In This Article
- HTX (Huobi) Overview - What is HTX?
- Supported Currencies and Payment Methods
- HTX (Huobi) Security - Is it Safe to Trade on HTX?
- HTX Fees and Commissions
- OKX Exchange Availability
- Customer Support and Reviews
- HTX vs. Other Exchanges
- Regulation and Compliance
- HTX Exchange Review: Pros and Cons
- Conclusion - Can HTX be Trusted?
As one of the oldest cryptocurrency exchanges, founded in 2013, HTX (formerly known as Huobi) has consistently ranked among the top choices for traders.
HTX Exchange offers a strong trading service with a variety of accessible features. It provides a wide range of markets and is supported by a comprehensive trading platform, user-friendly apps, a competitive fee structure, and reliable customer support.
This HTX exchange review will cover the pros and cons, key features, the history and background of the platform, and how it compares to other exchanges. This HTX (Huobi) review will help determine if this exchange is right for you.
Our HTX (Huobi) Review: Key Takeaways
- HTX is an international crypto exchange with a large selection of tradable assets and high liquidity;
- The platform offers spot trading, derivatives trading, staking, and crypto loans;
- It supports over 700 cryptocurrencies and around 800 trading pairs;
- The platform no longer serves users from major countries like the US, Canada, and China;
- In September 2023, on its 10th anniversary, Huobi rebranded itself as HTX.;
- While a reputable exchange, HTX does not make our list of the Top Crypto Exchanges in 2025. Be sure to check out our Top Exchanges Article for best-in-class crypto exchanges.
HTX (Huobi) Overview – What is HTX?
HTX is a major cryptocurrency exchange that is registered in Seychelles.
The exchange was founded in China in 2013, by former Oracle computer engineer Leon Li. It began as a Bitcoin trading platform, which quickly became one of the largest Chinese exchanges in China within its first year of operation. This success gained attraction from Sequoia Capital, which invested $10 million in Huobi’s Series A round in 2014.
Since then the exchange has continued to grow, expanding to more cryptocurrencies and countries. Much of Huobi’s global expansion was fuelled by China’s initial coin offering (ICO) ban in 2017, which resulted in Huobi eventually opening offices in countries across Asia and the United States.
In 2018, Huobi acquired Pantronics Holdings, an electronics manufacturer publicly-traded on the Hong Kong stock exchange. Huobi then used this to form the listed company Huobi Tech.
Huobi moved to shut down all services for Chinese users in late 2021, following the People’s Bank of China ban on cryptocurrency trading services.
In September 2023, in honor of its 10th anniversary, Huobi rebranded itself as HTX, to outline its vision for the future.
Over the years, HTX has formed many strategic partnerships, collaborating with major blockchain projects to foster innovation and hit some important milestones.
HTX (Huobi) Services and Products
Spot Trading
HTX features different accounts for different purposes: Spot, Futures, Fiat, Earn, Margin, and Options. The platform offers crypto-to-crypto trading for hundreds of other assets across over 700 different trading pairs, giving users access to both popular and new cryptocurrencies.
The user interface is very user-friendly, with a standard and familiar layout. This includes TradingView-compatible candlestick charts, order books, depth charts and more.
Spot trading on HTX supports several different types of orders, including market orders, limit orders, stop-limit orders and trigger orders.
One of the unique features of HTXi’s spot trading service is the ability to margin-trade supported assets, with up to 5x leverage, competing with the top margin trading platforms.
Derivatives Trading
Like many other major exchanges, HTX offers derivatives trading – primarily perpetual swaps and futures contracts. HTX derivatives allow for up to 100x leverage for selected instruments, which is some of the highest leverage available across the industry. Traders can trade the following derivatives products:
- Traditional Futures
- Perpetual Swaps
- Coin-Margined Futures
- USDT-Margined Futures
- Options.
The exchange’s coin-margined products accept Bitcoin as collateral, while USDT-margined swaps are secured with Tether (USDT) only.
Futures contracts available include perpetual swaps, as well as quarterly and bi-weekly contracts. These are available for at least 13 different assets.
Quick buy/sell
HTX users can make instant crypto purchases using credit card or other payment services, including bank transfers and popular payment apps. Over 700 cryptocurrencies are available for purchase using this method, with support for 27 fiat currencies and multiple payment methods.
P2P Market
HTX offers a peer-to-peer (P2P) marketplace for larger cryptocurrency purchases, enabling users to buy and sell crypto directly. This service is one of the most cost-effective features on HTX.
Unlike some of the popular P2P platforms, HTX P2P does not charge fees to users, allowing advertisers to quote lower and more competitive prices, and you can freely find the users you want to trade at any time.
Note that KYC (Know Your Customer) verification is required to use the P2P marketplace.
