FTX Review

Founded in 2019 by a 27-year-old Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX is a relatively new cryptocurrency exchange on the market. But despite its age, it has managed to become one of the biggest crypto exchanges in the world, only falling behind industry giants such as Binance and Coinbase, and has become home to millions of traders.

November 2022 Update

On the 11th of November 2022, FTX filed for bankruptcy along with around 130 partner/sister companies. This came after Coindesk reported that Alameda Investment, which is the Bankmans investment firm, was holding approximately $10 billion dollars worth of FTT (FTX's native currency). Following this news panic ensued which was fueled by Binance CEO's statement that Binance was going to sell all of its FTTs, which at that time were worth more than $500 million. This caused panic withdrawals from FTX, which caused a liquidity crisis and caused FTX to file for bankruptcy. 

Therefore, our suggestion would be that traders visit other crypto exchanges and steer clear of this one. Our recommendations: Binance, Coinbase, KuCoin.

FTX Before Bankruptcy 

FTX had 319 cryptocurrencies available for traders to trade with. When it comes to new coins, FTX added them on a constant basis, but not so often to flood their market with useless coins. It also somehow managed to amass a user base of over one million traders, despite only being on the market for just a little over 3 years. 

It was a great platform for those who wanted to receive high-quality services, alongside not having to deal with complicated systems. But exactly what made FTX a good crypto exchange to use? Read our guide to find out everything you should have known about FTX.

Here Are FTX Pros and Cons

FTX fact sheet

Security is one of the first things we need to look at as we are investing our hard-earned money into this platform. Because of this, FTX had some security features in place to protect users and their funds.

They had many different security tools and features, things such as insurance policies that are focused on user protection. The system that FTX has in place was considered a secure one as they never had any “official” hacking issues (until after the crash), but there have been some rumors floating around the web.

When it comes to regulations, FTX was a very well-regulated exchange, as they held operating licenses from multiple countries. These regulations were supposed to have made sure that FTX follows certain rules and laws and take care of its users' interests. 

Here is the list of regulations that FTX held:

• Securities Commission of the Bahamas
• Gibraltar Financial Services
• AUSTRAC of Australia
• FINOS of Switzerland
• VARA of the UAE
• Numerous US licenses (FTX US only)

Security measures adopted by FTX

As we mentioned before, FTX had a few security measures adopted in order to protect its users. The first security measure that FTX had in place was Aon Insurance of $7.5 million USD. This insurance is in place to protect almost every case of hacking, theft, and any case of loss of funds. US traders who use FTX US benefit from additional insurance policies.

FTX also had multi-factor authentication in place to further protect users' funds. Using this system, traders could set up multiple steps of identification before accessing their accounts. This made sure that no one could access the account other than its owner or someone else with the owner's permission.

Lastly, FTX used cold wallets to protect the majority of users' funds. These cold wallets were disconnected from the internet making it impossible for someone to hack them and take out funds. These cold wallets stored the majority of funds and the remaining funds were stored in hot wallets for liquidity purposes.

There were many different trading strategies that could be used on FTX. This crypto exchange was famously known for its crypto derivatives and futures trading. FTX had 319 cryptocurrencies available for traders to trade with. These tokens were grouped in trading pairs, in total FTX had 505 crypto trading pairs available, making it possible for traders to trade with a large selection of assets.

Here is the list of major cryptocurrencies that you were able to trade on FTX:

• Bitcoin
• Ethereum
• XRP
• USDT
• Solana
• BNB
• Litecoin
• Matic
• DOGE

This is just a small list, and there were way more cryptos available for traders. FTX also offered tokenized stocks. Traders here could trade with tokenized stocks of Tesla, Meta, Netflix, and other "market leaders”.

We also need to mention that not every token was available for traders. Some cryptocurrencies were not allowed for traders from certain parts of the world. So before thinking about how it was to use this exchange, always check which tokens were available for you and which were not.

When it comes to the trading features of FTX, traders had a big selection of options available. The most common cryptocurrency trading market, the spot market, was available on FTX, where traders could trade with 300+ crypto and 7 fiat currencies. Traders could also trade futures and derivatives in combination with leverage. This strategy is more designed for experienced traders who know exactly how the crypto market works and is ready to take certain risks.

FTX traders could also stake their cryptocurrencies to earn APY on their holdings. FTX supported the staking of 4 currencies, FTT (Native token of FTX), Solana, Serum, and Ray. Staking is a great option for traders who are holding tokens for long-term investment purposes. This practice gives traders the opportunity to earn interest on their investments. But there are also some risks associated with this staking. 

