Dear cryptocommunity,

This will be my first real post. Here, I want to give feedback on the cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin, my experiences with the exchange and personal opinions about what I found to be great and what I think could be improved. I was thinking on posting this since I had a discussion a few weeks back with some guys on reddit. This story is written for crypto enthusiasts, people who joined KuCoin, people who got tired of KuCoin an those who are interested in KuCoin.

KuCoin

First I want to introduce myself. I am not an expert in any way possible. I am no tech guy, no economist and the only time I got in touch with economics was when I took the course ´financial markets and products´. In fact I study biochemistry (close to graduating) which has nothing to do with the cryptocurrency world (At least I thought… There are some similarities though). So as you probably imagine I had to walk a long road trying to understand crypto, trading and a bit about the tech behind it. I still believe I only understand 5% and this is probably an overstatement. I started learning about crypto and trading since November 2017. My first exchange was Kraken, which a lot of you guys know was lagging at the time. Got annoyed due to the constant ´server not found´-errors (those cloudflare issues). I moved to binance. At binance a new world opened for me. The ability to trade in market screen was astonishing (At kraken this was still in beta and it never worked for me). I began to understand a bit more about trading and started checking indicators (MACD, EMA, RSI, Bollinger..). Not much later a friend told me about KuCoin and about their own coin KCS. I was immediately sold on the idea. KuCoin still being a relatively young exchange I was convinced it could become a great exchange and transferred most of my assets there.

Now, almost half a year later I learned a lot. Read a lot of articles and feel confident enough to post my first story. This assessment is completely personal. In this topic I write about my experience as objectively as possible.

The trading view

KuCoin’s trading view

As you can see above, the KuCoin trading view. IMO it´s a great overview. I like the ease of adding indicators, the simple but complete overview and ease of use for every beginning trader. As you can see it´s easy to change indicators. I also want to add that you can easily change chart properties like color and so on. A feature I recently discovered in kucoin is that you can scroll through the order book. However, I don´t want to be too positive about the overview. I really miss a better in-dept analysis of the order book (left bottom corner) as I have to admit kraken does it better in this regard. I also have to stress the fact that every time you log in the whole chart is resetted and you have to add indicators again. This is really annoying, maybe there is a solution but I haven’t found it yet.

Guide to trade on KuCoin: https://hackernoon.com/beginners-guide-to-trading-on-kucoin-26ae456eb9aa

Trading fees

Trading fees are really low at KuCoin, only 0.1%. This is amongst the lowest. Not many exchanges do better (Binance trading with BNB is 0.05%).

You can compare fees of other exchanges here: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Comparison_of_exchanges

Trading pairs

All coins can be traded against BTC and/or ETH. The thing I like the most about the available trading pairs is their initiative that some coins can also be traded against NEO (). I have to add that I really believe in NEO in the long run. Next to that you can trade against USDT and also against KCS. If the exchange gets bigger over time they will definitely reap the fruits of it.

Trading pairs

Nice article about NEO & ETH: https://hackernoon.com/neo-versus-ethereum-why-neo-might-be-2018s-strongest-cryptocurrency-79956138bea3

Liquidity

As for most small exchanges with a low 24h volume a lot of coins aren’t that liquid. If you buy or sell at market price, you might pay too much or get payed too little. So I think it is important to always sell/buy at your own set price in order to lose fewer profits.

Available coins

In my opinion an exchange should choose 2 ways to operate. Through ‘diversity’ (e.g. Bittrex, Binance..) or through ‘exclusivity’ (e.g. Kraken, Coinbase..).

I have seen a lot of reddit posts demanding more top 20 currencies and less ‘shitcoins’. I can follow those people a bit, but I don’t support the idea. Why? Since a lot big exchanges already have top 20 coins available. Ask yourself the following: ‘if I have DASH(or any other), would I trade it on Kucoin or on Binance? The answer is simple: you’d chose binance. This as a 24h volume is many times bigger there (thus providing higher liquidity). With only this in mind why would anyone join a small exchange to trade top coins there? I strongly believe adding all/most top 20 coins to KuCoin will not resolve anything and definitely won’t persuade new customers to join the exchange. With this in mind I don’t believe coins like DASH & ETC give any additional value to KuCoin.

