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Product Name: Gate.io
Summary
Gate.io was founded as Bter.com in 2013 in China by Lin Han. In 2015, the exchange was hacked, and around 7,000 BTC were stolen from the exchange’s wallet. In 2017, the exchange rebranded itself as Gate.io under Gate Technology Inc. and moved its operating base to George Town, Cayman Island. The exchange seems promising with all the features, but we still don’t have complete confidence in this platform.
Pros
- Spot trading/Margin trading
- Offers limited services to US residents
- Exchange seems to be doing all the right things to improve the credibility and trust.
Cons
- Exchange was rebranded after previously getting hacked
- Is Gate.io a reliable Exchange?
- What are the features offered by Gate.io Exchange?
- What are the benefits and limitations of Gate.io Exchange?
Over the past several years, CoinSutra has brought to you the best exchanges available in the crypto market. And today, we have reviewed another popular exchange called Gate.io.
A number of our subscribers have requested this review of the Gate.io exchange. Therefore, we have done complete due diligence on the exchange offerings and their security.
So, let us understand what is Gate.io and what it has to offers in terms of products and features.
Page Contents
What is Gate.io Exchange
Gate.io was founded as Bter.com in 2013 in China by Lin Han,
In 2015, the exchange was hacked, and around 7,000 BTC were stolen from the exchange’s wallet. In 2017, the exchange rebranded itself as Gate.io under Gate Technology Inc. and moved its operating base to George Town, Cayman Island.
Unfortunately, we could not find much about the founder Lin Han. Basis his LinkedIn profile, he is not on social media, and there is no resource to check his academic and work experience before this exchange.
This makes us a bit skeptical about the exchange’s transparency and security. Now, let us understand what the various features offered by the exchange are.
Features of the Gate.io Exchange
1. Types of Supported Transactions
The various types of transactions supported by the Gate.io Exchange are as follows:
a. Spot, Margin, and Futures Trading
The exchange supports all the basic transaction types such as Spot, Margin, and Futures Trading. There are more than 1,600 different token pairs for spot trading and 33 pairs for futures trading.
Further, the margin available on spot trades is upto 10X, and on futures, trades are upto 100x.
b. ETF Leveraged Tokens
Leveraged tokens are derivative tokens that represent a leveraged position against a spot token. For example, if you are bullish on the DOT token (the native token of the Polkadot Blockchain Network), you have 2 options. You can either purchase the token in the spot market or to increase your potential profit, you can buy a DOT5L token which represents a 5X levered long position on the DOT token.
Leveraged Tokens are an alternative to margin trading where you do not need to maintain minimum margin or pay margin interest.
Please note that Leveraged Tokens are highly risky, and you should not trade in them unless you have sufficient knowledge and experience.
c. Push Transaction
Push Transaction feature is a Peer Peer transfer mechanism where you can directly send or receive cryptocurrencies from another person.
The fee charged by the exchange is 0.2% of the transaction value.
d. Convert – Flash Swap
This feature allows you to convert your crypto tokens with other tokens. This service is in addition to the spot market feature, and the price of tokens is different from the price quoted in the spot market order book.
Further, the exchange does not charge any fee for trading through the Convert feature. However, the buying price is a little higher, and the selling price is lower than the spot market order book.
2. Copy Trading
This is a fantastic feature that most of the top exchanges are yet to introduce. You can review the performance of other traders and can follow and copy their trades.
Once you activate the copy trading feature, the exchange will automatically copy all the trade instructions of the selected trader to your account.
Thus, you would be able to take advantage of the expertise of professional traders and level up your game.
There is no fee for copying the strategy of a trader. However, 5% of the profit generated from these trades would be credited to the trader whose strategy has been copied.
For more information on Copy Trading, Click here.
3. Fiat Purchase Options
Gate.io Exchange has several options for users to purchase crypto tokens with fiat currencies.
A user has options to use Credit Card and Bank Transfer for this transaction. Further, the exchange also has a Peer Peer (P2P) platform that users can explore to buy crypto tokens with fiat currencies.
4. HODL & Earn
This feature is a way to earn passive income on your crypto holdings. A user can deposit their crypto assets for a specific period and make a stable return on the same.
The interest rate is mentioned in the yearly rate, and a user gets the interest proportional to the days for which the funds were locked.
5. Periodic Investment Plan
This is an amazing feature that is yet to be introduced by many renowned exchanges in the world.
Just like a Systematic Investment Plan (SIP) is available in the traditional markets for investment in equities and mutual funds, a Period Investment Plan allows you to invest in the crypto token at a specific interval.
This allows you to make a consistent investment in a particular crypto asset. Further, this automatically facilitated Dollar Cost Averaging.
6. Gate NFT
Gate NFT is an NFT creation and auction platform.
Thus, Gate.io is a lucrative platform for artists who are original NFT creators and collectors who would like to collect these NFTs. For more information on Gate.io NFT Box, click here.
8. Gate.io Trading Fee
The base trading fee for Gate.io is as follows:
| Particulars | Maker’s Fee | Taker’s Fee |
| Spot Trade | 0.2% | 0.2% |
| Futures Trade | 0.00% | 0.05% |
If you pay your trading fee with a GT token (in-house token of the exchange), then you can get a discount on the fee. Further, the fee structure is tiered basis on the VIP level of the user.
