Poloniex was once at the pinnacle of cryptocurrency trading, but just like the giant living in the clouds, the exchange's reputation kept falling over the last six years. Currently, the self-proclaimed "Legendary" exchange has the worst reputation among its competitors.
This guide is an in-depth look into Poloniex's history, company profile, exchange, and step-by-step instruction for all of the features available on the platform.
Poloniex's history is legendary, even if the exchange is far from its former glory, so we highly recommend taking the time to get acquainted with the events that have dragged Poloniex down from the top of the charts.
Table of Contents
- History
- Poloniex Company Profile
- Creating your Poloniex account
- Secure Platform
- Buying Crypto with Fiat
- Cryptocurrency Trading
- Spot Trading
- Margin Trading
- Futures Trading
- Lending
- Poloni DEX
- Launchbase
- Listing a token on the main exchange
- Mobile Apps
- Support
- Conclusion
History
Poloniex's history is shrouded in mystery, as it was created during a time when privacy and anonymity were the norm. Poloniex's history is like a rollercoaster with many ups, downs, and no clear destination for the future.
At one point, the exchange accounted for 50% of the total trading volume globally, but by 2019 this number dwindled to 1%. Today, the exchange is on a path to recover a better grasp of the market, even amidst ever-increasing competition from other companies.
Established in January 2014 in Wilmington, Delaware, Poloniex used Circle's OTC desk to turn their crypto profits into fiat on a regular basis. Four years later this relationship led to the Poloniex being sold to Circle Internet Financial Ltd. for an estimated $400 million USD.
Poloniex later spun-off from Circle to form a new company, liberating the company to pursue greater interests outside of the U.S. market, while Circle remains U.S. focused.
Pre Circle
The previous owner, however, was not revealed by his or her desire. The only leads that we have point to Tristan D'Agosta, a music composer with no prior experience in tech development, who claims to be the founder and CEO of Poloniex. His claim has not been challenged, so the wider community accepts it as a fact.
With Tristan, a music composer leading the exchange, it does not come as a surprise to discover that Poloniex was hacked just two months after it went live. The exchange lost approximately 12.3% of its assets. This is where Poloniex's self-proclaimed owner, a user known as "Busoni" stepped up to resolve the situation in a rather creative way.
After fixing the issue, a snapshot was recorded of customer's balances and 12.3% were deducted from everyone's BTC holdings, with only a promise to return the lost funds at a later date. The transaction fees were increased to 1.5% and all BTC was returned to customers just four months later in July 2014.
Circle's ownership
After Circle Internet Financial Ltd. acquired Poloniex the focus was on providing superior customer service, something that Poloniex's previous owners couldn't achieve. Pushing through the backlog of customer support tickets, Circle re-established Poloniex as a respected entity.
Poloniex was one of the nine participating companies to answer New York's State Attorney General's Virtual Markets Integrity Initiative call and provide detailed information about its operations and policies. Bitstamp, Bitfinex, Coinbase, Bittrex, and other notable companies also participated voluntarily, while Kraken, Binance, Gate.io, and Huobi rejected the invitation, claiming not to allow any trading from New York.
After answering this call, Poloniex removed margin trading for U.S. users on the platform in order to comply with U.S. federal laws without mentioning any specific regulation
However, this didn't stop the platform from creating another scandal which resulted in the loss of 16.20% of BTC on its lending platform, which they promised to reimburse. The loss happened when the system was unable to keep up with the rapid price decline of CLAM and caused lenders to default on their loans, with no assets to back their collateral.
Poloniex socialized the losses and removed 16.2% of BTC principal of loaners on the platform, a move that's met with a lot of scrutiny by legal experts and crypto enthusiasts alike. The exchange " solved " the situation by providing 100% cashback on trading and lending fees for everybody involved.
Seeking an alternative Circle and Poloniex received a Digital Assets Business Act License from Bermuda. Circle announced that Poloniex will move all business divisions supporting non-U.S. residents to Bermuda.
This move enabled Poloniex to be free from U.S. bureaucracy, and the license covered the operation of payment services, custody, exchange, trading, and other financial services related to digital assets. It gave the exchange room to focus on non-US customers, which made up 70% of its customer base at the time.
18 months after Circle first bought Poloniex, both entities published an announcement saying that Poloniex is going to spin out of Circle and form a new company, Polo Digital Assets Ltd. The new company would be supported by an influx of $100 million by an initially unknown Asian investment group.
Later it was revealed that Tron founder Justin Sun was one of the investors in the group.
As part of the announcement, it was revealed that U.S. customers will no longer be able to trade on the exchange. Affected customers had two months to withdraw their assets through a specialized Circle wallet.
