Gate.io Exchange Review | Among the Elite Exchanges Today?
Jack Moreau
Feb 2024
7 min to read
Fact checked
Gate.io Introduction: In this in-depth breakdown we review Gate.io, the digital exchange that has grown from humble beginnings to one of the biggest exchanges in the world. Read on to find out more about the product and services offered by Gate.io, in addition to fees, deposit methods and more to decide if it's the right exchange for you!
Gate.io was founded in 2013 by Lin Han in China and is today registered in Virginia, United States as Gate Technology Inc.
With a workforce of over 350 employees, the exchange serves users in 184 countries with a comprehensive range of services, including spot trading, margin trading, futures, and options trading.
While users in the United States and Canada face restrictions, countries like the UK, France, Netherlands, Germany, and Italy have specific product limitations such as only using spot trading.
The exchange supports a vast portfolio of over 1,500 cryptocurrencies including major ones like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, Cosmos, Polkadot and many less known altcoins.
With its significant user base of over 12 million, the majority hail from countries in Europe and Asia. The Gate.io mobile application is available on both Android and IOS where it has been downloaded over 1 million times and has received a 4.4 star rating.
Gate.io KYC requirements
Signing up to Gate.io is super easy and only takes 1 minute as users can seamless signup using just their email and a password.
1. Visit Gate.io and click signup in the top right corner 2. Signup by entering email or phone number 3. Enter the activation code that has been sent to you
In order to deposit and withdraw cryptocurrencies, all users must go through the mandatory Know Your Customers (KYC) process of Gate.io.
The KYC process requires users to provide information about their country of residence, full name, date of birth, and identity verification. Users must also do a facial recognition and provide proof of address.
Gate.io is an established brand in the cryptocurrency world that has been around for many years while consistently expanding and enhancing its range of services.
A major draw for users to Gate.io has been its spot trading feature, which allows users to buy and sell an extensive range of over 1,700 cryptocurrencies.
This wide selection, especially the addition of many hard-to-find altcoins, has made Gate.io a go-to platform for beginners eager to explore emerging cryptocurrencies.
For those looking to engage in margin trading, Gate.io offers this with up to 10X leverage for hundreds of cryptocurrencies. This allows traders to amplify their trading positions to hopefully increase their returns.
In addition to traditional margin trading, Gate.io offers ETF leveraged tokens. These tokens allow users to go long or short with up to 5X leverage but without the need for margin accounts, thereby avoiding the risk of liquidation.
Instead of the usual margin requirements, a nominal daily fee of 0.1% is charged to cover all costs associated with these ETF leveraged tokens.
Futures trading is also a significant part of Gate.io’s offerings, where users can trade hundreds of perpetual contracts using either isolated or cross margin mode, and with leverage options up to 125X.
Additionally, Gate.io provides options trading with European-style Vanilla Options available for Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Dogecoin (DOGE).
For beginners who prefer to follow the lead of more experienced traders, copy trading is available. This feature allows less experienced users to replicate the trades of professional traders.
Moreover, for those who favor automation, Gate.io offers a variety of trading bots. These include features such as spot and futures grid, infinity and margin grid, martingale, and rebalancing, among others, to help users manage their trades more efficiently.
In terms of trading volumes, Gate.io has some impressive numbers with a top 3 ranking for 24-hour spot trading with almost $8 billion in trading volumes, and in the top 30 in derivatives trading with $3 billion in volumes.
Gate.io also has its own native token in the Gate Token (GT) is the native token of the Gate.io exchange and the Gatechain. The initial supply of GT was 1 billion tokens, but after burning 700 million, the current maximum supply is 300 million tokens.
Gate.io has initiated a similar buy-and-burn program to Binance where GT tokens are bought on the open market and burned (removed from circulation). Users who hold the GT token can use it to increase their VIP status, receive lower trading fees as well as use it as collateral.
Moving beyond trading, Gate.io’s Finance section offers a plethora of yield-earning opportunities. These include products like lend & earn, hodl & earn, dual investments, and staking.
Users can earn interest on their digital assets held on Gate.io, with flexible terms depending on the asset. Users can also stake their ETH and earn up to 4.4% in ETH rewards APR.
The hodl & earn feature allows users to lock in assets such as BTC, ETH, and USDT, earning attractive Annual Percentage Rates (APRs) over different lockup periods.
For users who want to spend their cryptocurrencies in the real world, Gate.io offers a Visa card that provides up to 1% cashback on purchases.
