CEX.IO vs Binance | What Binance Is MUCH Better Than CEX.IO
Jack Moreau
Apr 2024
9 min read
Fact checked
Not sure whether to use Cex.io vs Binance for your cryptocurrency trading? Luckily for you, our team has done the research and compared the two exchanges in terms of their signup and KYC requirements, the countries they support, spot and futures fees, user experience and much more!
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.
Cryptocurrency trading has become increasingly popular over the years and there are now a plethora of exchanges available for traders to choose from. Once of the most popular exchanges on the market today is Binance and to a lesser degree, CEX.io.
Cex.iowas founded in 2013 in London by Alex Lutskevych. The exchange is registered in Gibraltar and has over 200 employees.
It is available in most countries in the world including 48 US states. In terms of restrictred countries, jurisdictions such as Singapore, Japan, Russia, OFAC countries and the state of New York are not served.
Cex.io offers support for over 130 cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, ADA, UNI, SOL, DOGE and others. The exchange has over 4 million registered users around the world, with over 1 million app downloads and an average 4.1-star rating based on 23,000 reviews.
On the other hand, Binance was founded in 2017 by Changpeng Zhao and is registered in the Cayman Islands as Binance Holdings Ltd.
The exchange has over 6,400 employees and is available in 186 countries, although it is restricted in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and a few other countries. Binance is one of the largest exchanges in the world with over 120 million users worldwide.
As one of the largest and most popular trading platforms, Binance offers a comprehensive suite of services, including spot trading, futures trading, staking, and decentralized finance products.
The exchange supports over 350 cryptocurrencies and numerous trading pairs. The Binance Android app has been downloaded over 50 million times and has a rating of 4.4 based on over 1 million reviews.
Cex.io vs Binance Signup & KYC
When it comes to the signup process and KYC requirements, there are some key differences between Cex.io and Binance.
Starting with Binance, users are required to verify their identity through a Know Your Customer (KYC) process before they can trade on the platform.
So while creating a Binance account takes less than 30 seconds, in order to unlock full account privileges, users must verify their account.
Submitting all of the required documents and information for verification such as government ID takes a few minutes. Generally, the verification process on Binance can be as short as 15 minutes but can take up to 2-3 business days in some cases.
On the other hand, KYC verification is also mandatory on Cex.io for all of its users. The signup process on Cex.io is smooth and simple consisting only of name, email, and country of residence. To verify for KYC, users will need to also upload a government ID and a selfie with that document.
The verification process for KYC on Cex.io can take as little as one hour to pass if all the documents have been correctly uploaded.
Overall, both exchanges require KYC verification, but the verification process on Binance can take slightly longer than on Cex.io.
Cex.io vs Binance Products & Services
When it comes to trading, Cex.io offers a range of products including spot and margin trading with BTC, ETH or USDT as underlying collateral.
The exchange also offers trading APIs, instant buy with credit card, staking and earning and their own debit card that users can spend crypto with.
Their user experience on CEX.io has improved in the last few years. The exchange now provides a modern interface with a wide range of products and services to satisfy the needs of beginners and more advanced users alike.
However, the average daily spot volume on CEX.io is quite low as it's under $10 million, and they only offer up to 10X leverage on margin.
On the other hand, Binance is recognized as the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange with a user base exceeding 150 million.
The company offers a wide array of products and services catering to the needs of individuals, traders, and institutional clients.
The platform's user interface is intentionally designed to be user-friendly, ensuring accessibility for newcomers to the cryptocurrency space.
One of Binance's fundamental offerings is its spot trading platform, allowing users to buy and sell over 350 cryptocurrencies, including popular options like BTC, ETH, SOL, ATOM, ARB, OSMO, USDT, and USDC.
Additionally, Binance extends trading opportunities with leverage, offering leverage ratios ranging from 3 to 10 times, depending on the specific cryptocurrency.
For those seeking to streamline their trading activities through automation, Binance provides an extensive array of active trading strategies via trading bots.
These encompass various strategies such as spot trading, dollar-cost averaging (DCA), auto-investing, rebalancing, and more.
Binance also caters to more advanced traders with its futures trading options, including perpetual contracts and options, offering leverage of up to 125 times.
The platform features both USD-margined and coin-margined futures contracts, accommodating different trading preferences.
Options trading is another feature available on Binance, enabling traders to hedge their portfolios. Binance offers options for five underlying assets, including BTC, ETH, BNB, XRP, and DOGE, with a diverse selection of over 700 contracts.
The trading platform boasts a robust set of features, including advanced charting tools for technical analysis and various order types to manage risk effectively.
Binance stands out with its impressive liquidity, with over $60 billion in 24-hour trading volume across both spot and futures markets. This high liquidity translates into cost-effective trading with minimal spreads, benefiting users.
For those interested in earning interest on their digital assets, Binance offers a comprehensive suite of financial products.
The Binance Earn platform serves as a versatile savings and staking hub, enabling users to earn interest on assets like BTC, ETH, USDT, and USDC, with options for flexible or fixed durations.
Binance further accommodates investors seeking exposure to new tokens and projects through its Launchpad, offering early investment opportunities.
In response to the growing popularity of NFTs, Binance provides a dedicated NFT section, allowing retail users to buy and sell NFTs on popular blockchains like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and BNB.
To facilitate secure and private transactions for larger sums, Binance offers OTC trading services for both individuals and institutions.
