Question:

Apart from being crypto exchanges; what do Binance, Huobi, Bitfinex, Bittrex, Changelly, ShapeShift, Mercatox, IDEX, BigOne, COSS, Luno, BitShares, OpenLedger, KuCoin, ForkDelta, EtherDelta and NEXT all have in common?

Answer:

I've used them all.

Most of them on many occasions.

I'm writing this post today because one of those exchanges is special. One of them stands above the others. It's my favourite exchange, it's the best exchange there is! Let's see why. Please follow me for a tour of:

KuCoin

I will try to keep this as short and as visual as possible. KuCoin is like NEO, there is so much to say that it's hard to know where to start and when to stop. It's really best if you explore it for yourself. My aim today is to point you in the right direction and let you run off happily into a KuCoin coloured sunset. Let's begin the tour:

Visiting Kucoin will land you on a start page that looks like this.

New users will have to complete the signup process in order to use the exchange. You can complete the KYC process too, but it is not mandatory. KuCoin features 2fa for security as well as email notifications whenever you login. If you are interested in trying KuCoin, please sign up with my referral code https://www.kucoin.com/#/?r=E39MoQ

I might as well start the tour by explaining the referral code. KuCoin has a referral system whereby you can gain small amounts of the many traded coins (An impressive 337 trading pairs according to https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/kucoin/) by asking other people to sign up using your referral link. You can gain up to 20% of the trading fees spent by the people you refer (it costs them nothing extra). It works as follows:

The inviter will receive the corresponding Referral Bonus from the transaction fee, each time the invitee completes an order.
Each referral will be effective for one year starting from your friend’s first completed order.
Referral Bonus = Invitee’s transaction amount * Transaction fee rate * Referral Bonus rate based on the level of the invitee.
Referral Bonus rate of A-level invitee: 20%
Referral Bonus rate of B-level invitee: 12%
Referral Bonus rate of C-level invitee: 8%
KuCoin will issue the Referral Bonus every two hours.
Referral Bonus can be saved in your wallet with one simple click.

Source: https://support.kucoin.com/hc/en-us/articles/360003877174-KuCoin-Referral-Bonus-Program

You don't make a lot of money this way, below you can see the few cents I have earned in this manner, but that list of coins does go down quite far and maybe one day some of those small amounts may be worth quite a lot more in the rapidly growing crypto world.

The reason you don't make a lot of money with the referral bonus is a good one. The referral bonus is calculated from trading fees. KuCoin has very low trading fees, only 0.1%. The withdrawal fees can vary, some are free (like NEO) and others are more expensive, such as $10 for USDT. This is a partial list of KuCoin's current fee structure:

It is possible to get a discount on trading fees by holding KuCoin Shares (KCS). KuCoin Shares, normally just referred to as "KuCoins" are the native tokens of the KuCoin exchange. For every 1000 KCS you hold, you save 1% in trading fees, up to a maximum of 30%.

KCS is a great token in its own right. I joined KuCoin about a month after it launched publicly in late September 2017. I bought several KuCoin Shares, then selling at around $0.70. I bought more as they dropped in price to as low as about $0.50. A few months later they peaked at $20. They are currently selling for $3 apiece, which is a bargain.

KCS has another advantage. Holding them earns you tiny amounts from all the different trades conducted on the platform, similar to the referral bonus, only you are holding KCS instead of referring people. The amounts are pitifully small, but it all adds up over time, especially if you also get referral bonuses. I find that the little bit of extra income generally covers my trading fees and maybe a bit more. The bonus is paid daily. It is calculated as follows:

The daily dividend received by the users is not a fixed number, the more kcs you hold the more profit you will receive. It is based on 50% fees collected from the said traded coin (so highly depend on the volume).
For example :user Bob holds 10000 KCS in his account on our exchange. Let’s say in October the average volume of our entire exchange per day is 10000 BTC, according to our current fee rate, the trading fee we collect per day is 20 BTC. So this user will get 20 * 50% * (10000/100000000) = 0.001 BTC per day, 0.03 BTC per month!
The amount of Kucoin bonus is calculated based on the amount of asset held at 0:00 on a daily basis and the trading fee of Kucoin Shares KCS today. If the calculated amount is less than 0.00000001, the amount of Kucoin bonus will be ignored.

Source: https://support.kucoin.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000472114-About-KuCoin-bonus

While we're on the subject of earning: KuCoin pays GAS dividends to NEO holders. It is calculated on a daily basis and is paid daily too, though delays are common. The delays are the only thing I can think to fault KuCoin on, and it's really not a big issue! (By comparison: Binance pay monthly and Bittrex never used to pay me, so I got my NEO out of Bittrex - for a fee!😡)

Note: Bit Brain does not advise leaving cryptocurrencies on exchanges, even good ones, any longer than you have to! Keep them somewhere secure where only you have access to the private keys.

