Bitfinex vs Binance | Best Perps Trading & Lowest Fees?
Jack Moreau
Apr 2024
10 min read
Fact checked
Are you looking for the best cryptocurrency exchange between Bitfinex vs Binance? We've done the research for you and compared both exchanges across multiple metrics. From trading fees to product features and beyond, we've got you covered!
eToro is a multi-asset investment platform. The value of your investments may go up or down. Your capital is at risk.
eToro USA LLC: Investments are subject to market risk. Including the possible loss of principal. Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest.
eToro is a multi-asset investment platform. The value of your investments may go up or down. Your capital is at risk.
eToro USA LLC: Investments are subject to market risk. Including the possible loss of principal. Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest.
Bitfinex and Binance are two polar opposite cryptocurrency exchanges with some similarities. Let's breakdown the basics of each exchange.
Bitfinex was founded in 2012 by Raphael Nicolle and Giancarlo Devasini. It is registered as Ifinex inc in the British Virgin Islands and has over 300 employees.
The exchange is available in 52 countries and supports over 180 cryptocurrencies to buy and sell, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana and Cosmos. Bitfinex is known for its extensive range of trading options, including spot trading, margin trading, and derivatives trading with up to 100X leverage.
Bitfinex exchange
The exchange also boasts a customizable user interface, advanced charting tools, and an API for algorithmic trading, appealing to sophisticated users. Despite facing occasional controversies and regulatory scrutiny, Bitfinex has maintained its reputation as a secure and reliable exchange.
The platform is estimated to have over 1 million registered users, and the Bitfinex Android app has been downloaded over 1 million times with a rating of 4.4 based on over 1 million reviews.
Bitfinex app
Moving on, Binance was founded in 2017 by Changpeng Zhao and is registered in the Cayman Islands as Binance Holdings Ltd.
The exchange supports over 350 cryptocurrencies including BTC, ETH, SOL, ATOM, BUSD, USDT, USDC and many others.
Binance exchange
Binance is one of the largest and most popular trading platforms in the world, offering a comprehensive suite of trading and financial services. The platform provides spot trading, futures trading, options, staking, borrowing and lending, NFTs and much more.
Binance has over 150 million users worldwide, and the Binance Android app has been downloaded over 50 million times with a rating of 4.4 based on over 1 million reviews.
Binance app
Bitfinex vs Binance Signup & KYC
Bitfinex and Binance both require their users to complete a KYC verification process before they can begin trading.
Signing up for Bitfinex is a quick and easy process that takes only 30 seconds to complete.
However, users must complete the KYC verification process before they can begin trading, which typically takes 2-3 working days once users have submitted their personal information along with a government ID.
Binance also requires users to verify their identity through a KYC process before they can trade. Creating a Binance account takes less than a minute, but users cannot unlock full account privileges until they have completed the verification process. Submitting all the required information and documents for verification typically takes a few minutes tops.
Binance KYC
The KYC verification process on Binance can be as short as 15 minutes but can take up to 2-3 business days in some cases to complete. In short, both Bitfinex and Binance require KYC verification before users can begin trading on their respective platforms.
Bitfinex vs Binance Products & Services
In terms of services offered, Bitfinex is more limited compared to Binance. Bitfinex does however offer the most well known trading services such as spot, futures and margin trading.
Bitfinex trading products
Average daily spot trading volume over $60 million on Bitfinex and the exchange offers a max leverage of up to 100 on futures and 10X on margin leverage.
Perps on Bitfinex
The exchange also offers additional services such as lending and borrowing, staking for a small range of cryptocurrencies and an OTC desk for users who want to conduct larger trades.
In our opinion, the user experience on Bitfinex is not great and leaves much to be desired both in terms of usability and simplicity.
On the other hand, Binance is the largest exchange in the world with over 150 million users. The exchange offers a wide range of services to beginners, professional traders and institutional clients, with a user-friendly interface on its website and mobile.
The cornerstone of Binance's offerings is its spot trading platform that allows users to trade in a diverse range of over 350 cryptocurrencies, including well-known ones like BTC, ETH, and USDT. For those interested in margin trading, Binance provides leverage options ranging from 3-10X, varying by cryptocurrency.
Binance Spot Trading
Recognizing the growing interest in automated trading, Binance offers thousands of active strategies through trading bots. These bots are designed to cater to various trading styles, including spot trading, Dollar Cost Averaging (DCA), auto-investing, and rebalancing.
Binance Trading Bots
Binance also steps up in offering sophisticated futures trading products. These include perpetual contracts and options, with leverage options going up to 125X.
Binance Crypto Futures
For traders looking to counter the volatility of cryptocurrencies, Binance offers hundreds of USD-Margined futures contracts, allowing settlements in stablecoins like USDT or BUSD. Additionally, there are also numerous coin-margined futures contracts available, offering direct settlements in cryptocurrencies.
Options trading is another key feature of Binance where traders can hedge their portfolios. This includes options for five major assets such as BTC, ETH, BNB, XRP, and DOGE, encompassing over 700 contracts.
Binance Options Trading
The trading platform of Binance is not only diverse but also rich in features, equipped with advanced charting tools for technical analysis and various order types to assist in risk management.
Impressively, Binance has the highest liquidity in both spot and futures trading, with more than $60 billion in 24-hour trading volume, ensuring trades are executed with minimal spread.
Binance Market Overview
For users interested in earning interest on their digital assets, Binance's suite of financial products is quite comprehensive.