In line with the growing trend towards decentralized finance (DeFi), Gate.io has launched its own Web 3 Wallet, offering non-custodial DeFi access. The wallet supports 29 blockchains including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and others.
Gate.io also caters to wealthy individuals and institutional clients with more sophisticated products like custody solutions, Over-The-Counter (OTC) trading, VIP loans, and broker programs.
These services are tailored to meet the needs of high-net-worth individuals and institutions requiring more complex and large-scale crypto services.
Gate.io has a tier-based trading fee schedule that begins at 0.2% for Makers and Takers. You are considered a Taker when your order is executed immediately and a Maker when your order is not immediately matched.
Depending on your trading volume and the number of GT tokens that you hold, the trading fees can go down to 0.02%. However, the vast majority of people won't reach these levels and will be paying the 0.2% maker and taker fee.
If you buy $500 worth of ETH on Gate.io, the fee that you will be charged is $500 * (0.2/100) = $1.
The futures trading fees on Gate.io start at 0.015% for makers and 0.05% for takers. These fees can go down to 0.02% and 0.025% with billions in trading volumes.
One of the first things to note is that Gate.io does not entertain fiat deposits. In simpler terms, this means users cannot directly deposit traditional currencies, such as USD, EUR, or GBP, into their Gate.io accounts. Instead, the platform has anchored its operations mainly around cryptocurrency deposits.
Users can however buy crypto in one click with third-party platforms such as MoonPay, Coinify, Banxa, Advcash, Simplex, or Legend trading. This is an expensive option as many of these third-party platforms charge high fees ranging from $6-$25.
Bank transfers are also available if you go through third-party exchanges like Coinify, Banxa and Legend Trading.
Gate.io provide the option to also buy and sell BTC, ETH, USDT and Doge peer-to-peer with over 30 fiat currencies like USD, EUR, GBP, RUB, BRL, JPY, MYR.
How to withdraw from Gate.io?
Gate.io only offers withdrawals with cryptocurrencies. Below we have outlined the fees for a few popular cryptocurrencies. Withdrawal fees are based on the underlying transaction fees of the blockchain plus additional fees added by the exchange.
Bitcoin (BTC): 0.001 BTC
Ethereum (ETH): 0.0019 ETH
Solana (SOL): 0.003 SOL
Cosmos (ATOM): 0.07 ATOM
Polkadot (DOT): 0.16 DOT
USDT (ERC-20): 3 USDT
Gate.io: Apps & Wallet
Gate.io is available on both the App Store and Google Play store. Gate.io has over 1 million downloads on the Google Play store and a 3.9-star rating out of 35,000 reviews.
The apps enable users to buy and sell cryptocurrencies easily and include features such as spot trading, margin trading, futures & options, copy trading, and lending & staking. Gate.io also offers a desktop version for Windows and Mac.
Is Gate.io Safe?
As outlined on their website, Gate.io's security framework revolves around four pillars: platform security, account security, asset safety, and compliance security.
At its core, the bulk of user funds reside in cold wallets which are offline storage systems that minimise exposure to online threats.
Advanced encryption technology further shields the platform, bolstered by consistent audits from independent third-party security firms.
Complementing these measures, Gate.io ensures user data remains encrypted and inaccessible to unauthorized parties.
An additional layer of protection is offered through a two-factor authentication system, demanding a unique code during login and withdrawal operations to safeguard user accounts.
In 2015, Gate.io was hacked for 7000 BTC but is today considered a very safe exchange with a 9/10 Coingecko Trustscore. Gate.io claims to be one of the most secure exchanges in the world with 10 security solutions in place.
Gate.io ensures the security of user funds through hot and cold wallets that leverage MPC threshold signature, remote backups, bank custody, and offline options.
Gate.io has at the time of writing a 24-hour spot trading volume of over $925 million. This is the fourth-largest trading volume among centralized exchanges behind Binance, FTX, and Kucoin. Below we have outlined the 10 most liquid spot markets on Gate.io based on volume.
Bitcoin (BTC)
Ethereum (ETH)
Everscale (EVER)
JasmyCoin (JASMY)
Terra (LUNC)
Aptos (APT)
Casper (CSPR)
XRP (XRP)
Filecoin (FIL)
Ocean (Ocean)
Gate.io Customer Service
Gate.io offers customer support through email, phone, and a 24/7 live chat. Gate.io has a low Trustpilot rating of 1.8 based on 660 reviews. They are also available through different social media channels such as.
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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.