Post Circle
At the onset of the Poloniex spin-off, it found itself listed in litigation against Bitfinex and Tether, as one of the exchanges that regularly received significant amounts of USDT. It's unclear whether Poloniex's actions were in any way illegal and since the litigation was against Bitfinex and Tether, no action was taken against Poloniex.
Justin Sun and the rest of the unknown Asia-based investors took charge of Poloniex, one of the first things they changed was the creation of a non-KYC user type, which has a daily withdrawal limit of $10,000 USD in crypto or $20,000 USD if Two Factor Authentication is active on the account.
Fast forward to February 2020, Poloniex was involved in what was described by Vitalik Buterin as the first "de facto bribe attack ". In short, Poloniex and other exchanges were revealed to have used their customer's deposits to vote against a soft-fork on the STEEM blockchain. The move was seen as a TRON assault by the general public, as some of the exchanges involved had ties to Justin Sun. Binance and Huobi were also involved.
Trouble didn't stop there, when in March 2020, Poloniex offended the community by offering 0.0047 BTC to every impacted customer that was hurt in the CLAM crash of 2019. The community was displeased with these efforts and saw them as Poloniex returning the Bitcoin once the asset has lost its value.
The Future
While we can't predict the future, looking at Poloniex's past can provide us with some information about likely things to come.
The exchange has come a long way since its inception and has lost a lot of good faith with the community. At the time of writing the exchange is listed on the #30th position by trading volume on CoinMarketCap. It's difficult to say how things will develop on that front, but unless Poloniex manages to pull off a small miracle, it's likely that they will keep bleeding customers.
Lastly, one outstanding issue is the CLAM flash crash and how Poloniex handled the losses. Legal experts claim that socializing losses in the U.S. is illegal in the way they did it, and this leaves the exchange open to legal threats. Whether anybody will take Poloniex to court is up for debate.
Poloniex Company Profile
The exchange has changed hands at least three times, as far as the public is concerned. First it was supposedly owned by Tristan D'Agosta, eventually sold to Circle for approximately $400 million USD, before it finally spun out into its own company.
It's unclear who owns Polo Digital Assets, Ltd. today, but it is known that Justin Sun was one of the investors who participated in the $100 million USD investment after the exchange left Circle's hands.
According to Dun & Bradstreet, a business data and analytics platform, Polo Digital Assets, Ltd. is bringing in $2.3 million USD in annual revenue and has 19 employees across all sites. On the same website, we can see that the headquarters are now in Seychelles, with no indication of how much of the exchange operations are present in Bermuda, the issuer of their digital assets license.
Looking at LinkedIn, we cannot find a company listed as Polo Digital Assets, Ltd. Poloniex is easily discoverable, and shows that the company has 125 employees, at the time of writing.
87 of the employees are based in the United States, while the rest are based in India, Indonesia, Brazil, United Kingdom, Morocco, Ireland, Belarus, Ukraine, China and Hong Kong.
The majority of employees have a role in Finance and a Computer Science or Information Technology degree. Only about 25% of employees have listed a university or college on their profiles.
Legal
Poloniex is registered as Polo Digital Assets Ltd. in the Seychelles. You can register a company in the country for 860 euros through a service provider called SFM. It is also considered to be a tax haven, ranking 44th on the corporate tax haven index in 2019.
It is considered to be a country that respects secrecy, but large multinational corporations avoid the country because of a variety of issues with governance.
As a result, it may be difficult to seek a resolution in court if Poloniex does something which is illegal in other countries.
Working for Poloniex
To get a better understanding of the company as a whole, we looked to reviews left on Glassdoor, a popular workplace review and job searching website. Only 5 reviews were available from former Poloniex employees, and fortunately all of them are from 2020, giving us a useful and recent insight into the company.
Within this small sample, 3 out of 5 people recommend Poloniex as a good place to work, explaining that the company has a tight structure and passionate energy post Circle. The company seems to treat their employees with respect, nurturing the culture and supporting people through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Leadership below the very top is complacent and commands zero respect according to the negative reviews. Main issues are significant focus on shilling coins and disrespect towards women.
In all reviews, equity is a major topic, which employees believe will help increase motivation of their team. In addition, we come to recognize that the company over focuses on "values" seminars, which seem to annoy everybody involved.
Finally, brain drain. Most reviews mention that the best people are looking at the exits or have already abandoned the company.
Despite the negative feedback on the company, many people remain and Poloniex has a healthy number of 125 employees maintaining the exchange and making sure everything runs smoothly, most of the time.
Creating your Poloniex account
Individual account
If you are an individual looking to trade or invest in cryptocurrencies, this is the type of account that you are going to create. The process is very straightforward and involves filling out a simple form and checking your email inbox.
