In the last five years, I have reviewed almost 22 cryptocurrency exchanges. This extensive research aims to help you choose the best crypto exchanges in the market. I try my best to show you all the potential and pitfalls of the crypto market.
In that endeavor, I have brought another cryptocurrency exchange for you called AscendEX.
AscendEX (formerly known as Bitmax) is a centralized cryptocurrency exchange. It was established in 2018 and is based in Singapore. The platform was developed by a group of wall street quant trading veterans.
During the last three years, the platform has grown its service base and the variety of products it offers. Let us understand more about its founding team.
Who are the founders of AscendEX Exchange?
George Cao – Twitter
Co-Founder and CEO (Chief Executive Officer)
George Cao is based in New York and has a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Chicago. George has extensive work experience working with investment banks such as Barclays and Delpha Capital Management. He has been in the investment space for ten years when he co-founded AscendEX (known Bitmax at that time).
Ariel Ling – LinkedIn
Co-Founder and COO (Chief Operational Officer)
Ariel Ling is based in New York, US. She has completed her MBA in Financial Management from NYU (New York University). Post her academic experience; she has a 20-year long executive experience with management consulting firms, investment banks, and blockchain digital asset industries. Her work experience includes strategic planning, business development, risk management, valuation & financial analysis, and operational efficiency.
Now, let us dive into the various features that this exchange offers us.
What are the features of AscendEX Exchange?
The features of the AscendEX Exchange can be listed as follows:
1. Trading (Spot, Margin and Futures Trading)
AscendEX dashboard
AscendEX provides all the basic features of Spot, Margin, and Futures trading. The orders can be placed at market price or as a limit order. Further, a user can use the stop limit or stop market order to have a stop loss.
At the time of writing this AscendEX review, there are 229 pairs for spot trading and 18 pairs for derivatives trading available on the platform. For margin trading, leverage is available upto 25x for spot trading and upto 100x for Futures trading.
For perpetual futures, there is an additional feature of “Copy Trading”. A user can simply copy-paste another trader’s trading instructions to his trades.
2. Copy Trading Feature
AscendEX – Copy Trading
Copy Trading feature is the most unique feature offered by AscendEX. This is applicable for Perpetual futures trading. 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, with a very nominal fee, you would be able to take advantage of the expertise of professional traders and level up your game.
You can refer AscendEx Copy Trading Guide Here.
3. OTC (over-the-counter) Trading for Mini & Mega Whales
AscendEX provides an over-the-counter (OTC) trading facility for bulk trades with a minimum transaction size of USD 1,00,000.
Currently, OTC transactions are available for the following crypto assets only:
BTC
ETH
USDT
All the OTC transactions on AscendEX are processed through its associated partner Prime Trust, an independent U.S. regulated custodian. Before initiating an OTC trade, a user must complete his KYC with AscendEX and Prime Trust. More details on OTC trading can be found here.
4. Directly Purchase Crypto with Fiat
AscendEX Fiat Gateway
A user on AscendEX can directly purchase a crypto asset by paying fiat currency.
Following fiat currencies are supported by the exchange:
USD (U.S. Dollar)
EUR (Euro)
AUD (Australian Dollar)
CAD (Canadian Dollar)
CZK (Czech Koruna)
DKK (Danish Krone)
GBP (Pound Sterling)
HKD (Hong Kong Dollar)
JPY (Japanese Yen)
NOK (Norwegian Krone)
PLN (Poland Złoty)
RUB (Russian Ruble)
SEK (Swedish Krona)
TRY (Turkish lira)
UAH (Ukrainian Hryvnia)
The problem is that the platform only allows fiat purchases. Fiat currency cannot be deposited on the platform.
5. Crypto Staking
AscendEX – Staking Feature
A user can stake his crypto-assets on AscendEX and earn passive income on it. A good part of staking products available on the platform is that there is no lock-in period. An asset staked on the platform can be unstaked at any time. AscendEX maintains a liquidity pool that allows instant unbonding of assets and thus allows users to manage staked assets at their discretion.
Further, these staked assets can be used as collateral for margin trading. For more information on staking, I suggest you read our Beginner’s Guide for Staking and Proof of Stake Protocol.
6. DeFi Yield Farming
AscendEX – DeFi Yield Farming
Users can use AscendEX for earning passive income through DeFi Yield Farming Protocol. The benefit of using AscendEX for yield farming is that a user does not need to pay any gas fee on his yield farming transactions.
For more information on DeFi, I suggest you read our DeFi Guide.
