Poloniex

Introduction to Poloniex

One of the pioneers in altcoin exchanges, Poloniex has been around for over 6 years now and has gone through a number of changes over the years, some good and some bad. It may not be as big or fancy as some of the other exchanges, but Poloniex has supported the altcoin community for a long time and gained a loyal following as a result. Poloniex does close to $75 million in volume every 24 hours and is considered to be a staple among altcoin exchanges. Unfortunately, Poloniex does not serve those in the U.S. and a handful of other countries.

Why use Poloniex?

Poloniex carries over 100 altcoins and tokens across 280 listings. If you are an altcoin trader and your favorite mid or small cap coin is listed, there’s a good chance it will have more volume than most other exchanges. Poloniex is easy to use and reliable. Their trading fees are on the cheap side of things and can be made even cheaper simply by holding a small amount of TRX in their Poloniex account. They are a

How to register an account on Poloniex

Account registration is an extremely simple process and only requires an email address and password. However, they do not serve users located in some U.S. states and other countries, and you will have to get verified in order to trade on Poloniex.

How to get verified on Poloniex

In order to fulfill Poloniex’s ID verification process, you will need to provide a copy of your driver’s license, passport or state ID, as well as a copy of a recent bill or statement to verify your residential address. You’ll also have to submit a photo of yourself holding your ID document. Poloniex’s verification process is automated but you have to be sure to submit clear photos for the fastest processing possible. If everything is good, your materials will be processed in 1 hour, and then you can get started trading.

How to make a deposit on Poloniex

To make a deposit, click on the wallet icon in the lower left corner of the screen, then press “Deposit”. A list of coin options will appear. Click on the coin you wish to deposit. You will then be assigned a deposit address to which you will send coins for trading. Deposits will be credited to your account after it has been confirmed by your coin’s network a certain number of times. This number varies from coin to coin but will be displayed on the deposit screen.

How to trade on Poloniex

Poloniex’s trading features are rather basic but good for all levels of traders. Trading is divided into 3 different categories:

• Spot. This involves exchanging one coin for another (traditional trading).
• Margin. This allows you to borrow coins on margin by putting up BTC as collateral. Those who want to lend coins can also earn interest by doing so.
• Leverage Tokens. A series of leverage tokens based on long and short positions of other coins and market volatility as well.

Order types that can be placed include Market, Limit, and Stop Limit.

To place an order on Poloniex, first find the coin pair you wish to trade and the type of order you wish to place. Next, enter the quantity of coin you wish to purchase/sell and the price you wish to purchase/sell it at. These amounts can be auto-filled by finding them and clicking on them in the orderbook or by clicking the Lowest Ask / Highest Bid figure displayed under your coin balance. After you are satisfied with these variables, click the “Buy” or “Sell” button to confirm the order.

Overview of supported coins

Poloniex carries over 100 coins and tokens and 280 trading pairs, the most popular of which include:

• Bitcoin (BTC)
• Ethereum (ETH)
• Litecoin (LTC)
• Ripple (XRP)
• JUST (JUST)
• TRON (TRX)
• Monero (XMR)
• finance (YFI)
• BitTorrent (BTT)
• Bitcoin Cash (BCH)

Poloniex trading and withdrawal fees

Trading fees at Poloniex are modest and start at 0.125% for both Maker and Taker orders. Trading fees are reduced in a tiered system based on 30-day trading volume and amount of TRX held in your Poloniex account. For example, holding just a small amount of TRX in your account will reduce both Maker and Taker fees to 0.094%.

Poloniex’s withdrawal fees are dynamic and based on average fees of each individual coin’s network, so they change from time to time, but average somewhere around $4.50 for BTC (slightly or significantly less for most other coins).

Security

Poloniex suffered a significant hacking incident early on in its existence but have since changed their security practices and is now considered to be extremely safe. Poloniex does their best to keep the information provided by their customers secure and to prevent phishing attempts. All customers should activate 2-FA via Google Authenticator before making their first deposit, and saving your 16 digit key in a secure location is recommended as well.

Benefits of Poloniex

• Huge number of altcoins with decent or good volume.
• Margin trading available for a large amount of coins.
• Opportunities to earn interest by lending coins for margin.
• Easy-to-use interface, simple, uncluttered design.

Limitations of Poloniex

• Not available in the U.S. and some other countries.
• No derivatives or leveraged trading (outside of leverage tokens).
• Does not support fiat/crypto trading.
• Limited amount of user security options.

Wrapping it up

For those located outside of the US, Poloniex is pretty much a must-have account for any regular altcoin trader. They offer some margin trading opportunities not frequently seen at other exchanges that allow traders to short less popular altcoins. Poloniex did have some reputation issues when previously owned by Circle, but they have since split into their own, independent entity, with their newest incarnation being slightly more than a year old. Poloniex may not be the most exciting exchange around, but they are an institution in the altcoin trading community and provide a great exchange experience for all levels of traders.