What are the differences Between Binance and BitMEX? Until 2019, there was literally no need to compare BitMEX with Binance because these two crypto exchanges, though popular, catered to different types of audiences and served diverse purposes.
While Binance was focused more on spot trading, BitMEX was widely used as a margin trading exchange. However, things changed in 2019 when Binance moved into margin trading, lending and leveraging.
Therefore, you should now know the difference between the two to choose a better option, which is what this article is all about.
Binance is a quite popular and favored crypto exchange by the users because it not only offers a wide variety of crypto coins to choose to trade but also allows making payments through different methods.
Moreover, the platform also supports making wire transfers and using a credit card as well. You can also get to use more than a hundred different types of Altcoins and do margin trading on this platform with a reasonable leverage.
This is one of the most liquid exchanges in the world that has made a significant impression in the crypto industry and is also ever-growing.
BitMEX is also a much talked about and popular crypto exchange today that allows trading crypto quite easily. Check out Differences Between Binance and Coinbase Pro.
With reasonably good customer support, reasonable trading fees and strong security measures, this is one platform that you should choose for advanced trading.
Though it may seem that the coin support of this particular platform is quite low in comparison to Binance, there are other aspects that make it a platform worth considering.
13 Differences Between Binance and BitMEX
It is needless to say that both BitMEX and Binance are quite reputed crypto exchanges that offer a diverse array of products to draw the traders.
However, Binance is favored for its simplicity and BitMEX is a better option for the professional traders who are interested in using futuristic features.
When it comes to choosing between BitMEX and Binance, it is difficult because it is not easy to identify the winner among the two.
However, with the differences known, it may prove to be quite handy in this respect. Here they are for your knowledge.
1. General Information
BitMEX is an abbreviation for Bitcoin Mercantile Exchange. This is a crypto trading exchange platform that is owned by HDR Global Trading Limited. This company was founded by Arthur Hayes, Samuel Reed, and Ben Delo in 2014.
The headquarter of the company is located and registered in the Republic of Seychelles. It offers margin trading service mainly to its professional and experienced Bitcoin traders.
Since its launch, several investors have traded nearly $26.5 billion worth of Bitcoin which is more than a quarter of the entire Bitcoin market cap. This platform offers different levels of leverage trading to the users.
For example, it is up to 100x for Bitcoin, up to 33.3x for Litecoin, and up to 50x for Ethereum. In addition to that, the platform also offers an assortment of Altcoins for the futures and spot markets.
Binance, on the other hand, is one of the most popular and biggest crypto exchanges in the world which was launched initially in China. Later on, in anticipation to expand its business, the company shifted its headquarters to the Island of Malta which is a more crypto friendly place in the European Union.
Known mainly for its crypto to crypto exchange services, this company was an instant hit and acquired more than 20,000 registered users through an ICO in July 2017 which fetched about $15 million in capital as a result from the investors.
Since then there has been no looking back for this crypto exchange which exploded to become the largest crypto exchange in the world.
2. Fees
In terms of fees charged by these two trading platforms, that of BitMEX seems to be more competitive but not straightforward. This is because the platform also deals with futures contracts of different crypto coins apart from margin trading.
If you are a savvy trader you will find that the fees charged by this particular platform are almost negligible when compared to the profits you can make through trading your crypto coins.
The fees for the futures and Perpetual Swaps are not more than 0.025% for the market makers and 0.075% for the market takers. Therefore, if you are a market maker, you can get a little more rebate on your trades.
The fees charged by BitMEX vary according to the type of crypto coins traded as well as the type of the contract. It is good to note here that BitMEX does not charge any fees for deposits or withdrawals but if you withdraw Bitcoin it will fetch a Bitcoin network fee and the amount of it will depend on blockchain load.
In comparison, the fee charged by Binance is standard for all trades which is 0.1%. However, you can reduce this fee considerably if you use BNB, the native token of this platform.
As of now, you can reduce the fees by as much as 25% if you pay the fees in BNB tokens rather than paying it in the coin used for buying. There is a significant advantage of holding and using the BNB tokens.
Since these tokens are burnt on a regular basis, the value of it increases and you can put it into several uses such as spending it online or participating in Initial Exchange Offering.
3. Limits
As for BitMEX, there are no limits imposed by the platform on deposits or on withdrawals. This means you can literally make limitless deposits and withdrawals.
Binance, on the other hand, introduced fiat deposits last year through Binance Jersey, their daughter company. The Simplex service they use to carry out the orders charges 3.5% for each transaction with a minimum flat fee of $10.
