Tidex is a cryptocurrency exchange that was founded right before the crypto storm in October of 2017. To date, the reported daily trading volume extends $2 million. By different accounts, Tidex is slightly below the 50th position or 100th position in the list of the top exchanges ranked by liquidity. The exchange is known as a clear user-friendly platform with low fees and over 100 available trading pairs. Some might find it disturbing that there is too little information about the exchange team, however, there are little to no reports claiming that Tidex is a scam. In this Tidex review, we will check out the most important facts about this exchange and figure out is it safe to use Tidex and how profitable is trading on this exchange.
- Where Is Tidex Located?
- Tidex Exchange Overview
- Tidex Features
- How to Use Tidex?
- Loyalty and Referral Programs
- Fees
- Is It Safe to Use Tidex?
Where Is Tidex Located?
The exchange website doesn't specify the location of the company. In the section called "Contacts," one won't find anything but an email address. According to some sources, the exchange is located in the United Kingdom while others name the Cayman Islands as a country of company registration. One of the websites is pointing at San Francisco as the location of the exchange headquarters. Some reviewers refer to Tidex as a Russian exchange. Probably that's because Tidex has ties with the Russian blockchain company Waves. It is considered that the company is managed by Elite Way Development LLP. It seems that for some reason the company is trying to conceal its true location. This fact drives some suspicion although we didn't detect any signs of real malicious activity from the exchange's side. The service is available internationally.
Tidex Exchange Overview
The exchange exists in the form of the website. The website is available in four languages: English, Chinese, French, and Russian. One can use a mobile version of the website in order to perform transactions and monitor the markets.
The trading overview is quite basic and resembles the design of most of the other cryptocurrency exchanges. On the left, there is a section with charts. One of them is showcasing the price fluctuations while the other one is made for the market depth representation. In the vertical menu on the left side, one can choose tools to make marks on the diagrams. There are a big set of indicators, the candlestick chart options, timeline adjuster, and many other options in the horizontal menu above the chart. Another set of data is the trading volume of the chosen trading pair, the latest price, 24-hour change, and so on. There is nothing special about this data as it's quite a standard element of any modern trading chart.
Below the candlestick chart, there are forms for filling out the buy or sell orders. The user should specify the amount she/he wants to sell/buy and see the value and the amount of the fee and tap on the Buy/Sell button. Below there is an order book divided into two parts: By Orders and Sell Orders. At the bottom of the Exchange tab, there is a Trade History section where the user can see the list of the trades in chronological order. The right side of the Exchange tab has the Markets box and the Chat and Announcements widgets in the lower part.
The registered users have access to the Deposits/Withdrawals page which contains numerous tabs. One can see her/his transaction history on this page (including pending deposits and withdrawals).
Tidex Features
It's safe to say that in general, Tidex doesn't offer too many features. The exchange doesn't support margin trading and fiat currencies, the number of order types is very basic. Moreover, the choice of markets is poor. The exchange is good for its intuitive interface, low fees, and API that allows trading across different platforms. Additional features include the USDT loans, staking, and the ability to send certain users specified amounts of coins via unique codes.
Tidex supports over 90 cryptocurrencies including the set of Waves-based tokens and such top currencies as Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ether, Bitcoin Cash, Dash, EOS, Dogecoin, Tronix, Golem, and so on. Fiat money is not supported. Users might opt to buy stablecoins pegged to several national currencies. Tidex offers Tether (USDT), WUSD, and WEUR. Currently, there are three markets available for traders on Tidex: BTC market, USDN, and USDT markets.
The set of types of orders is limited to market orders. Traders cannot use limit orders. It makes the trading process quite risky and stiff. The availability of such options as limit orders or stop-limit orders could add more freedom and maneuverability into the trading process. Without these options, users are at a bigger risk of trading in a loss which makes no sense.
How to Use Tidex?
The registration process is quite transparent. On the homepage there are several links taking a visitor to the registration form, however, the most obvious option is to tap on the "Get Started" button (next to "Log in") at the upper-right section of the website.
The registration form requests the email address, a password (twice), a nickname, a PIN-code, and a phone number (although the latter is optional). After inserting all the required data, one should check the "I Agree to Terms of Use" box and click on "Create an Account".
After pushing the "Create an Account" button, the user gets a confirmation email. As the account creation is confirmed, the user should log in via entering an email address, password, and the authentication code which is sent to the email address associated with the account each time when someone is trying to log in.
To deposit money one should proceed to the Deposits and Withdrawals page. It is possible to deposit money in one of the four currencies: Bitcoin, Waves, Litecoin, and Ethereum. Each currency name on the page has an interactive Withdraw (red) and Deposit (green) buttons. After clicking on Withdraw (let's say) Bitcoin, the window with the user's personal deposit BTC address emerges. In order to deposit some money (the minimum deposit is set to 0.0005 BTC) one needs to send coins from her/his personal wallet to this deposit address.
