The complete guide to Binance
Binance, a Chinese crypto exchange, is well liked for its services to exchange crypto-to-crypto. Although new to the market, the company has gained huge popularity due to its substantial number of Initial Coin Offerings and low fees.
How does the Exchange Work?
Binance offers basic and advanced digital asset trading options. For the complete beginner, neither of these options will however be simple to use. Having said that, individuals with some background in crypto and knowledge of how exchanges function should not have a problem using the exchange and the services it offers.
The main differences between the two versions is that an in-depth analysis of crypto currency values is offered in the advanced option. The basic version’s dashboard currently shows charts and graphs for pairs being traded, as well as trade history and order books.
The basic option is designed well and has a good layout. Prices appear on the left, with graphs, complete with sell and buy options in the center, and the coin’s history on the right. This allows users to see the latest trade prices easily.
The advanced option has a darker theme with bigger trading charts. Current token prices are shown to the right, while buy and sell boxes are displayed below these.
Binance Login and Signup
Users have to register with the site to use the exchange. This process is simple and accounts have to be verified for level one with a withdrawal limit of 2 BTC per day. To reach level 2 with a daily withdrawal limit of 100 BTC, a photo ID has to be uploaded. It does take some time for this approval to come through. For even higher limits, users must contact Binance directly.
As verification times depends on the support staff’s workload, ensure you leave enough time when withdrawing big amounts.
A Binance account can be funded with various crypto currencies, but the recommendation is that either ETH or BTC be used. Account are funded by clicking the “Funds” > “Deposits / Withdrawals” link. Select the relevant currency, click on the “Deposit” button and make a note of their wallet address provided. To start trading, simply send your deposit to this address. The type of currency deposited will determine how long it takes before the transaction is completed, as this depends on that currency’s blockchain. Currencies like Bitcoin are slower than for example Ethereum.
Once the account has been funded, start investing, exchanging and trading with various crypto currencies. Binance supports all major crypto, as well as various ICO listings with their tokens.
The platform currently only supports market and limit orders. Some consider this a disadvantage as more advanced trading options were expected.
Trading on Binance
If you have previous experience of using a cryptocurrency exchange, trading on Binance is easy. Once your account has been funded, select “Exchange” > “Basic” or “Advanced” to get started. The description below uses the Basic option.
Select the crypto you want to trade in from a tab on the right and select the currency you want from the list. Search can be used and favorites created by clicking on the star symbol next to a currency.
With the currency loaded, note that the column on the left shows selling prices in red in the top half and buying prices in the bottom half in green. The number in the center indicates the last selling price achieved.
To generate a buying order, look at the box in the middle below the graphs to find the buy section on the right in green. Manually enter the price you want to buy at, or click on any of the numbers in the left column. Enter how many coins you want to buy, or select one of the percentage buttons. These will autofill the amount depending on the volume of buying currency in your account.
Orders that have been placed will appear in the “Open Orders” section until the order is executed, at which stage the currency will be shown under “Deposits / Withdrawals” where it can be withdrawn.
Which Crypto Currencies are Supported?
Binance is so popular because it supports a wide selection of coins. Digital currencies supported include, but are not limited to Dash, Bitcoin Gold, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, EOS, Ethereum Classic, NEO Monero, Ethereum, Tezos, Litecoin, GAS, Zcash and Ripple.
Various tokens are also supported by Binance, as part of their ICO listing, meaning that traders can also trade these for profit. Currently, Binance is still quickly adding new tokens and coins after the ICO. This means you’ll probably be able to buy them cheaply, allowing for big profits later on.
BNB, BTC, USDT and ETH are currently offered in trading pairs.
BNB, ICO and Binance Coin
Binance Coin was issued as part of the company’s ICO and these can be used to pay transaction fees. The coins will also form one of the key base currencies in the company’s future strategy to form a Decentralized Exchange. Buying Binance’s own coin seems like a good move as Binance intends to use their returns to buy back some of these coins and then destroy them every quarter. This will decrease supply and increase their value.
