Bitforex vs Gate.io | Our Comparison Shows The Better Exchange
Jack Moreau
Apr 2024
10 min read
Fact checked
If you're looking for a reliable cryptocurrency exchange, you might want to compare Bitforex and Gate.io. To help you make an informed decision, we've conducted an in-depth analysis that covers KYC requirements, trading fees, deposit methods, product offerings, and other crucial factors. Keep reading to discover which platform suits your needs and preferences.
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.
Bitforex and Gate.io are two popular cryptocurrency exchanges that both offer a range of trading and financial services to their users.
Bitforex was founded in 2017 and is registered in the Republic of Seychelles with its headquarters in Hong Kong. With a global workforce of over 50 employees, Bitforex serves users in over 200 countries.
Bitforex exchange
The exchange offers its users some basic cryptocurrencies such as spot trading for over 600 cryptocurrencies, perps with over 100X leverage, options to earn interest on digital assets and an NFT marketplace.
Bitforex is estimated to have between half a million and one million customers, and its app has been downloaded over 50,000 times on Android and IOS.
Bitforex app
On the other hand, Gate.io was established in 2013 and is registered in the Cayman Islands. With a workforce of over 350 employees, Gate.io is available in 184 countries and offers a variety of services including spot trading, margin trading, futures, and options trading.
Gate.io exchange
The platform supports an extensive range of over 1000 cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and numerous altcoins along with various trading pairs.
Gate.io has over 12 million users around the world and their app has been downloaded over 1 million times, earning a solid 4.4 star rating with over 40,000 reviews.
Gate.io app
Overall, both Bitforex and Gate.io have their unique strengths and weaknesses which we are now about to further explore!
Bitforex vs Gate.io Signup & KYC
On Bitforex, users can choose to sign up using their email or phone number. KYC is not obligatory, and users can deposit cryptocurrencies and begin trading right away without it. However, for those who wish to access increased limits on Bitforex, they will have to complete KYC.
Bitforex KYC
This involves uploading information such as full name, country of residence, a valid ID card, and a selfie. The Bitforex team then normally requires 1-2 business days to process the information and approve the account.
In contrast, KYC is mandatory for both depositing and withdrawing crypto and fiat currencies on Gate.io. To open an account with Gate.io is a swift process, and the signup takes less than a minute to complete.
Gate.io KYC
However, the processing time of KYC verification may be in a few hours to 24 hours in most cases. Users must submit personal information about their country of residence, address, etc., along with a valid government ID for verification.
In summary, Bitforex allows users to trade right away without KYC, while Gate.io requires KYC for all transactions. Bitforex's signup process is easier, but KYC can take longer to process. On the other hand, Gate.io's signup process is equally swift but requires mandatory KYC.
Bitforex vs Gate.io Products & Services
Bitforex provides a smaller range of products and services which includes basic spot trading and perps with up to 100X leverage. Users can also lend out their digital assets to earn interest on stake them and earn staking rewards.
Bitforex has spot trading volumes that frequently exceed $1 billion dollars. This means that liquidity for major cryptocurrencies such as BTC, ETH, LTC, USDC, DOT, AVAX and others is great. The max futures leverage available on Bitforex is 100X, 10X margin leverage.
Finally, Bitforex also offers an NFT marketplace and their own launchpad called Turbo Starter where it's users can access newly launched tokens. The user experience on Bitforex is great.
The exchange has a modern and well design interface that is pleasent and easy to navigate. The exchange also offers a decent range of services that will satisfy the needs of both beginners and more sophisticated traders.
Gate.io, a seasoned cryptocurrency exchange, has made a significant mark in the digital currency world with its ever-expanding and evolving range of services. A
t its core, Gate.io is renowned for its spot trading feature, where users have the opportunity to trade a vast array of over 1700 cryptocurrencies.
This feature has been a major attraction, particularly for those new to the cryptocurrency arena, eager to explore and invest in less-known, promising altcoins.
For traders interested in leveraging their investments, Gate.io offers margin trading with up to 10X leverage on a wide selection of cryptocurrencies.
An innovative offering in this domain is the ETF leveraged tokens, which allow users to take long or short positions with up to 5X leverage. What sets these tokens apart is the absence of traditional margin requirements, replaced by a manageable 0.1% daily fee.
Futures trading is another key feature of Gate.io, aligning with the offerings of many offshore exchanges. Here, users can engage in trading hundreds of perpetual contracts, choosing between isolated or cross margin modes, with the possibility of leveraging up to 125X.
Additionally, the platform caters to options traders with European-style Vanilla Options available for popular cryptocurrencies like BTC, ETH, and DOGE.
Understanding the needs of beginners, Gate.io integrates copy trading, allowing novices to emulate the strategies of experienced traders.
For those inclined towards automation, the exchange provides various trading bots equipped with strategies such as spot and futures grid, infinity and margin grid, martingale, and rebalancing.