The platform does not charge any deposit fee. However, the withdrawal fee is variable basis the type of cryptocurrency being withdrawn.
For more information on the fee charged by the exchange, click here.
9. User Interface
User Interface is the backbone of any crypto exchange as it defines the ease of use for any trader or investor on the platform.
Unfortunately, the web interface of the exchange is not easy to understand or use for a beginner. The possible reason for this is that the exchange has incorporated all the features in a single interface, leaving a user directionless on the platform.
Although the exchange has made several attempts to simplify its interface, it still does not look clean.
In addition to this, the platform has a mobile application for iOS and Android devices. The issue with the mobile interface is the same as that with the web interface. Although the application has more than 1 Million downloads, it has an average rating of 3.3, which is way below the industry standards.
10. Other Features
In addition to the features discussed above, the exchange has many other features such as:
- Crypto Lending – That allows you to earn passive income on your crypto investment in the form of interest by lending them.
- Liquidity Mining – That allows you to earn rewards (as a share of exchange fee) by providing liquidity to the exchange
- Cloud Mining – That allows you to mine cryptocurrency by leasing mining power.
Gate Token (GT) – Native Token of Gate.io Exchange
Gate Token is the in-house token of Gate.io Exchange and GateChain, which is a public blockchain network. GT is an ERC20 token (Token standard for Ethereum Blockchain Network).
Tokenomics
| Particulars | Amount |
| Maximum supply | 1 Billion |
| Total Supply | 300 Million (700 Million tokens burned) |
| Circulating Supply | 76 Million (25% of total supply) |
| Market Price (Amount in $) | $4.53 |
| Market Cap (Amount in $) | $345 Million |
| 24 Hour Trading Volume (Amount in $) | $5 Million |
The GT token has a maximum supply of 1 Billion. These 1 Billion tokens were issued as a free gift. Later 700 Million of these tokens were purchased and burned. Thus, now the total supply is limited to 300 Million, out of which 76 Million in the circulating supply, which is 25% of the total supply.
Use cases of the GT Token are as follows:
- The number of GT tokens held by a user determines their VIP level on the platform. This further defines the fee discount available to them on the platform.
- Some exchange offers are launched exclusively for GT token holders.
- Token burn by the exchange
For more information on GT Token, Click here.
What are the Benefits of Gate.io Exchange?
Now, let us compile the benefits offered by the Gate.io Exchange:
- A large number of trading pairs
- Many low cap gems are listed here
- Copy Trading feature
- Periodic Investment Plan for consistent investment and Dollar Cost Averaging
- Gate.io Startup to invest in low cap gems
What are the Limitations of Gate.io Exchange?
However, there are many limitations of this exchange as well:
- Founding and managing team is not very transparent
- Product information is not sufficient
Conclusion: Gate.io review
Now, let us summarise our take on Gate.io Exchange.
In our understanding, the exchange is rich with features and has a wide variety of tokens. The features like Copy Trading, Periodic Investment Plans, and startups give the exchange a competitive edge in the market.
However, several pain points cannot be ignored, such as the user interface is not up to the mark, the team is not very transparent, and rebranding due to past hacks has impacted the exchange’s image in the market.
Due to these issues, Gate.io is not one of the preferred exchanges for CoinSutra. We don’t suggest using this exchange as your primary investment account.
But if you feel that few particular features are worth using despite the available flaws, then you may use them at your own risk. We would suggest that you trade only for those tokens which are not available on any other exchange. Further, you can move these tokens to a safer exchange or a hardware wallet such as Ledger or Trezor.
I hope this post was helpful for you in understanding the features, benefits, and limitations of the Gate.io Exchange. Let us know your feedback in the comments section.
Further, subscribe to the CoinSutra newsletter to get our free crypto trading e-book.
Resources
- Website
- Blog
- Twitter – 358K Followers
- Telegram – 52K Members
- Facebook – 20K Followers
- Youtube – 12K Subscribers
- Instagram – 11K Followers
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Can US citizens use Gate.io Exchange?
Gate.io is available for the residents of US. However, some services such as lending, margin, and futures trading is restricted for them.
What is the support email ID for Gate.io Exchange?
What is the trading fee for the Gate.io Exchange?
The base trading fee for Gate.io is as follows:
Spot Trade – Maker’s Fee – 0.2%
Spot Trade – Taker’s Fee – 0.2%
Futures Trade – Maker’s Fee – 0.00%
Futures Trade – Taker’s Fee – 0.05%
If you pay your trading fee with GT token (in-house token of the exchange), you can get a discount on the fee. Further, the fee structure is tiered basis the VIP level of the user.
The platform does not charge any deposit fee. However, the withdrawal fee is variable basis the type of cryptocurrency being withdrawn.
Kalki is a seasoned content writer with over two years of experience writing about blockchain and Cryptocurrencies. His passion for Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies bloomed in late 2019. Crypto’s technological and economic implications are what interest him most.
He is a Chartered Accountant and Lawyer with over 10 years of experience in the FinTech industry. He likes to read, travel and go for long rides on his bullet bike.
