Complete Beginner's Guide to Huobi Review 2018 - Is it Safe?

What is Huobi?

Huobi is a relatively popular exchange with the 11th biggest trading volume on the market. It has managed to transform from a local Chinese exchange that appeared on a market in 2013 into a global platform after last year’s ban in China. In 2017, Huobi started operating in Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea while being available in more than 130 counties. They are also developing the new Huobi Pro exchange where you can trade the majority of base coins as well as different altcoins that have reached the required level of liquidity (read Huobi Pro exchange review for more details). On top of that, it has recently launched a new mining pool for Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash holders.

NB! Huobi (USA) is not available, but the company is planning to open a new US-based exchange called HBUS or Huobi (United States).

Huobi is compatible with three major base coins that can be exchanged with other cryptocurrencies. These base coins include:

• Bitcoin (BTC);

• Tether (USDT);

• Ethereum (ETH).

Pay attention to the fact that you cannot use traditional fiat money such as the US dollar and pound sterling on this exchange. Moreover, you cannot purchase Bitcoin or Ethereum on this exchange, so you have to deposit to your account one of the main currencies.

Is Huobi safe? As of 2018, Huobi has never been hacked, but make sure that you enable 2FA and Huobi API.

Huobi Token
You already know that the Huobi exchange tries to be innovative and constantly expands the scope of its services. Their native token Huobi (HT) is yet another innovation which has recently a consistent growth in price. Huobi didn’t do an initial coin offering (ICO). The only way to get HT is to purchase a so-called ‘Point Card’. The amount of tokens directly depends on the number of points in your package (Huobi users get tokens for free). Your Huobi token can be used to pay for trading fees (similarly to Binance where you get 50% discount with BNB).

It is worth mentioning that Huobi uses 20% of its trading profit in to take HT out of circulation and keep it in a reserve for a back-up in case of a hacking attack when a substantial amount of funds can be stolen. Huobi coin can be traded against all three base coins.

Huobi Review

The Huobi has a convenient web-site which is completely suitable for users without an extensive experience in trading. Moreover, those who prefer using mobile phones can use Huobi’s applications for popular mobile platforms. Here’s a hobby review that focuses on the registration process and how to use its main features.

1. Go to the https://www.huobi.pro/ in order to open the home page of this exchange (make sure that you always check the domain before registration not to become the victim of scammers).

2. Simply choose the ‘Sign Up’ option in the top right corner of the page in order to create a new account. Here you have to fill in some basic information. Then open a confirmation e-mail in order to copy your verification code.
   NB! Pay special attention to the ‘Nationality’, since it cannot be changed later. If there is a need to provide your ID for account verification, you won’t be able to do that.
    

   

3. After creating a new account, you can see the news that they put on the top of the home page and post the next cryptocurrency that is going to be added to their platform and the time when it will be available on Huobi. This feature potentially allows you to profit off the new crypto right after it gets added. Below the section with news, you can see the listing of all the cryptocurrencies for the major markets (Huobi Tether, Huobi Bitcoin and Huobi Ethereum).
    

   

4. Now click on the ‘Exchange’ section. On the left side of this exchange you can see the list of all the cryptocurrencies that are offered on Huobi. There are different cryptocurrencies for different markets. The easiest way to find a desirable currency is to type its name in a search bar (you have to know its ticker symbol for that).
    

   

   
   Pay attention to a large candlestick chart where you can see price fluctuations. It is very convenient to choose a specific time period in order to monitor the price. For instance, if you click on ‘1min’ tab, each candlestick will equal one minute (for a wider perspective you can choose a more extensive timeframe). Advanced users can also put their own indicator on the chart which are extremely useful for determining the future price of a specific coin.
    

   

   
   Below the candlestick chart you can see the ‘Buy/Sell’ section. If you want to simply purchase a specific amount of crypto at a market price, go to the ‘Market Order’ tab on the right. You simply have to specify the amount of that you would like to purchase to see the current price in satoshis. If you want to purchase a currency at a lower price, you can click on the ‘Limit Order’ tab and make an order that will not be filled until the currency reaches the price that was determined by you.
   

5. While doing a Huobi exchange review, it’s also worth mentioning that there is also a section for margin trading which for advanced users only. In fact, you have to fund a separate margin account to get engaged in active trading.

6. Huobi HADAX leads to a separate autonomous exchange where a lot of altcoins with a low level of liquidity can be traded.
    

   

Huobi Fees

Huobi fees depend on the trading volume and the currency. US dollar trading has the following fee schedule:
 

Yuan trading used to be free due to the no-fee policy, but after its cancelation by the Chinese Central Bank in 2017 Huobi a flat fee fixed at 0.2% for its Chinese traders. Go to Huobi Reddit for more information.

Huobi Withdrawal Limits

Like any well-known exchange, Huobi has withdrawal limits for all unverified accounts. Therefore, in order to withdraw unlimited amounts of money, you have to provide your ID scans. Huobi withdrawal limits for those users who didn’t go through the confirmation process, vary from coin to coin. For Bitcoin, the maximum withdrawal is currently set at 0,1 BTC which is about $640 as of June 30, 2018.