IF KuCoin were to be bigger I would NOT object adding any top coins. At the stage of being a big exchange having most top 20 coins is important, because of the demand. If it’s me trading any top currency I’d rather choose the exchange with the highest 24h volume in that currency.

So the question is: how could KuCoin add value to their exchange and incentivize traders to choose KuCoin over any other exchange?

I think the answer is really simple. ‘Exclusivity through diversity’. Don’t get me wrong. I am not talking about an exchange á la Kraken where there are almost only top coins. I am talking about offering currencies that aren’t yet being traded on a lot exchanges (exclusivity).

With that thought I strongly believe adding smallcap coins that aren’t available on any/much exchanges could do the trick. I don’t want KuCoin to support all ICO’s. What I want from KuCoin is to set aside any selfish reasons and only list coins that really mean something: those promising coins with a great whitepaper. I already think there are some great coins adding value to KuCoin (TNC, CXO, UTK, XRB/NANO, PRL, ONION, AION…). The more of those ‘special’ currencies that aren’t yet widely available the better (diversity).

The coin: KCS

For me the biggest pull to KuCoin is their own coin KCS. I think it’s great using a coin in a kind of similar way as real stock (Check KuCoin to see how it works). I don’t know any coin working in the same way as KCS (The are some coins with similarities though). despite my enthusiasm, at some points I got disappointed with KuCoin. Since everyday dividents are being paid out it takes a lot of serverpower to process these dividents. When there was a great influx of new users, the KCS dividents weren’t paid out for a lengthy period of time. As they only started fixing problems after Chinese New Year it appeared as if they failed to prioritize their service over partying. Whenever there would be a big influx of new users, KuCoin should’ve upgraded their servers a lot sooner. In this case however, thestable doors were closed when the horse (carrying with it a lot customers) had bolted.

At this moment I can’t say there still are issues with the KCS bonus payouts. For that I am happy. This resolution set the way clear for the exchange to start growing again.

About KCS: https://medium.com/@osmantoplica/kucoin-the-aftermath-whats-next-cb1044c1b8b4

Spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1S378fwJsWSwXq4yVXqwFYc4fN9d9ju9XG4FvDV3n0hA/edit#gid=0

Reference Bonus

One of Kucoin’s strongest programs got shut down. I think this was really bothering. Most new users flocked to KuCoin due to the referral program. This was one of the strongest points in the KuCoin whitepaper. You should know that only 10% of fees go directly to Kucoin for traders that used a ref. link. The other 90% of fees goes to referrers and KCS holders (this is not completely true, see figure below to understand). This 90% going away was the best but also the dumbest thing KuCoin could do. First of all the same notes as above and even worse a lot of issues came up. People couldn’t extract the ref bonus for a long time and some bonusses took a long time to appear in the overview. This could’ve been prevented if full attention of the KuCoin team went to these issues. Instead new listings and promotions popped up.

Even worse KuCoin announced to end the program. Keeping in mind that old refs were still being paid out daily, but new refs weren’t obtainable anymore, this appeared a bit like pulling a scam. Promising something but not following through (see whitepaper).

I kind of understand KuCoin. There are really low fees and with the referral program active I don’t believe KuCoin could be profitable to keep existing. However I think this was their worst move until this day. I think lowering the % that goes to users would’ve been a better idea. Together with a good & honest explanation.

Referrence bonus plan. May pile up to 40% of trading fee.

EDIT: KuCoin followed through! A few days after I finished writing this article they reinstated the bonus. This is a really good thing! I hope this will not get KuCoin in a bad financial position.

If you have used a ref link and it goes back to tier 2.

Trading/sharing competitions

One of KuCoin’s initiatives are their competitions. Sometimes when a coin gets listed there will be a trading competition (get the highest volume) combined with a sharing competitions (awards for sharing on social media). Sometimes there are deposit competitions(highest deposit volume). I really encourage these because these incentivize traders and this helps liquidity a lot.

With these competitions I have to emphasize the general opinion that they should only be started when there are no issues whatsoever. In the past there were a lot competitions active during the KCS and ref payout issues. This caused the competitions to be paid out weeks after they ended. Also they made a lot of users angry. Those postponements affected me a lot since I went fully trading mode.

I still want to encourage KuCoin to keep doing these. Just don’t start any when other problems aren’t resolved.