Binance has even ventured into blockchain technology, creating the Binance Smart Chain, which serves as a platform for DeFi applications and non-custodial wallet engagement.
For users without a Web 3 wallet, Binance acquired Trust Wallet, a multifaceted wallet widely used for accessing DeFi Dapps.
Recognizing the paramount importance of security, Binance has implemented measures such as the Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU) and proof of reserves to ensure the safety and transparency of client assets.
When it comes to trading fees, both CEX.IO and Binance offer competitive rates that are worth considering. However, the approach to how these fees can be lowered differs between the two exchanges.
Let's start with Binance trading fees. They charge 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%.
These feesare already pretty low but the best part is that trading fees on Binance can be further lowered if monthly trade volumes exceed $1 million or if users hold at least 25 BNB tokens.
Essentially, if you're a high-volume trader or a fan of Binance's native BNB token, you can expect to pay even less in trading fees on this exchange.
Now, let's move on to CEX.IO. For both spot makers they charge a 0.15% fee and 0.25% for takers. While this isn't as low as Binance's fees, CEX.IO does offer a way to lower these fees through their VIP program.
By reaching trade volume thresholds exceeding $10,000, users can enjoy reduced trading fees that can go as low as 0% for makers and 0.07% for takers. But you will need to trade very large volumes to reach those fees.
n summary, both CEX.IO and Binance provide competitive trading fees that can be lowered even further with certain conditions. Binance does however have a pretty significant advantage with a much lower fee foundation than CEX.io
When it comes to depositing fiat currencies on cryptocurrency exchanges, exchange differ wildly in terms of what's available. Let's take a look at Cex.Io and Binance and their respective deposit methods.
Starting with Cex.Io, they support fiat deposits for USD, EUR and GBP. In terms of deposit methods, you have a variety of options to choose from including SWIFT, Wire, SEPA, Faster Payments, and Credit/Debit Card. However, it's important to note that each method incurs a different fee structure.
Swift & Wire deposits come with a $2.99 fee, FSP with a 2.99 GBP fee, SEPA has a 2.99 EUR fee while credit/debit card has a much steeper 3-4% service fee. It's worth considering these fees when choosing how to deposit fiat currencies on Cex.Io.
So, what about Binance? This exchange supports an impressive 26 different fiat currencies including EUR, AUD, GBP, PLN and others. You can deposit funds using bank transfers via Swift, Signet, SEPA, and Faster Payments, as well as Visa, Mastercard, PayID, and Advacash.
However, the deposit fees vary depending on the method you choose. Depositing fiat currencies with Visa and Mastercard will incur a 1.8% fee, while bank transfer via SEPA has a 1 EUR fee. Those with an Advacash account can expect a 1.5% fee.
Both Cex.Io and Binance offer a good range of fiat currencies and deposit options. Binance however once again has the edge with a more extensive offering both in terms of currencies and deposit methods.
When it comes to withdrawing fiat currencies from exchanges, it's important to weigh the options and consider the fees involved.
CEX.IO offers three fiat withdrawal options with SWIFT or Wire Transfer for USD, EUR via SEPA and GBP via Faster Payments.
While the withdrawal fees for fiat currencies can be high on some exchanges, CEX.IO keeps things relatively affordable with a range of options.
The fees for fiat withdrawals are 2.99 USD or EUR and 2.99 GBP for Faster Payments. If you prefer to use a credit or debit card, you can expect to pay a commission of up to 1.8%-3%.
Now let's look at Binance's fiat withdrawal methods which among other include USD via SWIFT, EUR via SEPA, and GBP via Faster Payments (FSP).
You can expect to pay a 1.8% withdrawal fee for fiat withdrawals made with Visa or Mastercard. If you withdraw with SEPA you pay way less as the fee is only 1 EUR.
When it comes to withdrawing cryptocurrencies on both exchanges, there are different fees involved depending on the blockchain.
For example, withdrawing Bitcoin on CEX.IO comes with a 0.0005 BTC fee, while on Binance it's 0.0002 BTC. Withdrawing Ethereum has a higher fee on CEX.IO at 0.006 ETH versus 0.000768 ETH on Binance.
In conclusion, Cex.io and Binance are two of the most popular cryptocurrency exchanges in the market today, each with its own unique features and services to offer.
Cex.io offers support for over 130 cryptocurrencies and has over 4 million registered users around the world, while Binance is available in 186 countries and has a massive userbase of over 120 million registered users.
When it comes to the signup process and KYC requirements, both CEX.io and Binance requires their users to verify their identity through a KYC process before they can trade on the platform.
In terms of trading fees, both exchanges offer competitive rates that can be lowered even further with higher trading volumes.
Binance charges a spot maker fee of 0.1% and a spot taker fee of 0.10% which is quite a bit lower than CEX.IO maker and taker fee of 0.15% and 0.25%.
When it comes to depositing fiat currencies on the exchanges, both exchanges do a good job offering a range of fiat currencies and deposit methods.
Cex.io supports fiat deposits for USD, EUR, and GBP, while Binance supports an impressive 26 different fiat currencies. However, both exchanges have different fees and requirements for each method.
Regarding withdrawing fiat currencies, CEX.IO offers three fiat withdrawal options while Binance once again offers many more withdrawal options for the 26 fiat currencies that it supports.
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.