Bitfinex vs Kucoin | How Do They Compare & Who Is Better?

When it comes to trading fees, there are a lot of factors to consider. Bitfinex and Kucoin both offer competitive fees but with some key differences.

Let's start with Bitfinex which charges a spot maker fee of 0.1% and a spot taker fee of 0.20%. For futures trading, the maker fee is 0.02% while the taker fee is 0.065%. Bitfinex also offer some incentives to lower them for high volume traders and LEO token holders.

Now let's take a look at Kucoin. This platform offers a spot maker fee of 0.10% and a spot taker fee of 0.10%. The futures maker fee is also 0.02%, but the futures taker fee is slightly higher at 0.06%.

What sets Kucoin apart is that it offers fee reductions for both spot and futures trading once monthly trade volumes exceed 50 Bitcoins or if the user holds at least 1000 KCS tokens. Thus we can clearly see that Kucoin has lower trading fees overall compared to Bitfinex.

When it comes to options for depositing fiat currencies, Bitfinex and Kucoin offer different deposit methods.

Beginning with Bitfinex, the available deposit methods are deposits via cryptocurrencies, bank wire, and OpenPayd. Bitfinex supports 5 fiat currencies including USD, EUR, GBP, JPY, and CNH. The deposit fee on Bitfinex is 0.1% (min $60 USD) for wire deposits or 0.5 EUR fee per transaction with OpenPayd.

Kucoin supports the deposit of 28 fiat currencies such as EUR, AUD, CHF, GBP, RUB, and SEK. Almost all fiat deposit options on Kucoin are with Visa and Mastercard which come with a high 3.8% deposit fee.

For some fiat currencies like EUR there is also the option to deposit via bank transfer or Advcash for 1 EUR and zero fees respectively. Besides fiat and crypto deposits, Kucoin also works with third-party providers such as Banxa which let's users buy crypto with card. This however is a more expensive method to acquire cryptocurrencies.

Moving on to withdrawals, Bitfinex offers fiat currency withdrawals via Bank Wire and OpenPayd for 5 supported fiat currencies. The minimum withdrawal amount is 10K USD/EUR.

There is a also 0.1% withdrawal fee with a minimum fee of $20. As for cryptocurrency withdrawals, Bitfinex charges 0.0004 BTC for Bitcoin withdrawals and 0.0017 ETH to withdraw Ethereum.

On the other hand, Kucoin offers fiat withdrawals for EUR via SEPA and for a few other fiat currencies via bank transfer. The exchange charges a 5 EUR fee for SEPA withdrawals but cheaper bank transfer options are also available with a 1 EUR fee.

When it comes to cryptocurrency withdrawals, Kucoin charges 0.001 BTC for Bitcoin, 0.01 ETH and 0.01 SOL for those that wish to withdraw their Solana. Withdrawals of both fiat and cryptocurrencies are on the higher end on Kucoin.

After analyzing the numbers and facts of Bitfinex and Kucoin, the conclusion is that Kucoin is the overall better and more versatile exchange. While Bitfinex is an infamous trading venue which has had it's ups and downs, Kucoin is the much larger exchange both in terms of users, number of cryptocurrencies and in terms of it's product range.

The user experience on Kucoin is also better and more tailored for both newbies and more advanced traders. Bitfinex is not suitable for beginners but for professional traders who want to trade futures with the ability to take on high leverage. Kucoin has higher daily trading volumes and as such offers better liquidity than Bitfinex.

Beginners can also begin trading much easier on Kucoin as basic crypto deposits and trading are not obligatory. In terms of fees, Kucoin has a flat fee of 0.1% for both makers and takers, while Bitfinex has a tiered fee structure that ranges from 0.1% to 0.2%. This also makes Kucoin the cheaper trading venue between the two.