FTX.US Review 2023

FTX.US is the U.S. branch of FTX.com, one of the most popular global crypto exchanges. And despite not supporting many cryptos, it has incredibly low trading fees and a variety of tools for active traders.

Our FTX.US review is covering who this exchange is best for, its pros and cons, and how you can ultimately decide if it’s right for you.

Pros & Cons

Who is FTX.US For?

If you dislike high exchange fees and want to actively trade crypto, FTX.US is one of your best options.

Even though this exchange has poor cryptocurrency selection, it’s much more cost-effective than most U.S. alternatives. Plus, you can trade crypto options, futures, and on margin, which isn’t something you get with every exchange.

If you want as many altcoins as possible and a simple trading platform, FTX.US isn’t for you. But compare the fees you’re paying with your current exchange to FTX.US to see if making the switch makes financial sense.

What We Like About FTX.US

U.S. crypto investors often get the “lite” version of popular exchanges. We see this with Binance.US versus Binance.com, and, of course, FTX.US versus the more robust FTX.com.

That said, FTX.US still adopts a lot of excellent features from FTX.com. Most notably, you get powerful trading tools and incredibly low fees, plus a variety of ways to trade.

Multiple Ways To Trade

FTX.US supports over a dozen popular cryptocurrencies, and there isn’t a minimum account balance requirement. And once you fund your account, there are numerous ways to start investing.

Beginner crypto investors can use the regular FTX.US app to quickly buy and sell crypto from their smartphone. Alternatively, the FTX.US Pro app is also free and caters to active traders who need more in-depth charting tools and order types.

You can also trade through FTX.US’ web platform. Its trading dashboard lets you add numerous technical indicators, compare crypto trading pairs against one another, and quickly place trades. This is similar to FTX.com’s trading dashboard, so U.S. customers still get advanced trading tools.

Spot trading is available, but you can also place different order types:

• Limit order
• Market order
• Stop market
• Stop limit
• Trailing stop
• Take profit
• Take profit limit

Finally, FTX.US supports numerous currencies. This lets you buy crypto with USD but also Euros, British Pounds, Canadian dollars, and Australian dollars in addition to swapping cryptos.

Low Trading Fees

Like FTX.com, one FTX.US’ advantages over crypto exchanges like Coinbase and Gemini is its low fees.

FTX.US has a tiered fee structure that starts at a 0.10% maker and 0.20% taker fee. In comparison, Coinbase Pro starts at a 0.40% maker and 0.60% taker fee.

Gemini has a rather confusing fee structure, but you pay 1.49% on mobile and web orders over $200 or a starting 0.20% maker and 0.40% taker fee through Gemini ActiveTrader.

The bottom line is that FTX.US is one of the lowest-fee exchanges out there. If you’re actively trading on another exchange and are getting dinged with high fees, FTX.US might be worth switching to.

NFT Support

These days, more exchanges are hopping on the non-fungible token (NFT) bandwagon. For example, both Binance and Coinbase are expanding NFT support to let customers buy and sell NFTs.

Thankfully, FTX.US is following suit. Its NFT marketplace lets you buy, sell, and mint NFTs. This makes it a useful feature for collectors and digital creators alike. The NFT marketplace also supports Ethereum and Solana-based NFTs.

If you buy NFTs, you can hold them in your FTX.US NFT gallery or withdraw them to a Web 3.0 wallet. Note there’s a 2% fee sellers pay per NFT transaction and a $1 minting fee. Buyers don’t have to pay fees which is another perk.

Crypto Options, Futures, & Margin Trading

Another advantage of using FTX.US is that it supports crypto options and futures. Specifically, you can trade Bitcoin and Ethereum derivatives, starting with a small contract size of 0.01 BTC and 0.10 ETH respectively.

Options and futures trading is regulated, and FTX.US acquired LedgerX to provide this service. You have to apply to unlock options and futures trading, but it’s available to all U.S. customers.

FTX.US also supports margin trading like FTX.com. This lets you get up to 10x leverage on spot markets. You need $100,000 USD or equivalent assets in your account to qualify. The initial margin rate is 10% and the maintenance margin rate is 5%, so there’s room before liquidation occurs.

Crypto options, futures, and margin trading isn’t suitable for beginner traders due to how volatile markets are and the risks. But if you want these features, FTX.US is one of the best exchanges you can use.

