FTX Review

A cryptocurrency trading platform that has taken the world by storm with its unique offering of financial products and cutting-edge trading features are FTX and FTX.US. In this review, we will provide an overview of the exchange and how it differentiates itself from other platforms by assessing its features, user interface, products, fees, and more so you can make an informed decision. Our methodology includes creating an account, depositing Bitcoin, trading the BTC-PERP futures contract using the desktop and mobile versions and contacting the support team.

UPDATE: FTX has entered into administration and is no longer available to use. HedgewithCrypto has compiled a list of popular crypto trading platforms to use as an alternative.

https://ftx.com

HedgewithCrypto Score

3.8/5

Trading Fees:0.02% / 0.07%

Country:Global (USA allowed via FTX.US)

Currency:Crypto & 13 fiat currencies

Promotion:5% off trading fees

Ease of use

Reputation

Deposit methods

Fees

Visit FTX

This post contains affiliate links with our partners who may compensate us. Read our disclaimer for further information.

Our FTX Review - Quick Verdict

FTX offers a well-balanced and innovative marketplace that caters to retail and professional traders alike. FTX is well-equipped for serious crypto traders that feature advanced trading options, a wide selection of markets, assets, and more than 400 trading pairs. While the support for direct fiat-to-crypto could be improved, FTX is undoubtedly a premier crypto platform.

FTX At A Glance

FTX Comparisons & Alternatives

Exchange	Crypto Assets	Trading Fees	Rating	Promotion	Website	Review
FTX	319	0.02% / 0.07%	Rating 3.8/5	5% off trading fees	Visit FTX	FTX Review
Bybit	81	0% - 0.1% (spot) and 0.06% / 0.01% (leverage)	Rating 4.8/5	Deposit bonus up to $30,000	Visit Bybit	Bybit Review
Binance Futures	229+	0.02% (maker) / 0.04% (taker)	Rating 4.8/5	Up to $100 welcome bonus	Visit Binance Fu...	Binance Futures Review
KuCoin	700+	0.1%	Rating 4.6/5	Up to 500 USDT in bonuses	Visit KuCoin	KuCoin Review

The comparison table lists our top FTX alternatives that offer world-class features. For more information, we have compared FTX to these exchanges for an in-depth head-to-head comparison:

• FTX vs. Binance
• FTX vs. ByBit
• FTX vs. KuCoin
• FTX vs. Coinbase

FTX Overview

FTX is one of the best cryptocurrency leverage exchanges that has been built by traders that have a thorough understanding of what to provide in its platform to appeal to serious crypto investors and traders alike. It is on this basis that the platform can differentiate itself from its competitors. FTX exchange is owned by Sam Bankman-Fried, the CEO and co-founder of Alameda Research which is a top cryptocurrency liquidity provider that gives FTX to access industry-leading order books.

Alameda manages over $100 million of digital assets and trades $600 million to $1.5 billion per day across thousands of products such as derivatives through FTX exchange. Moreover, the high trading volume on the spot and derivatives markets reduces slippage. In short, this enables FTX to be an excellent choice for institutional and retail crypto day traders.

Moreover, the exchange is a desirable place to trade with its wide variety of markets such as spot, derivatives, options, volatility products and leveraged tokens. There are also tokenized stocks that allow users to capitalize on the rise or fall of a particular stock or index in the form of a future contract. The tokenized stock or index can be traded directly from within the FTX exchange platform.

Some of the most notable features on the FTX platform are listed below:

• Futures, options, volatility, spot, and leveraged tokens
• Up to 20 times leverage
• Competitive trading fees
• World's first crypto index for Futures market
• Advanced charting with TradingView
• Long or short 3x leveraged tokens
• Fee discounts using FTX token (FTT)

Review of the Top Features on FTX

FTX has been designed for intermediate and professional cryptocurrency traders on the platform by offering an easy-to-navigate and intuitive user interface. The default arrangement has a top navigation bar for quick access to FTX derivatives trading products and other investment products on the platform, as well as access to more advanced trading tools.

