Poloniex vs Bitfinex: A Clashing Comparison

ByNick Mitchell Updated on

At 16th place in our cryptocurrency exchange rankings, we have crypto-only platform Poloniex, who in this exchange comparison measures up against Bitfinex, placed sixth. We will look at the fees, the features, and much more.

Let’s go!

Fees

Poloniex Fees

  • Maker fee: 0.125%
  • Taker fee: 0.125%
  • Users can pay fees in Tron (TRX) for 25% less
  • 0% fees available for Poloniex Plus members and high-volume traders
  • Free crypto deposits
  • Mining fees applied to cryptocurrency withdrawals
  • Full fee schedule here

Bitfinex Fees

  • Maker fee: 0.1%
  • Taker fee: 0.2%
  • Holders of LEO coin can get up to 25% discounts on their trading fees
  • No deposit fees for crypto
  • Small charges for withdrawals
  • Trading more than $7.5m in a 30-day period will result in 0% maker fees

Winner: Both cryptocurrency exchanges are cheap — tie. 

Sign Up & KYC Experience

Joining Poloniex

poloniex sign up experience
poloniex dashboard
Find this in your user dashboard
  1. Head to Poloniex’s website and click ‘Sign Up.’
  2. Type in your email address, password, and if you have one, a referral code.
  3. Accept the terms of service.
  4. Open your email and click the verification link from Poloniex.
  5. Log in again.
  6. Find the ‘Get Started’ button (see image above).
  7. Provide your name, date of birth, address, phone number, and region.
  8. Submit your ID for verification (passport preferred).
  9. Provide a selfie (hold a piece of paper with ‘Poloniex’ and today’s date to accelerate verification).
  10. Completion can take minutes or days.

Making A Bitfinex Account

  1. Go to the Bitfinex website and click ‘Open Account.’
  2. Provide a username, email address, and password.
  3. Open an email from Bitfinex and click the verification link inside.
  4. Enter your username and password in the new window.
  5. Provide your name, age, contact information, and address where indicated.
  6. Provide two forms of government ID, a selfie holding your ID, a bank statement scan, and a proof of residential address (like a bank statement).
  7. Wait up to three days for confirmation.
Bitfinex new account screen

Winner: Poloniex is slightly faster and easier.

Ease Of Use & Feel Of Website/App

Poloniex

  • No limits on crypto trading even without KYC checks
  • Unlimited crypto deposits with or without KYC verification
  • $10,000 monthly cash withdrawals permitted without KYC
  • Offers their own decentralized exchange – PoloniDEX
  • Margin trading and mining pools both available
  • An easy and (we think) aesthetically-pleasing trading interface
  • Customer support via social media, email tickets, or ‘trollbox’
  • Great mobile experience
  • Users who make a successful referral get 20% of their trading fees

Bitfinex

  • High liquidity and large trade volume
  • Platform suitable for beginners, pros, and institutional traders
  • A ‘Paper Trading Account’ offered for practice trading (essentially a demo account)
  • Crypto trading permitted before KYC verification – 2 BTC per day limit

Winner: Poloniex wins for its low restriction levels.

Deposit Methods

Crypto-Only Poloniex

Bitfinex’ Big Limits

  • Fiat deposits are only permitted over:
    • 10,000 USD, EUR, GBP
    • 1,000,000 JPY
  • Wire transfers over the above thresholds cost 0.1% + €0.60
  • Crypto deposits are free and hundreds of projects are supported

Winner: Bitfinex offers better deposit options.

Instant Buy Options (Buying with Credit or Debit Card)

Poloniex

  • 16 cryptocurrencies available for direct purchase (including Bitcoin)
  • Their Simplex partnership permits credit card purchases
  • Credit card fees are 3.5% or $10, whichever is greater
  • Minimum purchase of $50
  • Daily purchase limit: $20,000
  • Monthly purchase limit $50,000
  • Cryptocurrencies take around 30 minutes to arrive upon purchase

Bitfinex

  • Direct purchase of dozens of different cryptocurrencies (such as Bitcoin, Tether, Tezos, TRON, Litecoin, and many more)
  • $25 minimum purchase
  • Credit card charges are based on a private algorithm

Winner: It’s a tie. 

Trading Experience

Poloniex

  • User-friendly design with intuitive features
  • Clean white and cyan trading interface
  • Great choice of charts and graphs
  • API options for developers
  • Margin trading permitted
  • Beginner-friendly mobile app
  • Excellent navigation on browser and devices
  • 299 trading pairs
  • 168 different cryptocurrencies
poloniex trading interface

Bitfinex

  • Smooth trading for beginners, professionals, and institutions
  • Low trading fees
  • User-friendly designs
  • Intuitive layouts
  • 268 trading pairs
  • 142 coins supported
  • ‘Market Order’ button enables immediate trades at the current market price
  • Instant purchases via credit card through browser and app
bitfinex trading view

Winner: It’s a tie.

Reputation & Security

Hack-Free Poloniex

  • Zero hacks
  • It was used to siphon $4m in crypto stolen from Russian crypto exchange EXMO
  • Great reputation among pro-privacy traders for low KYC restrictions

Bitfinex Bad Past

  • Hacked for 120,000 Bitcoin (2nd biggest hacking ever)
  • Survived the hack and has improved security since
  • No US customers due to haunted past of hacks and allegations

Winner: Poloniex’s reputation is better.

Poloniex, Bitfinex – Who wins?

With a daily trading volume almost 10 times the size, higher security measures, and more coins for purchase than Poloniex, Bitfinex wins this cryptocurrency exchange comparison.

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