Free Crypto Rewards

FTX.US has a new crypto promotion that pays you a random coin when you place a trade of $10 or more.

It doesn’t disclose the odds for earning different cryptos, so don’t expect to get one whole Bitcoin after placing a small trade. But even if you get small amounts of other altcoins, this helps you grow your portfolio over time and offset some trading fees.

FTX.US Card

FTX.US has a new crypto debit card that’s powered by Visa. This card lets you spend fiat and crypto from your FTX.US account anywhere in the world that accepts Visa.

You receive a physical FTX card in the mail alongside your virtual card. Just note this card is only available to U.S. residents with a valid SSN or ITIN.

Also consider the opportunity cost of using crypto debit cards. The flexibility to spend crypto on everyday purchases is nice. But when you spend your crypto, you also miss out on potential appreciation down the line.

FTX Stocks

One of the most exciting features of FTX is the ability for members to trade hundreds of U.S. stocks and ETFs right from their FTX account.

This feature is still in the works and is being rolled out. But it's a massive moment for crypto and makes FTX.US the first exchange to branch out into traditional stock investing territory.

The twist is customers will be able to fund their stock trades with the stablecoin USDC. And like trading apps like Robinhood, stock trading is going to be commission-free.

The launch of FTX Stocks is following a closed private beta for a small group of users. But as the program opens up, it's going to give investors the ability to invest in crypto and U.S. securities from one central platform rather than juggling multiple apps or brokerage accounts.

Where FTX.US Could Improve

Low trading fees and tools for active trading are the two main benefits of FTX.US. But it has some of the weakest crypto selection out of all exchanges, and there are several other downsides.

Additional Cryptocurrency Support

Currently, FTX.US supports over a dozen popular cryptocurrencies like:

• Aave
• Bitcoin
• Chainlink
• Ethereum
• Litecoin
• Polygon
• Shiba Inu
• Solana
• Uniswap

This is a much smaller list of supported assets than FTX.com. And some very popular altcoins, like Cardano and Polkadot, aren’t available.

Limited crypto support is one of FTX.US’ main drawbacks. In comparison, exchanges like Coinbase support over 100 cryptocurrencies; well over 5 times the amount FTX.US offers.

Staking Rewards

If you want to earn passive income with your crypto, FTX.US isn’t for you. While FTX.com offers staking rewards, U.S. customers can’t deposit crypto to earn interest. This is a massive downside since staking rewards let you put your idle crypto to work to generate additional crypto.

Granted, U.S. regulators are cracking down on crypto staking and lending platforms. For example, BlockFi, a popular crypto interest account provider, paid $100 million in penalties in early 2022 and has stopped onboarding new U.S. customers for now. Celsius, another popular interest account, is also reducing the number of U.S. customers it accepts.

The bottom line is that exchanges like FTX.US aren’t a passive income option for U.S. residents right now. Instead, you have to turn to decentralized staking pools and yield farming instead of sticking with regulated exchanges.

Ease Of Use

The FTX.US mobile app is beginner-friendly, but the web version has a learning curve because of all the trading tools it offers.

Exchanges like Coinbase and Gemini are much simpler for beginners. FTX.US has more flexibility, but if you just want to place the occasional trade and don’t care about technical analysis, it’s not the best exchange.

Supported Cryptocurrencies

FTX.US currently supports 19 cryptocurrencies. In comparison, FTX.com supports over 300, and even U.S. exchanges like Coinbase support over a hundred coins.

This lack of crypto support is one of the main drawbacks of FTX.US. If you only care about Bitcoin, Ethereum, and a few popular cryptos like Solana, it’s not an issue. But for more altcoin support, Coinbase or Gemini are better choices.

Fees & Limits

The main reason to use FTX.US over other exchanges is to save on trading fees. This exchange has some of the lowest fees out there, even for low-volume traders:

As mentioned, even users with Coinbase Pro pay much higher trading fees out of the gate. And it’s a similar story for other U.S. exchanges like Gemini.

You don’t pay deposit or withdrawal fees either, unless you’re withdrawing ERC20/ETH or OMNI tokens. In that case, you pay blockchain network fees that vary depending on network congestion and transaction size.