HTX OTC Desk
HTX’s over-the-counter (OTC) desk service allows institutional clients and high net-worth individuals to purchase or sell many cryptocurrencies in a real-time manner, with direct access to global liquidity pools, to provide the best competitive prices. This can reduce the risk of market slippage, get ultra-competitive quotations, and optimize capital efficiency. Users can lock their desired price and settle trades with their HTX account and the bank of their preference.
HTX Convert
HTX Convert is a simple tool that allows you to buy and sell cryptocurrencies with just a few steps, supporting direct exchanges between multiple currency pairs and enabling you to convert any amount of crypto into another easily.
You can instantly obtain quoted prices on HTX Convert via our website or app. The conversion prices are based on current market conditions, and there are no transaction fees.
HTX Trading Bot
The platform offers a grid trading bot accessed directly from the main platform page. This Grid Trading Bot is an effective tool for financial derivatives, designed to help reduce holding costs. It features a new parameter adjustment capability that automatically modifies the highest and lowest prices of the grid strategy mid-trade, ensuring that your strategy is continuously operational and generating profits for you.
Finance
HTX offers a series of interest-earning options for selected cryptocurrencies, which provide an alternative to services such as crypto savings accounts and decentralized finance (DeFi) lending platforms.
HTX Staking
The platform allows staking directly from your wallet without transferring assets. The genuine staking service enables users to stake their proof-of-stake (PoS) assets without needing technical expertise or specialized hardware. This includes ETH 2.0 staking, which will credit users with “BETH” tokens representing their stake.
HTX Earn
HTX Earn is a centralized staking service that offers both fixed-term and flexible staking options. These pay-out rewards are similarly staked in the same token to other lending platforms. Interest is auto-compounded daily.
Crypto Loans
HTX also offers its own crypto loans. These over-collateralized loans enable users to borrow one crypto asset against another, provided that the value of their collateral exceeds the borrowed amount.
A wide range of assets can be used as collateral and borrowed, including stablecoins such as HUSD and USDT.
Supported Currencies and Payment Methods
HTX offers over 700 cryptocurrencies and 800 trading pairs, with over $4 billion daily trading volume. It’s a wide range of offerings that enables users to trade popular cryptos like BTC, ETH, SOL, DOT, and ADA. The platform offers rare niche assets, such as popular meme coins Memefi, Book of Meme, Pew, and stablecoins.
HTX boasts deep liquidity for popular digital assets like LTC, ETH, BNB, and XRP. The platform excels in asset management by actively monitoring liquidity and regularly delisting those with low trading volumes. It also has a new listings section that lists the latest assets.
Crypto may also be purchased directly with fiat using a credit card or alternative payment method, depending on the currency used. Huobi accepts 27 different fiat currencies for these purchases.
HTX (Huobi) Security – Is it Safe to Trade on HTX?
The daily trade volume for HTX is $1,596,090,655, but is HTX safe? HTX security rating is AA with 86% security score. HTX (formerly Huobi Global) is generally considered safe due to its excellent security features (98% cold storage, two-factor authentication (2FA), and the Security Reserve Mechanism,) which holds 20,000 BTC to compensate users in the event of a breach.
On the regulatory front, however, HTX has been facing challenges., as it operates as an unregulated entity in Seychelles. This means the exchange may not operate under a license in your jurisdiction.
In November 2023, Justin Sun said on X (formerly Twitter) that HTX and Heco Cross-Chain Bridge were hacked. Deposits and withdrawals were temporarily suspended. He assured users that HTX would make the affected hot wallets whole again. While Sun did not specify the amount lost, Web3 blockchain security firm Cyvers reported that a “suspicious address” received approximately $85 million from Heco.
HTX Fees and Commissions
HTX prides itself in having lower fees than the industry average. Like OKX, Binance, and KuCoin, HTX has a tiered fee structure. Trading fees depend on volume. The exchange uses a standard Maker/Taker fee structure for spot and futures trading, with discounts available for different VIP levels.
- Spot: 0.2% Maker – 0.2% Taker
- Futures: 0.2% Maker/ 0.5% (Coin-Margined) – 0.6% (USDT-Margined) Taker
Users can reduce all fees with an HTX deduction of 25%. One way to reduce trading fees is by holding a native token. Holders of TRX and HTX tokens can receive discounts depending on the chosen plan.
Crypto withdrawals vary depending on the crypto asset you withdraw, and you can see them on the HTX Crypto Withdrawals Fees page.
HTX’s P2P marketplace where traders can convert fiat to crypto and vice versa for zero fees.