To get started, simply select the "Sign Up" button on the home page of the exchange.
This will take you to a standard form where you need to input your email address, create a password, and verify that you are not a robot. Read through the terms and conditions and check the box if you agree with them.
To complete the human verification process, simply drag and drop the puzzle piece in the correct spot.
Once you submit your information, you will be asked to check your email inbox and verify your address by pressing a button.
This is what the email looks like. Just press the button and the process is complete.
Institutional Accounts
If you are representing a pool of investors, an investment fund, bank, or plan to trade cryptocurrencies for someone else, this is the type of account that you need to create.
Creating an institutional account is more difficult when compared to the individual account, as you need to have a registered entity, fill out a form, potentially have a conversation with the Poloniex team, and provide a wider range of documents.
These are the documents that you will need:
- Proof of incorporation
- Proof of address
- Government IDs for trading representatives
- Other documentation where applicable
Beyond the requirements for having an institutional account if you desire to trade on behalf of non-individuals there are benefits which include higher withdrawal limits and professional customer support from a team of account managers.
To get the process started, you need to fill out this form. If you have any questions or issues, you can always reach out to Poloniex directly via businessonboarding@poloniex.com.
Secure Platform
Exchange Security
The latest information that is publicly available in regards to exchange security is a study done by ICORating, which rated Poloniex with an overall score of A-. The study was done at the start of 2019, so take these results with a grain of salt.
Hacken, a B2B cybersecurity consulting company operates the website cer.live, which ranks Poloniex on the 24th place for cybersecurity with a ranking of 7.6/10.
On the same website, we can see that Poloniex hasn't had a penetration test, where authorized hackers try to break the exchange and report the results, nor does it have proactive user security and a bug bounty. At the very least, there is a proof of funds, which is rather easy to do, considering this is a crypto-to-crypto exchange, with an option to buy with fiat.
Poloniex Hacks
If you skipped over the history of the exchange, you missed out on the story about how Poloniex was hacked for about 12% of its BTC just two months after launching. The methodology of the hacker was discovered by accident, when they realized they can withdraw from the same wallet multiple times, going into the negative.
Poloniex socialized the losses by removing ~12% of all BTC and raised their trading fees by 1.5%. A few months later, they returned all of the lost BTC to the original owners.
Recently, in June 2020, a data leak of the customer information database was revealed, which led to a wave of phishing attempts made on Poloniex users. Poloniex sent out the following email to their customers, which at first was confused for a scam, but later confirmed official over twitter.
Poloniex claims that no data was compromised, but requested the password change "just in case".
@Poloniex be careful with this Scam email we are getting in our emails #BTC #LTC #ETH #DASH #Crypto #Poloniex pic.twitter.com/untSVGfwAM
— Charly (@charlysatoshi) December 30, 2019
Lastly, one major concern for user security is the fact that 1,800 BTC that was misappropriated when the CLAM margin trade market failed on the exchange is not returned as of yet. Affected users were offered 0.0047 BTC each and granted free trading fees up to the amount they lost.
It's unclear how many users were affected at the time, but the debt is far from settled. Universally, this event is recognized to be the fault of Poloniex with little to no recourse for redemption.
Security Features
Despite shortcomings in the past, Poloniex is actually a fully functional cryptocurrency exchange with all of the necessary security features to help users protect their own accounts from illegal entry. Poloniex is also one of the first exchanges to implement I.P. tracking and provide an extra layer of security (and loss of anonymity) preventing hackers from entering your account from different geographical areas.
Two Factor Authentication (2FA)
Activating 2FA is highly recommended for any account where security is imperative. It enhances your safety 100-fold by introducing a second layer necessary to gain access to the account. Instead of just your password, you also need to use your mobile phone with 2FA enabled. Google Authenticator is the most commonly used application for this purpose, and Poloniex uses exactly this option.
To get started, navigate to "Settings" and select "2FA" on the next screen. You will be greeted with the following screen, with some of your account information already entered.
To continue, you will need to download Google Authenticator on your Android or iPhone device. Using the application is easy. Simply select the "Scan Barcode" option in one of the menus and point your camera to the screen recording the QR code (number 1 below).
The application will create an entry with the name of the website, your email address, and present you with a time-sensitive one-time password (OTP). Enter the OTP in the field labeled "Code" (number 2 below).
Before you complete the process make sure to write down the 16-digit backup key. However tempting, do not skip this step. Should you lose your device, you may find yourself in a situation where you cannot get access to your account. Do not save it digitally, as this increases your risks of being hacked. If your computer or phone is infected with a virus, it could potentially discover the files containing your backup key, rendering your defence useless.
