Huobi.com Review 2021 – Scam or Not?

Huobi is one of the largest Chinese exchange platforms. It’s based in Beijing, China. The trading platform was founded by Leon Li in September of 2013, and the company’s focus is on the Chinese market.

Review Contents

Huobi

Huobi is one of the “Big Three” exchanges in the world, and it claims to have reached a record amount of 380,000 BTC traded daily on February 25, 2014. The company is accused of faking trading volumes numerous times, but these claims were never proven. They also own a trading platform BitYes, which is focused on international users and offers trading services in BTC/USD and LTC/USD pairs.

Verification at Huobi

The verification process on Huobi.com is a bit more demanding than average. The website is in Chinese and meant for Chinese traders, but the foreigners can also register and trade.
After registering and providing personal info, the user will have to verify an email address. After the email verification is completed, the website asks for a verification of user’s real name.

It’s vital that the name provided by the user is absolutely identical to the name of bank account user wants to connect to the Huobi account. This is especially important for the foreigners. Bank employees in China are prone to making spelling errors when it comes to the names of foreigners, or putting the names in the wrong order.

The name needs to match on both accounts in order to make transfers between Huobi and the bank.

After the name verification, the exchange requires nationality verification. Users can choose a country from a drop-down menu. For foreigners, a passport is automatically selected. Chinese residents have more options and they include:

1. Passport
2. Chinese ID card
3. Military Officer Certificate
4. Chinese mainland driving license
5. Social insurance number

The user has to submit a selfie with the government document, as seen below and a snapshot of the latest three deposit transactions.

chinese

After all that mobile verification is required. Since the website isn’t very well translated to English, a good Samaritan made a detailed registration guide. It’s available here.

 

The exchange accepts two FIAT currencies – Chinese Yuan (CNY) and US dollar (USD). They also accept two digital currencies – Bitcoin (BTC) and Litecoin (LTC).

Huobi’s Fee Schedule

The biggest Chinese trading platform has the following fee schedule:

For US dollar trading:

The maker fee is 0.1 percent of the amount traded. For volumes traded in the last 30 days the taker fee is:

  • below 50 BTC – 0.2 percent
  • over 50 BTC – 0.18 percent
  • over 200 BTC – 0.16 percent
  • over 600 BTC – 0.14 percent
  • over 1500 BTC – 0.12 percent
  • over 5000 BTC – 0.10 percent
  • over 10000 BTC – 0.08 percent

Trading in Chinese Yuan has a flat fee 0f 0.2 percent of the amount traded. The exchange abolished the no-fee policy in January of 2017 in order to prevent influence on the market and increase liquidity.

Deposits made in Chinese Yuan are free of charge. Deposits in US dollars are charged according to the following schedule.

  • International Wire Transfer – 1 percent of the amount (maximum amount transferable – $150,000)
  • OKPAY – 1.5 percent of the amount

Withdrawals in US dollars:

  • International Wire Transfer – 1 percent of the amount (minimum fee 33 dollars)
  • OKPAY – 0.5 percent of the amount

Withdrawals in Chinese Yuan are charged in accordance with the levels. Each level is reached when the specified number of points is gathered. Points are gathered through trading.

  • VIP0 – 0 points – 0.50 percent
  • VIP1 – 10000 points – 0.45 percent
  • VIP2 – 100000 points – 0.40 percent
  • VIP3 – 300000 points – 0.38 percent
  • VIP4 – 500000 points – 0.35 percent
  • VIP5 – 1000000 points – 0.30 percent
  • VIP6 – Paid Service – 0.30 percent

Withdrawals in cryptocurrencies are charged – 0.0001 BTC and 0.001 LTC respectively.

Trading

The exchange offers the following order types:

  • Market order
  • Limit order
  • Stop Limit order

Besides that, margin trading is available in both BTC and LTC with 5x leverage and a 24-hours fee of 0.1 percent.

The most interesting feature is definitely the Flash Trade function which incorporates order book, chart index, and market chart. The Flash Trade enables real-time trading, especially in the times of high volatility.

huobi-flash-trade

The exchange doesn’t support derivates and futures trading.

Ease of Use

The interface looks good, and it’s fairly easy to use. There are two languages available – Chinese and English, but the website is only partially translated into English, and it’s still difficult to use for foreigners.

The website is fast and responsive, which is of particular importance to the exchanges with high liquidity such as Huobi. The trading platform also offers Android and iOS apps for mobile users.

Support

The exchange has a great support team which can be reached by phone, email, ticket or by social networks. The staff is very polite and willing to go above and beyond to resolve a problem. Typical response time is 2 to 3 hours.

User Experience

There are some complaints about the Huobi. Primarily, some users claim that the company is breaking Chinese laws.

There are also reports that the exchange has taken money from user’s accounts to cover the loss of approximately 5000 Bitcoins caused by employee’ error.

huobi1

Security

Huobi has invested a lot in security and even passed many third-party tests. They offer two-factor authentication, SMS and email notifications and PGP encryption for emails. Over 98 percent of the customer assets are stored in the multi-sig cold wallet, which outputs are limited to Huobi’s hot wallet. The wallets are monitored 24/7 so that the staff could reach immediately in case of a breach.

The exchange was hacked in the past, but no customer funds were stolen.

Supported Payment Methods

  • Wire Transfer

Supported Countries

  • USA (except Alabama, Arizona, Connecticut, Georgia, Louisiana, New York, North Carolina, Hawaii, Vermont, Washington  and all U.S. Territories)
  • China

Huobi Review Conclusion

The largest Chinese exchange is certainly a great place for experienced Asian traders.