In the realm of trading volumes, Gate.io commands a strong presence, ranking in the top 3 for 24-hour spot trading with almost $8 billion in trading volumes, and maintaining a top 30 position in derivatives trading with $3 billion in volumes.
The finance section of Gate.io is particularly appealing for those looking to earn yields on their digital assets. The platform offers products like lend & earn, hodl & earn, dual investments, and staking, each with flexible terms tailored to different assets. The hodl & earn feature allows users to lock in assets such as BTC, ETH, USDT, among others, to earn attractive APRs over various lockup periods. Additionally, ETH staking offers up to 4.4% in rewards APR.
For users who wish to integrate their digital currency with everyday expenditures, Gate.io presents a Visa card that offers up to 1% cashback on transactions.
Embracing the evolving landscape of Web 3.0, Gate.io has launched its own Web 3 Wallet, providing non-custodial DeFi access and supporting 29 blockchains, including major ones like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana.
When it comes to trading fees, both Bitforex and Gate.io offer competitive rates. Let's take a closer look at each platform and see how they stack up against one another.
Starting with Bitforex, the exchange charges a spot trading fee of 0.1% for both makers and takers. For those looking to trade perpetuals, the fees are also very competitive, with makers paying 0.04% and takers paying 0.06%.
What's even more appealing is that Bitforex can offer further discounts to market makers who want to apply to receive them, making it an attractive option for high volume traders.
On the other hand, Gate.io charges a spot maker fee of 0.20% and a spot taker fee of 0.20%, which is slightly higher than Bitforex. The fees for trading futures on Gate.io are actually lower than Bitforex with makers paying 0.02% and takers paying 0.05%.
Similar to Bitforex, trading fees on Gate.io can also be lowered if monthly trade volumes exceed $60,000 or if users hold enough GT tokens, which is a nice perk for those who are able to meet these requirements.
Overall, both Bitforex and Gate.io offer competitive trading fees that are below industry averages. Bitforex offers the more competitive spot trading fees while Gate.io has the edge in terms of futures trading fees.
When it comes to deposit methods, both Bitforex and Gate.io disappoint. Firstly, Bitforex only allows deposits in cryptocurrencies and does not offer any support for fiat currency deposits. This means that users can only deposit cryptocurrencies into their accounts, which is free of charge.
However, if one wishes to buy cryptocurrencies on the exchange, they can do so through third-party providers like Coinify, Banxa, MoonPay, and others, but with high fees.
On the other hand, Gate.io does not support fiat deposits either, and similar to Bitforex, it also offers instant purchases with credit/debit cards via MoonPay, Banxa, Advacash, and Simplex. However, these options come with expensive credit card fees ranging from 2-5% transaction fees.
The story is the same when talking about fiat withdrawals. Bitforex offers no fiat withdrawals but users can withdraw all the supported cryptocurrencies on the exchange.
However, the crypto withdrawal fees are on the higher end compared to most exchanges. Withdrawing Bitcoin incurs a fee of 0.0005 BTC, Ethereum for 0.004 ETH and Solana has a 0.05 SOL withdrawal fee. For those that wish to withdraw ERC-20 Tether, that currently has a fee of 15 USDT on Bitforex.
And similar to Bitforex, fiat withdrawals are not available on Gate.io. Users can of course withdraw their cryptocurrencies from Gate.io with varying fees depending on which blockchain is being used.
For those that wish to withdraw Bitcoin, they will have to pay a fee of 0.001 BTC, for Ethereum it's 0.0019 ETH and Solana has a withdrawal fee of 0.003 SOL.
Bitforex and Gate.io are two popular cryptocurrency exchanges that offer different strengths and weaknesses to their users.
While Bitforex is a beginner-friendly exchange that offers over 600 cryptocurrencies for trading, Gate.io is a more advanced exchange that offers a wider range of trading services and over 1500 cryptocurrencies.
In terms of sign up and KYC requirements, Bitforex allows users to trade right away without KYC, while Gate.io requires KYC for all transactions. In this way, Bitforex is preferable to users that do not wish to go through a KYC process.
Bitforex provides a smaller range of products and services, including basic spot trading and perps with up to 100X leverage.
On the other hand, Gate.io is a more versatile exchange that offers services like spot and margin trading, derivatives products like futures, perpetual swaps (perps), and options trading for more advanced strategies.
When it comes to trading fees, both Bitforex and Gate.io offer competitive rates that are below industry averages. Bitforex has the lower spot fees (0.1% vs 0.2%) while Gate.io has the slightly lower fees on futures trading.
For those that wish to be able to deposit and withdraw fiat currencies, both Bitforex and Gate.io disappoint as that is not possible on either exchange. Users only have the option of depositing cryptocurrencies or buying cryptocurrencies with card but with high fees. This right here is one of the main downside with both of these exchange.
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.