The daily and monthly limit for each user is however $20,000 and $50,000 respectively. However, if you choose to make crypto to crypto transactions there are no buying limits imposed on it.
However, the withdrawal limit is 2 BTC which can be lifted if only your unverified account goes through the KYC verification process successfully.
4. Deposit and Withdrawal System
BitMex is ideally a Bitcoin only exchange and therefore whatever deposits and withdrawals you make must be made in Bitcoin strictly. Both deposits and withdrawals on this platform can be made free of charge, and there are no hidden fees in it as well, apart from the Bitcoin network fees.
In comparison, the Binance platform supports different types of crypto coins and therefore you can make your deposits in any of the hundreds of coins it typically supports.
This is applicable to withdrawals as well. You simply have to write the address of the coin on the blockchain in which you wish to make the withdrawal.
5. Countries Accessible
Though BitMEX is registered in the Republic of Seychelles, it is available to the users all over the globe apart from the US since it is unregulated. However, you can use BitMEX in the US through a VPN or Virtual Private Network but the platform prohibits it.
And, in the countries where it is accessible, the local laws of the region may affect your use and the services enjoyed may also be limited. This however is not in the hands of the company.
Binance, on the other hand, is supported in many countries but it does not specify which the countries that they do not support are. There have been some reports from traders of the services being blocked, especially in China since cryptocurrency is banned there.
This platform is not available to the residents of the United States as well and for that reason the exchange has designed and launched a new platform called Binance US.
However, this too is not available in all of the 50 states in the United States such as Connecticut, New York, Texas, Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana, and Vermont.
6. Currency Support
When it comes to coin support, BitMEX typically allows trading with Bitcoin or XBT, Bitcoin Cash or BCH, Ethereum or ETH, Ethereum Classic or ETC, Litecoin or LTC, Ripple Token or XRP, Monero or XMR, DASH, Zcash or ZEC, Cardano or ADA, Tron or TRX, and EOS Token or EOS.
As said earlier, if you trade in futures then the particular coins supported by this platform along with the leverage offered include Bitcoin with 100x leverage, Bitcoin Cash, Cardano, Ripple, and EOS Token with 20x leverage, Ethereum with 50x leverage, Litecoin with 33.33x leverage.
In comparison, Binance supports the largest number of crypto coins and the number is continually increasing. However, this being a crypto-to-crypto exchange you will not find any fiat pairs of USD or EUR.
However, you can purchase other popular currencies easily on this platform such as LTC, ETH, ADA, BCH, and XRP if you have BTC. Some of the supported pairs of the Binance platform are BTC/USDT, ETH/USDT, EOS/USDT, ETH/BTC, XLM/BTC, BCC/USDT, EOS/BTC, ETC/USDT, NEO/USDT, ETC/BTC, XLM/USDT, ONT/BTC, BCC/BTC, and ADA/USDT.
7. Customer Support
When compared with Binance, and even other crypto exchanges for that matter, it seems that BitMEX has more knowledgeable and apt customer support. The team dedicated to it is quite efficient and polite and speaks English quite well.
They are well versed and have the ability to cater to the needs of their customers in the expanding market. Their customer service involves email ticketing systems though they even respond to messages on the social media channels.
The website of the platform itself contains all necessary and useful info that offers a complete rundown of the platform and also offers a knowledgeable base to their users to educate them regarding complex trades.
In comparison, the customer support of Binance is offered in seven different languages and is quite good in comparison with its peer exchanges only. They do not have a dedicated phone number for that matter as of now but you can submit your requests and queries in their specific customer support section.
Usually, they will respond to your requests in about 24 hours. If you wish to use their live chat support then you will have to do it within their limited working hours.
In addition to all these features, they also have a dedicated FAQ section in their website which is quite detailed. You may not even have to contact the support team if you go through it minutely.
8. Repertoire and Reliability
BitMEX has got quite a good reputation within the crypto community which is the only security that the users typically have as of now because they are not regulated in any jurisdiction.
Since their team is quite active on the social media channels you will know about any frauds that may happen and the person to be hunted down. However, the fact that it is unregulated can pose significant risks especially if you want to indulge in margin trading with large amounts of crypto coins.
Binance, on the other hand, is quite fast and aggressive in their functions and it is their exceptional performance that has allowed them to earn a good reputation in the crypto market.
This has helped them to sweep their peers aside and become one of the biggest crypto exchanges in the world in terms of trading volume. Yes, it is also unregulated by any major external finance authority but it still follows the regulations as imposed by the Malta finance authorities.
The fact that their operations are controlled by the charismatic CEO CZ or Changpeng Zhao has enabled them to earn a good reputation in the market. He is widely known for his good community management ability and excellent communication skills.