Grab your pen and paper, write it down, and keep it in a safe location.
Check the box that says "I have backed up my 16-digit-key." and press "Enable 2FA"
With this you have enabled the best security feature available to you on Poloniex. Hacking your account is now 100 times more difficult. You will know that you've done everything correctly, once the page shows that 2FA is enabled, just like in the image below.
The next time you log in to your account on the exchange, you will be asked to provide the OTP. This will repeat every time you log out of the exchange. Poloniex will automatically log you out if you take no action for some unspecified amount of time. You will notice this if you forget to log out of your personal computer, and access the exchange a few hours later.
Although it may seem like a hassle to keep inputting the OTP every time you want to access your funds, it's very important that you keep this feature enabled. Most successful hacks of personal accounts happen because of the lack of 2FA activation.
Know Your Customer (KYC) Verification
Poloniex is one of the rare cryptocurrency exchanges that will allow a decent amount of withdrawals for unverified users, up to $20k USD.
Operating in only crypto-to-crypto trading pairs, Poloniex will allow this type of flexibility, regardless of who you are. Going into higher cross-exchange trading volume, will require a basic KYC verification.
The process is standard and done through a third-party, called Netverify. To complete KYC verification you will need a government-issued identification document, driver's license, or passport, and a webcam.
Benefits of verification include a significant increase of the withdrawal limit, from $10k to $250k USD, increased account security, access to margin & futures trading, 2FA and password recovery, faster support, and access to the exchange's IEO platform, Launchbase.
The verification process is powered by Netverify, and only requires that you present an ID, passport or driver's license.
Activating KYC on Poloniex
You can check your verification status by going to the settings.
To start the process navigate to "Settings" and click on the "Get started" button on the green card in your Limits & Features profile.
This will take you to a new tab where you will be asked to supply information regarding your country, date of birth, street address, city, postal code, and your phone number. Once you fill out the information press submit and it will take you to the next step.
Keep following through the process and once you've provided a photograph of your documents.
Once you've successfully uploaded all of the required details, it's a waiting game.
Within a few hours, your verification will most likely be accepted.
Once your account is verified, you will no longer see prompts related to KYC and your profile will be updated to show that you are Level 2 verified.
Buying Crypto with Fiat
Poloniex is a crypto-to-crypto exchange, with no option to deposit or withdraw fiat funds. Their partnership with Simplex enables users to buy crypto via a debit or credit card as a third party.
To buy crypto on Poloniex, locate the "Buy with Card" button on the home screen once you are logged in.
This will take you to the screen shown below, where you can select the type of currency, desired amount, and have a preview over the fees.
The minimum amount is $50, while the maximum is $20,000 USD in one transaction and Simplex charges the larger between 3.5% and $10 USD as fees for the service.
The price of the asset may also include a spread, meaning you may get a worse-than-market price for your crypto. In approximately 30 minutes you can be the proud owner of cryptocurrency, so despite the fees this may be a convenient option.
Limitations and Terms
KYC is required for credit card purchases, even though some support documents show the opposite. Simplex as the third-party liquidity provider, will ask you for your identity details.
Since you are effectively buying from Simplex, you have to follow their terms of service.
As a result, not all countries are supported. The choice of cryptocurrency is narrow, allowing only for a dozen and a half of the most liquid cryptocurrencies on the market.
Supported countries:
- Andorra
- Argentina
- Australia
- Austria
- Bahrein
- Belgium
- Brazil
- Brunei
- Bulgaria
- Chile
- Croatia
- Cyprus
- Czech
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- French Polynesia
- Germany
- Gibraltar
- Greece
- Greenland
- Guadeloupe
- Hong Kong
- Hungary
- India
- Ireland
- Isle of Man
- Italy
- Japan
- Korea
- Kuwait
- Latvia
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Malta
- Martinique
- Metropolitan France
- Moldova
- Montenegro
- Netherlands
- Netherlands Antilles
- New Caledonia
- New Zealand
- Norway
- Peru
- Poland
- Portugal
- Puerto Rico
- Qatar
- Reunion
- Romania
- San Marino
- Saudi Arabia
- Serbia, Singapore
- Saint Maarten
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- South Africa
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Taiwan
- Turkey
- United Kingdom
Supported Cryptos:
- Cosmos (ATOM)
- Travala.com (AVA)
- Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
- Binance Coin (BNB)
- Bitcoin SV (BSV)
- Bitcoin (BTC)
- Binance USD (BUSD)
- Dash (DASH)
- Ethereum (ETH)
- Litecoin (LTC)
- Paxos Standard (PAX)
- Qtum (QTUM)
- Tron (TRX)
- Tether (USDT)
- Stellar (XLM)
- XRP
Cryptocurrency Trading
Poloniex offers a versatile trading platform with easily accessible trade data that a modern-day trader needs to generate profits.
