Binance Review: What Makes This Crypto Exchange Popular? [Pros + Cons]

Risk Warning: Your Capital is at Risk.

Founded in 2017, Binance has become one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world. The exchange offers spot, margin, and derivatives trading on major cryptocurrencies and altcoins.

Other services include crypto loans and a built-in learning academy.

This page explains the key features of Binance’s mobile and web platform, what the Binance Suite and Binance Finance offer, and a guide to using both platforms.

Read on to find out the strengths and weaknesses of Binance as a crypto exchange and brokerage service.

Overview & Key Facts

Binance is headquartered in Malta with several independent registered entities. The company’s web servers are currently located in Japan as a result of Chinese regulatory tensions in 2017.

They are not regulated by any financial industry authority, though this may change in the near future.

With over 900 spot trading currency pairs and over 300 coins, Binance also offers margin, futures, and vanilla options trading. Other aspects of the company include Binance Finance, where traders can partake in stake pools, token launch funds, and fixed interest crypto loans.

Traders can also trade peer-to-peer in six different cryptocurrencies.

Traders can use Binance via the web platform, or the mobile app, both of which we review in detail.

Please Note: Availability subject to regulations. Cryptocurrency CFDs are not available to UK retail traders.

Pros and Cons of Binance

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Key Facts and Features

Alongside the above summary, here’s a list of the key services Binance offers to cryptocurrency traders:

• Cryptocurrency Exchange: Spot trading, margin trading, futures, options, P2P, and crypto derivatives trading on more than 150+ cryptocurrencies. Binance also has a decentralized exchange (DEX), a mobile app, and a responsive web platform.
• DeFi Staking: Binance’s decentralized financial service offers staking in several coins like Bitcoin (BTC), Binance Coin (BNB), BUSD, and USDT, where staking traders can earn interest upwards of 10% per year.
• Binance Coin (BNB): Binance’s own cryptocurrency. The company describes its functionalities as the ability to pay exchange fees, participate in token sales on the Binance Launchpad, and trade on the Binance DEX.
• Trust Wallet: A mobile wallet application launched by Binance, supporting 150+ assets. It also includes a DApp browser, staking calculator, over 40 supported blockchains.
• Binance Suite: As a retail and commercial product suite, Binance offers a ‘blockchain academy’ for those wanting to learn about cryptocurrencies and blockchain. There are also services like the Binance Launchpad and Binance Labs to encourage the development of new blockchain projects. Read more about the Binance Suite in our detailed review.

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Cryptocurrency Spot Trading

Spot trading means that you spend a currency, asset, or instrument, to acquire another asset at a set transaction rate, at a set date and time.

Traders on Binance have access to 900+ spot markets that include cryptocurrency pairs and fiat-cryptocurrency pairs. There are over 300 coins available to spot trade.

Please Note: Availability subject to regulations. Cryptocurrency CFDs are not available to UK retail traders.

For example, the ten most-traded cryptocurrency pairs recently, according to volume, were:

Binance Margin Trading

Cryptocurrency margin trading on Binance is like any other margin trade in principle. Traders who are eligible for margin trading may buy and sell cryptocurrency and crypto-fiat pairs with borrowed capital.

The standard margin allowance for Binance traders is 5:1.

Margin accounts are also separate and need to be funded via external payment methods or via transfers from your Binance Spot, Futures, or Options accounts.

When you try to access the margin trading feature, Binance will inform you whether you’re eligible, based on your location.

How to Open and Manage Trades on Binance

Once you have registered and funded your account with Binance, you are ready to make a trade.

In this step-by-step guide we explain the process of opening and managing a spot trade with Bitcoin in Binance’s web trader:

1. Ensure you are logged in to your Binance account, and that you have available funds in your Spot Trading account
2. Select the ‘Markets‘ tab
   • Based on your account balance’s currency, find a pair that suits you
   • You may browse currency pairs or enter the currency name in the search bar
3. Once you’ve found a pair, click ‘Trade‘ to head over to the trading screen
4. Ensure ‘Spot‘ is selected on the trading screen
5. Define the requirements of your trade
   • For example, if you want to buy BTC for your GBP balance, define:
     1. The price you’re willing to pay per BTC (or accept market limits)
     2. The amount of BTC you want to buy
6. To complete the trade, click ‘Buy‘

Once you submit the order, the market order will now be sent and eventually filled, depending on the price and amount your bid contains. Binance notifies you when an order is filled.

