Phemex Review UK 2021 – Features, Fees, Pros & Cons Revealed

Phemex is a popular cryptocurrency exchange that focuses on crypto futures contracts. However, crypto futures trading isn’t allowed in the UK – so is this exchange still worthwhile?

In our Phemex review UK for 2021, we’ll cover everything you need to know about this cryptocurrency exchange.

Phemex Review Summary

• Over 1 million users around the world
• Low trading fees for crypto spot trading
• Zero spot trading fees with a Premium membership

What is Phemex?

Phemex is a Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange launched in 2019. The exchange was founded by former Morgan Stanley executives and has quickly grown in popularity.

Phemex now boasts over 1 million users around the world and handles over £2 billion in trading volume per day. The exchange also works with more than 30 liquidity providers, ensuring that trades are executed seamlessly every time.

What differentiates Phemex from other Bitcoin exchanges is not its diversity of digital currencies or fees, although both are attractive. Rather, this exchange stands out for offering cryptocurrency futures trading with leverage up to 100:1. Phemex is widely regarded as one of the top cryptocurrency derivatives exchanges.

The problem is that cryptocurrency derivatives trading, including futures trading, is banned in the UK. So, our Phemex review will focus primarily on Phemex’s spot trading features. If you’re outside the UK, keep in mind that this is only half of what Phemex has to offer.

Supported Coins

Phemex offers 2 different types of cryptocurrency trading: spot trading and futures trading.

Spot Trading

Spot trading is when you simply buy or sell a digital currency like Bitcoin or Ethereum, and it’s what traders typically think of when they are considering crypto exchanges.

Phemex offers 12 cryptocurrencies for spot spot trading, including popular coins like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Dash, Dogecoin, and Cardano. Notably, you cannot buy Ripple (XRP) with Phemex at this time – trading on this coin has been temporarily suspended because of issues with Ripple’s security.

The full list of cryptocurrencies available for spot trading with Phemex includes:

• Bitcoin (BTC)
• Ethereum (ETH)
• Chainlink (LINK)
• Dogecoin (DOGE)
• Cardano (ADA)
• Tron (TRX)
• EOS (EOS)
• Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
• Litecoin (LTC)
• NEO (NEO)
• Ontology (ONT)
• Tezos (XTZ)

Futures Trading

Futures trading involves speculating on the future price of a cryptocurrency and can involve more risk. As we pointed out earlier, futures trading is not allowed in the UK.

That said, Phemex supports futures trading for 15 different cryptocurrencies for non-UK traders. Futures contracts can be traded with leverage up to 100:1.

Phemex Fees

Phemex trading fees depend on whether or not you are a Premium member. We’ll cover the Premium membership below, but let’s look at Phemex’s standard fees and commissions to start.

Phemex charges standard users a 0.1% commission on all crypto spot trades.

For futures contract trading, your fee depends on whether you take liquidity (that is, you are a “taker”) or make liquidity (“maker”). Takers are charged 0.075% per trade, while makers receive a rebate of 0.025%. That means that if you create liquidity with Phemex, you are actually paid for your trade. Phemex does not charge overnight fees for futures trading, even if you hold a leveraged position.

Premium Membership

With Phemex Premium, there are zero trading fees for crypto spot trading when using the web platform or mobile app. However, there is a 0.1% fee if you trade using the Phemex API. Crypto futures trading fees remain the same.

You can try out Phemex Premium for up to 7 days for free. After that, you can get 30 days for free by sharing a tweet from Phemex on your social media accounts and tagging 3 friends.

Phemex Premium costs $9.99 USD per month, $19.99 per quarter, or $69.99 per year. You must use Tether (USDT) or Bitcoin (BTC) to pay for a Premium membership.

Phemex Buying Limits

Phemex imposes buying limits for spot trading, but not for futures trading. The buying limits vary by coin but are quite high. For Bitcoin, the limit is 1,000 BTC or about £40 million. For Ethereum, the limit is 10,000 ETH or about £20 million.

It’s worth noting that Phemex also imposes limits on how much you can deposit to your trading account if you deposit USD. The limit is 10 BTC, or about $550,000. If you deposit BTC, there is no deposit limit.

Phemex Wallet

Phemex offers its own cryptocurrency wallet through the mobile app. This is a high-security software wallet that’s managed for you by Phemex. The company automatically moves funds into a cold wallet system on a period basis, ensuring that your funds are safe from attackers.

Note that there is no way to access the wallet from the web account, so you must download the Phemex mobile app. In addition, Phemex does have access to your encryption key, so this is less secure than many third-party Bitcoin wallets. You also have the option to connect any wallet, including a hardware wallet, to your Phemex account.

Phemex Mobile App

Phemex offers very capable mobile trading apps for iOS and Android. You can easily monitor the current prices for all of the digital coins that Phemex offers.

