BitMEX is a cryptocurrency derivatives exchange that allows users to trade digital assets with leverage as high as 250x for Bitcoin and 100x for other crypto assets. As a platform built mainly for experienced traders, the best features of BitMEX are derivatives trading, margin trading, BitMEX trading bot, integration with TradingView, and quick crypto conversions.
Beyond its core product offerings, BitMEX provides a testnet for practice, offers API access for developers, and its user interface is optimized for desktop and mobile, making it easy to trade on the go. While BitMEX is one of the world’s biggest and longest-standing derivative exchanges, it is important to familiarize yourself with the company’s services before investing in crypto on the platform.
In this BitMEX review, we will highlight its pros and cons, transaction fees, and security features to help you make informed decisions. Additionally, we will explore the best features of BitMEX and show you a step-by-step process on how to open a new account to trade on the BitMEX exchange.
| Rating | 4.0/5  |
| Security | 8/10 |
| Available Cryptocurrencies | 8/10 |
| Customer Service | 8/10 |
| User Experience | 8/10 |
| Is it Safe? | Yes |
BitMEX Review – What Is It? Full Crypto Exchange Analysis
BitMEX (Bitcoin Mercantile Exchange) is a cryptocurrency exchange and derivative trading platform founded in 2014. The exchange specializes in leveraged contracts, allowing users to trade various crypto derivatives such as perpetual swaps, futures contracts, pre-launch futures, options, and prediction markets, enabling traders to place bets on outcomes of real-life events.
For these derivative products, the BitMEX crypto exchange offers margin trading with leverage of up to 250x for top crypto trading pairs and lower for other cryptos. Besides these derivative products, BitMEX offers spot trading, crypto-to-crypto conversion, and staking its native token BMEX for trading discounts.
To give you a quick look into the trading platform, the table below contains information about the BitMEX exchange, including the number of supported cryptocurrencies, its best features, and more.
| Exchange | BitMEX |
| Founded | 2014 |
| Founders | Samuel Reed, Arthur Hayes, and Benjamin Delo. |
| Headquarters | Seychelles |
| BitMEX Key Features | Derivatives trading, margin trading, BitMEX trading bot, integration with TradingView, and quick crypto conversions. |
| Native Token | BMEX |
| Supported Cryptocurrencies | 100+ |
| Fiat | N/A |
| KYC Requirements | Mandatory |
| Security | Multi-sig cold wallet storage, manual withdrawal checks, real-time risk monitoring, advanced encryption, two-factor authentication (2FA), and whitelisting. |
| Trading Options | Spot, perpetual swaps, futures, and prediction markets. |
| Leveraged Trading | Yes, up to 100x. |
| Automated Bot Trading | Yes |
| Earn Products | Sign up bonus, missions, and participation in trading contests and promotions. |
| BitMEX Fees (Regular Users) | Spot: 0.1000% Derivatives: 0.0500% |
| Payment Methods (Deposit and Withdrawal) | Crypto and third-party payment providers. |
| Customer Support | Email and Live Chat |
| Available in the US | No |
What Are the Pros and Cons of BitMEX?
The pros of BitMEX include high leverage, advanced trading features, deep liquidity, low fees, robust security measures, an API for algorithmic trading, and a testnet for practice trading.
- High Leverage: BitMEX exchange offers leverage up to 250x on Bitcoin, 200x on Ethereum, and lower on other altcoins, which is perfect for experienced traders looking to amplify their profits.
- Advanced Trading Features: The exchange supports advanced crypto trading instruments like futures, perpetual contracts, options, and prediction markets to give investors, especially professional traders, a good trading experience.
- Deep Liquidity: BitMEX generally has high liquidity, especially for Bitcoin perpetual swap contracts, enabling large trades without significant price impact.
- Low Trading Fees: The platform offers relatively low fees, with regular traders paying 0.10% for spot trading and 0.05% for derivative products. Additionally, BitMEX offers investors a maker fee rebate, making it cost-effective for active traders.
- Strong Security Features: BitMEX employs robust security measures, including multi-signature wallets, advanced encryption, and offline fund storage, and has never been hacked.
- API for Algorithmic Trading: BitMEX offers API support (REST API and a real-time WebSocket API for streaming market and user data updates), which is helpful for algorithmic and professional bot trading.
- Practice Environment (Testnet): The BitMEX Testnet lets users try out new strategies or trading bots in a safe, simulated environment. It offers all the functions of the full BitMEX trading platform, in a risk-free environment using Testnet Bitcoin. This feature is especially important for anyone who wants to get a feel for the platform or fine-tune their trading strategies without putting funds at risk.
