BitMart Exchange Review: Pros, Cons, and More

Review Updated Feb. 20, 2023

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BitMart offers one of the largest cryptocurrency selections we've seen and competitive trading fees. With plenty of advanced features, including margin and futures trading, it's great for more experienced investors. Unfortunately, the exchange lost $196 million in crypto from a hack in December 2021. Read our full BitMart review to find out more about its pros and cons.

Ratings Methodology

Bottom Line

The features, trading options, and fees on BitMart are all excellent, but security is a concern after it was the victim of a high-profile hack.

Fees:

Spot trading: 0.06%-0.25% Futures: 0.04%-0.06%

Account Minimum:

$30 buy/sell minimum

Full BitMart review

This cryptocurrency exchange is a good fit for: Experienced crypto investors who want access to a variety of trade tools and cryptocurrencies.

Pros

Supports a large number of cryptocurrencies
Advanced crypto trading platform
Competitive fees
Earn interest with crypto staking
Futures and margin trading
NFT marketplace

Cons

Hacked in December 2021
Not beginner friendly
Negative customer reviews

Top perks

Supports a large number of cryptocurrencies

There aren't many exchanges that can match BitMart's crypto selection. It lets you trade over 1,000 digital currencies, including most of the market leaders and all kinds of smaller crypto tokens that you rarely see offered by major exchanges. If you're looking for a place to get those hard-to-find cryptocurrencies, BitMart could be the answer.

Earn interest with crypto staking

BitMart offers crypto staking, allowing you to lock up funds for 30 to 90 days to earn interest on them. It's only available with a limited number of the cryptocurrencies BitMart offers, but it's a simple way to grow your holdings. This exchange also has a savings program, BitMart Savings, that pays interest on other types of cryptocurrency. However, it's not available to U.S. investors.

RELATED: Compare options with The Ascent's picks for the Best Crypto Staking Platforms.

Futures and margin trading

BitMart is one of few exchanges to offer crypto futures trading and margin trading, both of which allow you to use leverage with your crypto investing. Keep in mind that these are risky investing strategies to begin with, and adding cryptocurrency to the mix makes them even riskier. It's possible to lose large amounts of money this way, so futures and margin aren't recommended for most crypto investors.

Interested in learning more? Check out:

NFT marketplace

If you're interested in buying non-fungible tokens (NFTs), BitMart NFT has a variety of options for sale and some unique projects. It still needs to work out some kinks -- there's no search function, for one, and there aren't many ways to sort listings. But it has potential, and BitMart users who are interested in NFTs could find it convenient.

SEE MORE OPTIONS: Best NFT Marketplaces

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What could be improved

Hacked in December 2021

BitMart experienced a large-scale security breach in December 2021. Hackers stole a private key to two of the exchange's hot wallets and used it to withdraw $196 million in cryptocurrency.

In response, BitMart took action to improve its security, and it promised to compensate all its clients who lost money. However, five weeks after the incident took place, many victims were still waiting for payments.

Not beginner friendly

This exchange is best suited for intermediate to advanced investors. Although investors of all experience levels can use it, there are much more beginner-friendly crypto exchanges out there.

BitMart, on the other hand, has a bit of a learning curve. Even the standard trading tool presents quite a bit of information. There's also a buy and sell option, but this presents you with multiple offers from third-party crypto trading services, each with its own rate and accepted payment methods.

CHECK OUT OTHER OPTIONS: Best Crypto Apps and Exchanges

Negative customer reviews

User reviews are mixed and many have struggled to transfer funds, which can certainly be frustrating. There are also complaints of glitchiness, and authentication getting in the way of accessing users accounts.

Alternatives to consider

If you're looking for an exchange with top notch security: Gemini is an excellent crypto exchange, and it's also one of the safest. It keeps the majority of client crypto funds offline in cold storage and has crime insurance for digital assets stored online in hot wallets.

If you want a beginner-friendly crypto exchange: Coinbase is extremely popular because of its high-quality design and ease of use. This exchange is also good if you're learning about crypto, because it has helpful educational content that's easy to understand. It even pays you free crypto to complete educational modules.

Offer	Gemini Exchange	Coinbase
Rating	Rating image, 4.50 out of 5 stars. 4.50/5 Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor.	Rating image, 4.50 out of 5 stars. 4.50/5 Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor.
Commissions	$0.99-$2.99 orders < $200, 1.49% for orders at least $200 (default), 0% - 0.40% (Gemini ActiveTrader)	Variable fees (Coinbase), 0%-0.80% (Coinbase Advanced Trade), $29.99 monthly (Coinbase One)
Next Steps	Open Account for Gemini Exchange Read Full Review	Open Account for Coinbase Read Full Review

How BitMart works

BitMart allows you to buy, sell, trade, and earn cryptocurrency. When you use the buy and sell tool, BitMart provides offers from its third-party partners:

Legend Trading (accepts ACH bank account transfers)
MoonPay (accepts debit cards, credit cards, and Apple Pay)
Simplex (accepts debit cards, credit cards, and Apple Pay)

After you select an offer, you'll need to complete the transaction on that partner's website.