P2P Trading and Simple Currency Conversion

If you want to simply convert one currency (crypto or fiat) to another, you can use Binance’s conversion portal. The conversion portal exchange occurs in your Binance Spot wallet.

Traders who use the crypto conversion portal are still subject to spreads, although don’t have to worry about moving market rates, because Binance executes the conversion at market limits.

The minimum amount in USDT to use the conversion portal is 10 coins.

How Does P2P Trading Work On Binance?

Under the ‘Trade‘ > ‘P2P‘ tab on the web trading platform, you can buy and sell six different cryptocurrencies (USDT, BTC, BUSD, BNB, ETH, and DAI) in exchange for a choice of 50+ fiat currencies.

There are a total of 55+ of payment methods available to conduct a P2P trade on Binance, including several different international and local bank transfers, as well as SBP and SEPU EU transfers.

When you browse the list of buyers and sellers, you’re presented with:

• How many orders they have executed
• Order completion percentage
• Transaction price
• Transaction limits (how much you may buy or sell)
• Available payment method(s)

Binance also offers a video tutorial on P2P transactions.

P2P Merchant Application Requirements

To become a P2P merchant, select the ‘More‘ tab within the P2P Trading dashboard, and click ‘Become a merchant‘. Separate application forms are available for African countries, Russian, Spanish, Bahasa, and Arabic traders.

The standard application form is submitted via a Binance Google Form and asks for the following information on your behalf:

• Name
• Email
• Contact number
• Telegram username
• Binance UID (referral ID)
• Location
• P2P trading experience
• Proof of prior transaction history (if any)
• The total amount of fiat and crypto assets available for P2P trading
• Supported fiat currencies
• Front/back of your proof-of-identification document (passport, drivers’ license)
• Proof-of-address (bank statement, utility bill)
• Video while holding up ID card, reading Binance’s provided script
• Additional bank statements from the last three months

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Crypto Derivatives Trading

Unlike crypto spot trades and margin trades, cryptocurrency derivatives contracts on Binance trade based on the value of the underlying asset.

Binance offers futures, options, and leveraged futures tokens for traders. Here is a summary of the exact products:

• BTC/USDT Futures: No expiration futures contracts on Bitcoin-Tether prices with up to 125x leverage.
• BTC/USD Futures: Contracts with and without expiry dates up to 125x leverage.
• European-Style Vanilla Options: Cryptocurrency options, European-style, meaning that options can only be exercised in-the-money. See this Options Trading Guide to learn how options work.
• Leveraged Tokens: Specified cryptocurrencies and crypto pairs with increased leverage futures trading.
• Battle: Binance traders can take a bet on whether BTC goes long (increases in price) or short (decreases in price) against the US dollar within a given time frame. The winner gets the loser’s funds, minus a fee charged by Binance. Leveraged battles are also an option.

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Binance Lending and Loans

Binance offers a financial service named Binance Finance, under which registered customers can opt-in and use the following services:

• Binance Earn
• Binance Pool
• Binance Visa Card
• Crypto Loans
• Binance Liquidity Swap

All of the above features’ sections offer guides, video tutorials, information, and analytics to help traders determine whether the fund allocation is right for them.

Binance Earn: Like a Crypto Savings Account

Traders can choose from three different term categories, namely, flexible term savings, fixed-term savings, and high-risk products:

• Flexible Terms: Traders have the option to deposit major fiat and cryptocurrencies into a savings account for an estimated APY percentage. There are over 58 currencies to choose from. The flexible term category also includes a launch pool where traders can stake in new crypto projects and a BNB vault that also offers variable coin rewards based on how much BNB coins are staked.
• Fixed Terms: Fixed savings on stablecoins like USDT, USDC, and BUSD for 7, 14, 30, and 90-day durations. Fixed-term staking in Proof-of-Stake (PoS) cryptocurrencies like Cardano over 30, 60, and 90-day periods. Staking in high-demand/low-supply coins.
• High-Risk Products: Flexible duration DeFi staking on coins like Bitcoin, BNB, BUSD, and USDT. Aggregated multi-asset savings funds with pre-estimated annual APYs. Ability to partake in liquidity swap pools of mixed cryptocurrencies for interest rates in return.