Other potential FTX.US fees include:

• ACH Fees: The standard ACH deposit fee is $0.50. But you don’t pay this fee on your first deposit or deposits over $100. You also avoid fees if the deposit is over $10 and you already made an ACH deposit within the last week.
• Wire Fees: You can withdraw below $5,000 from your account once per rolling week period. Extra weekly withdrawals below this amount cost $25. Withdrawals above $5,000 are always free.
• NFTs: Sellers pay 2% for transactions and there’s a $3 minting and listing fee.

Account Opening Process

It takes a few minutes to open a FTX.US account. Once you sign up with your email, you complete know your customer (KYC) verification to unlock trading. There are two tiers of verification. Tier one requires entering your:

• Name
• Date of birth
• Country
• Phone number
• Address
• SSN

Tier one grants up to $10,000 in daily crypto and fiat trading volume, which is much higher than many starting users get with other exchanges. However, there’s a $2,000 deposit limit for any 10 day rolling period for tier one accounts, so it takes a while to fund your account.

Completing tier two verification requires verifying your identity with Stripe. You upload a photo of government ID and a selfie to complete this step. After approval, you get full access to FTX.US and can deposit up to $5,000 per rolling seven days.

How Safe is FTX.US?

FTX.US is a safe cryptocurrency exchange. For starters, U.S. dollars are held in partner FDIC-insured banks. The company is also regulated in the United States and therefore must comply with various financial services and consumer protection laws, like running vulnerability scans and implementing anti-money laundering protocols.

Furthermore, FTX.US Derivatives, the branch that lets you trade options and futures, stores most customer assets with BitGo Trust. This provides up to $100 million in digital asset insurance.

Finally, FTX.US customers also have numerous account security options. This includes two-factor authentication, suspicious activity alerts, and whitelisting IP and wallet addresses.

Your crypto isn’t FDIC-insured, so keep this in mind. This is why it’s important to take charge of your own security if you’re not actively trading on an exchange. This means moving your assets to a crypto wallet like Ledger or Trezor where you control your own private keys.

Best Alternatives

FTX.US beats most U.S. exchanges in terms of fees. If you trade frequently, this is enough of a reason to open an account since you can potentially save hundreds or thousands of dollars.

However, crypto support is where FTX.US falls short. If you want more investing selection and an easy trading process, you’re better off using other exchanges.

Coinbase

Coinbase is a leading exchange that supports over 100 cryptocurrencies, which is significantly more than FTX.US. It also has a new Coinbase Learn program that pays you with free crypto for completing short educational modules.

Furthemore, Coinbase has its own crypto debit card that pays up to 4% back in crypto rewards. And you can also stake various coins to earn passive income.

With a low $2 trading minimum and easy-to-use platform, Coinbase is an excellent starting point for beginner crypto traders. However, FTX.US is better on trading fees.

Get Free Crypto After Your First Trade >> Try Out Coinbase.

Gemini

Like Coinbase, Gemini offers way more crypto support than FTX.US. And it also lets you earn interest on your crypto through Gemini Earn.

Furthermore, its ActiveTrader platform has similar charting and trading tools to FTX. So, if you want a balance between trading tools and more crypto assets, Gemini is a better choice. Just keep in mind trading fees are more complex on Gemini and are slightly higher than FTX.US.

BlockFi

BlockFi is a crypto exchange that's known for its BlockFi Interest Account, which lets investors earn monthly interest on a dozen cryptos and stablecoins.

Like other exchanges, BlockFi also has a crypto rewards card and lets you buy, sell, and swap assets. And its free wallet lets you buy crypto with funds right from your bank account with only $20.

BlockFi doesn't charge trading fees, but you still pay spread fees that are similar to Coinbase. FTX.US is superior for active trading. But when BlockFi relaunches its interest account, it's going to be one of the best options for earning passive income.

Get Up To $250 In Free Bitcoin >> Try Out BlockFi.

Bottom Line

Despite its drawbacks, FTX.US is still one of the best U.S. exchanges because of its low trading fees. If you’re frequently trading, there’s a strong argument for switching to FTX so you can leverage its robust trading dashboard and avoid steep fees.

Casual crypto investors are likely better off with Coinbase or Gemini because of ease-of-use and available cryptos. But for serious traders, FTX.US is one of the best U.S. exchanges.