The exchange has several different crypto trading options. It offers a standard trade tool, which is simpler to use, and an advanced trade tool with all trading features. There's also margin trading and futures trading available.

You can earn interest/rewards on your cryptocurrency balances with BitMart Savings and BitMart Staking. Note that BitMart Savings isn't available for U.S. residents, but the staking program is.

BitMart also has its own cryptocurrency, BitMart Token (BMX). If you have a sufficient balance of BMX tokens, you can qualify for lower trading fees. Standard users can also get a 25% discount on trading fees when paying them with BMX tokens.

Fees overview

For standard users, BitMart has a tiered trading fee structure that starts at 0.25%. Your level depends on the number of BMX tokens you have; the more tokens you have, the lower your trading fees. You can also get a 25% discount if you pay your trading fees with BMX tokens.

The exchange uses a maker-taker model. Taker fees are charged on orders that are filled immediately, and maker fees are charged on orders that aren't. Here's the full trading fee structure for standard users on BitMart:

Level	BMX Holding	Maker/Taker Fees
1	BMX ≥ 0	0.25%/0.25%
2	BMX ≥ 500	0.20%/0.20%
3	BMX ≥ 2,000	0.18%/0.20%
4	BMX ≥ 10,000	0.16%/0.18%
5	BMX ≥ 50,000	0.14%/0.16%
6	BMX ≥ 100,000	0.12%/0.14%
7	BMX ≥ 200,000	0.10%/0.12%
8	BMX ≥ 500,000	0.08%/0.10%
9	BMX ≥ 1,000,000	0.06%/0.08%

Source: BitMart.

For professional users who trade at least 150 BTC per month, maker fees start at 0.04% and taker fees at 0.06%. The highest volume traders can even qualify for negative trading fees, meaning they receive a small amount of the trade from BitMart. Note that unlike standard users, professional users don't receive a discount for paying with BMX tokens. Here's the BitMart fee structure for professional users:

Level	30-Day Trading Volume	Maker/Taker Fees
Pro1	BTC ≥ 150	0.04%/0.06%
Pro2	BTC ≥ 500	0.02%/0.06%
Pro3	BTC ≥ 2,000	0.00%/0.04%
Pro4	BTC ≥ 5,000	-0.001%/0.04%
Pro5	BTC ≥ 10,000	-0.005%/0.02%
Pro6	BTC ≥ 40,000	-0.01%/0.02%

Source: BitMart

Futures trading has maker fees of 0.04% and taker fees of 0.06%. There's no discount for paying with BMX tokens.

BitMart doesn't charge deposit fees. Withdrawal fees vary depending on the type of cryptocurrency.

Cryptocurrency selection

A high point for BitMart is its massive selection of cryptocurrencies. It offers over 1,000, which is far beyond what most major exchanges have. You'll be able to trade just about all the biggest cryptos on BitMart, including:

In addition to the heavy hitters, BitMart offers all kinds of smaller cryptocurrencies you don't see on many other exchanges. This means you need to be even more careful about what you invest in, because many of these tokens have dubious value. For example, you could buy Baby Doge Coin (BABYDOGE) on BitMart, but I wouldn't recommend it. Still, if you want options, you'll have plenty of them on this exchange.

Is your cryptocurrency safe with BitMart?

There's no way to be completely confident in BitMart's security right now. We've already been over the major hack, which happened fairly recently. In fairness, BitMart stated it would compensate victims in full, but it's not clear if the exchange followed through.

BitMart isn't the first exchange to get hacked, and it almost assuredly improved its security infrastructure in response. What's more concerning is the lack of security information it provides.

Many crypto exchanges have specific web pages with breakdowns of their security features. On BitMart, there's not much available, outside of a short blurb on its homepage that mentions how it uses hybrid hot/cold wallet systems and multi-signature technologies. That's a start, but it would be nice to see BitMart go into more detail, especially now that its reputation isn't the best.

One great way to reduce your risk with any crypto exchange is to transfer the crypto you buy to your own crypto wallet. It will then be in your possession, so it's not at risk if the exchange is hacked. This could be a suitable option if you want to use BitMart but are worried about the safety of your crypto.

LEARN MORE: How to Safely Store Cryptocurrency

BitMart is right for you if:

You're an experienced crypto investor looking for advanced trading tools.
You want to invest in smaller cryptocurrencies that aren't available on most exchanges.