Bybit Review 2024: Is Bybit Safe? Pros and Cons

George Georgiev Aug 17, 2019 21:55
In the following in-depth Bybit review, we take a closer look at the cryptocurrency exchange, its safety features, trading tools, and more.

Bybit has established itself as one of the leading spot and derivatives exchanges in the cryptocurrency industry and it’s right there in the league of Binance, Coinbase, and other major names. Launched back in 2018, the exchange is serving millions of users from all over the world.

The platform offers a very user-friendly experience, as well as a suite of advanced trading tools, thus catering to both beginner traders and seasoned professionals.

It supports a wide range of trading pairs—virtually all of the popular coins are available to trade on the spot and on its derivatives platform. Bybit has also made a point of listing popular and trending cryptocurrencies quickly, allowing traders to capitalize on upcoming and ongoing trends.

In the following Bybit review and guide, we take a complete overlook of the platform, how to use it to open and close positions, and everything in between.

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Bybit Review

9.6
UI/UX 10.0
Security 9.0
Fees 10.0
Coin Variety 9.0
Liquidity 10.0

Pros

  • Great UI/UX, extremely intuitive platform
  • Highly responsive support team
  • Reliable and highly-secured platform
  • Large variety of trading pairs

Cons

  • Trading tools geared more toward professionals

 

Quick Navigation:

How to Register on Bybit

Creating an account on Bybit is as easy as it gets. All you have to do is provide an email address and select a password. If you have followed the links above, they would have automatically input CryptoPotato’s special code, but if you haven’t done it, make sure to use CPOTATO as your affiliate code to enjoy all the promotions listed above, exclusively available to CryptoPotato.

Once you enter your email address and password, you will receive a confirmation code on your email. As soon as you put that in, your account will be registered.

Here’s where you need to take a few important steps to make sure your account is secured. Go to the “Account & Security” page of your profile, and make sure to turn the advanced protection tools on.

Step 1: Configure your Google Two-Factor Authentication

Step 2: Configure your Anti-phishing Code

Step 3: Set up your Fund Password.

You can also protect your account with a YubiKey security key.

Once you have completed this, you can look at the special promotions that you will be eligible for as a reader of CryptoPotato.

Find out more about them here.

How to Deposit and Withdraw on Bybit

Once you have your account registered and well-protected, you can begin your cryptocurrency trading experience, which starts with depositing funds into your Bybit account.

How to Deposit

You have multiple options here. First things first, if you want to buy crypto with a credit card, all you need to do is follow the instructions on this page.

However, if you have crypto somewhere else and you want to deposit in Bybit, the steps are particularly easy.

First, navigate to the “Assets” tab on the top navigation menu and hit the “deposit” button. Once on that page, all you need to do is select the cryptocurrency of choice. In this example, we have chosen to deposit USDT over Ethereum’s network (ERC20 standard):

You will find all the accompanying information below. As you can see, there is no minimum deposit amount.

How to Withdraw

If you want to withdraw, the process is relatively similar. From the top navigation menu, once again – hit “assets,” but this time select “withdraw.” Again, we’ve chosen to use USDT withdrawn over Ethereum’s network as an example:

Notice that there is a transaction fee. This is not imposed by Bybit – it’s a fee levied by the Ethereum network.

How to Trade on Bybit

In this section of our Bybit review, we take a closer look at how to trade on the platform and many of its trading tools.

Bybit provides an all-round cryptocurrency exchange platform. Users can dive into spot trading, options, margin trading, futures trading, and whatnot.

For the sake of this guide, we will stick to perpetual contracts, or, as it’s most commonly referred to in the cryptocurrency industry – futures trading. Before we dive deeper into how to trade on Bybit, let’s provide some clarity on what perpetual futures contracts are. Keep in mind, though, that Bybit also offers spot trading, options trading, and others.

What is a perpetual futures contract?

A perpetual futures contract represents a regular futures contract but it has no expiry date. It’s a derivative product that allows you to open and close positions with leverage whenever you want to, without having to deal with expiry dates.

The Bybit Trading Interface and Tools

Bybit has evolved into a very precise and efficient trading platform with multiple features that traders can tune to their advantage to optimize their experience. This is what the trading interface looks like:

Central to the entire interface is the trading chart. Right above it, you can find essential information about the trading pair of choice, such as the current price, change during the past 24 hours, the daily highs and lows, as well as the overall trading volume, open interest, and funding rates.

Next to it, you can find the order book, that can be tuned to different depth and views. On the right side, you will find the different trading tools such as the leverage bar, the margin type, order types, and more.

Adjusting Leverage

Adjusting your leverage is very easy. As soon as you hit the leverage button, you will find this pop-up:

Here, you can set whatever leverage you want. Bybit supports leverage of up to 100x on select cryptocurrency pairs.

However, trading with high leverage is incredibly risky. It significantly increases the chances of capital losses and it should only be exercised by seasoned veterans and traders with sufficient experience. Anything above 5x can be dangerous, so make sure to exercise with caution.