Having said that: my memory is fuzzy on the matter, but early on in KuCoin's history, one of the coins it listed turned out to be a scam. My apologies that I can't remember which coin it was, but I believe that KuCoin reimbursed scammed investors, even though it was in no way their fault! That's unheard of in the crypto world, it's like the exact opposite of BitConnect! 😆

Obviously KuCoin has all the normal features of an exchange, we'll skip the boring stuff: wallets for each coin and a display of the totals you hold in BTC and USD, withdrawal and deposit functionality, open orders and history of past orders and markets.

The markets on KuCoin are worth mentioning, they were the first to feature NEO base currency trading pairs. KuCoin is always at the forefront of new developments. That's not marketing speak (this is not an advertisement), I mean that they literally pioneer new things all the time. They are often the first exchange to list new coins, good new coins, as I will give examples of later. First let's see how to trade on KuCoin. This is the markets page:

Note the BTC, ETH, NEO, USDT and KCS base pairs. There are three main ways to trade on KuCoin. If you are in a rush you can trade directly through the market selection page:

If you have more time you can use the simple trading interface (almost identical to that of Binance). It is called the "old version" interface in KuCoin and is accessed via a button in the top right corner of the main trading page.

Speaking of the main trading page (don't get a fright, I "decorated" it a bit):

I used the "decorative" drawing tools and indicators just to show a very tiny bit of the platform's functionality. KuCoin runs on TradingView software (like Binance) and has the full range of TradingView drawing tools and indicators to select from. Of course they can also all be turned off and the chart can be customised in various other ways. The order book is visible to the right of the screen, and in graphical format below the main chart. The trading window in the bottom right corner is protected by a second 2fa screen. You only have to complete the second 2fa once per login and it makes a nice safety feature to stop you from accidentally trading when you are just there to browse.

Trading on KuCoin is simple and fast. There is sufficient volume in most coins to create a suitably small spread, so large price jumps between buying and selling are not a worry. The platform does not lag or stick. I have never encountered a problem with a trade on KuCoin. Speaking of problems... Once or twice my Referral bonus has jammed up for a bit too long. Luckily KuCoin has a support page. There are the usual FAQs, but also ways to get online assistance. I have twice used this feature and twice had the issue resolved within a day.

A help screen

If you are keen on having a new coin listed, perhaps you can vote for it in KuCoin's polls where 0.5 KCS buys you one vote for a coin not yet listed on KuCoin. So far four of these events have been held. The winning coin must get over 100 000 votes and will then be listed on KuCoin for free. As you can see, the last round was won by WePower (which has since been listed)

Kucoin also has a very busy news section where you can find new posts about listings, fee changes, competitions and other news daily:

What else can I tell you?

Ah yes! Browse through the coins that KuCoin has, some are found nowhere else. Some ultra low market cap deals are to be found. Great buy suggestions from Bit Brain: CargoX, LOCICoin, Deep Brain Chain, Quantstamp, carVertical, Covesting and THEKEY. And VeChain (always). And NEO (always,always buy NEO!).

KuCoin also has some rather clickbaity but very cool competitions that it runs. Prizes include BTC and cars like Lambos and Porsches. Really. I'm not making this up.

It can also generate APIs so you can use your KuCoin account with other software and KuCoin has its own Android app on the Google Playstore.

Conclusion

I genuinely think that KuCoin is the best exchange you can use today. Binance is also great, but KuCoin is definitely my favourite out of those two. The rate at which KuCoin grew and rose to stardom was phenomenal, I have never seen any other exchange able to compete with such rapid growth!

If you haven't tried KuCoin then why not take a look? I would be very surprised if you were not impressed by it and convinced to carry on using it. I keep trying new exchanges, but I have yet to find its equal. I have full trust in this exchange and I'm sure that its great customer service and forward thinking attitude will ensure that it performs very well in the future!

Once again please use my referral code if you sign up, I would be most appreciative https://www.kucoin.com/#/?r=E39MoQ Once you are signed up, be sure to post your own referral code to other crypto enthusiasts.

All images in this post are from KuCoin.

Yours in crypto,
Bit Brain

DISCLAIMER:
I am neither a financial advisor nor a professional trader/investor. This is not financial advice, investment advice or trading advice. Unless otherwise stated, all my posts are my opinion and nothing more. Crypto is highly volatile and you can easily lose everything in crypto. You invest at your own risk! Information I post may be erroneous or construed as being misleading. I will not be held responsible for anything which is incorrect, missing, out-of-date or fabricated. Any information you use is done so at your own risk. Always Do Your Own Research (DYOR) and realise that you and you alone are responsible for your crypto portfolio and whatever happens to it.