Once it was the largest crypto exchange in the world, but it has long since fallen from the very peak of performance. Instead of on the top, this exchange is now ranked on the 30th place on CoinMarketCap, largely due to Poloniex's tarnished reputation.
Trading Fees
Trading fees are determined by your tier status, which is similar to a loyalty program. Your trading activity will determine the fees that you have to pay, starting from 0.125%.
The exchange uses Tron (TRX) as a trading fee token, and if you hold more than $50 on your account, you will automatically reach the next tier level. Using TRX to pay for trading fees also gives you a 25% discount.
All trading tiers and their corresponding fee structure is shown in the image below.
If you trade a significant amount of cryptocurrency (over $50 mil USD) per 30 days, you can apply for a special tier status, which provides you with further fee reductions.
Transaction Fees
Poloniex as a crypto-to-crypto exchange has no transaction fees for deposits. You only pay the blockchain transaction fees when sending crypto from your wallet. These fees are determined by the current usage of the platform and will vary over time. If usage is high, these fees will usually be high. Fees are much lower when there is less competition to complete a transaction.
Withdrawing Funds
Exchanges usually charge some sort of premium for withdrawals, but with Poloniex you only pay the transaction fee required by the blockchain. The fees are determined depending on the currency that you want to withdraw.
When you are ready to take your funds off the exchange, navigate to your "Wallet" and click on "Withdraw". This will pop-up a slide containing a list of all of your assets. Select the one you want to withdraw, input the destination address and add any additional payment details that are required by the coin.
To finalize the withdrawal, press "Continue" and "Withdraw" after reviewing the details.
It may take up to 4 hours for the withdrawal to finalize depending on how congested the particular blockchain network is at the time.
Top Traded Assets
The most traded assets on the platform are BTC, ETH, SNX, SXP, TRX, XRP, and USDT pooling together a trading volume of approximately $40 mil USD. Most of them have good liquidity, particularly Bitcoin and Ethereum when paired with USDT.
Out of 181 cryptocurrency pairs available, USDT pairs make up more than 65% of the total volume on the spot exchange.
Spot Trading
Poloniex has a modern and clean design making it easy to read and consume trade data and make better decisions as a result.
To access the spot exchange you need to click on "Exchange" on the homepage after you've logged in.
Main Chart
On the right hand side of the screen you will see the main candlestick chart which will show you the price history of your selected asset.
Chart data on the platform is provided by TradingView, but it's not as versatile as the website. It only shows Poloniex data, for example.
Indicators
You could use this chart for technical analysis as it has access to a variety of different indicators, the same ones available on TradingView.
You can access this panel by clicking on "Indicators".
Order Book
Left of the main chart, you can see the order book, where you can analyze the market depth and get a better understanding of the current market conditions for your selected asset. Unfortunately, there is only a minimal amount of flexibility as to how this data is presented.
You can choose to see both buy and sell orders or only one of them. You can also group orders by limiting the amount of decimals that are shown to you, however it is also a limited feature that can only enable you to see just a little bit more of the available orders.
Asset Selection
To select the trading pair that you want to view, locate the current trading pair button. In our example this was BTC/USDT, as shown below.
Click on this to open the trading pair selection window. Select your desired pair and the presented information will change to provide you with data for your selection.
Order Types
Poloniex operates through limit orders and stop limit orders. There is no automatic market order buying or selling, however you could simply select the lowest or highest offer in the order book and it will be automatically set in the limit price field.
Limit Order
Using this type of offer you can create an entry in the order book for a specific price. Once somebody sells to your order, it will be fulfilled. The lack of automatic market orders means that traders pay more attention when making trades on the exchange.
To create an order, input the amount you want to buy or sell and press the appropriate button.
Stop Limit Orders
These order types are activated once the price reaches a specific threshold. It uses two parameters, i.e. stop price and limit price. Once the market price reaches the stop price, a standard limit order will be created at the price you indicated.
Stop limit orders are often used to take advantage of developments while the trader is not active on the platform. Technical analysis is often used to define points of support and resistance, and traders often use these orders to set up a chain of events to either buy cheaply or sell for a high price.
Balance and Account Management
You can manage your wallet from the spot trading screen. On the bottom left you will see your current balance for the pair that you are trading. Using the buttons you can directly deposit or transfer from your margin or futures account.
This screen is hidden behind the chat by default.
Chat
Usually activated by default, the chat feature or "Trollbox" as it's labelled on Poloniex is the place where you can chat in real time with other traders on the platform. You need to create a username and agree to uphold the community standards before you can chat.