Further, DeFi yield farming protocols are generally tricky to understand for a beginner. Thus, AscendEX, with its user-friendly interface, manages all the backend processes and provides a seamless transaction experience to a user.
7. BitTreasure – Fixed term earnings
AscendEX Bit Treasure
BitTreasure is like a fixed-term deposit where a user can deposit his crypto assets and earn a stable return. The crypto-assets are required to be locked in for a specified period.
The interest on the deposit amount is distributed once the particular lock-in period has expired. Generally, these products are available with 30 days, 90 days, and 180 days lock-in period.
8. What is the Fee Structure of AscendEX?
The trading fee charged by AscendEX is as follows:
a)Spot Trading Fee
The base trading fee payable for spot trades is as follows:
Large Market Cap Tokens – 0.1% of the transaction value
Altcoins – 0.2% of the transaction value
Further, high-value traders are categorized as VIPs and different fee discounts are available for them. For more information related to AscendEX trading fees, you may click here.
b) Futures Trading Fee
Maker – 0.02% of the transaction value
Taker – 0.06% of the transaction value
Further, similar to spot trading fees, high-value traders are categorized as VIPs and different fee discounts are available for them.
In addition to the trading fee, there is no fee for deposits on the platform. For withdrawal, the fee is variable depending on the crypto asset being withdrawn. For more information on this, click here.
9. AscendEx User Interface
AscendEX Mobile Application
AscendEX web version has a very user-friendly interface that allows a smooth experience for the users. Even a beginner with basic knowledge of trades can efficiently process transactions on the platform.
Further, the platform has a mobile application that is available for iOS and Android users. The app has more than 50k downloads on the Google play store with a rating of 3.9. The rating seems to be lower than the industry standard, but in my testing, the app is featured rich and we could attribute a lower rating to the branding change or initial hiccups.
10. ASD (AscendEX)Token (Native token)
ASD is the in-house utility token of AscendEX Exchange. An ASD holder receives several benefits on the exchange, such as:
Eligibility for higher VIP level
Eligibility for less transaction fee
Eligibility for a discount on margin interest
ASD can be staked
ASD Token use cases
Basis CoinMarketCap.com, ASD has a market cap of USD 265.65 Million with a circulating supply of 743.79 million tokens.
You can buy ASD tokens on the following exchanges:
AscendEX Exchange
FTX Exchange
Gate.io Exchange
KuCoin Exchange
Note: ASD token was previously named as BTMX token. You can read more about exchanges native tokens here.
Now, let us summarize the benefits and possible limitations of AscendEX Exchange.
What are the Benefits of AscendEX Exchange?
The benefits of AscendEX Exchange can be listed as follows:
A large number of trading pairs is available
Copy-trading feature
Passive income earning options such as staking and DeFi Yield Farming
User-friendly interface
What are the Limitations of AscendEX Exchange?
The possible limitations of AscendEX Exchange are as follows:
The platform is not available to U.S. residents
Feature of fiat deposit is not available
The trading fee for altcoins is higher than the market average
Conclusion – AscendEX Exchange Review
AscendEX is a user-friendly platform that provides a wide variety of crypto tokens to users. In addition to this, it has some cool features like Staking and DeFi Yield Farming. Thus, allowing a user to make additional passive income on their crypto investment.
The platform is in existence for over three years now and is known in the crypto space. Further, the team is fairly active across various social media platforms.
Therefore, I understand that the AscendEX exchange is a good choice for trading in crypto assets.
Please note that I am not a financial advisor, and this is not financial advice. DYOR before investing.
I hope this Ascendex review would help you in deciding whether you should use AscendEX Exchange or not.
Let me know your feedback in the comments section and share this article with your friends and colleagues. Subscribe to our newsletter for more such articles.
FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
Can U.S. residents use AscendEX?
No, U.S. residents are not eligible to use AscendEX.
Is AscendEX a good exchange?
Yes, AscendEX is a secure exchange that provides a user with a variety of services. In addition to the usual crypto exchange features, it offers many other features such as copy trading and passive income earning options. Further, the founding team has substantial wall street experience.
Who owns AscendEX?
AscendEX is a crypto exchange owned by a privately held company based out of Singapore. So far, the company has gone through three rounds of funding which was fulfilled by various VC firms.
What happened to BitMax?
Bitmax.io was launched as a crypto exchange in 2018. The exchange was predominantly serving Chinese users.
In order to cater to a global population, in March 2021, the exchange incorporated various foreign languages to its platform and rebranded itself as AscendEX.
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