Compared to KuCoin, it feels as though HitBTC has not dedicated the same energy to improving their user experience.

Nearly everything in the HitBTC UI could use small tweaks or updates. The trading view feels outdated, the onboarding process doesn’t feel as secure, and there is less guidance on how to use the exchange than KuCoin.

All-in-all, HitBTC feels outdated. It’s closer to Poloniex than Coinbase Pro, when it comes to user experience.

Which exchange has a better UI?

KuCoin has a user experience that far exceeds HitBTC. KuCoin’s resilience in pushing their UI to become better with each update has secured KuCoin as one of the leading exchanges when it comes to user experience. There are few exchanges we would place in the same category as KuCoin in terms of UI.

Trading Liquidity

In order to buy and sell cryptocurrencies, we need liquid order books. This allows us to trade at the market prices and not introduce significant trading costs. Although many traders will immediately understand how trading fees can be costly, sometimes the bigger cost can come from crossing large bid-ask spreads or experiencing slippage during a large order.

In this section, we will compare the liquidity of KuCoin and HitBTC by evaluating the BTC/USDT trading pair on both of these exchanges. Since this is the most liquid trading pair on most exchanges, this should provide a general understanding of how liquid the largest books are on these two exchanges.

KuCoin

Previously, we mentioned KuCoin has 455 trading pairs listed on the exchange. Of these trading pairs, almost 200 have daily trading volume under $1,000. This can be a concern for traders who are focusing on trading small market cap altcoins.

BTC/USDT Analysis:

We examined 116,690 trades using the BTC/USDT trading pair that happened between 12/1/19 and 12/3/19 on KuCoin. With these trades, we were able to calculate the following stats.

1,551.7291 BTC Trading Volume on the BTC/USDT pair.

58,078 orders were placed over the time period.

Max order size was 15.7119 BTC.

Max slippage was 0.1665%.

5,697 orders experienced slippage of more than 0.01%.

9.81% of orders slipped more than 0.01%.

36 orders saw slippage more than 0.1%.

0.062% of orders slipped more than 0.1%.

HitBTC

Similar to KuCoin, a large percentage of assets listed on HitBTC consistently maintain trading volumes lower than $1,000. In fact, 600 of the 887 trading pairs available on the exchange have daily trading volumes under $1,000. This is truly unprecedented, especially when comparing HitBTC to exchanges like Binance. Binance currently supports less than 20 trading pairs out of 587 that has a trading volume of less than $1,000.

BTC/USDT Analysis:

We examined 85,810 trades using the BTC/USDT trading pair that happened between 12/1/19 and 12/3/19 on HitBTC. With these trades, we were able to calculate the following stats.

93,831.7456 BTC Trading Volume on the BTC/USDT pair.

42,787 orders were placed over the time period.

Max order size was 120.7243 BTC.

Max slippage was 0.1454%.

4,693 orders experienced slippage of more than 0.01%.

10.97% of orders slipped more than 0.01%.

6 orders saw slippage more than 0.1%.

0.014% of orders slipped more than 0.1%.

Which exchange has better liquidity?

Many of the metrics we evaluated in this quick liquidity study were similar across HitBTC and KuCoin. Both exchanges experienced similar slippage profiles throughout the examined period.

Considering all of these different liquidity factors, we find that these two exchanges possess relatively strong liquidity for their largest trading pair BTC / USDT. Neither exchange experienced significant slippage, and the frequency of even minor slippage events was quite low.

Although we find the BTC/USDT trading pair on both of these exchanges present acceptable liquidity, there are a significant number of assets that don’t provide this same liquidity. Personally, we think both of these exchanges should be cleaning house of the assets that don’t meet minimum trading volume requirements.

Final Words

At the end of the day, both of these exchanges provide unique value to cryptocurrency traders. In this study, we’ve teetered back and forth between KuCoin and HitBTC while trying to determine which exchange is the ultimate platform for altcoin hunters. That’s because these are both exceptional exchanges.

However, we’re running out of things to discuss, so it’s time to crown the king of altcoin hunting exchanges.

… and the award goes to…

Both!

Let me explain.

If you are only looking for a diverse selection of assets, there is no better place than HitBTC. HitBTC has the largest selection of altcoins in the market, hands down. Many of these assets cannot be found easily on other exchanges.

On the other hand, if you’re making your first voyage as an altcoin hunter in the cryptocurrency market, KuCoin may be a better choice for beginners. Although they have fewer assets, many traders may find the user experience a bit more comfortable.

While HitBTC has the authority of a world-class exchange, KuCoin has the feeling of a grassroots movement that centers around the customer.

After everything is said and done, you won’t regret using either one of these exchanges. We encourage you to experiment with both options to find the exchange that works the best for you.

Additional Reading

Coinbase vs Kraken - Which Exchange Is The Best For Buying Bitcoin?

Bittrex - Is It The Best US Crypto Exchange?

How to Make a Crypto Trading Bot Using Python

Cryptocurrency Trading Bots - The Complete Guide