Disclaimer: FTX has stopped operating as a cryptocurrency exchange as of November 2022 following a malicious missuse of customer funds. You can read the post mortem here.
If you've been on Crypto Twitter lately, it's difficult to ignore the constant referral links to FTX Exchange circulated by large accounts. You might even be wondering why everyone is shilling for FTX Exchange.
The answer is FTX Exchange just might be the best cryptocurrency exchange to come around since Binance. However, unlike Binance, Coinbase, and Gemini, FTX Exchange is aimed at traders, rather than investors, interested in derivatives products for mostly DeFi assets.
In 2021, the cryptocurrency bull market mantra is up only, traders yolo longing DeFi tokens are all degens, and FTX Exchange is where all the action is happening.
FTX Exchange is a cryptocurrency derivatives exchange built and backed by institutional trader Sam Bankman-Fried and the quantum trading firm Alameda Research. As an exchange built by traders for traders, FTX brings the best leveraged crypto trading products to the market.
Founded in 2019 by Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX Exchange has been aimed at both pro and amateur traders since day one. Like BitMex, FTX is focused squarely on providing a suite of mostly leveraged cryptocurrency derivative trading products using a high capacity secure exchange platform.
The team behind FTX Exchange is what makes the exchange really shine. Composed of former Google, Silicon Valley, and Wall Street traders and engineers, the FTX team has stellar backing behind its products.
If you're looking for a crypto derivatives exchange these days, there are plenty of options. But, in our humble opinion, FTX tops them all. Here's why:
While Coinbase is used for spot buying and selling cryptocurrency assets, FTX is specifically aimed at crypto derivatives traders. Margin trading carries risks, but FTX traders should already know that.
In other words, if you're looking to ape into a degen 10x long, FTX Exchange is the place for you.
A cryptocurrency derivative is a trading product that derives its value from the asset being speculated on. So, Bitcoin perpetual derivatives are really just contracts using the spot price of Bitcoin, rather than Bitcoin itself, to wager on price direction.
Besides being incredibly trader-friendly, FTX Exchange also boasts the lowest trading fees of any exchange out there. Yes, including Binance.
Currently, on the taker side of the fee schedule, fees begin at 0.07% and decrease from there the more you trade.
However, to lower your fees even more, you can stake FTT token, the exchange's native digital currency asset. At its core, FTT token is designed as an incentives token much in the same way as BNB for Binance, HT for Huobi, and UNI for Uniswap are.
You might become extremely interested in FTT token once the talk about fee rebates, staking, and token burn begins.
As you can see, holding FTT is hugely beneficial if you plan on using FTX Exchange for your trading needs.
Of particular note is that FTT holders are also eligible to receive Serum Exchange airdrops. Serum is a decentralized exchange built by Alameda Research that is a companion to FTX.
Stake your FTT tokens to increase your rewards and incentives, including:
To increase the scarcity and value of FTT token, FTX Exchange conducts a buyback and burn program every week.
Other exchanges run similar programs, but do so on a quarterly basis. FTX Exchange's weekly bias means FTT burning is a constant, which might explain why FTT has been zooming up in value.
FTT tokens are bought and burned in proportion to:
Burning FTT tokens refers to the supply of tokens being permanently removed from circulation, meaning the token supply decreases while demand is hopefully increasing or remaining stable.
FTX Exchange takes massive amounts of pride in its platform’s security, starting with having security audits conducted by trust third parties like Blockchain Consilium.
You might take a step back from FTX Exchange because it hasn't been around as long as competitors like BitMex and Bitfinex. However, with the backing from Alameda Research and other trusted names like FBG Capital and Circle, FTX is clearly on the up and up.
Furthermore, FTX Exchange manages an insurance fund meant to cover hacks, security exploits, and other unforeseen events.
Compared to BitMex, FTX Exchange lacks a little bit of reputation, but that will develop with time.
But when it comes to platform features, trading products, trade speed, security, and customer support, FTX Exchange is second to none. Currently, we can't think of a better crypto derivatives exchange out there now.
FTX calls itself the exchange for traders, by traders, and in our experience, it certainly lives up to that billing.
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