customer base.
The 363 person has been added as an employee in the LinkedIn social network exchange profile at the time of this writing (early December 2018 of the year). There are specialists from various fields - from developers to risk managers.
Platform functionality
Registration and Verification
The registration process at Huobi is very simple, as on most similar sites, but verification is very inconvenient and requires special attention from the user.
When registering a new account, the client receives an email with a link by clicking on which you need to confirm your profile. It is very important to indicate only valid data when registering, otherwise you can not even hope to confirm the profile. At this stage, you must specify the passport data, bank details, as well as the current phone number. And for verification, the exchange requests scanned copies of all pages of the passport, as well as selfies with the first page of the passport (the name, surname, date and place of birth must be readable). The final step is to confirm the phone number via SMS-code.
Very often, users are rejected to verify the profile due to the “ID type does not meet the requirement” (“ID-type does not meet the requirements”). Such an alert appears if the documents in the photograph do not fit completely into the frame (for example, the edges are cut off) or if the passport data is not displayed correctly.
Available cryptocurrencies and orders
At the beginning of the launch, the site worked with only two coins - Bitcoin (BTC) and Litecoin (LTC). Later, however, the "range" has expanded considerably and continues to grow. According to CoinMarketCap, at the time of this writing, Huobi offers 282 cryptocurrency trading, including quite rare ones among them. The ten most popular cryptocurrencies on the stock exchange include Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Eos (EOS), Ripple (XRP), Litecoin (LTC), Huobi Token (HT). It is noteworthy that couples with steadblecoin USDT are the most popular.
Like most other popular cryptobirges, Huobi has its own coin - Huobi Token. HT is based on the Ethereum protocol and is an ERC-20 token. Mainly used to pay the commission, in addition, it is included in some shopping pairs, and for it you can become a member of the VIP-program, which will be described below.
A total of 500 million HT was released. To increase the value of its token, the exchange announced a quarterly HT redemption procedure, to which 20% profit will be directed. At the time of writing, Huobi Token, according to CoinMarketCap, is trading at $ 1,29.
Like most popular sites, Huobi offers traders three types of orders:
- Market - buying or selling cryptocurrency at market value;
- Limit - allows you to set the desired price level for buying or selling;
- Stop-Limit - an insurance order for taking profit or loss. A trader can set a price indicator, upon which the transaction will be closed automatically.
Deposit and withdrawal of funds
Before Huobi “moved” to Korea, input and output of funds in Fiat (US dollar and Chinese yuan) were available on the site. However, now at the site huobi.pro all operations are performed exclusively in cryptocurrency.
Deposits and withdrawals are made in the "Balances" section. To replenish the account you need to transfer the cryptocurrency to the address that can be found in your account.
Previously, withdrawals were available only in Bitcoin (BTC) and Litecoin (LTC). Now you can withdraw any of the coins, while the commission for each of them will be different.
New users who have not yet acquired a cryptocurrency can do it for their local currency on the platform Huobi OTC, which the company launched in 2017 year.
Trading Commissions
Despite the fact that Huobi offers ample trading opportunities in the form of multiple trading pairs and the availability of margin trading, the commission system is very simple. For all pairs, the commission for the maker (the one who places the order) and the taker (the one who accepts the order) is 0,2%.
The exchange has a reward system for customers who are holders of the Huobi - Huobi Token (HT) native token. For HT, a user can become a member of a VIP program that offers discounts on trading commissions - the amount depends on the level:
- VIP1 - 10%;
- VIP2 - 20%;
- VIP3 - 30%;
- VIP4 - 40%;
- VIP5 - 50%.
As a result, the commission for tickers and makers who are members of the VIP program will be as follows:
- VIP1 - 0,18%;
- VIP2 - 0,16%;
- VIP3 - 0,14%;
- VIP4 - 0,12%;
- VIP5 - 0,1%.
Safety system
The Huobi security system has several levels - the degree of security depends on the chosen method of account protection:
- Linking to email - the lowest level of security. The procedure is standard: a link will come to the specified email, clicking on which the user verifies his account.
- Binding to the phone number - the average level of security. You need to specify the current phone number to which an SMS with a secret code will arrive each time you enter the exchange.
- Authentication via Google Authenticator - high security. Huobi herself recommends using this method of protecting your account, since with two-factor authentication the percentage of the possibility of hacking the profile is minimal.
The exchange site also allows you to view the entry history, including the date, time and IP address of the physical device.