FTX utilizes TradingView charting and is well-known for its advanced trading features, indicators and drawing tools and chart pattern overlays. With access to dozens of layouts and hundreds of the top crypto indicators, users can create and save their favorite charting setups for more advanced trading strategies. Moreover, the order book is simple-to-use, with access to a wide range of orders and customizations. Users can place one of the following orders:

• Limit order
• Market Order
• Stop Market
• Stop limit
• Trailing stop
• Take profit
• Take profit limit
• Time-weighted average price (TWAP)

This customization is better than most other crypto trading platforms we have reviewed to give full control over an active position. FTX also has post-only trades, and immediate-or-cancel (IOC) orders as well which will suit experienced traders.

Overall, the FTX user interface is robust and suited to various types of traders and skill levels. The charting window is responsive and includes excellent charting tools for serious traders. For more information on the best crypto charting software, read this article.

FTX offers a number of cryptocurrency derivative products that can be traded on the exchange using a single-margin wallet. The trading products offered include:

• Futures – users on the platform can trade futures on coins such as BTC, ETH, EOS, XRP, and USDT. Each coin has three futures contracts: a contract that expires this quarter, a contract that expires next quarter and a perpetual future.
• Leveraged Tokens – tokens that can be bought and sold with up to 3X leverage that requires no margin requirements.
• Options – contracts that give the holder the right but not the obligation to buy or sell at a future strike price. Often referred to as 'calls' and 'puts'. Advanced traders can use options to hedge their open positions against price volatility.
• MOVE – contracts that represent the absolute value of the amount the price of a coin moves over a time period.
• Tokenized stocks - Derivative products that track the prices of popular stocks, including futures contracts

One area in which FTX excels is its Futures trading platform. There are well over 100 futures pairs that can be traded using a stablecoin such as USD or USDT as collateral. This means that profits and losses are based on USD prices without needing a bank account. There is also the option to use the same fiat currency as collateral for all of the contracts. The popular FTX Futures pairs by daily trading volume include:

• BTC-PERP - Bitcoin Perpetual Futures
• ETH-PERP - Ethereum Perpetual Futures
• SOL-PERP - Solana Perpetual Futures

Users can trade the futures pairs with margin up to 20x to long or short-sell Bitcoin and other coins by taking advantage of comparatively small price movements. This is beneficial for intermediate investors as it provides the flexibility of a portfolio for greater exposure and makes the capital go further than the user would be able to fund on their own. Each position on the futures exchange is backed by the FTX Insurance Fund which activates when an account is at risk of liquidation and to mitigate the risk of clawbacks.

FTX has developed an innovative asset for advanced cryptocurrency traders called Leveraged Tokens. These are ERC20 tokens that have leveraged exposure up to 3x applied to the trading pair. There is no margin requirement from the user's FTX account balance to start trading leveraged coins. There are even EFTs that have leveraged exposure to numerous existing and popular cryptocurrency assets.

A few examples of FTX leveraged tokens include:

• BULL/USD - 3x long Bitcoin token
• BEAR/USD - 3x short Bitcoin token
• ETHBULL/USD - 3x long Ethereum token
• ETHBEAR/USD - 3x short Ethereum token

Using FTX leveraged tokens can help a trader with risk management. The derivatives exchange automatically reinvests any trade profits back into the underlying asset being traded. This means if your leveraged token position is sitting on a profit, the tokens will automatically put on 3x leveraged positions to it. On the flip side, leveraged tokens will automatically reduce risk if the position is negative.

As an example, if a person traded a 3x long ETH position and the ETH price fell over 33%, the position would be liquidated. However, a position on the ETHBULL asset would have automatically sold a portion of the position as the price of ETH started to fall. This would have mitigated the liquidation risk even after a 33% down drop in price.

In short, the tokens are constructed in a way that enables traders to get leveraged exposure to a particular crypto asset (on both the long and short side), without risking liquidation. It is another example of a quality trading product on FTX and why its a great place to trade crypto for advanced users.

FTX provides a feature to trade crypto options long or short using leverage. The process is similar to futures trading on FTX, or binary options. At the expiration time, the contract is settled to an amount in US Dollars equal to the expiration price. Traders can speculate and opt to go long or short with a leveraged position. While FTX options trading is not for everyone or available in all countries, it adds to the mix of premium markets to trade on a single platform.