Adjusting Margin Modes

Once you have your leverage set up, you can also choose which type of margin mode you want to use. The button to adjust this is right next to the leverage one:

Bybit supports, like most exchanges, two types of margin modes:

  • Isolated margin – it applies a specific amount of margin (i.e. the initial margin_) to a position. You can adjust this manually. However, in the event of a liquidation, you may lose only the applied margin to this specific position.
  • Cross margin – all of your available balance of the corresponding account will be deployed to meet the maintenance margin requirements.

Different Order Types

Bybit provides a few different types of orders that cater to beginners and advanced traders.

  • Market Order

This is the simplest order type. You select an amount of Bitcoin (for example) that you wish to buy or sell and then hit the Long or Short button, respectively. The order will be executed at the best available price of Bitcoin on the order book.

  • Limit Order

With a limit order, you can set the price at which your order will be executed. For example, if Bitcoin is currently trading around $68,000 but you want to buy once the price declines to $67,000 – all you have to do is specify that in the order as a limit price:

  • Conditional Orders

Traders tend to use these as a stop-limit or a take-profit type of orders. You are able to specify a future price called “trigger” price which, when reached, will automatically place the order that you want in the order book, at the specified order price.

There are a few other conditional orders, which are mostly designed for advanced traders:

  • Chase limit orders
  • TWAP
  • Iceberg
  • Scaled Orders
  • Webhook Signal Trading

Opening and Closing a Position

Opening a position on Bybit is extremely easy, and you have multiple ways to do it, depending on the order type that you want to use. For the sake of this guide, we will use a simple market order for demonstration purposes. As you can see in the image below, we have set our leverage to be 5x and we are using Cross margin mode.

To specify the quantity of the order, we’ve simply hit the “50%” button, which takes half of our equity into the position. Below that, you can see that the cost of our position is $14, but the actual value is $71. That’s because of the 5x leverage. Depending on whether we want a long or short BTC position, we can choose between the two options. In our case, we want to long it so that we will press “Open Long.”

Once you hit any of the two buttons, you will see a confirmation window with a summary of your position. Review that and confirm.

After you’ve done so, you will see your position appear in a designated space where you can monitor its performance. It’s right below the center section of the interface.

Here, you can check important performance metrics such as your entry and current price, the liquidation price, your unrealized profit or loss, and so forth. You can also choose to add take profit or stop loss levels (TP/SL), and close your position by choosing one of three methods – Revers, Limit, and Market. These correspond to the order types that we’ve described above.

Bybit Security Review: Is Bybit Safe?

Although using a centralized exchange (like Bybit, Binance, Coinbase, etc) always carries counterparty risks, Bybit is considered to be a safe cryptocurrency exchange.

In terms of security, Bybit employs the so-called “360 platform security.” In simple words, the exchange takes the necessary measures to ensure the security of its users on all fronts. These include:

Asset Protection and Platform Security

Bybit stores user funds offline in cold wallets. To make sure that these wallets are protected from unauthorized access, they employ advanced multi-signature, Threshold Signature Schemes (TSS), and Trusted Execution Environment (TEE).

Privacy Protection

Users can find the extent of the data collected by Bybit in their terms, as well as the way the exchange uses it. In addition, Bybit integrates a privacy-first policy, which spans across all of its products and services.

Advanced Data Protection

Bybit encrypts user data both in transit and in storage. To do so, the platform uses desensitized query interfaces. All access to user data is subject to strict authorization controls. This is designed to guarantee that only users have access to their personal and private information.

Real-Time Monitoring

According to its user-protection page, Bybit also monitors and analyzes user behavior in real time. This means that as soon as there’s some sort of suspicious activity, the team can strengthen the authentication measures for withdrawals and other critical actions on the exchange.

All of the above have ensured that Bybit remains a safe and secure platform for trading. The exchange has never been hacked or exploited.

In addition, following the FTX fiasco back in 2022, Bybit, alongside a range of other exchanges, launched Merkle Tree-verified proof of reserves (PoR). This is available for both trading and funding accounts and adds another layer of transparency. This can also be monitored in real time.

Bybit Support

Our Bybit review continues with one of the most pressing matters – customer support. It is incredibly important, especially when it comes to high-volume trading.

Bybit excels in this regard. In fact, the exchange sets up private groups between its team members and high-volume traders to ensure their optimal experience.

As for regular users, Bybit provides quick and actionable customer support through a number of means. The exchange has a live chat, which we have tested. The queue lasts no longer than a few minutes, which is well beyond industry standards.

There is also a very useful help center that answers a lot of the questions in advance.

Copy Trading: Is Bybit Copy Trading Worth It?

Copy trading has become a popular feature that many cryptocurrency exchanges, including Bybit, integrate to simplify the user experience and provide novice traders with additional tools. Whether it’s worth it or not would depend on the people that you follow, as well as how you balance your portfolio.

In essence, it can be defined as a portfolio management tool. It allows users to copy some or all of the trades carried out by market experts.

To access the feature, you need to hover over “Tools” in the main navigation menu and select “Copy Trading.”

From here, you can choose the trader that you want to copy. Once you go to their page, you will see an introduction. Some of them describe their trading styles and also give recommendations, such as how much money you need to put in to make it worth it. Note that only USDT is supported.

