Even though it’s not as popular as many of its counterpart cryptocurrency exchanges out there, HitBTC markets itself as the most advanced exchange within the crypto space. Whether that statement is true or not, HitBTC is still worth looking into if you are a curious investor, trader, and especially for trading bot developers.
When it first started out in life in 2013, HitBTC was known for its uncomplicated user interface and high trading volume of Bitcoin. Since then, HitBTC has made a name for itself as being a robot-friendly exchange, as well as for offering a wide variety of both crypto and fiat currencies.
Currently, HitBTC provides its traders with over 300 cryptocurrencies including some of the most popular ones such as Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ripple, EOS, Zcash, Ethereum, Litecoin, Dogecoin, and Monero.
A full list of trading pairs and options can be found on its dedicated page on CoinMarketCap.
The team behind the project is made out of software developers, finance professionals, and experienced traders.
The Hong Kong-based exchange is owned by HIT Solutions Ltd and has various useful features (such as a core-matching engine with order matching algorithms and real-time clearing) that are bound to make it worthy of most traders’ attention.
Features
Very low fees
Probably the first aspect traders should be aware of when researching HitBTC is the fact that it has very low fees, 0,1% fees for every market trade, to be more exact. The exchange uses a smart “maker-taker” model to ensure maximum liquidity.
The way HitBTC works is quite straightforward: anyone who places a market or a stop order that is instantly filled is deemed a “taker,” and is required to pay a taker fee. When one places an order that doesn’t fill immediately like, say, a limit order, one becomes a “maker.” The maker provides liquidity to the order book, and, as expected, is required to pay a maker fee. Therefore, takers are charged a 0,1% fee from the trade, while makers are not charged at all, and instead receive a 0,01% “reward” from the trade.
The exchange has received various positive reviews regarding fault tolerance, and swift transaction times over the past few years which is always a good thing when talking about crypto exchanges.
Good security
HitBit takes the security of its users quite seriously, a fact made known by its advanced encryption technology, the use of cold storage, and 2-factor authentication which is the norm nowadays. However, since we’re on the subject, it’s important to mention that HitBTC experienced a hack way back in 2015. The good news is that there have not been any other incidents since then.
ICO coins trading
It may come as a surprise for some, but HitBit allows for ICO coins trading. In short, HitBTC allows its traders to buy ICO coins and store them in their HitBTC account even before the ICO releases its tokens on other exchanges. More details about this feature are available on the exchange’s official support page.
The most advanced APIs on the market
As mentioned at the start of this review, HitBit is known for being a robot-friendly exchange. This means that it offers a set of APIs that make it very good for any developer looking to create trading bots. Another interesting feature of HitBTC is that it comes with support for the FIX protocol. It supports FIX via two types of interfaces, FIX Trading and FIX Market data.
The HitBit API also comes with several interfaces that make it very accessible for developers such as RESTful API, socket.io, and Streaming API. In theory, HitBTC is the most advanced exchange on the market in this regard.
Demo trading
HitBit has yet another ace up its sleeve by allowing its users to perform demo trading, which is quite rare in this particular niche. Demo trading is a very nifty tool that it’s not only educational for beginner traders (as it can introduce them to the complex world of cryptocurrencies) but may even help HitBit hold onto their traders a lot more than other exchanges.
Overall good customer support
HitBit’s support center boasts a wide array of articles that should help any novice trader get to grips with the platform. For more pressing issues, there’s always the option of emailing the support team. However, there have been reports which describe the response times as long.
Verifications
In order to ensure that their accounts do not have daily withdrawal limits, HitBTC requires users to verify the accounts. These verifications include complete KYC and AML procedures which requires users to email a list of their names, addresses, bank account information, identity documents, proof of residence, and proof of bank account ownership to [email protected]
Conclusion
HitBTC is a popular crypto exchange that helped a great number of investors and users trade cryptos over the course of past years and will continue to do so. Not only is the exchange very exciting from a developer’s standpoint, but it also offers a unique set of features for most common traders. However, there have been some complaints regarding customer support, its ID verification systems, and the somewhat slow withdrawal times, aspects that other popular exchanges are quite good at. Hence, if HitBTC wants to stay competitive, it might want to resolve these issues.
