Gate.io Review - The Best Crypto Exchange in 2024?

Established in 2013, Gate.io ranks among the oldest and top ten cryptocurrency exchanges globally. This crypto exchange platform caters to more than 14 million registered users worldwide, offering services more than just buying, selling, and trading crypto assets. In today’s Gate.io review, we will explore all that this crypto exchange has to offer you and help you decide if it is the right choice to take your crypto journey forward!

Our Gate.io Review Summarized

One of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges in the market, Gate.io is known for its extensive number of offerings that make it popular among users to trade digital assets and take advantage of the vast opportunities.

Here is a list of features that Gate.io offers:

• Gate.io has its native token called GT, whose holders enjoy VIP privileges, discounts on trading fees, and access to platform activities.
• In addition to spot, margin, and derivatives trading, Gate.io also allows trading of ETF leveraged tokens that support automatic rebalancing and pre-market trading.
• Through the Convert feature, users can swap one crypto for another with just one click and without any fees. 
• Gate.io Startup, a token launch and airdrop platform for projects to gain exposure and users to get free airdrops. 
• A Web3 gateway that offers cross-chain swap, DEX trading, and access to 10,000+ trending dApps. 
• Its own blockchain, GateChain, focused on decentralized trading with a great clearing mechanism.
• Gate NFT, which offers free NFT minting as well as NFT storage, exhibition, and selling.
• Gate Pay, which supports online and offline crypto transactions and offers users the ability to convert between 1500 crypto. 
• Gate OTC for trading USD, HKD, AUD, CAD, EUR, GBP, JPY, SGD, and other fiat currencies.
• Gate Visa Debit Card that supports crypto spending with 1% instant USDT cashback on every purchase and supports ATM withdrawals.
• Gate Labs, which provides resources to entrepreneurs, and Gate Ventures to make investments in the space with its portfolio. Some of its portfolio companies are Woo Network, EthStorage, Sei, SEBA Bank, 1inch, Pyth Network, Wormhole, and Autograph.

Pros

• Ease of use
• Tons of crypto to trade
• Margin, leveraged, bots, and copy trading
• Lots of passive income options
• Extensive material for user education
• Regular trading competitions
• No fees for crypto deposits
• NFT creation and auction platform

Cons

• Customer support can be a bit slow
• Lack of fiat withdrawals
• Arduous KYC process
• While competitive, fees can be a bit high for regular users
• Can be too much for inexperienced users
• The US, UK, Singapore, Canada, France, Germany, & Netherlands part of restricted locations

Visit Gate.io

Where Gate.io Excels

The cryptocurrency exchange allows users to buy, sell, trade, and swap a wide range of crypto assets at a low fee. It regularly runs trading competitions and offers attractive bonuses to reward its users, while various earning opportunities will keep you entertained and grow your holdings.

Trusted by millions of users, Gate.io provides support for several payment methods and fiat currencies to make deposits, however, when it comes to withdrawal, crypto is the only way. Some may find its KYC process a bit hard, though.

At Gate.io, you can explore different flavors of the crypto sector, ranging from NFTs, airdrops, dApps, and DEXs to lending, startups, analytics, and research.

Gate.io is best for:

– Those who want to trade a large number of crypto assets while paying low fees

– Those looking for various opportunities to earn passive income 

Gate.io Exchange at a Glance

Which Cryptos does Gate.io Offer?

The centralized cryptocurrency exchange (CEX) supports more than 1,700 crypto assets, which is significantly higher than most of the top ten CEXs. 

For instance, Bybit has over 1,100 crypto listed, and Coinbase has 200 plus. This means Gate.io covers all kinds of categories and trends for you to take advantage of, including BRC20, AI, the Solana ecosystem, meme, RWA, DePIN, Base Eco, Blast Eco, ZkSync Eco, ETF, Layer2, Metaverse, DeFi, Storage, and NFT.

Meanwhile, Gate.io has close to 4,000 trading pairs, with the stablecoin USDT being its most popular asset for trading crypto. In terms of volume, the exchange manages billions of dollars daily, with BTC/USDT being the most active trading pair. It accounts for the most (over 20%) of Gate.io’s total trading volume, while ETH/USDT accounts for less than 10%.

