Disclaimer: This information is not financial advice or an endorsement of cryptocurrency or any specific provider, service or offering. Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile and high risk. Do your own research and seek financial advice before buying. Please check with providers if their services are available in your state.
What is Liquid?
Liquid is an online cryptocurrency exchange where you can trade a wide range of fiat/crypto and crypto/crypto currency pairs. Its innovative order book, called the World Book, combines a global network of liquidity sources in order to provide access to a higher level of liquidity and better price matching.
The site also offers Liquid Margin, where you can trade with up to 25x leverage, and has its own utility token known as QASH. Use QASH to pay for services on Liquid, which was rebranded to Liquid Coin (LQC) as of February 2019.
Liquid’s parent company, Quoine, is headquartered in Tokyo and is licensed by the Japanese Financial Services Agency. Quoine was founded in 2014 and launched Quoinex, a fiat-to-crypto trading platform, in the same year.
In 2017, the company launched a crypto-to-crypto exchange known as Qryptos, and in the 12 months to July 2018, the two platforms handled a combined total of more than $50 billion in transactions.
In September 2018, Liquid was formed from the amalgamation of Quoinex and Qryptos.
Which cryptocurrencies can I buy/sell?
Liquid lists dozens of cryptocurrencies on its trading platform, so there’s not enough space to include them all here. However, some of the currencies you can buy and sell on Liquid include the following:
- Bitcoin
- Ethereum
- XRP
- Bitcoin Cash
- Litecoin
- Stellar Lumens
- NEO
- NEM
- Ethereum Classic
- Qtum
- Electroneum
- Fusion
Available countries
Liquid offers its services to users worldwide, with the exception of the following countries:
- Congo
- Eritrea
- Ethiopia
- Iran
- Iraq
- Libya
- North Korea
- Serbia
- Somalia
- South Sudan
- Sri Lanka
- Sudan
- Syria
- Trinidad and Tobago
- Tunisia
- Vanuatu
- Yemen
In addition, if you reside in the US, you can’t trade fiat pairs on the platform. If you’re a Japanese resident, you can only access currency pairs and services that are approved by the Japanese Financial Services Agency.
Which payment methods are accepted?
Liquid accepts cryptocurrency transfers as well as fiat deposits in the following fiat currencies:
- Japanese yen (JPY)
- US dollars (USD)
- Euros (EUR)
- Australian dollars (AUD)
- Singapore dollars (SGD)
- Hong Kong dollars (HKD)
- Philippine Peso (PHP)
To make a deposit, you’ll need to link your bank account to your Liquid account. The payment processor that handles the deposit varies depending on the currency you’re using:
- USD, AUD, SGD, EUR: Swapforex
- JPY: SBI Japan
- EUR (for deposits within SEPA): UAB Mistertango
How much will it cost me to use Liquid?
There are three types of fees you need to be aware of when using Liquid: deposit fees, trading fees and withdrawal fees.
Deposit fees
Liquid does not impose any fees on fiat or crypto deposits. However, please be aware that your bank or payment processor may charge a fee when you deposit funds.
Trading fees
Crypto/fiat pairs have no trading fees.
Crypto/crypto pairs have the following fees:
- Maker: 0.00-0.30%
- Taker: 0.06-0.30%
In addition, if you pay your trading fee with QASH, a 50% discount applies to crypto/crypto pairs for market takers.
Finally, if you’re placing a margin trade, a 0.05% fee applies to all crypto/crypto and crypto/fiat pairs.
Withdrawal fees
Liquid charges varied fees for crypto withdrawals.
However, the following fees apply to fiat currency withdrawals:
- USD: USD$15
- SGD: SGD$15
- EUR: EUR€15
- AUD: AUD$15
- JPY: JPYÂ¥1500
- HKD: HKD$100
Please note that payment processor charges also apply as follows:
- Swapforex: US$35.25 equivalent per transaction
- UAB Mistertango (SEPA payments only): EUR€0.99 per transaction or zero if the beneficiary account is held at UAB Mistertango
How fast will my funds be available?
According to Liquid’s Trading Rules document, fiat withdrawals generally take three banking days while the withdrawal of digital assets generally takes two business days from the date of the request. This wait time is quite a long one for crypto withdrawals, so make sure you’re aware of it before you start trading.
Transaction limits
A combined trading limit of 500 BTC (or equivalent) per hour for market takers and spot trades/leveraged trades applies. You also won’t be able to withdraw any funds from your Liquid account until you have uploaded proof of ID.
How safe is Liquid?
Quoine is licensed by the Japanese Financial Services Agency and has implemented a range of anti-money laundering and security measures to protect user funds. These include the following:
- ID verification required before you can start trading — you’ll need to provide government-issued ID, proof of address and a selfie
- 100% cold wallet storage of crypto assets
- Mandatory two-factor authentication (2FA) for all users
- Crypto withdrawal address whitelist
- No API withdrawals
Compare alternatives to Liquid
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BTC, BCH, BSV, ADA, DOGE, EOS, ETC, FIL, XLM, ZEC & 50+ more
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Trading fee
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Withdraw fees
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Deposit method
Credit card, Cryptocurrency, PayPal, TransferWise, SEPA
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Trading fee
Maker: 0.04-0.20%
Taker: 0.10-0.20%
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Withdraw fees
Cryptocurrency: Fees vary
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Customer support
If you have any problems with your account or even a specific transaction, Liquid’s online support center contains several guides and answers to a wide range of FAQs.
If you need further assistance, you can open a live chat window to start a conversation with the Liquid support team.
Pros and cons
Pros
- User-friendly interface
- Access to an extensive range of fiat/crypto and crypto/crypto trading pairs
- Very competitive trading fees, including a rebate for market makers on crypto/crypto pairs
- Good range of security features
- Leverage trading also available
Cons
- Slow withdrawal times
- Withdrawal costs — including payment processor fees — can be expensive
Next steps
Compare Liquid’s features with those offered by a range of other leading crypto exchanges. If you then decide that you’d like to start trading on Liquid, visit the Liquid website to sign up for an account.
To register, select the Sign up link and choose your country of residence. You can then provide your email address, create a password and enter your full name. As 2FA is a mandatory requirement, you’ll need to set this up before you can start trading.
FAQs
What order types are available on Liquid?
Liquid allows you to place market orders, limit orders, stop-loss orders and trailing stop orders.
What happened to Qryptos and Quoinex, the two platforms Liquid has superseded?
Qryptos was shut down and has been unavailable since September 4, 2018. Liquid has replaced Quoinex.
What if I had a Qryptos or Quoinex account?
You don’t need to do anything. Log in to Liquid using the same account details, and any funds that were previously in your account will have been transferred over to Liquid.
Does Liquid list all the same currencies as Qryptos and Quoinex did?
Yes. All the coins and tokens that were on Qryptos and Quoinex are now on Liquid.
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.
Disclosure: At time of writing, the author holds ADA, ICX, IOTA and XLM.