9. Security Aspect
The security levels of BitMEX are supposed to be very strong and the exchange is reputed for its use of multi-signature deposits and withdrawal schemes. This can be used only by the partners of the exchange platform.
In addition to that, this platform is also very secure to use since it uses AWS or Amazon Web Services to protect the servers. For this, it uses two-factor authentication and text messages apart from hardware tokens.
Add to that, in order to ensure absolute security during communication, they use PGP or Pretty Good Privacy encryption program.
Apart from that, they also use email notifications, cold wallets to store the funds of their customers and check all withdrawals manually by their employees at least once in a day in order to minimize the risks of hacking by the malicious actors.
Binance, on the other hand, has had some significant incidents of hacking, leaking of information, and theft of funds to the tune of $40 million in May 2019 due to a hack.
It is good that they had a separate fund to compensate the losses and refunded all their users with the money lost from that particular fund but it raised a few serious questions regarding the security of the platform.
The exchange had also encountered an incident where the personal details and Know Your Customer verification data of more than 60,000 users were leaked.
However, they escaped major setbacks and consequences since they were able to point a finger at a third party service provider for the issue at that time.
The platform now claims that it has upgraded its security aspect and has even received an award for its information security accreditation by setting the security standards set out by the ISO or The International Organization for Standardization.
They also claim that they have audited and examined their system for issues on 114 different criteria across 14 different categories. It includes asset management, security policy, information systems, and operational security.
10. Margin Trading Feature
BitMEX is more apt for margin trading and allows their users to do so by using all of the crypto coins displayed on their website. In addition to that, the platform also allows the users to trade with futures, swaps and derivatives.
Depending on the specific contract, you can even gain a leverage of up to 100 times on BitMEX. The platform is also known to offer Binary series contracts. These are those specific contracts that are based on predictions and can be settled only at either 0 or 100.
As of now, the platform allows their users to make two specific types of margin trading namely, isolated margin trading and cross margin trading.
In isolated margin trading the users are allowed to choose the amount of money in the wallets that they intend to use in order to hold their positions once the order has been placed.
In contrast, in cross margin trading all of the money available in the wallets of the users can be used for the same. Therefore, traders need to exercise extreme caution while performing cross margin trading.
On the other hand, Binance, which was known to be a good platform for spot trading only, recently added margin trading to their platform. Here, you can use the BNB coins as collateral and borrow funds only after you transfer them from your regular exchange wallet to the Margin Wallet.
The balance in the Margin Wallet will determine how much amount you can borrow. It usually follows a fixed rate of 5:1. The interest fee on these borrowed coins also varies according to the account level of the users as well as the type of coin borrowed.
Typically, Bitcoin offers the lowest daily interest rate of 0.0075%. ETH, on the other hand, offers 0.01% daily interest and XRP offers the same at 0.02%.
11. Use Cases
In terms of use cases, the Binance platform as of now is good for those traders who intend to do spot, margin and future trading.
Users can use a large variety of crypto coins and pairs on this platform apart from its native token BNB which will help in reducing the fees. As for spot trading, this platform is one of the best ones where users can buy, sell, deposit, or withdraw currencies easily.
BitMEX, on the other hand, is best for margin trading. This P2P trading platform offers leveraged contracts which the users can buy or sell in Bitcoin only.
The significant point of difference of this platform with Binance is that the futures contracts on BitMEX mimic cryptocurrencies that are bought or sold but on the Binance platform it is spot trading that actually takes place. BitMEX can also be used as a derivative market for crypto assets.
These are the specific crypto instruments that have their value derived from the underlying commodities, currencies, precious metals, stocks, bonds, stocks indices, and more.
Some of the most common examples of derivative instruments are Futures, Forwards, Swaps, and Options. BitMEX offers futures contracts or derivatives of some of the most popular crypto coins that can be settled in BTC only.
12. User Interface
Due to the difference in initial design, it is imperative that both BitMEX and Binance will have completely different user interface design and experience.
In this specific aspect, the user interface of BitMEX seems to be much more limited than that of Binance. This is because it is designed specifically for margin trading and therefore has only one particular type of it to make it easy to use for the users.
You will find that all important information such as the open positions, order book, and, most importantly, the margin info tab are located precisely and conveniently so that it is easy to spot them quickly. The order tab will allow you to open long and short positions. It is fully customizable as well.
As for the user interface of Binance on the other hand, it comes with several multi-purpose designs. This includes the extended list of features and services that the platform offers to the users.
Typically, apart from the basic and advanced user interface, Binance has also rolled out a separate user interface specialized for futures trading due to the addition of new instruments and the latest developments.