There is a vertical menu on the Deposits and Withdrawals page. Besides the Deposits and Withdrawals section, there are numerous other tabs. Deposits and Withdrawals History tab showcases the history of transactions, it's understood. In the Tidex codes, tab users can create codes to send certain amounts of this or that currency to specified recipients. The Referral System tab is the tab where users can get their referral links which can be used to invite other people to join Tidex (users get rewarded for bringing new active traders on the platform). We will provide more details on the affiliate program on Tidex in the respective chapter. In the Staking tab, users are free to choose one of the coins they are willing to stake (hold) in exchange for the interest. The options are the Waves token (WAVES), Tether (USDT), and the Tidex token (TDX). In the same tab, one can monitor all the info about the staked coins and rewards. The Credits tab is used for taking loans in USDT. The Open Orders tab contains the list of all the open orders. In this tab, one can cancel all the open orders at one click if it's necessary. The Trade History tab can be used to monitor the history of trade. The Security tab is where one can set the protection measures. Actually, it is advised to start the Tidex journey with this tab. There are several actions available for execution in this tab including the password reset, the PIN status, and the setting of the 2-factor authentication. Moreover, in the same tab users can increase their authentication level. The first level that doesn't require any additional data from the user provides an opportunity to withdraw 2 BTC per day at maximum. To get the second level of authentication, the user should go through the KYC (Know Your Customer) procedure. To do so users are required to provide identificational data and confirm their identities via the documents. In the Statistics tab, users can check the info about their daily trading volume, discounts, and other figures.
The rest tabs are three sections with the drop-down menus. The first of them is Settings. It has the API, Security (the funny thing is that picking this one leads to the same Security tab that was mentioned before), and Login History sections. Another section with the drop-down menu is Tidex. It has three options. "Contacts" leads to the page with the email address for those in need of assistance from the support team and the address for the listing requests. "Support" leads to the FAQ page. "Loyalty Program" leads to the page where users can join the loyalty program. You can read about it in the "Loyalty and Referral Programs" chapter of this review. Policies drop-down menu provides the disclaimer and the terms of uses and finally Useful info menu has three sectors: API, Assets Specification, and Pairs Specification leading to the respective pages of the website.
Loyalty and Referral Programs
Tidex has loyalty and referral programs. The loyalty program is executed via the use of the Tidex token (TDX), a native token of the exchange. Tidex is based on the Waves blockchain and provides some benefits to the token holders. For instance, TDX holders can enjoy discounted fees. This discount can reach up to 90% for those who have at least 100 000 TDX on the balance. We will provide more details on fee discounts in the Fees chapter of our review.
Another benefit for TDX holders is earning via staking. The platform is paying rewards to those who hold TDX. That's the way new Tidex tokens get released to the network. The minimum amount of tokens for staking is 500 TDX. The minimum period is 24 hours. Those who hold 500 TDX can receive 5% annually. More than that, Tidex users may hold 100 or more Waves tokens and at least 5% a year. So the Tidex platform can be used for staking both Tidex and Waves tokens. Another option available for the Tidex users is staking USDT. It can bring up to 12% annually. Users should hold at least 100 USDT to be able to participate in staking.
The Tidex referral or affiliate program is quite similar to programs of other crypto exchanges. Any registered user can get a personal referral link leading to the exchange signup page. Users spread their links to invite more people to Tidex and get rewards for each new active trader who got to the exchange via the referral link. As the reward user gets 25-30% of commissions paid by her/his referrals (people who used the link to sign up on Tidex) on the platform. That's quite a generous reward in comparison to referral rewards paid by other cryptocurrency platforms. Besides the referral link, there is an option of using banners.
Fees
Tidex charges clear competitive trading fees. Both takers and makers have to pay only 0.1%. Moreover, the users participating in the loyalty program pay smaller trading fees. See the list below.
As for withdrawal fees, each coin on this exchange has its fixed withdrawal fees and the minimum withdrawal amount. For instance, the Bitcoin withdrawal fee is 0.0005 BTC while the Ethereum withdrawal fee is 0.01 ETH. Deposits are free.
Is It Safe to Use Tidex?
The website claims that security is the Tidex's prior focus however there is too little info about the security methods applied by the exchange team. 2-factor authentication is available (like on many other exchanges). It helps to prominently secure the account of unauthorized login attempts and withdrawals. Such measures as PIN and email notifications reporting of the login attempts are quite nice additional safety features.
It is not known if the website is DDoS-resistant, or how much of the coins are stored in the cold wallets. The lack of information about the team is another reason for worries as it is not clear who's responsible for the protection of the users' money. The good sign is that it's almost impossible to find any criticism towards Tidex on social media. Seemingly, no one is accusing Tidex of being a scam. Such loyalty of users is really rare in the crypto exchanges industry. It means that the team is capable of doing a great job.