Okcoin Review: A User-Friendly Exchange With Low Fees

Launched in 2013 and available in over 190 countries, Okcoin is one of the world's oldest and most popular crypto exchanges. Its success is in large part because of extremely affordable trading fees and an intuitive design that's great for beginners. Read our detailed Okcoin review to find out more about it.

This cryptocurrency exchange is a good fit for: Crypto enthusiasts who want to invest in a variety of cryptos and save on trading fees. Those looking for passive income opportunities will like this exchange's staking program.

Top perks

Low fees

The best part about Okcoin is its fees, which are some of the cheapest we've found. Trading fees depend on your monthly trading volume, but the most you'll pay is 0.2%.

For comparison, many popular crypto exchanges have fees starting at 0.5%. There are also plenty that charge 1% to 1.5% or more. You'll keep extra costs to a minimum when you invest in crypto with Okcoin, and over time, that makes a difference.

User-friendly design

Okcoin has a fantastic design and layout. Everything is clearly labeled and easy to understand, which is helpful if you're getting started with crypto. The exchange explains how to set up an account and start buying cryptocurrencies right from its homepage.

It also has a detailed help center and categorizes different types of cryptocurrency on its trading platform. If you want to check out major cryptos, decentralized finance (DeFi) projects, or stablecoins, you can quickly jump to those.

Beginner and advanced trading platforms

This exchange offers two different trading interfaces. The default buy/sell tool is straightforward and perfect for beginners who want to trade crypto without getting overwhelmed. The advanced platform gives you more charting tools, which are helpful for more experienced investors.

Wide selection of cryptocurrencies

You can buy, sell, and trade over 75 cryptocurrencies on Okcoin. That's a strong lineup, and it gives you plenty of different projects to invest in, from the biggest cryptos on the market to those that are still working their way up the list.

Okcoin is especially well known as one of the best places to buy Bitcoin. It reportedly transacts over 16 million Bitcoin per month. The exchange is also the first in the United States to let you purchase Bitcoin in satoshis, the smallest Bitcoin unit. Some investors prefer this over buying a tiny fraction of a Bitcoin.

LEARN MORE: What Is a Satoshi?

Offers crypto staking and lending

Crypto staking and lending are popular ways to earn rewards on your crypto holdings. Okcoin makes this easy and offers competitive interest rates.

You can earn rewards on more than 10 of the cryptocurrencies that Okcoin offers just by depositing them to a staking/lending pool. Interest rates depend on the cryptocurrency. Several offer an APY of over 5%, and there are a few offering over 10%.

RELATED: See The Ascent's picks for the Best Crypto Staking Platforms.

Mobile app

Okcoin offers highly rated mobile apps for Apple and Android devices. The Okcoin mobile app offers the same features as the web platform, so you can use it for crypto trades, staking, deposits, and withdrawals.

What could be improved

Not available in a few states

Although Okcoin is licensed in the United States, it's not currently available in the following states and territories:

• Hawaii
• Nevada
• New York
• West Virginia
• All U.S. territories other than Puerto Rico

Educational content

Okcoin's educational content is solid, but it could be better. It has a blog with info on various crypto topics. On the price pages for each of its cryptocurrencies, it includes a paragraph describing that cryptocurrency and provides links to that cryptocurrency's official website, white paper, and Twitter account.

Some of Okcoin's competitors go into much more detail in their educational content and cover more subjects. If you're looking for a platform that will help you expand your crypto knowledge, you may want to explore more crypto reviews.

If you're looking for more educational content: Gemini is about as good as it gets in this regard. It has a massive number of educational resources highlighted by its Cryptopedia platform, which breaks down complex topics in language everyone can understand.

If you want a broker that offers crypto and stocks: Robinhood is a great fit if you want to build a balanced portfolio on one platform. It offers a small roster of cryptocurrencies, as well as stocks, ETFs, and options.

Okcoin lets you buy, sell, and trade digital currencies. After you've registered and verified your identity, you can fund your account with an ACH transfer, wire transfer, or a debit card payment.

The exchange offers what it calls trading accounts and funding accounts. This is a way of separating funds you want to use for active trading and funds you want to store. Money and cryptocurrency you want to trade must be in your funding account, whereas withdrawals can only be made from your funding account. You can move funds between these accounts at any time instantly and free of charge.

There are two ways to trade cryptocurrency on Okcoin, and they're labeled as follows:

• Buy: A straightforward tool that lets you buy and sell cryptocurrency.
• Trade: An advanced tool that offers real-time cryptocurrency trading.

In addition to crypto trading, Okcoin also lets you earn interest on your crypto holdings by staking or lending them.

Okcoin uses a tiered fee structure with trading fees ranging from 0% to 0.20%. Your tier is based on your 30-day trading volume with the exchange.

The fee table also has a maker-taker model. You pay a taker fee on orders that are filled immediately and a maker fee on orders that aren't.

Here is the full Okcoin fee table for cryptocurrency trading:

Deposits and withdrawals on Okcoin are free of charge when made through a bank account. You can also deposit funds using a debit card, but there's a 3.99% fee.

There are over 75 cryptocurrencies available on Okcoin, giving it one of the larger selections, even compared to the top cryptocurrency apps.

The great thing about Okcoin is that there aren't any glaring omissions from its lineup. You can find most of the biggest coins here, from market leader Bitcoin to the popular altcoins. It also offers cryptocurrencies a lot of U.S. exchanges don't, like Tron (TRX).

In terms of security, Okcoin ranks among the very best. Here are some of the security measures Okcoin has in place to protect its clients' accounts and cryptocurrency:

• It offers two-factor authentication (2FA). If you set this up, the exchange will require you to enter both your password and a code sent to your mobile device to access your account.
• It uses end-to-end encryption to protect data. Okcoin masks data during collection, uses SSL encryption during transmission, and uses AES encryption during data storage.
• It stores 95% of crypto funds in cold storage and the rest in multisig hot wallets. Cold storage is offline, so it's the most secure crypto storage option. The small portion of funds that Okcoin keeps in hot wallets are inaccessible with a single key and require three to five signatures to access.
• It's proactive about fixing security issues. Okcoin partners with cybersecurity experts to look for vulnerabilities and runs periodic internal audits.

• You want to buy and sell crypto for some of the lowest fees on the market.
• You'd like to earn interest on your crypto by staking and lending it.
• You're looking for a platform with a smooth design that makes it easy to jump in and start investing.