Phemex Exchange – A Full Review
Built for Experts and Beginners
Phemex was founded in 2019 by a team of ex-Morgan Stanley executives with decades of experience on Wall Street and the traditional financial sector. The team also has a high level of technical proficiency, as some previously worked at other exchanges. Their combined experience makes this an ideal team to lead an exchange for both professional and beginner-level traders.
Everything about Phemex, especially its industry-leading security, positions it as one of the most advanced crypto exchanges in existence. Although an extremely powerful product, it is still fully suitable to beginners. That’s because the interface is intuitive to users’ needs and expectations. Professional traders will find advanced order types such as trailing stops and profit taking triggers that are not commonly found on other exchanges.
Phemex Exchange Summary
| Headquarters | Singapore |
| Year Established | 2019 |
| Regulation | FinCEN registered & regulated |
| Security | Excellent |
| Fiat supported | Most currencies accepted, including USD, EUR, GBP, JPY, CAD |
| Fiat ➡️ Crypto | Credit and debit cards Apple Pay/Google Pay Bank wire/transfer |
| KYC | Recommended but not required. Some restrictions without it. |
| Maker/Taker Fees | Starting at: 0.1%/0.1% – spot 0.01%/0.06% – contract |
| Cryptocurrencies supported | 230+ coins, 240+ trading pairs |
| Platforms | Desktop, mobile, tablet |
What I Like About Phemex?
- The founders are experienced within the financial industry. This gives me confidence that they will continue to run the business well.
- Exchange security is industry-leading. This is a more important consideration than ever and Phemex is also transparent about their reserves.
- The platform is user–friendly and intuitive to the needs of a wide user base. This makes it a great option for people who are new to crypto or even using an exchange for the first time.
- Phemex also caters to professional traders. With a wide range of assets (230+) and multiple trading formats – spot, perpetual contract, copy trade.
- The team provides educational resources. These guide users in the completion of simple and complex operations and greatly reduces the learning curve.
- Customer support is better than average. I have personally met with members of the team for several discussions and they’ve been nothing but helpful and flexible in their approach.
- Uptime is impeccable and trades can be executed at any time. This is more important than it sounds. Many exchanges experience downtime and overload during key market moments. Not Phemex.
Key Features and Benefits of Phemex Exchange
Phemex Exchange is known for offering an extremely fast trading engine, great security and support, an intuitive interface, low fees and high liquidity. They also offer sub-accounts for easy asset management.
These features automatically place Phemex among the top crypto exchanges in the world. But what other defining user benefits make them stand out among the competition? Let’s take a look:
📈 Wide Range of Cryptocurrencies (230+)
💰 Low Fees
🏋🏻♀️ Outstanding Referral Program
📚 Learning Academy & User Guides
Drawbacks and Disadvantages of Trading on Phemex
There are few drawbacks to Phemex exchange, other than some location-based restrictions. In particular, residents of the US and some Canadian provinces are barred from accessing certain platform features.
If you choose to use a VPN, the following exclusion list may not matter, but do note that local regulations change often and KYC may be required depending on location and activities performed on Phemex exchange.
Phemex location exclusion list:
United States of America**, United Kingdom, Québec (Canada), Alberta (Canada), Cuba, Crimea, Sevastopol, Iran, Syria, North Korea, South Korea, Sudan, China, Hong Kong, Republic of Seychelles, Bermuda.
Note** US users are able to use Phemex OTC trading service to safely buy and sell cryptocurrencies through USD wire transfer or via credit cards and supported payment gateways.
Phemex Exchange Security
Phemex uses the most advanced security protocols to ensure that your funds are safe at all times. The platform uses multi-signature cold storage wallets to keep user funds offline and away from hackers’ reach. In addition, all withdrawals are confirmed manually before they are processed to ensure that no unauthorized withdrawals are made.