The basic user interface is more simplistic and easy to use and understand. It has a compact view and includes all instruments and necessary tabs. The chart is in the middle as usual and the order tab is just below it.
All other extra tabs are located by the side of it. As for the advanced user interface design, it is fit for the experienced crypto traders. Here you will find a charting system that is easy to use as well as a detailed order overview on the layout that uses the entire screen to provide more space to include all the necessary elements.
However, on both the versions you can do spot trading and margin trading as well on specific Altcoin pairs but with low leverage. As for the user interface for futures trading, it is just an upgraded version of their advanced user interface.
It has a sleek design and is significantly several notches better than the user interface of BitMEX. The core layout of this user interface is pretty similar to that of the advanced user interface but with one significant difference.
There is a depth chart included along with the additional options on orders. This ensures much better functionality and a lot quicker access to the order tab.
13. Some More Differences
It is true that the Binance platform comes with all useful features, with newer ones included off and on, and it has been able to maintain successfully all of their product branches.
However, in order to determine a clear winner between it and BitMEX, here are a few other differences that you ought to know.
Binance believes in keeping its community satisfied and involved with several initiative programs and airdrops but BitMEX abstains from such initiatives.
In terms of specialization, BitMEX is typically a CFD trading platform but Binance has developed from being a platform for spot trading to offer much more than that to become a more specialized leverage trading crypto exchange.
Considering margin trading, Binance is one step ahead of BitMEX since it allows trading on more than 50 pairs offering leverage up to 3 to 5 times.
As for futures on BTC, it offers up to 125x leverage. However, if you want to trade with XRP, TRX, ADA, BCH, and EOS you will need to go to BitMEX which will offer a 20x leverage.
As for the team of the two exchanges, the Binance team is more solid and efficient, consisting of veterans from the crypto space as well as the finance industry.
All of them have a sea of experience of running crypto exchanges. In comparison, the BitMEX team comprises people from more diverse fields such as developers, high-frequency algorithm traders, and economists. This makes this platform much more reliable.
Which to Choose – Binance or BitMEX?
Both Binance and BitMEX are two crypto platforms that are good but each of them serves different purposes. As a result it is quite difficult to say one is better than the other.
However, if you do not know it for sure and start trading on one of them, more often than not it may result in a significant loss of funds.
As it is evident from the comparison above, both offer a lot of possibilities and offer numerous currencies to trade with.
This means that you will not need to have different wallets for each particular coin you want to trade on these two platforms.
The Binance platform is a good one for the beginners in crypto trading as well as the experienced ones who focus mainly on spot trading.
In comparison, BitMEX is a good platform for the veterans in crypto and margin trading in this space because it is far more mature.
However, if you make your choice in terms of the fees charged by both the crypto platforms, BitMEX is comparatively cheaper.
But then this platform is specialized for margin trading and does not offer spot trading.
On the other hand, if you choose on the basis of the currencies supported by each, then Binance will surely be your first choice due to the wider support.
However, it is not possible to differentiate these two platforms in terms of licensing and regulatory compliance because both are unregulated and seemingly nontransparent.
You can go with BitMEX if you want robust security because Binance has had some incidents in the past regarding hacking and theft of funds. Though things have changed considerably now, still, BitMEX makes the cut in this aspect for sure.
As for the trading features and functionalities, Binance scores a bit more than BitMEX simply because it offers a lot more services and is not restricted to leveraged trading like BitMEX.
The Binance platform is continually developing to become a world-class crypto exchange to go for every purpose.
Its margin trading feature is much better in comparison to BitMex, which has been around for some years now.
Though both of these platforms have fully functional mobile apps, the User Interface of BitMEX looks pretty standard and outdated in comparison to that of Binance which is far more user-friendly.
Therefore, to sum up, it can be said that BitMex is the platform suitable for those experienced crypto traders who are looking for low fees, advanced features, derivatives and futures and maximum leverage.
However, they should be okay with the fact that this platform does not allow making fiat deposits or withdrawals.
And, on the other hand, Binance platform is good for those inexperienced crypto traders who are looking for good support from multiple and easy-to-use user interfaces and a lot of listings.
Now, the choice is up to you. However, you are advised to consider the type of trader you are as well as your preferences and circumstances while making the choice.
Conclusion
Apparently, it may seem that with all new features and functionalities included on Binance, it is better than BitMEX but if you know the differences between them, it will be easy for you to make a choice. This article is meant for just that.
I have special interest in crypto and intend to help common people to gain knowledge about the digital asset as well as its potential. Follow Me at Linkedin.