Gate.io Fees and Costs Explained

When it comes to fees, Gate.io charges a pretty competitive rate for trading crypto assets. The platform supports a tiered pricing structure and utilizes the market-established maker-taker fees. 

The fees come down as the tier level rises, which means the higher your trading volume in the last 30 days, the lower you have to pay. Moreover, holding GT tokens grants you discounts on fees. Moreover, if you meet a VIP trading volume requirement, you get to keep the tier upgrade for 60 days without downgrading.

Spot trading

Fees at Gate.io start at 0.1% for both maker and taker fees for the lowest VIP level for trading volume below 60K. This is in line with the most popular exchange, Binance, which also charges 0.1%. However, the volume limit for the regular user is much higher at $10 million.

Futures trading

When trading derivatives, the fees start at 0.015%/0.050% with a 0.002% reduction in take fee at every tier. In comparison, Binance charges a 0.02%/0.05% for a 30-day trading volume below $1.5 million.

Gate.io Futures Trading

Gate.io Futures Trading offers a comprehensive suite of tools, from demo accounts to sophisticated bot strategies.

Demo Account

The exchange offers a demo account that allows beginners to trade using virtual funds to get an idea of the market before risking their hard-earned real money. This further allows them to get a better understanding of the platform.

Futures Trading

Gate.io’s cryptocurrency futures market covers perpetual contracts that don’t have a delivery date or delivery futures. As for leverage, the exchange offers up to 100X leverage for BTC and 20X or 50X for a dozen altcoins. 

Additionally, the platform offers USDT and BTC margin contracts, along with the option to use your spot BTC and ETH as collateral to borrow up to 100K USDT at zero interest. 

Copy Trading

Gate.io offers the ability to copy the trades of other traders for both spot and futures markets. You simply have to choose the trader you want to copy and select between the Simple and Advanced modes. Once you have transferred the funds and set the parameters of copy trading and risk control, you are good to go.

To help you make your decision, Gate.io gives you several options: Star Trader, High Return For Copiers, High AUM, Rising Star Traders, and Prudent Trader.

Bots

Here, you can also take advantage of trading bots to make sure you do not miss any opportunity. The bot strategies available for you include Spot Grid, Futures Grid, Spot Martingale, Smart Rebalance, Spot-Futures Arbitrage, Infinite Grid, and Margin Grid. Currently, there are over $3 billion in total bot funds on Gate.io.

You can either one-click copy through Bot Pool or create your own bot at zero cost without needing coding skills.

Gate.io Bonuses & Rewards

An attractive aspect of opening an account at Gate.io is the range of promotional activities it constantly runs. Currently, the exchange is giving new users the chance to win up to $6666 in welcome rewards. To get your hands on this prize, you simply have to register, and you can unlock a $6,666 mystery box as well as a discount on trading fees.

To sign up, input your email or phone number, set a strong password, enter a referral ID, if any, and then accept the user agreement and privacy policy.

But this is not all, as we have come across several more promotions running on the exchange while conducting our Gate.io exchange review. These include Trading Fair with a $50,000 prize pool, BRC20 Team Battle with a $25,000 reward, 150% APR for new users who lock their USDT, $40,000 worth of meme trading competition, 1 USDT cashback for every $200 USDT purchase via debit/credit card, and more.

The platform recently also concluded its Futures World Cup Trading Competition with a prize of $5 million. 

How Safe is the Gate.io app?

Gate.io’s app is available for mobile users on Google Play for Android and the App Store for Apple users. It boasts a 4.2-star rating in both the App Store and Google Play and has over a million downloads on the latter. 

The app’s design is clean and bright, which makes it easy to use, although it can be a bit buggy at times. Using its ‘Trade’ button, you can effortlessly navigate between the Spot, Futures, Margin, Copy trading, Trading bots, and Convert sections, all from one place. Meanwhile, its trading pair section allows you to switch quickly between your favorite markets, with different segments such as BRC20, AI, ETF, and others readily accessible. 

