Phemex: A Relatively New Digital Asset Exchange With User-Focused Design

Singapore headquartered digital assets Spot, and Derivatives exchange platform, Phemex, is a relatively new exchange. Having gone live during the tail-end of 2019 (November,) Phemex has gained a large user-base since inception – through a user focused design ethos, and irresistible incentives. Bizznerd took a peak at the platform’s mechanics, to see whether or not it really was up to scratch. 

As previously mentioned, Phemex first came to life on the 25th of November, 2019. Founded by former Morgan Stanley employee, Jack Tao – along with a team of financial industry heavyweights – the crypto derivatives platfrom’s main aim is to provide an institutional-grade trading experience to digital asset traders. 

Phemex Financial Pte. Ltd, the firm behind the exchange, have formed alliances with technical teams, over 35 in total, in Singapore, South Korea, China, Japan, and The United States. The globally dispersed team is tasked with  ensuring the security of users’ personal data and funds. All, while focused on enabling more people to access digital assets, through blockchain technology. Phemex aims to grow the reach of digital assets, by simplifying crypto derivatives assets trading.

The Greek deity of fame & fortune – Pheme – appears to have cast her favor upon the digital asset derivatives exchange, with the platform boasting a 40,000 strong user base. Said user base has generated activity tallying at over $570 million (at time of writing) in trading volume, peaking at $2.6 billion back in March. Phemex attributes its meteoric rise up the exchange ranks, to its emphasis on user friendliness.

The Platform

Owing to the Phemex platform having been midwifed into existence by financial industry veterans, it boasts a host of features that have made it one of the go-to derivatives platforms in the digital asset trading field.  Though it trails behind Bybit and Bitmex on the liquidity front, it gives them a run for their money in the service, and transaction speed arena. 

Phemex allows leveraged trading – up to 100 times – with contracts settled in BTC & US dollars. In addition to enabling “hello riches” level, margin trading, the platform also offers cross-margin trading. What sets Phemex out from the pack is that it makes the derivatives trading process less cumbersome, and provides comprehensive risk mitigation.

Phemex offers a number of order types; including standard market orders, as well as take-profit orders, conditional orders, among others. All on a platform that clears 300,000 orders per second. The exchange enables users to set up sub-accounts attached to their accounts, allowing for fund managers to log in and help with trades. Phemex also utilizes a top-grade FIX API, which allows for easier trading bot use, as well as plugging into exchange aggregator platforms (though we currently know of none that support Phemex.)

Deposits, and withdrawals are quick and easy too, with the platform allowing users to make three free withdrawals a day. The derivatives exchange also comes with multiple language support, on website and on their easy-to-use mobile app – available on Android, and iOS. Have we mentioned that Phemex is currently free of any of that KYC hassle?

Phemex’s look, and feel is presented so simply that one has no trouble navigating either of the exchange’s clients; web, or mobile. Though the mobile client could probably do with a more sophisticated charting experience. Perhaps integrating TradingView charts could remedy that – seeing as the platform is geared at offering an institutional-grade trading experience. 

Markets

The Phemex exchange platform, at present, offers 6 derivatives markets – the options are rather limited – along with four spot markets. Spot markets are only open to premium members with zero trading fees. Tradable markets on offer are, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Tether, XRP, Tezos, and recent addition, Chainlink. 

Fees

Phemex also offers leveraged perpetual contracts for the following pairs, BTC/USD, ETH/USD, XRP/USD, LINK/USD, XTZ/USD, LTC/USD, and GOLD/USD on Long, as well as Short positions. The amount of Leverage, a user can apply to their position up to the user, but Phemex caps it at a hundred time.

Phemex’s fee structure, deposits on the exchange enjoy zero fees. With traders able to deposit for free means they retain more of their capital position, see why it’s so popular? Withdrawals however, carry a charge of 0.005 BTC (still quite low,) with an additional network fee, which will – of course – be determined by how many transactions the blockchain is processing at the moment of withdrawal. 

Maker, and Taker fees during trading action are – pretty much – stock standard, set at 0.025% for market maker trades. Taker fees are set at 0.075

Conclusion

Pros

• Up to 100x leveraged trading
• Risk mitigation mechanisms in place
• Option to create sub-accounts
• No KYC verification 
• User interface easy to navigation, and intuitive 
• Mobile app compatible with Android, and iOS
• Offers low withdrawal fees
• Rewarding affiliate program 
• Keeps funds stored in cold wallet system
• 30+ connected liquidity providers
• Multiple Language Support

Cons

• It does not support US residents (If you’re in the US, or wish a friend in the US could experein the platform, that is)
• Few digital asset markets on offer
• No telephone support for users

Phemex’s design is very user centric, but the main drawcard for the exchange is their low fees, high leverage, and emphasis on risk mitigation. One can tell that some financial industry heads put this package together, as transactions take only a millisecond to go through, while the platform experiences near-zero downtime.