Binance Pool: Mining Together to Gain Rewards

The Binance mining pool grants traders access to cryptocurrency mining pools that work to solve algorithms on Proof-of-Work (PoW) blockchains.

The available coins on Binance’s mining pools are:

• Bitcoin
• Bitcoin Cash
• Bitcoin SV
• Ethereum

Binance Visa Card: Cashback and Zero Fees

As a Visa card, the Binance credit card is accepted by over 60 million merchants. The main benefits of Binance cardholders are:

• It’s free with no admin or processing fees
• Built-in Binance card cryptocurrency wallet
• Up to 8% cashback on specified purchases
• Secure Assets Fund for Users (SAFU) protected funds on Binance cards

The Binance card is only available in these countries: Aruba, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Curaçao, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, French Guiana, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Guadeloupe, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Martinique, Mayotte, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Reunion Romania, Saint-Martin, Sint Maarten, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden.

Crypto Loans: Borrow in Various Cryptocurrencies

At present, Binance offers cryptocurrency loan on over 30 crypto coins, including:

If you want to opt in for a Binance crypto loan, you need to define:

1. What coin you want to borrow
2. The loan term

Then, Binance will calculate your annual/daily interest rates, total interest, transaction fee, as well as liquidation and margin call thresholds.

Binance Liquidity Swap: Provide Crypto Liquidity

Given that you have unused cryptocurrencies sitting around, you can use them for liquidity provision via your Binance account.

This means that if there is a liquidity pool looking for additional funds, you can contribute in exchange for an interest rate incentive.

When you are about to delegate to a liquidity pool, you’re provided with the total yield you have the chance of making.

Once you want to redeem your share of the liquidity pool. you can click the ‘Redeem’ sub-menu in the Binance Liquidity Swap dashboard.

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Binance Product Suite

Binance has an entire suite of products and services aimed at both retail and commercial clients’ use. Here is a summary of the suite’s services, and what they each offer:

• Binance Exchange: The platform’s standard cryptocurrency and blockchain token exchange where you can buy and sell both crypto and fiat-crypto pairs.
• Academy: Over 250 lessons in the form of articles for anyone wanting to learn about cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. Articles are split into three categories of difficulty: Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced. You can filter articles by reading time, multiple topics, as well as difficulty. There are also quizzes, and a glossary available.
• Broker: A business-to-business (B2B) service where Binance offers webmasters functional buy/sell widgets for their website, access to the Binance exchange via an API, or fully managed cryptocurrency exchange solutions where Binance takes care of infrastructural work.
• Charity: A hub where traders can donate to several causes via cryptocurrencies, primarily Bitcoin. Each cause shows the total number of beneficiaries and total funds raised.
• Cloud: Binance’s cloud-based white-label solution, where entrepreneurs can set up a crypto exchange on Binance’s cloud servers. Similar to the Binance Broker service, webmasters are mostly responsible for marketing and front-end work, while Binance takes care of the technical and infrastructural work.
• DEX: A hub where clients can build decentralized applications, gain access to Binance’s decentralized exchange, and bring cross-chain assets to Binance’s smart chain.
• Labs: A blockchain community hub in which Binance supports entrepreneurs, communities, and businesses in the industry. Companies they’ve worked with include BitTorrent and Cred.
• Launchpad: A platform where new cryptocurrencies can be launched, and traders can stake prior to the launch in multiple cryptocurrencies. At the time of writing, Binance had more than 500,000 participants take part in new token staking, with more than 20 token launches complete.
• Research: Analytics, insight, and project reports for companies in the crypto and blockchain industries. Public report summaries are available to view for past projects under ‘Binance Research‘ in the suite tab.
• Trust Wallet: Binance’s official cryptocurrency wallet with support for over 150 assets and an instant currency exchange feature. The wallet app also includes a Web3-based DApp browser.