Once you set your username, it is final and cannot be changed in the future.
Latest Trades / Open Trades
Lastly, you have a preview of the latest fulfilled orders on the bottom, providing you with a preview of the trades other people have made. You also have the option to overview your own open trades in the same tab.
Margin Trading
The first thing you notice when you open the "Margin" trading option is that Poloniex is enforcing the old design. When you first enter the Spot Exchange, you may be prompted to activate a new layout and design of the exchange view.
Even if this does not happen with the margin trading engine, the design is similar enough to be comparable with the main design, so we will cover only the features that are not present in spot trading.
Margin trading is only available for KYC-verified accounts.
Main Chart
Similar and powered by TradingView, the main chart offers all of the same features as seen on the Spot Exchange. The design is different and includes a useful price tracker for the chosen trading pair.
Margin Account Details
Details about your holdings are listed on the main margin trading page, providing a quick and easy overview over your assets. Your collateral must represent more than 40% of your trades.
Transfer Balance
In order to publish margin trading orders, you will need to transfer funds to your margin account. You can do this either through the wallet, or click on "transfer balances" in the open position tab on the same screen.
Transferring is intuitive and consists of only selecting an asset, desired account, and clicking the "Transfer" button.
Asset Selection
This is your navigation for selecting the trading pair currently active. You can either click on specific coins on the list, or search for them. Only BTC and USDT pairs are available for margin trading.
Order Types
Buy Limit Order
The standard limit order that shows the price you will pay, the amount you want to buy, and the loan commission that you want to offer. Once you set an amount, you will see the total. Fees are added afterwards.
If you want to simulate a market order, you can click on the "Lowest Ask" value to automatically input the current market price.
Sell Limit Order
The opposite of the order type explained above. Instead of buying the asset, you would be selling the asset with loaned funds, effectively entering a short position.
Stop Limit Order
Stop limit works to enable you to adapt to predicted market movements and automate the limit order creation process. You select a stop price, which will activate and publish the limit order once the market price reaches it.
Poloniex warns us that the stop price will not always activate accurately, mainly because "your tradable balance varies continuously with market and order book conditions and the status and number of your open orders and positions"
Order Book
Providing you with an overview of the margin trading exchange status, using the order book will give you an in-depth look of active orders. Unlike the neatly packed design seen on the spot exchange, the margin order book is split between two displays one for buy and one for sell orders.
Below them is the market depth graph, providing you with information about points of support and resistance, as well as signaling the amount of liquidity currently available on the market.
Futures Trading
The futures trading engine uses a third design, similar to the ones we've seen before. In order to use Futures trading you need to pass KYC verification.
Activating Futures Trading
Before you can see all of the features, you will be greeted with this button in the order creation section. Click on "Enable Futures Trading" to get started. Accept the risks related to futures trading and you will be able to set up orders.
Main Chart
The main chart is different compared to the other trading engines, offering a bit more flexibility in how the data is presented. Charting is still a missing feature. Indicators are available just like previously seen versions.
Market Overview
Prominently displayed, the market overview shows the trading volume, prices, time to settlement, and other details important for futures trading.
Order Book
The order book on the futures engine is compact and neatly presented in a column in the main view. Order grouping is more flexible compared to the other types of trading, providing greater flexibility in how the data is presented. As a result, the trader can see a wider view of the current active orders on the exchange.
Market Trades
Next to the main chart you will find this list of transactions that have happened recently. This is a useful tool to see shifting trends and how the market is moving in real time.
Order Types
There are three market orders available on the futures trading platform. For the first time in our exploration of the Poloniex exchange we can see a clearly defined and automated market order, together with the already seen Limit and Stop Limit orders.
Only one futures contract is active at the time of writing the USDT collateralized Bitcoin contract called "BTC Perpetual".
Other different elements are the leverage selection slider, "time in force" selection, and the advanced parameters tab. Leverage is the reason why Futures Trading is incredibly risky, as it amplifies the gains and losses up to 100 times.
Advanced parameters enable experienced traders to modify their limit and stop limit orders to "Post Only", "Hidden", and "Reduce Only". Post only enables you to bypass any potential settlement against orders already present in the order book, and instead prioritize listing your order in the book first.
Hidden enables the trader to activate and order that will be hidden across different smaller orders to mask the amount.
Reduce Only is used to exit positions. When you exit a position from the Order overview, it is done by executing a new order in the opposite direction. If you were originally long on BTC, you need to go short to exit the position. Usually used when a fractional exit is desired by the trader.
Limit Order
Beyond the already described price and amount selection, we get our first glimpse of the additional features provided by the futures trading engine. We can now select leverage, activate advanced settings, and select how long the order will be active.