The Binance Earn platform serves as a hub for staking, savings, and liquidity farming, offering flexible or fixed-term interest options on assets like BTC, ETH, USDT, and USDC.
Binance Earn
For those seeking exposure to newer, potentially riskier investment opportunities, Binance's Launchpad provides early access to new token projects.
Additionally, Binance caters to the NFT market with a dedicated section for buying and selling NFTs on popular blockchains such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and BNB.
Binance NFTs
Binance also facilitates OTC Trading for large-scale, private transactions, catering to individual and institutional needs without impacting market stability.
Binance OTC
Binance has developed its own blockchain, named Binance Smart Chain, which is a platform for building DeFi applications and engaging with non-custodial wallets.
Enhancing its non-custodial services, Binance acquired Trust Wallet, now a versatile Web 3 wallet used by millions to access various DeFi Dapps.
Binance Web 3 Wallet
Prioritizing security, Binance provides a Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU) and has implemented proof of reserves, ensuring clients can easily verify the security of their assets.
If you're looking to trade cryptocurrencies on an exchange with low fees, you will prefer Binance over Bitfinex. Let's take a closer look at their trading fees and compare them.
First up we have Binance which charges a spot maker fee of 0.1% and a spot taker fee of 0.10%. For futures trading, the maker fee is 0.02% and the taker fee is 0.04%.
Binance spot fees
It's worth noting that Binance also offer ways to lower the trading fees If monthly trade volume exceeds $1 million or if users hold at least 25 BNB tokens.
Now let's talk about Bitfinex which charges the same spot maker fee of 0.1% but a higher spot taker fee of 0.20%. For futures trading, the maker fee is 0.02% and the taker fee is 0.065%.
Bitfinex spot fees
Similar to Binance, Bitfinex also offers rebates for those that trade above $500,000 during a 30-day period or that hold sufficient number of Leo tokens. Even so, Binance is still more competitive than Bitfinex when it comes to trading fees for spot and futures.
When it comes to fiat deposit methods, both exchanges offer a variety of options to their users, making it easy for them to fund their accounts and start trading.
Bitfinex currently supports 5 fiat currencies, namely USD, EUR, GBP, JPY, and CNH. The exchange offers three deposit methods, including deposits via cryptocurrencies, bank wire, and OpenPayd. The deposit fee on Bitfinex is 0.1% (min $60 USD) for Wire deposits or 0.5 EUR fee per transaction with OpenPayd.
On the other hand, Binance supports 26 fiat currencies, such as USD, EUR, AUD, GBP, SEK, DKK, and PLN to name a few. The fiat deposit methods for Binance include bank transfers via Swift, Signet, SEPA, and Faster Payments (FSP).
Binance fiat deposit
Fiat deposits are also possible with Visa, Mastercard, PayID, and Advacash. However, in terms of deposit fees, fiat currencies deposited with Visa and Mastercard incur a 1.8% fee, while bank transfers via SEPA come with a 1 EUR fee. For those that have an Advcash account, they can deposit with a 1.5% fee.
Bitfinex offers fiat currency withdrawals via Bank Wire and OpenPayd for five supported currencies. The withdrawal fee is 0.1% with a minimum of $20 fee. For cryptocurrency withdrawals, Bitfinex charges a fee of 0.0004 BTC for withdrawing Bitcoin, 0.0017 ETH for Ethereum withdrawals.
On the other hand, Binance offers multiple methods for people to withdraw their fiat currencies. USD can be withdrawn via SWIFT, EUR via SEPA, and GBP via Faster Payments (FSP). Binance charges a 1.8% withdrawal fee for fiat withdrawals with Visa and MasterCard. The lower cost option is to withdraw using SEPA which only costs 1 EUR per withdrawal.
Binance fiat withdrawals
In terms of fees associated with cryptocurrency withdrawals, Binance charges 0.0002 BTC for Bitcoin, for Ethereum it's 0.000768 ETH and 0.008 SOL for Solana withdrawals.
In conclusion, while Binance is the biggest and most popular exchange in the world, Bitfinex is mostly known by a more niche trading audience. And while both platforms offer a range of services and features, there are significant differences between them.
To begin, Binance offers a larger amount of cryptocurrencies (350), a wider product range and lower trading fees overall than Bitfinex. In terms of trading volume, Binance is currently the largest exchange in the world with daily trading volumes frequently exceed $10 billion. When it comes to fees, Bitfinex charges a maker fee of 0.1% and a taker fee of 0.2%, while Binance charges 0.1% for both.
Binance in our opinion also is the clear favorite in terms of user experience, even though the exchange is more busy in terms of features. Binance is more pleasent to use than Bitfinex and much easier to navigate for novices with little experience. Bitfinex in other words does not have an edge against Binance in any category making Binance the clear winner between the two!
eToro is a multi-asset investment platform. The value of your investments may go up or down. Your capital is at risk.
eToro USA LLC: Investments are subject to market risk. Including the possible loss of principal. Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest.
eToro is a multi-asset investment platform. The value of your investments may go up or down. Your capital is at risk.
eToro USA LLC: Investments are subject to market risk. Including the possible loss of principal. Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest.
Author
Jack Moreau
Jack is a crypto writer and reviewer who has been active in the space since he caught the crypto bug in 2017. With a passion for trying out new shiny things, Jack is always eager to try the latest cryptocurrency exchanges, wallets or DeFi applications.