The app also includes full-screen technical charts that you can use for day trading cryptocurrencies on the go. Charts can be customized with a handful of popular technical studies and you can change the bar intervals down to timeframes as short as 5 minutes. You also have access to the Phemex order book, so you can see all current orders that have been entered for a specific cryptocurrency.

The Phemex app also includes price alerts, which can be pushed to your device’s home screen.

Overall, we found the Phemex app to be easy to navigate. The Phemex crypto wallet is integrated right into the app, which makes deposits and withdrawals easier.

The app has a 4.5-star rating in the Apple App Store, but only 380 reviews.

Phemex Minimum Deposit

Phemex requires a minimum deposit of $110 USD (equal to 0.002 BTC) when depositing fiat currency. You can pay by debit card, credit card, or bank transfer. If you deposit BTC from an existing wallet, there is no minimum deposit.

Phemex User Experience

Phemex’s trading platform will look familiar if you’ve ever used competing crypto exchanges like Coinbase or Binance. The web interface puts technical charts front and center, with the order book and trade history for the coin you’re interested in on either side. You can also view your own trading history and open positions in a panel at the bottom of the screen.

It’s easy to enter orders without leaving your charting window and we liked that you can easily switch between cryptocurrencies. However, there is no watchlist feature, so it’s hard to keep an eye on multiple coins at one time. There’s also no way to create price alerts when using the web interface, although these are available on the Phemex mobile app.

Phemex Tools and Features

Phemex uses TradingView to deliver charts on the web interface, which is a plus in our view. TradingView offers hundreds of technical indicators, multiple chart types, and bar intervals down to 1 minute. You can search for specific indicators and save chart styles as defaults, which makes it easy to come back to the same interface every time. In addition, TradingView allows you to view multiple cryptocurrencies on the same chart.

You also get access to the exchange’s order book and trade history, plus simple depth charts.

Beyond that, though, we were surprised by how few trading tools Phemex offers.

There are also market and limit orders, but no stop-loss orders. This is a major disadvantage for traders because stop-loss orders are key to a good risk management strategy. Premium members can enter conditional orders, such as ‘if-then’ orders, but this is not available to standard Phemex users.

Phemex Payments

Phemex enables you to buy Bitcoin and other blockchain based cryptocurrencies using a wide variety of payment methods.

If you want to use a debit or credit card, the exchange supports all Visa, Mastercard, UnionPay, and POLi cards. Phemex also supports Apple Pay, but not Google Pay or Samsung Pay at this time. You can also fund your account with a bank account using a direct transfer, SEPA payment, PayID, iDEAL, or SOFORT.

You can also fund your account with any of the cryptocurrencies for which Phemex supports trading. Simply connect your existing crypto wallet or transfer coins from a third-party wallet to your Phemex wallet.

Phemex Regulation & Licensing

Phemex is currently not regulated in any country. The exchange has applied for regulation under the Monetary Authority of Singapore, but has not yet received it. The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) does not regulate Phemex, but has banned crypto derivatives trading such as futures trading.

Still, Phemex is widely considered to be trustworthy. The exchange has over 1 million global users and handles over £2 billion in trading volume on a daily basis.

Phemex Contact and Customer Service

Phemex offers customer support by email and live chat. The exchange also has an online support center where you’ll find a series of user guides. These are relatively detailed and many of them include video tutorials.

How to Use Phemex

Ready to get started with Phemex after reading our Phemex review UK for 2021? You can create a trading account and buy your first cryptocurrency in just a few steps.

Step 1: Create a Phemex Account

To create a Phemex account, head to the exchange’s website or download the Phemex mobile app. Click or tap ‘Register Now’ and enter your email and a password for your account. You will need to verify your email, and then you’re ready to start trading. Since Phemex is not regulated, it does not need to follow all KYC (know your customer) guidelines.

Step 2: Deposit Funds

Next, add funds to your new Phemex account. You can make a deposit by credit card, debit card, Apple Pay, or bank transfer. You can also connect an existing crypto wallet if you want to fund your account with Bitcoin. 

Step 3: Buy Crypto

Now you’re ready to buy cryptocurrencies with Phemex. Select ‘Spot Trading’ and then choose the cryptocurrency you want to purchase. Choose ‘Market’ to buy at the current market price, or select ‘Limit’ to enter a limit price.

Once your trade is ready, click or tap ‘Trade’ to buy your first cryptocurrency with Phemex.

The Verdict

Our Phemex review UK for 2021 found that this exchange stands out for its affordable fee structure and TradingView chart integration. However, the main thing that sets this exchange apart – crypto futures trading – isn’t available in the UK. As a result, Phemex is good for traders who want to minimize fees, but it’s far from the most comprehensive exchange we’ve seen.

FAQs