FTX has a great OTC desk, were traders use to buy and sell large quantities of cryptocurrencies. Here traders had to pay no fees and really tight spreads. These OTC (over-the-counter) desks are great for traders who want to purchase or sell large quantities of cryptocurrencies and don’t want to be subjected to slippage. FTX also had its own NFT marketplace. Here traders could purchase good quality and desirable NFTs, but it still lagged behind the marketplaces such as OpenSea and Rarible. Traders could also mint their own NFTs and sell them on the marketplace. 

FTX traders were able to use Quant Zone. It was an automated trading system developed by FTX. Here traders could set up their own trading bots that would follow strategies and rules indicated by the trader. This was a good option for those who don’t have enough free time to always keep an eye on the market. Using good strategies, and keeping eye on the bot's activity would increase profits, but most importantly, it was the best option for minimizing losses.

FTX used the most common fee system that most other crypto exchanges use. These were the maker/taker fees, where makers are those who have limit orders in place to sell or buy crypto when the price reaches a certain price. Takers are those who are buying and selling cryptocurrencies directly for market price. Makers create a market for takers, and takers are those who purchase from takers. Below we will present you with the table of what FTX maker/taker fees were.

It should be noted that traders who had FTT (the native token of FTX) staked received discounts on these fees. Traders who had at least 25 FTT staked could benefit from 0% maker fees.

When we mention simplicity, the FTX website was a good definition of it. FTX's website was built with the most simplicity possible in mind. There were no extra flashy designs, sections, buttons, and other parts of the website. 

When joining FTX traders were met with a simple menu. One section of the menu was dedicated to joining the market. The second section was for everything else. Once we hovered over this section, we were presented with every trading feature offered by FTX, displayed simply and in a way that is easy to navigate. The last part of the menu was dedicated to the help center, where traders were able to contact support, find some information themselves, check fees, and more. Having just three menu tabs might give the impression that everything is cramped together, but in reality, everything was done very neatly and simply.

There were also some downsides to this simplicity. For example, some information was relatively hard to find if you don’t know where to look, but once you got familiar with the website, this problem would no longer trouble you. 

This was probably the weakest point of FTX. When it came to educational materials, FTX did not have dedicated space for it, and only FTX US had this educational panel. On this FTX US panel, traders could access some educational materials regarding crypto trading, NFTs, and trends. This material was very limited, and it was unlikely that traders would receive any significant amount of information that would help them in their trading activities.

FTX also had educational materials that explain leveraged tokens, options, quant zone, and MOVE contracts. These were all available on FTX and in their materials about these topics they mostly discussed how traders could trade with them on FTX and not exactly what these things are. 

Pros and cons of FTX education

FTX had a really nice customer support system where traders could be sure to receive high-quality services. They had a support section where traders could contact support directly, be it a live chat or email support. This was great for those who had issues that they were unable to fix themselves and would rather receive professional help.

FTX also had a support center, where traders could find solutions to the most common problems regarding most aspects of the exchange. Here everything was divided into categories such as Verification, Withdrawals and Deposits, Trading, and more. They also had video guides about how to activate 2FA, deposit funds, and other basic stuff that might have confused newcomers. 

When it came to mobile trading and mobile apps, we could have said that FTX had really nice mobile apps. It had 2 different applications for mobile trading. The first app was the basic version where traders had limited functionality. When using this basic app, you could just purchase cryptocurrencies on the spot market, keep track of your assets in your wallet, and receive some market news. 

The pro version of the app was where things got serious. We could consider this app the same as the desktop version of the exchange. When using this app traders could access spot, futures, tokenized stock, and other markets. They also had access to a professional trading terminal, where every important detail was displayed. Simply put, when using this app, there was not much of a need to go to the desktop version of the exchange.

Now that we know exactly what FTX was, what features it had, and its strengths and weaknesses, it’s time to look at how we could get started on this exchange.

Step 1: Create your account

When creating your account, the first step was the basic email address and password registration. Once this was done, FTX asked you to provide your legal first and last names and date of birth. 

After this, you were asked to provide information about your residential location, and mobile number for verification purposes.

Step 2: Verify your identity

Once you register your account, you were straightaway asked to verify your identity for KYC purposes. The process could be completed using your computer, through a QR code, email address, and others. Then you needed to upload a photo of your government-issued ID and take a few selfies. Then you needed to wait for verification to finish, and you will receive level 2 verification. 

Step 3: Deposit funds and start trading

Once this verification was completed we were able to deposit funds and start trading. For this, we saw the Deposit option at the top of the menu. There you were given 4 options for deposit, USD stablecoin, debit card, wire transfer, and cryptocurrencies.

Those that wished to use fiat currency to purchase crypto for trading could use debit cards or wire transfers and purchase cryptocurrencies in a traditional way.

Those that already owned cryptocurrencies on other exchanges or personal crypto wallets could simply transfer their stablecoins or other cryptocurrencies.