As a further step, each critical operation performed by users (including login, funding, withdrawal, and password modification) is protected through automatically-triggered two-factor authentication to protect account integrity and security. Users may also choose to enable anti-fishing email codes.
No Centralized Control: Unlike most other crypto exchanges, Phemex doesn’t keep user funds in one single central location. Instead, each user is assigned a separate cold wallet address. That means there’s no way for hackers or thieves to steal your money easily! This is done through a technology known as a Hierarchical Deterministic Cold Wallet System.
Broad Selection of Crypto Assets
Phemex exchange boasts over 230 individual cryptocurrencies and 240+ trading pairs across the spot and perpetual contract markets. This range of assets falls roughly into the middle of the pack among the bigger exchanges. It’s fewer than Binance and Bitget, but more than Kraken and Bitstamp for example. I’d say it’s more than enough variety for the average user.
Check out the full list of Phemex trading pairs on CoinMarketCap.
Phemex Fees
Phemex trading fees are structured in a tiered format, where users are rewarded through higher trading volumes. This makes their system one of the most competitive among industry peers. Fees start at 0.1% for spot trades, and 0.01% for contract trades. Here’s the full fee schedule:
Spot Fees
Contract Fees
User-friendly Interface
The exchange interface is simple to navigate and has a clean design that makes it easy to spot the important information you need at a glance. The app has a built-in wallet feature that allows users not only to trade on the exchange but also withdraw funds directly from their wallets using QR codes. Both the website and mobile app are fast and feature-rich for quick and easy trade execution.
Phemex encourages users to enable two-factor authentication (2FA) when logging into the platform which activates an extra layer of security so there’s virtually no way a bad actor could sneak in. Just in case, it’s recommended to use different passwords for each of your accounts and never reuse old passwords.
Sub-Accounts
Not every exchange allows traders to set up sub-accounts, but Phemex makes the process quick and
Not every exchange allows traders to set up sub-accounts, but Phemex makes the process quick and easy. The main account and sub-accounts can all be controlled from one central hub on Phemex website.
To access Phemex sub-accounts:
- Log into your account on Phemex website.
- Toggle over the Account icon in upper right corner of the screen.
- Scroll down to the Sub-accounts option above Settings.
- You will now see your main account along with your sub-accounts.
Sub-accounts allow users to segregate funds for the purpose of running multiple strategies simultaneously or using one account to hedge another. It’s possible to run short and long strategies at the same time and have separate accounts for scalping, swing trades, and long-term holds.
More advanced users may want to run bots or test automated strategies on sub-accounts. They may also wish to run low-leverage trades with isolated leverage one one account and high-leverage, cross-margin trades on another. This opens up a great deal of creativity and allows traders to operate like a private hedge fund.
Phemex Copy Trade
Copy trading for passive income is a relatively new feature for Phemex. It’s an attractive diversification tool, especially for those who lack the time to trade for themselves.
The copy trade platform can allow beginners to learn the habits of more experienced traders just through observing their habits and the assets they trade. A lot of patterns can be observed this way. Experienced traders may also chose to follow others for a little side income.
Some people prefer to trade just Bitcoin and Ethereum, while others like to trade any coin that is trending. The latter is difficult to do because it involves studying the characteristics, behaviors and tendencies of each individual asset.
The copy trading platform allows traders to share their strategies with the world and enjoy a profit share up to 20% from their followers.
An important word of caution here. Make sure you follow traders with an established history of operations – preferably they have been active for at least a few weeks and demonstrate some consistency with a smooth equity curve.
Look For This ✅
Avoid This ❌
You’ll find more information below that, such as win rate and profitable trades vs. Positions. Even if these numbers look excellent, it only takes one mismanaged trade to erase all the prior successes. For that reason, I recommend small allocations per trader. You can always scale up with the profits later on!
Phemex is Extremely Fast
Phemex uses a highly-advanced matching engine that can handle 300,000 transactions per second with order response times under 1 millisecond. This allows traders to get their orders matched quickly and at the best possible price without having to wait in line.