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Fees, Deposits, and Withdrawals

Binance’s fee schedule is long, precise, and at first sight complicated. We provide a summary of the fee categories and charging structures below, and you can also access the full fee schedule on Binance’s website.

There is no single fee structure for retail traders — every registered Binance trader is automatically entered into a tiered fee structure where fees are determined by one or both of two factors:

1. 30-Day Trading Volume: How much value you have traded over the past 30-days.
2. Binance Coin (BNB) Balance: How much BNB you hold in your account.

Here’s a summary of the trading fee tiers, their requirements, and the maker/taker fees:

• Maker Trading Fee: Charged when your order is placed on the books and ‘makes a market’. Maker fees are cheaper as an incentive to create a market.
• Taker Trading Fee: Charged when your order is filled immediately without going on the books.

Traders who use BNB coin get 25% off trading fees.

Types of Binance Fees

Here’s a summary of other Binance fees on the fee schedule, all of which also depends on the trading fee VIP tier you are in.

• Margin Borrow Interest Rates: A daily fee charged on margins borrowed.
• USDⓈ-M Futures Trading Fee: A trading fee (maker or taker) charged when trading USDⓈ-M Futures on Binance.
• COIN-M Futures Trading Fee: Maker or taker fee charged when trading COIN-M Futures contracts.
• Deposit & Withdrawal Fees: A sum charged when funding or withdrawing money from an account.
• Cross Collateral Interest Rate: When you borrow BUSD with the collateral of BTC, a daily interest of up to 0.24% is charged.

You can view the entire fee schedule on Binance’s website.

Deposit Methods and Process

Including all fiat and cryptocurrencies, there are a total of 390+ currencies you can deposit and withdraw funds with.

All cryptocurrencies can be deposited for free, minus the sum charged by the particular blockchain to process the transaction.

Most fiat currencies are also free to deposit and withdraw, although some do have fees depending on the payment provider available in the country. For example, US dollars are free to deposit, but Ugandan Shillings incur a 3% fee via Mobile Money.

When depositing fiat currencies into your Binance spot trading account, you have more than 10 payment methods to choose from.

Binance’s P2P Payment Methods

When trading person-to-person on Binance’s P2P platform, an entirely new range of fiat currencies and payment methods open up to traders.

P2P traders can trade in 50+ fiat currencies and pay with 150+ payment methods.

Supported payment methods include local and international bank transfers, PayPal, Revolut, Apple Pay, Neteller, Payeer, Lloyds Bank, Barclay’s Bank, TD Bank, Viettel Pay, and even cash in person.

That said, the only cryptocurrencies available on the P2P marketplace are USDT, BTC, BUSD, BNB, ETH, and DAI.

Withdrawal Process

Before you withdraw any funds from your Binance account, you need to ensure that the account is verified, and ideally, that your two-factor authentication is active.

When withdrawing cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Cardano, or Ethereum, you have the choice to conduct the transaction on the:

• Binance Chain (BNB)
• Binance Smart Chain (BSC)
• The cryptocurrency’s native chain

You can even withdraw the likes of Bitcoin and convert it directly to an ERC20 coin while you withdraw it.

What About Fiat Withdrawals?

Most fiat withdrawals incur a fee. Here are some examples of Binance’s currency, withdrawal method, and fee structure for VIP 0 tier traders:

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Binance Mobile App Review

Once you’re logged in to your Binance account on your iOS or Android device, you’re greeted by a home screen that has several service choices presented.

These are Deposits, Referrals, Binance Battle, Margin Trading, Launchpad, Savings, Liquid Swap, and a sub-menu of all other Binance services on the exchange and suite.

The top menu provides access to:

• Account Settings: Summary of your account tier (VIP 0 as standard), account ID, and applicable BNB coin discounts. From the account menu, you can also access the mobile chatbot support, task center, rewards center, referral IDs, gifts, notification settings, P2P payment methods, verification settings, and the mobile app settings (currency display, language, color, style, and cache clearing).
• Search Bar: You can find coin trade pairs and view your previous search history.
• QR Code Scanner: Used for address scanning and facial verification.
• Notifications: Your recent notifications where you can mark each one as read, or delete it completely.

