Andrew James is a cryptocurrency writer for Finder. Andrew has worked in and written about crypto since 2017. His hobbies include playing bad rugby and cooking acceptable curries.
Disclaimer: This information should not be interpreted as an endorsement of cryptocurrency or any specific
provider, service or offering. It is not a recommendation to trade.
What fiat and cryptocurrencies are supported?
Supported fiat currencies:
USD, EUR, GBP, RUB
Supported cryptocurrencies:
Approximately 22 cryptocurrencies
1. Buy and sell Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies easily across all of your devices from CEX.IO's brokerage service, with the convenience of using the same account you use for exchange trading.
2. One of CEX.IO's strongest points is the wide range of payment options it supports across various jurisdictions, with USD, EUR, GBP and Russian rubles all accepted.
3. Power users can move beyond the spot market and play the cryptocurrency markets, with CFDs on cryptocurrency and margin trading available up to 100x.
4. Take out a loan with your cryptocurrency holdings as collateral – all without a credit check.
5. However, watch out for pricing. Like many exchanges, CEX.IO could be more upfront about how much it charges for buying, rather than for trading on its platform.
CEX.IO’s fees for trading are calculated based on how much you have traded across all pairs in the last 30 days. This is recalculated every day at midnight GMT and is inclusive of the trades you have made that day.
The fees are different depending on whether you are the maker or the taker, that is, on which side of the transaction you are on. Makers place orders, takers act as counterparties to other traders’ orders.
30 day trade volume (BTC)
Taker
Maker
≤ 5
0.25%
0.16%
≤ 30
0.23%
0.15%
≤ 50
0.21%
0.13%
≤ 100
0.20%
0.12%
≤ 200
0.18%
0.10%
≤ 1000
0.15%
0.08%
≤ 3000
0.13%
0.04%
≤ 6000
0.11%
0.00%
> 6000
0.10%
0.00%
Deposit fees
These vary depending on the currency you want to deposit.
USD
Payment method
Deposit fee
Visa
2.99%
Mastercard
2.99%
Skrill
3.99%
Bank transfer
None
ACH
None
Advcash
None
ACH
None
EUR
Payment method
Deposit fee
Visa
2.99%
Mastercard
2.99%
Skrill
3.99%
Bank transfer
None
SEPA
None
Advcash
None
GBP
Payment method
Deposit fee
Visa
2.99%
Mastercard
2.99%
Skrill
3.99%
Bank transfer
None
Faster Payments
None
RUB
Payment method
Deposit fee
Visa
2.99%
QIWI
NA
Mastercard
2.99%
Bank transfer
0.5%
Withdrawal fees
Note that CEX.IO is one of the few cryptocurrency exchanges where it is possible to make withdrawals straight to payment cards.
USD
Skrill1%
Payment method
Withdrawal fee
Visa
Up to 3% + $1.20 service fee Up to $3.80 commission fee
Mastercard
Up to 1.8% + $1.20 service fee Up to 1.2% + $3.80 commission fee
Bank transfer
0.3% + $25
ACH
None
advcash
None
Epay
1%
EUR
Skrill1%
Payment method
Withdrawal fee
Visa
Up to 3% + €1.50 service fee Up to €3.50 commission fee
Mastercard
Up to 1.8% + €1.50 service fee Up to 1.2% + €3.50 commission fee
Bank transfer
0.3% + €25
SEPA
None
Advcash
None
GBP
Skrill1%
Payment method
Withdrawal fee
Visa
Up to 3% + £2.10 service fee Up to £2.90 commission fee
Mastercard
Up to 1.8% + £2.10 service fee Up to 1.2% + £2.90 commission fee
Bank transfer
0.3% + £25 levy
Faster payments
None
RUB
Payment method
Withdrawal fee
Visa
0.5% + ₽20 Up to 2.5% + ₽30 commission fee
QIWI
3.5%
Mastercard
0.5% + ₽20 Up to 2.5% + ₽30 commission fee
Bank transfer
NA
Fees for CEX.IO’s brokerage service, where it acts as your counterparty, vary according to market and network conditions, but they can get as high as 7%.
Unverified accounts are limited to depositing $3,000 daily and withdrawing $10,000, but this goes up to $10,000 for each when you verify your account.
Fees for buying $1,000 of Bitcoin
At the time of writing (11 June 2021), US$1,000 will buy you 0.0251 BTC on CEX.IO.
This is against the current “real” value of $1,000 in Bitcoin – 0.027.
This is because you are being charged a premium for trading directly with CEX.IO as a broker rather than trading with other cryptocurrency enthusiasts on their trading network, in this case, 7%.
How do I create an account at CEX.IO?
Go to the account creation page, enter your email address, create a password and accept the terms of use and privacy policy.
You’ll receive a confirmation email. Open it and click the link to activate your account.