The cons of BitMEX include unavailability in the US, not being beginner-friendly compared to other top exchanges, no fiat trading, and having had past regulatory issues and criminal charges.
- Not Beginner-friendly: The interface and overall design are tailored for advanced users. Those new to crypto trading may find the platform overwhelming and challenging.
- No Fiat Trading: Users cannot deposit or withdraw fiat currency directly and must use cryptocurrencies to fund accounts.
- Regulatory Issues and Criminal Charges: BitMEX and its founders have faced significant regulatory scrutiny and legal challenges for violating the Bank Secrecy Act. In 2022, the co-founders, Samuel Reed, Arthur Hayes, and Benjamin Delo, admitted that they caused BitMEX to commit criminal violations of the anti-money laundering laws governing financial institutions in the US. So even though they have never been hacked, these challenges impact their transparency and availability to US customers.
Is BitMEX Legit and Safe to Use in 2025?
Yes, BitMEX is legit and safe to use in 2025. The exchange is operated by HDR Global Trading Limited and has a clean track record with no major hacks or fund losses since its launch in 2014. Although BitMEX was once known for its lax compliance and was in several legal battles for violating the Bank Secrecy Act, it has since adopted strict KYC procedures, anti-money laundering checks, and risk controls to align with global financial regulations.
Some security features the trading platform uses to protect traders include cold wallet storage with multi-signature authorization, manual withdrawal checks, real-time risk monitoring, advanced encryption, and user account protections like two-factor authentication (2FA) and withdrawal address whitelisting.
What Are BitMEX Supported and Restricted Countries?
BitMEX supported countries are Malta, Zimbabwe, Brazil, France, China, Indonesia, Uruguay, the United Kingdom, Egypt, Germany, South Africa, Australia, Spain, Cameroon, Chad, Vietnam, Dominica, Canada, Denmark, Iceland, Libya, Mexico, Romania, and over 100 more countries.
BitMEX restricted countries are the United States, Cuba, Iran, Syria, North Korea, Crimea and Sevastopol, Donetsk People’s Republic, Luhansk People’s Republic of Ukraine, Seychelles, Bermuda, Hong Kong SAR, Canada, Myanmar, Russia, and Switzerland.
Other countries with service limitations (not restrictions) include Palestine, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Tunisia, Yemen, Botswana, Tanzania, Nepal, Serbia, Somalia, Croatia, Puerto Rico, Côte d’Ivoire, and Laos.
Is BitMEX Available in the US?
No, BitMEX is not available in the US. The trading platform explicitly prohibits US persons from accessing its services, meaning that traders in the US cannot legally open or maintain trading accounts on BitMEX. In fact, BitMEX faced legal action in the US for violating the Bank Secrecy Act and agreed to pay a $100 million penalty. As a result of this restriction, the exchange reserves the right to close accounts and liquidate positions of traders found violating this policy.
What Are the Best Features of BitMEX Crypto Exchange?
The best features of BitMEX crypto exchange are derivatives trading, margin trading, BitMEX trading bot, and BitMEX cloud mining.
BitMEX Derivatives Trading
BitMEX Derivatives Trading is the buying and selling of crypto-based contracts like futures or perpetual swaps without directly owning the underlying assets. It lets users speculate on the future price movements of cryptocurrencies without owning the underlying assets, offering leverage as high as 250x on Bitcoin and up to 100x on other major coins. It also supports a range of altcoin derivatives, with slightly lower leverage limits. Its core derivative products include perpetual and futures contracts, which we discuss below.
Perpetual Contracts
BitMEX popularized the perpetual contract, a type of crypto derivative with no expiry date. You can keep your position open for as long as you want without needing to roll it over. The platform also uses a funding rate mechanism to keep perpetual contract prices closely tied to spot market prices.
Perpetual contracts are more suitable for active traders who want the feel of spot trading combined with the benefits of leverage. Since there’s no settlement date, you can hold a position across different market cycles, adjust your strategy in real time, and manage risk using tools like stop loss and cross margin. This makes perpetuals ideal for intraday and swing traders who value control, liquidity, and speed.
Futures Contracts
BitMEX offers crypto-margined futures contracts that allow traders to go long or short on a range of cryptocurrencies. These contracts settle on a fixed date in the future and are available in biweekly and quarterly durations. You don’t need to own the underlying asset; instead, you’re trading based on its price movement.
Unlike perpetual contracts, each futures contract has a predetermined expiration and settlement date, and once it expires, the position automatically closes at the settlement price. Futures are more suitable for those who want to speculate on long-term price direction or hedge a portfolio over a set time frame.