Registered customers can access all desktop and web services on mobile.

Mobile Home Dashboard

The home dashboard is topped completed with a ranking list of the biggest gainers, losers, and a 24-hour trade volume chart.

From the homepage, you can access the following tabs at the bottom menu of the screen:

• Markets: Browse all available spot and futures pairs, and categorize them based on tags like ‘Defi’, ‘Innovation’, and ‘Coins’.
• Trades: Access to Binance’s cryptocurrency conversion service, spot trading, margin trading, fiat funding, and P2P trading functionalities.
• Futures: An exclusive dashboard to trade USDⓈ-M Futures, COIN-M Futures, Options, and to participate in Binance Battles. The trade ticket and position management tab is also built into this sub-menu.
• Wallets: A portfolio overview with different account balances, and the ability to deposit, withdraw, or transfer funds.

Mobile App Trading Features

Here’s a summary of Binance’s trading features that define your actual trading experience in the mobile app:

• Asset Browsing: Browse via preferred coin pairs or your list of favorites. The browsing screen shows the asset’s last price, trade volume, and 24-hour price change as a percentage.
• Favorites and Watchlist: Under Home > Markets, you can access the Favorites tab and add any cryptocurrency instruments by tapping the star (✰) next to the item.
• Charting and Analytics: Mobile charts can be customized by time frame (from 1-minute tickets to 1-month ticker). The chart height can also be changed with a slider bar, and the mobile chart offers a market depth overview of buyer and seller activity. Aside from the asset price summary at the top of the screen, you can use technical indicators like MA, EMA, BOLL, VOL, MACD, RSI, and KDJ.

• Trade Execution and Management: Once you tap ‘Buy‘ or ‘Sell‘ on the asset page, the trade ticket screen allows you to switch between spot, margin, conversion, fiat, and P2P trades for the primary asset you’re trading. Your chosen asset’s live orders are shown on the right side of the mobile screen. To submit an order, you need to define whether you buy or sell, set a price limit (market, stop limit, and OCO are also available), the amount of currency you want to buy or sell, and submit the trade. Open orders are shown at the bottom of the mobile app ‘Trade‘ tab.
• Mobile Support: The support chatbot can be accessed via the ‘Account Settings’ page, where you can chat with Bot Bibi, or browse the relevant knowledge base articles. The mobile support is available in ten languages.

How to Register and Get Verified on Mobile

This step-by-step guides you through the registration process on the Binance mobile app as a new customer:

1. Tap ‘Log In/Register’ on the top left side of the screen
2. Tap ‘Register’ on the top right
3. Enter your:
   1. E-mail address OR mobile phone number
   2. Password (choose one)
   3. Referral ID (if you have one)
4. If you agree with Binance’s T&Cs, check the agreement box and continue.
5. Complete the verification slider image
6. Type the verification code into the app’s field (you receive this via e-mail or mobile)
7. Either complete the trading experience questionnaire, or skip to the app home screen

That’s it. After the above steps you’re free to browse and explore the app without any further financial or identity commitment.

How To Set Up 2FA and SMS Authentication on Mobile

To be able to use the platform as a trader, you need to verify your identity. You can only do that on the desktop platform, but you can still make your account more secure on mobile:

• Two-Factor Authentication: Head over to the Account Settings > Security tab. Tap ‘Google Authentication’, and follow the instructions to sync up your Binance account to the Google 2FA app.
• SMS Authentication: This security layer will text you a code via SMS every time you want to withdraw funds from your account.

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Web Platform Overview

The Binance web platform and mobile platform offer the same features, though naturally the layout is different.

To familiarize yourself with the full feature set and services of the Binance app, see the mobile app review. Below you can find a summary of the web platform layout and user experience.