Support Service
Users can contact support in two languages: Chinese or English. You can contact Support-specialists in one of four ways:
- By phone;
- Via email;
- Filling out an application on the website of the exchange;
- Through Telegram.
According to user feedback, in the case of a written request, the answer comes through the 2-3 of the day. Exchange customers claim that the responses of Huobi employees are always very detailed and comprehensive, so in most cases it is not necessary to re-apply.
Popularity
In the ranking CoinMarketCap Huobi ranks third, second only to Binance and OKex. Monthly turnover of the exchange is slightly more than $ 17 billion, and daily - $ 588,7 million.
According to the SimilarWeb service, the number of Huobi visitors in October 2018 of the year was about 110 thousand, and more than half of the users are from China. Also, the exchange is popular in countries such as Sudan, USA, Russia and Hong Kong. The attendance schedule shows that Huobi’s popularity has declined dramatically even compared to May 2018, which is most likely due to a general decline in retail investors' interest in the cryptocurrency market.
Advantages and disadvantages
Huobi, being one of the most visited sites, has a number of serious advantages:
- One of the largest platforms not only in China, but also in the world, which has data centers in almost all parts of the world, including Asia, Europe and North and South America;
- An independent algorithm allows you to conduct a serious check of the coins before listing;
- Installed a unique system of protection against DDoS-attacks;
- More than 98% of the stock exchange's assets are located in cold storage facilities protected by multi-signatures;
- The ability to use two-factor authentication to log into the account and perform transactions;
- Advanced functionality available on all operating systems;
- Users mark the convenient interface of the mobile application;
- The exchange offers a large selection of trading pairs;
- The opportunity to become a member of the VIP-program and pay a lower commission;
- The interface is available in 9 languages, including Russian;
- The exchange operates from 2013 of the year, which proves its safety and reliability.
However, there are also disadvantages:
- Rather difficult verification procedure;
- The lack of convenient ways to withdraw funds for residents of the CIS countries;
- Some of the documentation and manuals are available exclusively in Chinese.
Projects and initiatives
In addition to the main exchange (huobi.pro), Huobi also has a number of other projects:
- HADAX is an autonomous cryptocurrency exchange on which users can vote to add a particular coin using the HT token. Unlike the main exchange on HADAX, input and output is possible only in cryptocurrency;
- Huobi Cloud is a platform that allows you to open a crypto-exchange in any country under the Huobi brand. From August 2018 alone, five sites were scheduled to launch in a number of countries: Russia, the Philippines, Taiwan, Canada and Indonesia;
- Huobi Chat is a social network for crypto enthusiasts. The new product has all the functions of a social network: personal messaging, thematic communities (news portals, entertainment groups, cryptocurrency courses). The beta version was launched about two months ago, and an invitation is needed for registration so far. As of the beginning of December 2018, the number of participants is slightly over 34000.
Cooperation
The list of partners is listed on the website of Huobi Global, which is the owner of the Huobi Pro Exchange. All of them are investment companies, most of which are located in China. Among them are quite large and well-known, such as, for example, Zhen Fund, DHVC, SEQUOIA.
Development prospects
Huobi Pro is one of the most popular exchanges not only in China and other Asian countries, but also in the USA and Europe. It is worth noting that the platform serving American customers meets all the rules of the current US legislation and, according to representatives of the exchange, all employees have been specially tested. Huobi is constantly expanding, capturing new markets. So, the exchange is already open in Russia. BitTrade was bought, which will become part of Huobi and will serve Japanese customers. Also in the near future, the company plans to expand its influence in the markets of the Middle East, Africa and South Asia.
In addition, a wide range of tokens will satisfy even the most demanding trader. It is worth noting that Huobi will be interesting not only for beginners, but also for advanced users who can increase their income with the help of tools for margin trading and the autonomous exchange HADAX. It is also a positive fact that the site and the company itself are constantly working on improving the existing functions and developing new tools. So, recently, the exchange introduced a tool for the exchange of stablecocks called HUSD. Also, a platform for crypto securities trading was launched and in the near future it is planned to open a service for institutional investors.
However, there are not only positive, but also negative points. In the spring of 2018, the network appeared interesting researchconducted by investment specialist Silvian Reibs, which showed that the largest stock exchanges "wind up" indicators of trading volumes. Among the “heroes of the novel” is Huobi, as well as another major stock exchange from TOP-3. Unfortunately, the site did not comment on the results of this study.
Today, Huobi is in demand among many traders who join the ranks of the exchange customers every day. Considering that next year the site intends to realize its global plans for scaling, it has every chance to stay at the top of the crypto market and fight for a leader.