OKX Exchange Availability
Is Huobi available in the USA? No, HTX (Huobi Global) is unavailable to users in the United States due to regulatory restrictions. However, HTX or Huobi US customers can access it only through a VPN. HTX has obtained a wide variety of licenses and registrations that cover most of the active crypto trading regions including Europe, America, Asia, and the Middle East. The exchange doesn’t operate in some countries with restrictions.
HTX exchange makes its API trading fully available on both Android and PC platforms. HTX offers users various applications, including HTX for iOS, Android, and PC, as well as HTX OTC, HTX Wallet, HTX Pool, and HTX Chat. Moreover, the Huobi app now (HTX Exchange app) now integrates several features, including OTC trading, coin-to-coin exchange, and access to the HTX Derivative Market.
Customer Support and Reviews
HTX (Huobi) offers customer support through various channels, including a support center, help tickets, email, and live chat. The platform features a User Self Service, where users do not need a live agent. You can find answers about the latest announcements, FAQs, account management, deposit and withdrawal issues, common peer-to-peer transaction issues, platform activities, security concerns, and more.
Aside from this, users report that it can be quite difficult to get one-on-one customer support via email or otherwise – which isn’t great for urgent matters. Your best bet would be to use the official Huobi Global Telegram channel, or local Huobi Telegram communities.
Online reviews for Huobi are relatively poor, with a majority of complaints arising from users dealing with withdrawal issues. This commonly revolves around users being allowed to deposit funds, but then not being able to withdraw them until intensive KYC verification is completed.
HTX vs. Other Exchanges
As we know, there are many alternative crypto exchanges, so let’s see how they compare to HTX.
P2P marketplace zero fees trading bots; a 24/7 access to support service Futures and derivatives; Financing options; Wallet services; Futures and derivatives; Financing options; Wallet services; 24/7 live chat, email, tickets, social media
Exchange
HTX
Bybit
KuCoin
OKX
Fees
Tiered fee structure with competitive maker-taker fees.
0.1 maker/taker fee
Tiered fee structure with competitive maker-taker fees.
Up to 0.080% maker fee / up to 0.100% taker fee
Features
Spot trading, futures trading, margin trading, earn products, custody services;
Exchange trading;
Margin and spot trading, futures trading; advanced toos; earn feature; crypto lending, trading bots, and more.
Exchange trading;
Availability
It operates in more than 160 nations
Available in 160+ Countries
Available in over 200 countries worldwide. But not available in United States
Available in 100+ countries
Ease of Use
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How to Create a HTX Account
On the Web:
1. Go to HTX’s official website.
2. Click Sign Up (top right or in the middle of the page).
3. Choose to register with your email or phone number.
–If using email, enter your email address, set a password, and click Sign Up.
4. Complete the anti-bot verification and check your email for a verification code.
–Upon finishing anti-bot verification, you will receive a verification code in your email inbox. Enter the verification code to complete the registration.
On the App:
1. Download and open the HTX App.
2. Tap Me (bottom right), then Log In / Sign Up.
3. Choose to register with your email or phone number.
—If using email, enter your email address, complete the anti-bot verification, and enter the verification code sent to your email.
4. Set a password and you are done.
Users can claim their sign-up reward after registering on HTX by visiting “My Rewards.” To access the Rewards Hub, new users can complete four tasks to earn up to 600 USDT. To complete the referral task, your invitee must sign up on HTX and make a deposit of more than 100 USD.HTX Referral Program and Bonuses
Regulation and Compliance
Huobi (HTX) is fully licensed in four regions across the world and operates within the legal and regulatory framework of those jurisdictions. In Lithuania, it is registered as a Deposit Virtual Currency Wallet Operator and Virtual Currency Exchange Operator. It also holds a license in Dubai, with an Initial Approval of Full Market Product certification, issued by VARA. In the British Virgin Islands, it has a SIBA Investment Business license as a custodian and operator of an investment exchange. Lastly, HTX is also licensed in South America as a payment and remittance service.
HTX Exchange Review: Pros and Cons
Pros Cons
Conclusion – Can HTX be Trusted?
Summarising our HTX review, combining a user-friendly interface with many advanced features like bots, copy trading, and social trading, the platform suits both beginners and advanced traders. Despite shortcomings and some negative user reviews, HTX remains a popular trading platform with competitive fees and broad availability. Our analysis shows that HTX is a legitimate trading platform, with high trust scores on reputable ranking sites.
FAQs
Is HTX crypto safe?
As far as security goes, HTX is incredibly safe. HTX (Huobi) has a security rating of AA and an 86% security score. It is generally considered safe due to its excellent security features.
Can US citizens use HTX?
Due to some restrictions, HTX or Huobi US customers can access it only using VPN.
Where is HTX?
HTX, formerly known as Huobi, is a Seychelles-based cryptocurrency exchange. Founded in China HTX now has offices in Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan and the United States.
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