Market Order
Market orders do not have any of the advanced options available. They are usually instantly settled, unless there is a lack of liquidity at the current price level. It's unclear whether Poloniex will settle the order to the next best option, or create an entry in the order book instead.
Stop Limit Order
Stop limit orders on the futures trading platform provide more flexibility when compared to previously seen implementations for spot and margin trading. The main differences beyond leverage, and advanced settings, you can also select the trigger and order types.
Trigger Type
Trigger type relates to how the stop price is determined. Last price requires a successful trade to happen on the limit that you've chosen. The mark price is generated through a calculation between the index price and the 30-second exponential moving average of the market price.
The index price is the average of several exchanges. Poloniex hasn't been clear as to how it determines the index price.
Order Type
The availability of market orders means that you can select them to be produced as a result of the market reaching the trigger price. The limit order type is selected by default.
Your orders
As you trade on the platform, this table will be populated with all of the pending and completed orders that you have created for easy overview.
Lending
Poloniex taps into the pool of lenders to supply the margin trading engine. Every time a margin trader creates an order, this is the pool of funds from which they borrow to enter their positions. According to the exchange, this is an easy way to earn passive income on your cryptocurrency without trading yourself.
Earning potential and risk
When you first open the lending platform, you will be greeted by a message that communicates the risks of lending. Looking at the support documents, see the exchange say "...while we have fail-safes and procedures in place to protect our lenders, there are always risks involved when exchange trading, margin trading or lending cryptocurrencies."
Drama was commonplace for Poloniex, especially when the exchange lost an approximate $13.5 million USD or about 1,800 BTC. This constituted a 16.2% loss of all BTC on the lending platform, losses which were socialized across all lenders.
Their principal was lowered by 16.2%.
Blame was shifted around to traders and lenders, the exchange hoping to keep as much attention away from itself. This naturally backfired and the exchange's reputation was further tarnished. Eventually, the exchange gave back a miniscule amount of BTC to all lenders that lost assets in the event.
The annual rates for borrowing BTC at the time of writing are between 2.8% and 3.1%, meaning that lenders that lost money due to the flash crash had years in crypto investment sacrificed without question.
It's up to you to consider the risks and rewards, but we think we will skip participation.
Nonetheless, let's have a look at what this platform offers, for those that are interested.
Creating a Loan
The interface is rooted in the old Poloniex design, but it is clean and easy to understand. The main action happens in the loan creation section, where you can set the daily rate, amount you want to lend out, and how long this loan will be available for margin traders.
Loan Market Overview
Looking at the overview, the first thing that sticks out is the low amount of loan demands. In this case, BTC has only one listing. Most cryptos have no loan demand listings, except for USDT.
This can mean one of two things:
- There's not enough demand.
- The supply market is competitive enough to provide decent rates.
The first one is self-explanatory, so let's look at the second point. Margin traders want to make trades now and then, whenever they make the decision to commit. They look at the loan rates and find them attractive.
Margin traders are most likely going to borrow directly from an offer, instead of asking for specific rates.
Balance Overview and Crypto Selection
On the side of the main area, you can select the cryptocurrency that you want to loan out. You can see all of your balances here. To be able to lend crypto, you will need to transfer it to your lending account.
To change the cryptocurrency you are loaning, simply click on the appropriate name in the list.
Poloni DEX
Shortly after Poloniex changed hands and Justin Sun got a piece of the action, Poloniex acquired the TRX Market, and rebranded it to Poloni DEX. Poloni DEX is a decentralized non-custodial exchange
Ranked on the 143rd spot on CoinMarketCap, Poloni DEX is not the most popular of exchanges. However, it may be a good place to go if you are looking to buy or sell Tron-based tokens that are not available on popular exchanges.
Just keep in mind that there is a limited amount of liquidity on this exchange.
To trade, you are going to need to login with your TronLink wallet. If you need any help in this or any other process, the best resource is the official Poloni DEX support platform.
The rest of the exchange is intuitive and you should face no complications when trying to buy and sell Tron-based tokens. Liquidity as mentioned, may be an issue for tokens that do not have a good following, so make sure to check the market before you commit.
Listing a token on Poloni DEX
Listing a token on the DEX is easier compared to listing it on the main exchange, but there are requirements that your token needs to fulfill. You are going to need to own a listed token and login to Tronscan, as well as provide additional information along the way.
Launchbase
The launchbase is Poloniex's Initial Exchange Offering (IEO) platform through which new cryptocurrencies are introduced to the community. Launchbase cryptos are guaranteed to be listed on Poloniex, making them an attractive investment opportunity for traders on the platform.
There is only one IEO available at any given time, with the entire Launchbase page dedicated to providing information about the project.