Support

Opposed to what a lot of users believe, I actually like the support. First you can speak to a bot. When the problem is more complex you can choose to click on ‘human support’. You’ll get a ticket for a waiting line (mostly waiting for 1 hour) and when it’s your turn you’ll get help. Sometimes even support can’t help and they’ll simply say that they are working on it. But you should not expect support to be a tech guy. They’re there to help and get the right people working to resolve your issues.

I really have to do with these guys. Sometimes I think they’re standing on an island. When you talk to them I hope you’ll realize that these guys already had to calm enough mad people and don’t need you to rage against them. Be nice, explain your problem and you’ll see they will do everything they can to help you.

Interdepartmental communication

In my eyes this is one of the biggest weak spots of the exchange. I once talked to support. The support guy had to contact the technicians and after messaging a week back and forth I got redirected to the telegram channel because the tech guys didn’t answer. Telegram admins redirected me back to support..

Departments in a company should communicate a lot with each other in order to give the best possible service. I don’t see KuCoin doing this effectively.

I see this as the biggest reason causing issues. Coins got listed, new competitions started during server issues & payment problems. If KuCoin’s employees would’ve worked together on fixing issues. They could’ve been fixed faster and theyprobably would’ve kept a considerably happier userbase.

Communication to customers

In this paragraph I specifically want to address KuCoin’s management. I don’t get the feeling KuCoin prioritizes its customers. More often than not customers are left in the dark waiting for resolutions. I am not talking about support since that goes great. But management should communicate a lot more. Everything going wrong that could affect customers should always be reported. Instead, management left even their own employees in the dark. How many times did you hear support saying ‘We are resolving issues, should be fixed in 2 weeks’. I don’t see support responsible for these short annoying answers. If management would’ve just reported issues like late competition payouts to the general public, A LOT people would understand and be more patient. Instead, nothing. Consequence: Support being flooded with the same questions over and over and people who really needed help had to wait really long. I hope they will do a better job in the future and just report issues on all possible platforms. This is the biggest problem I can think of. Why? An exchange handles peoples’ money just like a bank.

With this being said I still want to stress that in my case KuCoin has always followed through on their promises. Even though some pay-outs came really late…

Transparency is the key

Interesting story: https://medium.com/verifyas/our-kucoin-listing-nightmare-and-why-its-the-last-place-you-should-list-3af019e4e7f6

Community

I don’t believe there is a strong KuCoin community. If you were to check their subreddit or telegram group you’d see a lot guys complaining and even curse at each other. However, there are definitely a number closed groups active on a lot different media platforms started by KuCoin supporters.

I joined such a group myself. A great one with even better people. For those speaking dutch & interested in joining a FREE telegram community I’d like to suggest the following channels.

Community crypto knowledge pool (dutch): https://t.me/cryptoknowledgepool

Crypto nerds news/signalling channel (English) : https://t.me/cryptonerds23

Future perspective

I still think KuCoin can grow a lot. There still aren’t that many cutomers. The exchange gives a lot of incentives to join. Their own currency KCS, sharing and trading competitions, reinstated ref bonus…

Below you can see a chart of the 24h volume of the exchange during KuCoin’s lifetime. Keep in mind the current volume is peanuts compared to Binance. During competitions the volume rose significantly. This is only a sneak peak of heights KuCoin can reach. The exchange hasn’t existed for such a long time. I am positive it will grow over time and gain more influence in the cryptocurrency landscape.

24h volume (source: Bitgup)

Summary

Pro

* KCS

* Human support

* Competitions

* low fees

* Ease of use

* Referral bonus

Contra

* NOT ATM: Laggynes/server problems with KCS & ref payouts due to rapid growth

* No great community unless you join one enthusiasts created

* Bad liquidity of a lot coins already available at top exchanges

* Interdepartmental communication

* Communication towards customers

I didn’t use grades, since grades are the embodiment of subjectivity. I wanted to state as much facts as possible.

My opinion: I still like KuCoin, as I will continue using it.

Remarks? Comment!!

Did you like my first article? Please give me some claps!

You decided to join KuCoin? It would be nice if you used my referral. This doesn’t affect you. It’ll only help me. For that I would be greatful. https://www.kucoin.com/#/?r=18Nex