Want to trade crypto options? Here is our list of the best crypto options trading platforms.

A volatility contract (formerly known as a MOVE contract) is a contract that allows users to trade market volatility. It represents the absolute value of the amount the price of a coin moves in US Dollars over a time period such as the DAILY. The direction of the trade is irrelevant in the trade. All that matters is the total dollar amount that moves in either direction. FTX volatility contracts are a great way for beginners and fundamental traders to participate in the markets by trading future volatility.

FTX offers tokenized stocks, which are a derivative product that is based on popular stocks. Users can purchase spot, which is matched to the market price of the underlying stock. There are also futures contracts available, allowing users to trade a contract for a stock based on a future price. Several popular stocks are available, including Apple (AAPL), Tesla (TSLA), and the S&P 500 index (SPY).

While FTX doesn’t offer any ways to earn interest on crypto, users can stake FTT tokens to earn discounts on trading fees, higher referral rates, additional free fiat withdrawals, and access to IEOs. Users also get an increase in relative Airdrop access as well. Users can get started with as low as 25 FTT tokens staked on the platform to start receiving benefits. The perks are comparable to that offered by Binance and its BNB tokens.

The FTX NFT marketplace is actually pretty good. FTX offers NFTs on both the Solana and Ethereum network and a flat 2% fee on purchases (there are no fees to sell NFTs at this time). But while the selection is decent, we still recommend buying NFTs elsewhere for lower fees and a bigger selection. The only downside with this feature is that depositing and minting of NFTs are only available on FTX.us, which is open to all countries.

FTX offers a programmable trading interface known as the “Quant Zone.” This tool allows users to create their own trading algorithms, automatically executing trades based on set parameters. More advanced than a crypto trading bot, this tool is for advanced users only and is designed to satisfy traders like the FTX founder, Sam Bankman-Friend, himself a crypto quant trader.

Is FTX Exchange Safe?

FTX uses several bank-like security features to ensure the safety of user's personal information and the security of funds stored on the exchange. To date, there have been no reported hacks or security incidents that can be attributed to a high standard of security such as cold wallet storage and two-factor authentication to provide a safe and secure trading environment.

FTX is incorporated in Antigua and Barbuda and based out of Bermuda with supporting offices around the world. The margin trading platform is currently not regulated in the US and customers are not allowed to use the services. Although, residents in the States can use FTX.US, a partner entity serving United States citizens and is a regulated company.

Trading Volume & Liquidity

FTX processes nearly $1 billion in daily spot trading volume, and for derivatives trading, it handles almost $4 billion per day at the time of writing. This makes FTX one of the most popular crypto exchanges in the world, only behind Coinbase and Binance in crypto spot markets. FTX's deep liquidity is evident with a liquidity score of 752 (out of 1,000) as per CoinmarketCap. This means that users can place large orders and avoid excess slippage, keeping spread fees low.

Creating an Account with FTX

To create an account with FTX, crypto traders will need to go through a registration process to set up a login. This includes submitting a valid email address and password. After the email address is verified, users will be able to browse the site, but cannot deposit funds or place any trades.

ID Verification Requirements

To unlock deposits, withdrawals, and trading on the platform, users will need to pass identity verification. There are 2 main account tiers, based on the level of verification passed.

Tier 1 and 2 account holders who complete KYC can deposit, trade, and withdraw crypto and fiat currency. The withdrawal amounts are limited for tier 1 users ($2,000 per day of cryptocurrency) and cash withdrawals are not enabled. Tier 2 users have no deposit or withdrawal restrictions. To find out how long it takes for FTX verification, read this article.

Fiat Deposits & Withdrawals

FTX allows a wide range of deposit methods for traders on the platform to fund an account, supporting over a dozen fiat currencies natively. There is the option to use a credit card to purchase crypto directly through the FTX platform or the fiat/crypto market leader, Simplex. However, individuals should be aware that buying crypto with a card means high fees.

All 13 fiat currencies can be deposited and withdrawn using ACH, SWIFT, SEPA, or a wire transfer such as USD, EUR, GBP, AUD, HKD, SGD, ZAR, CAD, CHF and BRL.