Earlier this year, the exchange upgraded its app and added the ‘Earn’ button at the bottom navigation bar. This button allows users to select from multiple earning opportunities. Conveniently located next to the Earn button is the Startup feature, which makes receiving free airdrops even more convenient.

Additionally, there’s a Gate MiniApp that consists of a variety of shopping and GameFi applications, along with crypto-enabled event ticketing currently under development. Through this feature, you can instantly access, order, and pay with crypto for a one-stop crypto lifestyle experience. Currently, Travala.com and Gamebox are featured merchants, with Shopping.io, UQUID, and Bitrefill set to join soon.

Gate.io Staking Features

If you’re looking for passing income, Gate.io has tons of options for you. Different products that you can take advantage of include:

Simple Earn: This one enables you to earn interest on your idle funds with principal and return guaranteed. This is achieved by matching unused user funds with loan demand. Under this product, Gate.io is currently offering 3% APR on USDT, 9% on USDC, and as much as 50% on AEVO.

HODL & Earn: Here, you can access various investment options, including loans where you pledge one crypto to borrow another; structured products that include assets linked to interest and derivatives; auto-invest, which gives a flexible portfolio and is redeemable anytime, and dual investment for short-term exposure to two cryptos.

Gate Wealth: This option, tailored for wealth managers and high-net-worth individuals (HNWI), includes features such as hybrid interest, anytime redeemability, and stable income. Gate.io offers products like Range Accrual, Double No Touch, SnowBall, and Quant under this category.

Staking: Lock your crypto for a certain period to get rewards. For ETH2.0 staking, Gate.io is charging zero fees and offering an estimated APR of 3.16%. To participate in ETH2.0 staking, you have to buy and hold ETH2. Rewards are distributed by the exchange from ETH2.0 Staking to EHT2 holders based on your average ETH2 holdings over a period of two weeks.

Gate.io Supported Payment Methods

To make crypto buying and selling a quick and seamless experience for users, Gate.io offers several convenient payment options. The trading platform supports about 100 fiat currencies via over 300 payment methods, including bank transfers and debit/credit cards. 

To enable the purchase and sale of crypto through debit and credit cards, Gate.io supports the following payment channels: Gate Connect, Banxa, Semplex, Mercuro, Moonpay, Volet, and Coinfy.

In addition to its other services, Gate.io also supports peer-to-peer trading, allowing you to trade crypto directly with other users. This feature supports a wide range of popular and commonly available payment methods, including Bank Cards, Alipay, WeChat, Western Union, PayNow, Perfect Money, Skrill, PayMe, Paytm, Google Pay, Apple Pay, UPI, Wise, ING, Monzo, Revolut, Zelle, Bank of America, Astropay, Line Pay, PayPal, ADVCash, and many more.

The wide availability of fiat currency and payment method support means Gate.io users can easily fund their accounts and buy crypto without jumping through hoops or using risky methods.

Minimum Deposits & Withdrawal Times 

There is no minimum amount required to fund your account at Gate.io, and depositing crypto is free of charge. 

For fiat currency deposits, the fees depend on the chosen payment channel. After selecting your payment method, Gate.io will redirect you to the third-party provider’s page to complete the payment. These service providers charge a trading fee, which differs from one platform to another.

For crypto withdrawals, a fee is applied for every transaction, irrespective of the amount you are taking out. The fee amount depends on the coin you are withdrawing. 

The withdrawal limit at Gate.io is 100,000 USDT per account every 24 hours. To increase your limit, you must complete your KYC ID verification. 

With stage one verification, the withdrawal limit increases to 2 million USDT; at stage two, it increases to 5 million USDT, and at stage 3, it reaches 8 million USDT. These limits apply to all withdrawal channels: on-chain withdrawal, Push transfer, and GateCode.

Fiat withdrawals are currently not supported at Gate.io, which means you, depending on your geographical location, will have to use other exchanges, such as Coinbase and Kraken, that support this feature.

Gate.io Customer Support

If you need assistance, Gate.io has several support options. You can email them at [email protected] or use the submit request and live chat features available on the platform. 

The platform’s Help Center is designed to answer most of your questions about its services. The search option right at the top of the website’s front page also comes in handy. The website further provides learning options, courses, future events, news, blogs, and a group to chat with other crypto traders.  