You next need to finalise setting up your account by adding your name and date of birth, making sure they are the same as the details on the ID documents you will use to verify your account.
Now you need to verify your identity – see below.
We also strongly recommend you set up 2-factor authentication (2FA) on your account.
CEX.IO supports staking and claims. $465,000 has been paid out to staking clients so far. Rewards are calculated daily and distributed monthly.
Here are the coins you can stake and the estimated annual yields. You should bear in mind that the rewards are calculated and initiated by the network, not by CEX.IO itself.
Coin
Estimated annual yield
Minimum holdings
Reward coin
Free TON
12.5%
1 TON
TON
Ziliqa
16%
1 ZIL
ZIL
Ontology
3%
1 ONT
ONG
Tezos
5-6%
10 XTZ
XTZ
Polkadot
10%
1 DOT
DOT
NEO
1.5%
1 NEO
GAS
Matic
10%
500 MATIC
MATIC
Cosmos
8-9%
10 ATOM
ATOM
Cardano
3-4%
10 ADA
ADA
MetaHash
20%
10,000 MHC
MHC
Tron
3.5%
1,000 TRX
TRX
Margin trading
CEX.IO offers margin trading between 2x and 100x leverage. Margin trading is where you can trade with funds that CEX.IO lends to you, with your existing holdings acting as collateral.
At the time of writing, this service is only available for Bitcoin, Ethereum and Tether.
We have to underline: Be careful with margin trading, especially at moments of market euphoria.
Derivatives
CEX.IO offers CFDs (contracts for difference) on Bitcoin.
CFDs allow you to trade on the price movements of Bitcoin without actually owning the asset itself.
Think of it as a little like a bet. You go long if you think the price will go up, and take a position accordingly, and vice versa, you go short if you think the price will go down.
They are usually much more liquid and flexible than owning actual cryptocurrency assets, and experienced traders can build highly elaborate strategies based on where they think the market will move next.
If you’re really serious about your trading, or work for a business that is, CEX.IO offers its Aggregator service.
This is a proprietary matching engine that connects high-volume or institutional clients with liquidity providers, and it has also developed a suite of APIs to aid execution.
If you don’t know what any of this means, don’t worry, it’s not meant for everyday retail clients, but it does speak to the seriousness of the operation.
Customer support
One of CEX.IO’s strongest suits is its customer service.
Support is available 24/7, there’s an online knowledge centre, dedicated support email addresses, a chatbot that becomes a live chat with a human being, and even a phone number you can ring.
This is a good show; CEX.IO even posts apologetic blog posts when the customer service pipes get clogged.
Is CEX.IO safe to use?
Regulation
CEX.IO is not regulated by the FCA in its native UK, and CEX.IO has had some run-ins with it in the past, but the FCA has long been reluctant to fully license cryptocurrency firms.
However, CEX.IO has been registered as a Money Services Businesses (MSB) with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), part of the US Department of the Treasury, and it has obtained a licence from the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission (GFSC) and Money Transmitter Licenses (MTLs) in 31 US states.
The company also has a pending application for a digital payment token service licence with the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
Verification process
As befits such an ambitious company, CEX.IO’s verification process is unusually thorough.
You need to be verified to unlock these functionalities:
Buying cryptocurrency with your debit or credit card.
Making card deposits of up to $3,000 and withdrawals of up to $10,000 a day.
Trading with available cryptocurrencies using market/limit orders and API tools.
Pay with Epay, Skrill or QIWI services.
You’ll need your passport, driver’s licence or other government-issued ID, and users in the US will need their social security number.
CEX.IO will ask you not only for a photo of this document, but a selfie with the document, along with thorough information from the document – issue numbers, and so on.
The selfie sounds like a lot, but think of it as like a passport photo – so no sunglasses.
There are also “verified plus” and “corporate” verification levels, but most retail users won’t be needing these.
Security features
There’s no such thing as a totally secure cryptocurrency exchange, so bear that in mind and do take the usual security precautions regarding your own private data.
For its part, CEX.IO is accredited to a level 1 standard (the highest) for data security according to industry standards developed by leading legacy financial services and payments providers.
Verdict
There are exchanges out there that have higher international profiles or are more upfront about what they charge their brokerage clients on the spot market, but CEX.IO gets a lot of things right, and is hard not to recommend.
From its user-friendly experience to thorough security, to the range of brokerage and trading options on offer, this is a solid offer that credibly challenges the big players in the space.
Disclaimer: Cryptocurrencies are speculative, complex and involve significant risks – they are highly
volatile and sensitive to secondary activity. Performance is unpredictable and past performance is no guarantee of
future performance. Consider your own circumstances, and obtain your own advice, before relying on this information.
You should also verify the nature of any product or service (including its legal status and relevant regulatory
requirements) and consult the relevant Regulators' websites before making any decision. Finder, or the author, may
have holdings in the cryptocurrencies discussed.
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