Getting your project on the track of being launched via IEO on Poloniex requires you to reach out to the team directly. No other information is given in regards to requirements.
Listing a token on the main exchange
There are three main ways to get a token listed on Poloniex, according to the support materials:
- Apply though the Asset Listing Form
- Customer feedback & voting
- Top performers on Poloni DEX
The asset listing form would be the only available path for many developers. Poloniex uates project's asset fundamentals, technology, people, business model, community, and market dynamics to determine who will get listed.
Poloniex seems to list a regular influx of new cryptocurrency choices for the spot exchange, with at least 6 being listed since the start of 2020. Sometimes they also offer special conditions for trading these new cryptocurrencies for their users.
Using the Asset Listing Form, developers are expected to provide a variety of information related to their identity, project, technology, people, and community. A whitepaper, website, and blockchain tools that use the token are also expected.
Mobile Apps
Poloniex offers an easy way for you to trade wherever you are through the use of mobile apps for Android and iOS. These apps are available for download anywhere in the world with the exception of the iOS app in China.
There are 13 common languages available for users, making it easy for people in these countries to use the app in their native language. These languages are available on both iOS and Android, and will always be selected if the default device language is in one of the following:
- Chinese
- English
- Dutch
- French
- Italian
- Japanese
- Korean
- Polish
- Portuguese
- Spanish
- Thai
- Turkish
- Vietnamese
Trade, Deposit, and Withdraw on Poloniex Mobile App
After you download the app on your device, the first thing you need to do is login. To do this open your Poloniex app and click on "Account". From there you can click "Sign In", input your email, password, and 2FA code. Alternatively you can use the app to create your account via "Register"
Once you are logged in, you can trade, deposit, and withdraw through the app without any limitations.
Trade
With the app you can easily access the spot exchange on Poloniex and place an order. To start press on the markets button and select your desired trading pair.
Choose either "Buy" or "Sell" to start setting up your order, and on the next screen you will be able to set the price/amount/total and order type to complete the trade.
Deposit
The mobile app can also be used for deposits to your account. Tap the "Account" button and select "Deposit" on the next screen to start the process.
Selecting "Deposit" will take you to the screen below, where you can choose the type of cryptocurrency that you want to add to your account.
Coins will often have specific requirements and notices letting you know how long it will take for a deposit to complete, as well as other critical information regarding your pending deposit. After reading the requirements, swipe to see the QR code for your deposit address, which you can copy and share easily.
Withdraw
Withdrawing is as simple as depositing. Click on "Accounts" and then "Withdraw" to start the process.
Selecting "Withdraw" will take you to the screen below which contains a list of all cryptocurrencies on the exchange. Choose the one you are interested in withdrawing to continue.
Choosing any cryptocurrency will take you to the withdrawal page where you need to input your destination address and review the amount. 2FA and KYC may be required to complete a withdrawal.
If you need any more help with the mobile app usage, refer to the official support documentation.
Support
Support is a difficult topic for Poloniex. The exchange is widely regarded as having poor customer support. Delisted coins causing customers to lose access to their funds, with weeks of no reply from customer support has contributed to the development of this reputation.
Even through a lot of users are happy with the performance of the exchange giving it a great score on our platform, most of them include at least a small complaint for slow support speeds. However, in the spirit of transparency, we looked into this as well.
To test the support team we decided to reach out and inquire about how to get a project launched through the Launchbase, as there was no information that we could find on the topic in the support documentation.
Naturally, we tried to reach out to their chat support representatives, and quickly understood that Poloniex has no chat support. Nonetheless, we sent an email asking for information.
At the time of publication, it's been two weeks since we inquired about IEO listings, and we still haven't received a response from the Poloniex support team.
Conclusion
The usual volume of the exchange is $40 mil USD, showing that people still trust and use the exchange, but this is a far shot from its former glory. At one point it was the number one ranked cryptocurrency exchange, however technical issues that caused losses extinguished the flames.
More than anything, the lack of accepting responsibility for these technical issues was the main cause of deterioration for the exchange. Instead of providing a full refund to victims, they blamed the market, the traders, and avoided assuming control of the situation.
In general, Poloniex is a good looking exchange, but it's far from legendary. Especially when the tech-savvy crypto enthusiast is concerned, the most important factor is security and reliability.
Apart from the hack experienced when Poloniex was launched in 2014, no similar events have happened since.
However, numerous incidents have caused drama in the crypto community and they still remain unresolved, making Poloniex a questionable choice for regular usage.
Despite all of the negativity surrounding Poloniex's margin and lending platform, the spot exchange seems to have performed admirably. The exchange will have to work hard and long before users start to trust the performance of Poloniex.