As you log in on desktop, the home dashboard presents you with the top cryptocurrency market prices, including the price change % in the last 24 hours. From here, you can access:

• Markets: Available trade pairs, a favorites list, spot, and futures markets. You can filter trade pairs based on the likes of margin and top movers too.
• Wallets: Different wallets for Fiat and Spot, Margin, Futures, P2P, Binance Earn, Binance Pool, Binance Visa card, and Vanilla Options)
• Order Menu: Order book, position management, and order history
• Derivatives Hub: Access to futures, options, leveraged token trading, and Binance Battle)
• Finance Hub: Access to Binance Earn, Pool, Visa Card, Crypto Loans, and Liquidity Swap menus)
• Binance Suite: Access to all Binance Suite services. See the detailed summary to learn about what services are offered.

Web Platform Trading Features

Binance traders can switch to the platform’s old website design, choose from two color settings, five pre-set layouts, and a light or dark theme.

There are 25+ languages available on the web platform, along with 45+ base currencies to trade-in.

• Asset Browsing: Under the ‘Markets‘ tab, you can filter between trade based on the last price, 24-hour change, 24-hour high, 24-hour low, market cap, 24-hour volume, and support margin.
• Favorites and Watchlist: Each asset has a star (✰) next to it and by clicking it, you can add the currency pair to your favorites list.
• Charting and Analytics: The price charts on the asset page have three main viewing options: Original, TradingView, and Market Depth. You can make the chart full screen and choose from dozens of analytics tools, including line indicators and pattern indicators. Indicator colors on the chart can also be customized, as well as the time frames of the analyzed price movements.

• Trade Execution and Management: Trade tickets are located under the asset chart, where you can switch between spot and margin trading. To execute a trade, simply define the amount and price at which you’re willing to buy. Open and historical orders can be tracked under the trade tickets by scrolling down, or under the ‘Orders‘ tab in the top menu.
• Customer Support: The live chatbot is available in English, Russian, Chinese, Portuguese, Turkish, Japanese, Spanish, Vietnamese, French, Italian, and Filipino. Any complex queries are directed to the knowledge base or to a support ticket submission page.

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Can I Trust Binance?

Binance was founded in 2017 and became the highest-volume cryptocurrency exchange in the world by 2018. The company’s headquarters are based in Malta. Binance does not receive financial industry-standard regulatory oversight like other brokers.

The company reports over $2 billion average trading volume per day with more than 1 million transactions per second.

It’s worth noting that in 2017, Binance moved their servers into Japan, following the cryptocurrency regulatory turmoil in their original hosting location, China.

Binance founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao also founded Fusion Systems 12 years prior to starting Binance, which was a trading system provider for brokers.

Where Does Binance Operate?

Based on the available payment methods and fiat currencies for traders, Binance accepts customers from well over 100 countries worldwide.

Binance does not provide an exact list of countries where they accept traders from.

As a potential or existing Binance trader, it’s worth noting that different Binance services may not be available based on the residential jurisdiction of the account holder.

This will also impact available currencies and funding methods.

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FAQs

What Binance fees are there?

The main fees charged by Binance are maker/taker fees, namely trading fees. Maker fees are charged when an order stays open, while taker fees are cheaper and charged when orders are instantly filled. Other fees include deposit fees, withdrawal fees, and cross collateral interest rates. BNB coin traders get a 25% discount on transaction fees.

Binance has tiered fees — more trading volume and a higher account balance means lower fees.

Is Binance legitimate?

Binance is a company registered in Malta with servers in Japan. The company was founded in 2017 by current CEO Changpeng Zhao and became the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world based on trading volume. Unlike other brokers, Binance is not regulated by a financial body like the FCA, since cryptocurrency regulations are still in development.

Is Binance lending worth it?

Whether Binance lending is worth it for you depends on the urgency of your need for cash, in this case, cryptocurrencies, as well as other factors. When you take out a Binance crypto loan, you’re presented with the annual interest rate, daily interest rate, and total interest amount charged based on how much you borrow, and how much collateral you put up. There’s also an additional fee for cross-currency collaterals.

How does Binance work?

Binance is a cryptocurrency spot exchange with other integrated services like margin trading, derivatives trading (futures and options), crypto lending, and a variety of other retail and commercial functions in the Binance Suite. To get started, traders need to undertake an identity and address verification.