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BitMEX Margin Trading
BitMEX Margin Trading is a leveraged trading method that allows users to borrow capital to amplify their trading positions on cryptocurrency contracts. It gives you access to leverage to open bigger trades using less capital. You can borrow funds to increase your position size, which amplifies potential profits and losses. You also have control over how your margin is used.
There are generally two types of margin trading in crypto: isolated and cross margin. With isolated margin, your risk is limited to the margin for that trade. Meanwhile, for cross margin, your entire balance supports open positions. This flexibility makes managing risk easier according to your preferred strategy.
BitMEX Trading Bot
BitMEX Trading Bot is an automated software tool that executes BitMEX trades based on preset strategies, market signals, or algorithms. It supports bot trading through API access. This means you can automate your trades using pre-programmed strategies and let the system handle your buy or sell orders around the clock. Also, bots can interact with BitMEX using REST or WebSocket APIs. So, whether you’re into market making, arbitrage, or momentum strategies, the platform gives you all the tools to automate your trades.
Aside from the trading tools, bots are built for speed so they can execute enormous volumes of trades with minimal latency. BitMEX provides detailed API documentation to help developers build, test, and deploy their bots smoothly. With consistent performance and low downtime, automation becomes a reliable option for high-frequency or rules-based strategies.
BitMEX Cloud Mining
BitMEX does not offer cloud mining services at the moment. The platform focuses entirely on crypto derivatives trading and does not support mining or renting hash power.
What Are BitMEX Fees?
BitMEX fees include trading fees, BMEX token discounts, funding fees, and deposit & withdrawal fees.
Trading Fees
These are standard fees BitMEX charges when you buy or sell a crypto asset on the platform. The amount depends on whether you’re a market maker (providing liquidity by placing a limit order) or a taker (removing liquidity by placing a market order). BitMEX offers tiered fee discounts based on the rolling 30-day Average Daily Volume (ADV) and the amount of BMEX tokens a user stakes.
The base fee structure is:
- Spot Market (carry flat fees): Maker 0.10%, Taker 0.10% for all tiers initially. However, you can reduce your transaction fees significantly with a higher 30-day trading volume or by staking BMEX.
- Derivatives (Futures & Perpetual Contracts): For regular users, the standard fees are 0.0500% for makers and takers.
Here is a more detailed breakdown of the fees for various VIP levels:
| Fee Level | 30-day Trading Volume (USD) | Derivatives (Maker) | Derivatives (Taker) | Spot (Maker and Taker) |
| Regular 1 | 0 | 0.0500% | 0.0500% | 0.1000% |
| Regular 2 | 1,000,000 | 0.0450% | 0.0500% | 0.0900% |
| Regular 3 | 2,500,000 | 0.0400% | 0.0500% | 0.0800% |
| VIP 1 | 10,000,000 | 0.0250% | 0.0500% | 0.0700% |
| VIP 2 | 25,000,000 | 0.0220% | 0.0450% | 0.0600% |
| VIP 3 | 50,000,000 | 0.0200% | 0.0400% | 0.0550% |
| VIP 4 | 100,000,000 | 0.0180% | 0.0350% | 0.0500% |
| VIP 5 | 250,000,000 | 0.0150% | 0.0320% | 0.0450% |
BMEX Token Discounts
BitMEX has its native token called BMEX. If you stake BMEX tokens on the trading platform, you can receive trading fee discounts, withdrawal fee reductions, and access to other VIP benefits depending on your tier. The table below shows the token discounts and other benefits available to traders depending on how much BMEX they stake.
| Trading Fee Benefits | Other Benefits | |||||
| Fee Level | Staked BMEX | Derivatives (Maker/Taker) | Spot | Withdrawal Fee Refund | Staking Reward | Personal VIP Contact |
| Regular 1 | 0 | 0.0500% | 0.1% | N/A | 0% | No |
| Regular 2 | 1000 | 0.045% / 0.05% | 0.09% | 3/week | 5.0% | No |
| Regular 3 | 10,000 | 0.04% / 0.05% | 0.08% | 3/week | 5.0% | No |
| VIP 1 | 50,000 | 0.025% / 0.05% | 0.07% | 10/week | 5.5% | Yes |
| VIP 2 | 150,000 | 0.022% / 0.045% | 0.06% | 10/week | 6.0% | Yes |
| VIP 3 | 300,000 | 0.02% / 0.04% | 0.055% | 25/week | 6.5% | Yes |
| VIP 4 | 750,000 | 0.018% / 0.035% | 0.05% | 25/week | 7.0% | Yes |
| VIP 5 | 2,000,000 | 0.015% / 0.032% | 0.045% | 25/week | 7.5% | Yes |
Funding Fees
BitMEX perpetual contract funding fees are periodic payments between long and short position holders to keep the contract price close to prices on the spot market. These contracts do not expire like crypto and Bitcoin futures contracts, so the funding fees are calculated every 8 hours as long as your position is open. Here is a breakdown of how funding fees work:
- When the funding rate is positive, long position holders pay short position holders.