Limits and Fees on Binance
Binance fees are 0.1% on every trade made. If Binance’s own token is used to pay, a massive 50% discount is applied to fees. This makes Binance’s fees one of the lowest currently available.
Withdrawal fees are different for different currencies. 0.005 is for example levied on ETH withdrawals, while 0.0005 is charged for Bitcoin withdrawals. The full details of Binance’s withdrawal fees for the various cryptos is available on the website.
Binance does not impose a limit on how many coins may be deposited. For withdrawals, limits are imposed depending on the level of verification done for each user. Being verified to level 2 will increase the limits, giving the user more flexibility when trading on the platform. Users need to supply Binance with their gender, full names, country, a photo of an ID or passport that is issues by the government, and a selfie where they hold the ID or passport.
For a full list of withdrawal fees visit Binance
Competitions held by Binance
Binance is unique in the sense that they hold competitions regularly and give away amazing prizes. Examples of competitions that were held previously include Tron and Waves. With the Waves competition, 20,000 Waves was given to traders depending on the number of trades they made with the currency.
With the Tron (TRX) competition, participants could win a Mercedes Benz, Maserati, iPhone X , or Macbook Pro. The winners were once again those with the highest volumes traded in the currency.
The winner traded more than 358 BTC, so you really need to go big to stand any chance of winning. Competitions are held regularly, so check the site regularly for the opportunity to enter.
Is it Safe to use Binance?
Although Binance is very new in the blockchain industry, it has already attained high levels of trust from both the digital currency ecosystem and its users. There is however not much information available on how Binance secures the funds. The platform uses two-factor authentication and offers a multi-tier system architecture.
Hackers launched an attack on Binance in March 2018. Despite the hackers working on their highly sophisticated scheme for months, Binance’s automated systems detected the hack and prevented any loss of funds. The only losers in this case were the hackers, and the funds they lost was donated to charity.
This failed attempt instilled a huge amount of confidence in Binance. Their automated system not only foiled the hack before any funds were lost, but they have now offered a $250,000 reward for the capture of the hackers. Binance has acted exemplary during the event and are to be commended for taking swift action to resolve the issue.
How does Customer Support at Binance work?
Although Binance’s support area could be improved, the team seems to be responsive and offers professional help to traders when needed. Online forms are used to submit support tickets and email is used to respond. Support via a live chat is not available, nor is a contact phone number listed.
Binance also offers articles and FAQs aimed at helping users get familiar with the site and how it operates.
Binance’s support is at times slow to respond to customer queries. This is common with a large exchange and is caused by the sheer number of users vs the number of support staff. Due to the explosive growth in exchanges recently, most have simply been unable to keep up with the demand. This is especially true for Binance, as they grew from the launch date to the biggest exchange globally in only a few months. It takes a while to a train support team for an exchange, as they are vetted carefully and trained thoroughly due to security and technical requirements.
Is Binance making a Move to Malta?
Nikkei, a Japanese Newspaper, reported in March 2018 that Binance is not following Japan’s official trading regulations. Although this initially caused some concern, Binance shortly thereafter announced that they plan to move their operation to the European island of Malta, which is known to be crypto friendly.
This good news from the company even warranted a welcome message from Malta’s Prime Minister on Twitter. At the same time, Binance also revealed that they were negotiating with banks in Malta in order to provide Fiat transactions.
Will Binance Launch a Decentralized Exchange?
Binance has also recently released a statement in which they reveal that they plan to launch a Decentralized Exchange (DEX). The company sees this as a significant improvement in the services offered to customers.
Binance’s own digital asset (BNB ) is now listed as an ERC-20 token, and it will migrate to the new network as the native token.
Conclusion
The matching engine of Binance’s exchange has the capability to process 1.4 million trades per second, meaning it is one of the fastest exchanges in the world. The service works well on any device, including WeChat, Android and HTML5. Multi language support is offered in English, Japanese, Korean and Chinese.
Binance is without a doubt the leading Cryptocurrency Exchange, offering amazing support for digital currencies and great fees. Due to its access to ample partners and resources, Binance is likely to continue evolving and offering great crypto exchange services.