Gate.io’s social media presence covers a wide range of platforms, including Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Telegram, Medium, Reddit, Discord, Github, and VK, all available in multiple languages.

If we look at customer satisfaction, the platform has a poor rating of 1.8 on the review site Trustpilot. However, this isn’t much different from market-wide sentiments, with Binance having a 1.5 rating and Coinbase a 1.6.

Is Gate.io Legit?

Registered in the Cayman Islands, Gate.io is a legitimate crypto exchange. It operates legally, with Gate Group holding a service license in Malta and having applied for a license with the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) in Hong Kong. In the United States, their entity is registered as a money services business with FinCEN and has secured money transmission licenses for its operations.

Not long ago, Gate.io started offering licensed OTC services after Gate MENA DMCC acquired a license from the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC).

On the security front, Gate.io uses cold wallets to store user funds and guarantees 100% Proof of Reserves by employing an open-source Merkle tree solution in combination with third-party audits. Additionally, the Gate SAFU (Secure Asset Fund for Users), funded by transaction fee income, is set aside to protect users’ funds in an emergency scenario.

Moreover, the exchange utilizes SMS, Google OTP, IP address monitoring, withdrawal whitelist, login password, email address, Gate Ukey/Yubikey, security log, fund password, and anti-phishing code to maintain account security. However, it is important to note that Gate.io was hacked for $230 million in April 2018.

Our Review Methodology?

We are committed to helping our readers make better and more informed decisions when exploring the wild world of cryptocurrency, which is full of opportunities. In our reviews, we maintain the highest standards by evaluating the platforms and their various offers with a pragmatic and unbiased approach. 

Our team of professionals provides deep and actionable insights that you can trust and rely on to make your move in crypto. We further make sure that our reviews are up-to-date with the most relevant information to ensure the best experience. 

The Bottom Line on Gate.io 

Having established a name for itself over the past decade, Gate.io has emerged as a promising crypto exchange for trading a wide range of crypto. The exchange offers features like copy trading, bot trading, and leveraged tokens, making the trading experience even more fulfilling. Moreover, there are tons of crypto-earning opportunities, as well as access to DEXs, dApps, and NFTs. 

While it suffered a major hack over half a decade ago, the platform has improved its security and uses advances to ensure the safety of user funds. So, if you find yourself asking, “Is Gate.io trustworthy?” you can rest assured that it indeed is. So, to make the most of the crypto market opportunities, sign up on Gate.io!

Visit Gate.io

FAQs

Is Gate.io legit and safe?

Gate.io is a legitimate and secure platform licensed to operate legally in several countries. For security, it employs cold storage, 100% Proof of Reserves, Gate SAFU, IP address monitoring, withdrawal whitelist, Gate Ukey/Yubikey, and anti-phishing codes.

Is Gate.io a good trading platform?

Yes, Gate.io is a good trading platform for both beginners and professionals. It allows users to trade diverse crypto market opportunities and gain a better experience by utilizing trading bots, copy trading features, and a demo account. 

Is Gate.io a Chinese company?

Although Gate.io originated in China more than a decade ago, it has moved its base since then and now caters to users all over the world. Having obtained licenses in several markets, Gate.io is gradually establishing a legitimate worldwide presence.

Is Gate.io better than Binance?

Both Gate.io and Binance have their share of pros and cons. Binance is the leading crypto exchange in terms of trading volume and has been entangled in several legal disputes with regulatory authorities. Meanwhile, Gate.io is one of the top 10 exchanges with over 1,700 cryptos listed, offering trading bots, copy trading, and various earning options.

References

• Top Cryptocurrency Exchanges Ranked By Volume (CoinMarketCap)
• Fact Sheet on MSB Registration (FinCEN) 
• Virtual Asset Trading Platforms (Securities and Futures Commission) 
• Kim Steals Crypto to Make a Bomb (The Times) 
• Money Transmission Oversight Too Slow for Crypto (Bloomberg Law)
• Crypto Exchanges: Centralized, Decentralized or Hybrid? (CNBC18) 
• Complete Guide on Cryptocurrency Security (Blockchain Council)

Gaurav Roy

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