- When the funding rate is negative, short position holders pay long position holders.
- Funding rates reflect market sentiment: positive rates indicate bullish conditions, while negative rates suggest bearish conditions.
- Funding fees are paid directly between traders, so BitMEX does not charge a separate funding fee itself.
Unlike trading fees, funding fees aren’t fixed. They fluctuate daily based on market conditions like demand, price premium, and volatility. For this reason, the amount you pay or receive will vary depending on the funding rate at the time and the size of your open position. To know how much your funding fee is, you can check the current funding rate directly on the trading interface for the contract you are trading.
Deposit & Withdrawal Fees
BitMEX does not charge any fees on Bitcoin deposits or withdrawals. However, when withdrawing Bitcoin, you must pay the minimum network fee, which is determined based on network congestion at the time of withdrawal. Note that this network fee does not go to the BitMEX exchange. For other crypto assets, BitMEX has a fixed withdrawal fee charged in the withdrawal asset.
| Crypto Asset | Network Fee |
| Bitcoin (BTC) | 0.00003 |
| Ethereum (ETH) | 0.0005 |
| Solana (SOL) | 0.001 |
| Tether (USDT) | 1 |
| AAVE | 0.02 |
| Binance Coin (BNB) | 0.002 |
| BMEX | 10 |
| Cardano (ADA) | 1 |
| Dogecoin (DOGE) | 5 |
| XRP | 0.2 |
Please note: The above list does not cover all the available cryptocurrencies on BitMEX. For network fees for other crypto assets, check the BitMEX withdrawal page for a complete list at the time of the transaction.
How to Create a New BitMEX Account to Buy Crypto?
To create a new BitMEX account to buy crypto, visit the exchange’s official website and enter the required information. Then proceed to verify your identity, deposit crypto, and start trading. Here is a step-by-step guide on registering and trading on BitMEX.
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Step 1: Visit BitMEX and Register
Go to the official BitMEX website and click on “Sign Up.”
Fill in the following information in the registration box:
- Your email address
- A strong password (at least 12 characters long)
- Select your country of residence
- Verify you are human, and
- Accept BitMEX’s Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy by ticking the relevant box.
Once you’ve added this information, click “Sign Up.” On the next page, choose your account type (available options are individual and corporate).
Step 2: Complete KYC Verification
After logging in, BitMEX will prompt you to complete the identity verification process. This involves uploading a valid government-issued ID (like a passport or driver’s license), taking a selfie, and submitting any additional documents requested based on your region. Approval typically takes a few minutes to a few hours.
To qualify for the welcome rewards, click the link below to get BitMEX referral page or use the code KvNvfN to get bonuses and discounts
Step 3: Deposit Funds
Once your account is verified, the next step is to deposit crypto, since BitMEX does not support fiat currency deposits directly. There are two ways to do this. Go to your account wallet or click “Deposit” at the top right corner of your BitMEX dashboard.
Select your preferred cryptocurrency (USDT, BTC, or ETH) on the deposit page and copy your unique wallet address. Then, transfer funds from your external wallet or exchange them at this address. After the required network confirmations, BitMEX will credit your trading account with the deposited amount.
If you don’t already have crypto in another wallet or prefer to purchase with fiat, BitMEX also provides an on-ramp service through third-party payment providers. To use this option, click “Buy Crypto” and “Buy Now.”
You will be redirected to a new page where you can buy crypto using supported fiat currencies. Choose the currency you want to pay with, select the crypto you wish to purchase (for example, BTC), choose your payment method, and click “Buy BTC” to complete your transaction.
Step 4: Start Trading
To start trading, go to the “Trade” section and select the market you want to trade (spot or derivatives). Choose the crypto pair you want to buy, select your order type (market, limit, etc.), and enter the amount. Review your order details and confirm to place your trade. You can now monitor your investments through the trading interface or use the best crypto portfolio tracker apps.
Now that your account is active, you can visit the Rewards Hub to complete tasks/missions and unlock the rewards BitMEX offers new traders. If you are new to BitMEX, you can use our BitMEX referral code and get up to 5,000 BMEX Tokens, also you can check out this crypto sign-up bonus article for the current referral codes to unlock up to $30,000 in welcome bonuses, fee discounts, and other exclusive rewards on major cryptocurrency exchanges.
The post BitMEX Review: Is It Safe or Scam? Full Analysis 2025 appeared first on CryptoNinjas.
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