Kucoin Review
The world of cryptocurrency offers an exciting new opportunity for retail investors of any level. However, being in its infancy makes the quality of offerings and services vary greatly in both quality and trustworthiness. Cryptocurrency is decentralized, uninsured, and unregulated (with only its developers and, in some cases, holders of the currency overseeing things). Like the 60's cowboy movie "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" the same can be said of tools and services offered in the crypto space.
This review is of the crypto exchange, Kucoin. Founded in 2017, they are rapidly becoming one of the top five crypto exchanges in the world. A constant question investors have is what to do with their currency once they've acquired it. Kucoin differentiates itself by answering that question by offering exciting features and ways to grow your crypto besides just buying low, selling high, or holding it for a long time. Stuff in the space moves at a breakneck pace, and new opportunities to grow your investment constantly appear. Kucoin does an excellent job in placing those opportunities in one easily accessible ecosystem.
We'll go over the different features and tools Kucoin offers and how they perform. At the conclusion, we'll grade some of the innovative features they have built into the ecosystem to help you grow your investment.
Kucoin is a "mobile-first" exchange meaning that while accessible from any device or computer, it's crafted with iPhone and Android users in mind. This review takes both the web-based and mobile platforms into account but emphasizes the latter as that is how the majority of users utilize it.
Account Setup
Signing up from both the web browser or through the mobile app proved very simple; however, the app was the easiest.
Tips
Keep in mind your requirements and process of verifying your identity will vary based on where you live.
User Interface & Navigation
The web-based interface is clean and decently easy to navigate. The dashboard lets you see all your assets across all of your accounts. You will need to hover over the top-level navigation to see everything available, and it's not always intuitive how they are organized. The charting tools on the desktop version blow the mobile version out of the water.
On the mobile app, the member dashboard serves as a landing page that lets you navigate the various tools and services they provide within the ecosystem. Kucoin does not allow you to customize this member dashboard.
A frustrating thing is their intrusive marketing and ads. When you open your app, a full-screen pop-up ad will appear advertising a special event or feature. The member dashboard has an obnoxiously large "latest news" carousel towards the top, making it seem cluttered. However, despite that, the rest of it is laid out intuitively well.
Most-used tools and services such as trading, accessing charts, and viewing your assets can be found on a static bar on the bottom of the screen and a crypto/contract search bar on the top. Kucoin gives you a list of top and least performing cryptocurrencies on the exchange, which is a great feature when looking for a new currency in which to invest.
Tools and Research
To say Kucoin has a robust market research tool is a massive understatement. It is a thing of immense beauty and breathtaking power.
The mobile app is no slouch in regards to research tools and data display. After a few minutes, it's clear they are towards the top in the industry. They make the eight most popular indicators (such as RSI) readily accessible. In addition to the standard charts and graphs, several beneficial tools such as the order book in clear view and quick access buttons make the entire experience require as few button taps as possible.
As good as the mobile app is, doing in-depth charting and research using their web-based application is far superior, especially if you rely heavily on charts or are a student of critical analysis. In addition to indicators, they have the most popular charting patterns and grid shapes built-in as templates. Their tools and aids drastically shorten your learning curve when reading charts and make you seem like a seasoned chart reader.
Trading Currency
First, Kucoin has an impressive number of cryptocurrencies that it supports. There's nothing worse than wanting to move quickly on a fast-moving coin only to realize it's not available on your exchange.
The Kucoin trading tools are straightforward to use. Once you click the "Trade" button and select your trade pairing, you are ready to go. One thing to note is that the trading window defaults to a limit order. If you need other methods, tap the "limit" drop-down for alternatives such as market, stop limit, and stop market orders.
Ease of Use and Dependability
The app is a joy to use and carries only a slight learning curve to become comfortable doing anything you want to do.
The Kucoin app has little maintenance-related downtime and minimal glitching. Every minute counts, and Kucoin's dependability is a big plus.
Kucoin Fees and Discounts
When comparing their fees, they are on par and often less expensive than other crypto exchanges. For example, the withdrawal fee for Bitcoin (BTC) on Kucoin is 0.0005BTC which is less than the global industry average of 0.000643BTC. That may not seem like much, but multiply that over dozens of transactions, and the savings are significant.
Another plus is that Kucoin offers up to a 20% discount on trading fees if you pay them using their native token KCS. All that's needed is to purchase a few coins and turn the option on in the navigation pane that opens when you tap your profile photo.
Funding Your Account
Kucoin has a list of countries in which funding your account is very straightforward. However, if you reside in the United States, as I do, funding your account is more complicated and involves third-party apps and exchanges to get your currency into Kucoin rather than connecting your bank account via P2P.
You cannot simply deposit USD and purchase crypto within the app. You will need to convert your fiat currency into a cryptocurrency on another service and send it to the appropriate wallet. Another option is to use one of their affiliates (i.e., Simplex) within the Kucoin app.
There are several issues when using one of their affiliates in-app (Simplex and Banx):
- You have to go through an entirely new registration and verification process.
- The fees are very high, and they will sell you the crypto at a premium.
- It may take days before the money deposits.
- Several US-based users (this writer included) have reported their cards being flagged/frozen for suspicious activity by the credit card company.
Getting your funds into Kucoin is one of their more considerable downsides that they will hopefully fix soon.
Tools For Crypto Investment
Kucoin shines in its seemingly relentless pursuit of creating tools that help its users invest their money in more innovative, more efficient ways. Below are some of them and how they perform.
Trading Bot
Only available in the mobile app. Using this feature allows the user to automate trades and frees them from continually monitoring what the market is doing. Kucoin's bot was very easy to set up and simultaneously lets you run ten of them.
Create your own or use ones from other users. A good feature is you can see what the rate of return has been for each bot, giving you an idea of what you can expect before investing your funds. Keep in mind there is a varying minimum investment amount depending on the crypto you choose and the trading volume.
Futures Trading Bot
Currently, in limited release, it offers the same automation benefits as their classic bot with the bonus of taking a long or short position, increasing the potential for profit. Another positive of this tool is that it allows the users to use up to 5x leverage on their investments.
Tip
Leverage will put you at greater risk of losing your investment and possibly more if things don't go your way. Be sure to read through their documentation before using it.
Crypto Lending
Kucoin allows you to lend out your cryptocurrency for seven, fourteen, and twenty-eight-day periods. It has excellent flexibility in letting you choose how much to lend and at what interest rate you would like to charge. If you use their auto-lending feature, it will automatically loan out your funds to the next borrower without you having to do anything.
Kucoin Bonus
Kucoin pays daily dividends to users that hold KCS in their portfolio. For example, depending on market conditions, having $140.00USD in KCS could net you an average of $0.06USD per day. This was a nice feature and a good way for users to be rewarded for supporting their ecosystem. It's also super fun to claim your bonus funds every day.
Staking & Futures
These features are very intuitive in the Kucoin app and are easily accessible from the currency data page. At the time of this writing, they offer free USDT to try out their futures trading platform. A big plus in regards to the futures is that they offer you up to 50x leverage to potentially capture larger profits.
Kucoin Review Recap
Overall, Kucoin is hands down one of the best cryptocurrency exchanges in the market. Their innovative, automated investment solutions paired with their robust research and trading tools make it a pleasure to use.
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