You will also see how many people follow the investor, what AUM they have (assets under management = the investments of people who follow them), and their maximum drawdown and profit-sharing ratio.

The Bybit Launchpad

The launchpad that Bybit introduced is aimed at providing its users with access to pre-listing investing rounds, allowing them to earn new tokens directly on the platform. In essence, it introduces new projects that aim to raise funds through selling tokens and allows Bybit users to buy these tokens before they get listed for trading, hence delivering the opportunity for potential profits.

The launchpad works through a subscription model, and there are two methods. Note that users can only choose one.

  1. Commit Mantle (MNT) to subscribe to token allocations.
  2. Commit USDT to get an allocation.

There are a few important clarifications here.

Who is eligible?

First, you need to have completed Identity Verification Lv. 1 or Business Verification. Also, users from the restricted countries (see below) are not allowed.

In essence, anyone who meets the above criteria can participate in the Bybit Launchpad.

Which balances are included in the Snapshot?

During the snapshot period, the total balance of USDT and MNT in your Spot Account, Derivatives Account (or Unified Trading Account/Inverse Derivatives Account), and Funding Account will be counted. Please note that MNT staked in products on Bybit Earn, other than Flexible Savings, Lending, and Launchpool will not be included.

What happens during the distribution period?

The corresponding number of tokens that you have committed will be deducted from the amount that you have committed. These tokens will go to your Spot Account or to your Unified Trading Account. The remainder will be in your Funding Account.

Please note that during the distribution period, the MNT or USDT that you’ve committed to the project won’t be accessible until after the period is over.

Bybit and NFTs: The Platform’s Web3 Venture

Bybit’s efforts toward non-fungible tokens (NFTs) is part of the company’s venture into Web3. There’s a comprehensive NFT marketplace, supporting Ethereum, Tezos, Solana, Polygon, and other networks.

Users are able to buy and sell their NFTs on Bybit but keep in mind that this is a centralized platform. Keep in mind that every single NFT on Bybit is only priced with one token. This means that if an NFT uses ETH as its pricing unit, you won’t be able to pay with USDT, for example.

You can also find out more about the trading fees on the Bybit NFT marketplace here.

The Bybit Crypto Debit Card

The Bybit crypto debit card provides a way for Bybit users to access their crypto funds easily. It is a virtual debit card that’s introduced by the exchange in partnership with Mastercard.

It’s a way to off-ramp cryptocurrency or to simply integrate crypto in your everyday life. Those who order and use the Bybit crypto debit card can also enjoy certain benefits and bonuses.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Is Bybit legal in the US?

Unfortunately, Bybit US customers are not allowed to open an account as the exchange doesn’t offer services or products in a few jurisdictions.

These include the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, North Korea, mainland China, Cuba, Iran, Singapore, Uzbekistan, and Russian-controlled regions of Ukraine. This is stated in their Service Agreement.

At the same time, though, Bybit has also been granted preparatory license in Dubai by its Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority. It also obtained a license in Cyprus to operate a crypto exchange and to offer custody services.

What are the Bybit fees?

The trading fees on Bybit vary depending on your VIP level, which is determined based on your trading volume. However, the Bybit fees tend to be more or less on par with that of the rest of the industry. Here’s a table for your reference:

You can find more information here.

Does Bybit require KYC?

If you simply want to register an account, you can do it without passing KYC.

If you want to trade, deposit, and withdraw on Bybit, you need to pass KYC. Here is a table that will help you identify what level of KYC you need to go through, depending on what you’re looking to do on Bybit:

More information can be found here.

Bybit vs. Binance: What’s the difference?

Bybit and Binance are two completely different cryptocurrency exchanges. They are separate companies owned and operated by different people.

Binance was founded in July 2017, whereas Bybit was founded a year later—in 2018. Both exchanges have stood the test of time and are currently among the top ones in the industry globally.

Bybit has a different overall trading experience compared to Binance, and both have their own pros and cons. They both support a massive range of cryptocurrencies, and you can trade spot and perpetual contracts on each one.

Does Bybit have a mobile app?

Yes, Bybit has a mobile app that’s available for both iOS and Android users. It can be downloaded from the App Store and from the Google Play store, respectively.

Conclusion of our Bybit Review

Bybit has emerged as one of the largest spot and derivatives cryptocurrency exchanges in the last few years. It boasts a large user base and a large variety of trading tools that are suited for both beginners and advanced traders. Yet, a lot of its products are aimed at people with more experience – this is something to keep in mind.

The exchange is quick to add new trading pairs, catering to those who want to capitalize on both emerging and established crypto trends.

Bybit has never been compromised and is considered to be a safe crypto exchange. It boasts multiple layers of security, including on-site and off-site to protect both the integrity of its users’ data and their funds.

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George Georgiev

Georgi Georgiev is CryptoPotato's editor-in-chief and seasoned writer with over four years of experience writing about blockchain and cryptocurrencies. Georgi's passion for Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies bloomed in late 2016 and he hasn't looked back since. Crypto’s technological and economic implications are what interest him most, and he has one eye turned to the market whenever he’s not sleeping. Contact George: LinkedIn

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