Phemex pairs this matching engine with an advanced trading engine built for high-frequency trading and written in stable and predictable C++ coding. The Phemex team claims their engines are over 10x faster than competitors and they don’t overload during volatile market activity. It’s a highly effective low latency solution for all market participants.
Zero Downtime
The Phemex engines are built for high-stress situations. They utilize a proprietary recovery system that promises 99.99% availability, meaning that the chance of not being able to execute a trade is a mere 0.01%. So there is a chance that 1 out of every 10,000 trades may not be executed immediately on average. That’s a standard that few are able to match. The efficient setup where each engine runs multiple hot and warm backups simultaneously allows for smooth transitions in and out of exchange maintenance or upgrade times. What would generally create blackout periods for most exchanges is just a blip on the radar for Phemex. This makes holding positions for lengthy periods of time a lot less risky.
Outstanding Referral Program
Along with being among the fastest and most secure exchanges in existence, Phemex also offers a referral program that’s second to none. In my conversations with the team, I got a sense that the sky is truly the limit for affiliates.
When you become member of the Phemex All-Star program, you become an equal opportunity partner with unlimited upside. They offer up to 50% lifetime commissions on all trading fees collected from members in your network. On top of that, any new All-Star Starters you recruit will earn you an extra 10% commission from their referral network.
The lifetime value here is enormous, and when you get to know the team, they’ll tell you that’s only the tip of the iceberg. Phemex is really flexible and willing to work with affiliates individually to come up with custom partnerships. These can include monthly retainers, additional trading funds, reduced fees and more. The incentive to work with Phemex long-term is unparalleled.
Learning Academy & User Guides
Even if you decide not to trade with Phemex, you can learn a lot just from their free educational content. I can’t get over how much content the team has created in the last couple of years. It shows they are seeking the right kind of users who are willing to educate themselves before launching into trading.
Alongside the plenty of user guides, you’ll find a feature called Learn & Earn where you can watch videos, complete quizzes and earn cashback vouchers for free crypto. There’s also a blog with crypto tips & tricks, and a trade simulator where you can practice without risking any real money.
Proof of Reserves
Have you ever deposited your money on an exchange and wondered where your funds went? That’s a very valid concern! Phemex was one of the first crypto exchanges to roll out a proof of reserves tool for users to verify their funds and where they are located.
The system is based on Merkle trees, which reflect all user balances without exposing any private information. Phemex not only provides proof of wallet assets, but also of the exchange balances and liabilities.
While many of our competitors have either only provided proof of their wallet assets alone or proof of their platform balances/liabilities alone, we provide both.
To check account reserves at any time, go to the Phemex PoR page. It’s a good idea to do this every once in a while!
Phemex Exchange FAQ
Q. Can I have 2 Phemex accounts?
A. Having multiple accounts is against Phemex terms of service; however, you can have as many sub-accounts as you like!
Q. Is Phemex legit or a scam?
A. Phemex is a FinCEN regulated entity, making it a very safe place for investors to make OTC purchases. They are also highly transparent about exchange reserves all user assets are backed 1:1 on the platform. See Phemex proof-of-reserves.
Q. Can I use Phemex in the US?
A. Yes, US users can buy and sell cryptocurrencies via USD wire transfer or credit cards and supported payment gateways using Phemex OTC trading service.
Q. How long does Phemex withdrawal take?
A. Withdrawals are processed three times per day, at at 08:00, 16:00, and 24:00 (UTC). Each transaction reviewed by a rigorous risk-management system to mitigate fraud.
Q. Is Phemex safe?
A. Phemex uses a Hierarchical Deterministic Cold Wallet System and multi-signature verification to safeguard funds. Each critical operation performed by users is protected through automatically-triggered two-factor authentication to protect account integrity and security.
Q. Has Phemex ever been hacked?
A. No! User funds have never been compromised due to Phemex’ industry-leading security systems.
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