Supported Coins

FTX supports over 250 cryptocurrencies and over 400 trading pairs. It also gives users access to over 100 derivatives markets and even tokenized stocks. As for crypto, FTX supports all of the best large-cap coins, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, Cardano, and XRP. It also carries some smaller altcoins, such as BAT, MKR, and BAO. The coin selection at FTX is on par with Coinbase and Kraken, but much less than places like Binance and KuCoin which are two of the biggest altcoins platforms in the industry.

FTX Fees

FTX offers a low trading fee starting from 0.02% to 0.07% for its futures and spot markets which are based on the maker-and-taker model. FTX's fee structure uses a tiered system that benefits high-volume traders with lower fees. Traders that use market orders and 'take away liquidity' will pay the taker fees which are quite competitive compared to other exchanges like Binance Futures and Bybit.

For leveraged tokens, there is a creation and redemption fee of 0.10% and a daily management fee of 0.03%. There is a Maker rebate of up to -0.0030% available as well to FTT holders that stake up to 1 million native FTX tokens (FTT). Leveraged trading fees are a bit more complicated, and are calculated based on the time the position is open, and other factors.

FTX users are rewarded with a fee discount of up to 60% by simply holding a certain amount of FTT tokens, which are valued in USD. The discount amount is dependent on your current FTT token holdings as per the table below. The discount program makes FTX a better alternative to similar platforms such as Currency.com and Phemex which do not offer additional discounts.

There are no deposit or withdrawal fees for cryptocurrency coins and tokens using FTX. Withdrawal of cryptocurrency assets from the trading exchange does incur the standard blockchain network fee which is unavoidable and adjusted automatically based on market conditions. It should also be noted that staking FTT reduces the ERC-20 withdrawal fees. The amount per day depends on the amount of FTT staked.

There are no fiat deposit fees charged by FTX. Fiat withdrawals over $5,000 are free for the first 5 withdrawals over a 7-day rolling period. There is one free fiat withdrawal under $5,000 available every 7 days. There are various fees and minimums that vary by currency type. Here are the fees for each support fiat withdrawal currency that doesn’t meet the previous qualifications:

FTX App

The FTX mobile trading app is supported by Android and iOS devices. FTX Pro allows users to monitor the markets and trade at any time and at any place. The app has a 5.0-star rating and has been downloaded by over 1 million users, which is the highest-rated mobile app we have ever reviewed to date. FTX's app includes full-screen chart functionality, orders, positions and basic chart indicators. The functionality of the app is similar to the desktop version. Therefore, traders can edit orders, check trade history and view market information as usual on a 24/7 basis.

Screenshot of FTX mobile app

Customer Support

FTX provides a number of channels to get in touch with their customer support team such as Telegram and Support Email. Unfortunately, there is no phone number or live chat feature to get a hold of the support team, the responses to tickets may take a few days. Alternatively, users can browse through the FAQ section on the website by navigating to the 'Help' link at the bottom of the page. There is an extensive list of articles that cover a broad range of topics such as:

• Deposit and withdrawals
• Account and KYC Verification
• Crypto Trading
• FTT Token
• FTX Trading Competitions and Events
• Mobile App
• OTC
• API
• Fees

Frequently Asked Questions

Final Verdict

To conclude this review, FTX has separated itself from other crypto exchanges by offering new and innovative futures trading products in the futures and leveraged tokens space. With over 400+ crypto pairs to trade across spot, futures, options, indices and leveraged tokens, users will not be short of finding trade opportunities. For those that want to trade on an advanced and modern platform with spot, futures and leverage tokens, then FTX is one of the best crypto exchanges for margin trading.

Review Methodology

HedgewithCrypto strives to provide independent, factual and unbiased reviews of cryptocurrency exchanges and trading platforms to help readers make an informed decision about picking the right crypto exchange. The review process includes examining the website and external sources, creating and funding an account, demonstrating and experiencing the features of the platform and calculating an overall weight-average rating.

A rating between poor (1 star) and best (5 stars) with 0.1 increments is given. For further information on the criteria and categories that are evaluated, read our full exchange review process.

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