Pros

  • No fees for Chinese traders
  • Super-high liquidity
  • 24/7 phone support

Cons

  • Minimal information in English
  • Possibly faking trading volume

Huobi is one of the best Asian Bitcoin exchanges. That’s a fact. Everything else is a matter of choice.

 

Do you have good or bad experiences with this Bitcoin Exchange? Please share them!

Go to Huobi.com
Share your Experiences about Huobi.com:

42 User-Reviews for Huobi.com
  1. Max, 17. April 2023

    I have the same situation my withdrawals are blocked. Do you have some ideas ?

  2. blake byran, 15. January 2023

    If I say I am disappointed that will just be an understatement, I was made to go through hell in the past 6 months I tried everything I could to get my money back, but they will not let me take it out. I got tired of trying myself so I decided to bring in spacetelcapital *com a company that was introduced to me by a friend and they were able to help me get my money back. You can google them to check them out, If you find yourself in situation you couldn’t withdraw your funds or wallet issues

  3. Rita Juliet, 29. July 2022

    I have invested with some scam brokers in the past, and the story is as horrific as the ones i have read because i went through the ordeal myself. I lost almost $55k to this unfortunate brokers, a friend referred me to Mr Evans Rashad that got me 80% of my money back, plus my accrued bonuses. Please stay clear of these scammers and if you have lost money you can still get your money back if you really want to, you can reach out to Evans Rashad at: {evansrashad836 (@) gmail.com}. He will definitely help you in getting back your lost funds to any broker…. As mine was recovered too.

  4. Rita Juliet, 10. July 2022

    I have invested with some scam brokers in the past, and the story is as horrific as the ones i have read because i went through the ordeal myself. I lost almost $55k to this unfortunate brokers, a friend referred me to Mr Evans Rashad that got me 80% of my money back, plus my accrued bonuses. Please stay clear of these scammers and if you have lost money you can still get your money back if you really want to, you can reach out to Evans Rashad at: {evansrashad836 (@) gmail.com}. he will definitely help you in getting back your lost funds to any broker….. as mine was recovered too.

  5. cesar, 1. June 2022

    A question if the luna airdrop was counted when block 779000 finished, which was at 18:38 and huobi made its own capture at 20:00, many of us sold after 18:38, where did those new lunas end up? terra saw them in the wallet and supposedly sent them

    in short, huobi took the luna from the airdrop of most people, some scammers are and more things like the protection that does not let you fall if the market falls… you get stuck losing money

  6. Paul Arts, 21. October 2021

    I had a large, large amount of cryptos stolen, they were all exchanged through Huobi. At the very moment of exchanging Huobi refused to undertake any action whatsoever, although an extensive investigation reprort and the polce report were handed to them. This company for me is a disgrace, it was 100% clear that this was money laundering. We consider legal steps, as we have all the proof that they didn’t comply. A rotten apple in the Bitcoin industry.

  7. Emmanuel, 19. September 2021

    My face can’t b capture, have tried for so many days and it’s annoying

  8. WB, 13. June 2021

    Better Do Not Deposit! IT is a Hard way to get Your coins back. Acctually i get Not Back!!!! WARNING

  9. divyanshu goyal, 1. May 2021

    huobi frozen my account since last 10 days. I am not able to move my funds. All my money is inside the wallet. They are neither giving me proper reply nor giving me my assets.who is responsible for that.

    UID-178760853

  10. Donna D. Edwards, 23. April 2021

    Huobi company is truly upstanding and is behind its crypto exchange 100%. I have been using Huobi without any Issue! Awesome Exchange.

  11. Lester, 17. April 2021

    Stay away from them
    They only operate with Scammers and Criminals, hiding their money there to be use in Criminal proceedings. Police, FBI, Action Fraud UK and Banks scanning their business to recover peoples funds.

    Be aware

    They are evidence on request

  12. Joe, 20. March 2021

    sent more than 1k eur but never arrived to mt huobi account…
    support mega slow and totally useless.
    thiefs!!!
    avoid them!!!!!!!!!

  13. Angie, 21. February 2021

    How much is the minimum I can send I’m having problem sending $4900

  14. Cvetelina teneva, 20. February 2021

    Such a liars ! They give 170 $ bonus, totally FAke!!! Before this they will ask you to do 1-2 deposit. All of all at the end they will call you that you can’t receive even 10$ bonus because you are not suitable!

  15. John Constantino, 17. December 2020

    I Just found out two days ago how frustrating it is to withdraw your assets at huobi global. After you submit all requirements then they ask proof of asset like give proof that you deposited btc, usdt or eth. Then after you provide proof you deposited those crypto to them..they just stop answering your emails. So right now, im worried that i wont be able to withdraw my assets anymore..they really are scammers.

  16. oscar, 8. November 2020

    hiobi is a scam, deposit fiat, with a bank card, didn’t get anything

  17. Alice L. Peniosan, 16. October 2020

    Hi this is my first time to withdraw in Houbi, it’s almost 6 days past but until now I didn’t receive any amount from my tmx account 😊. I know this not a bad experience I just experienced now and I just want to know what’s going on. Thank you for your concern.

  18. Francesco, 10. October 2020

    Simply run away from huobi .a lot of problems to change and withdraw and customer service Is the worst i ever seen . Looks like you talk with a robot , they always reply with the same answer without listen . Customers satisfacyion Is not a ptiority for huobi

  19. NO, 19. December 2019

    AVOID Huobi at all cost.

    I deposit a bit btc into Huobi, then realize it didn’t go through. After checking it stated that the amount lower than minimum deposit will not be refunded.

    Then I deposit another minimum deposit into Huobi again, but only this new transaction shown on my Huobi account.

    CS doesn’t seem to understand English well, they simply show me screenshot of tnc. I ask for solution, then they reply by copy&paste tnc next. LOL.

    I ask what can they do to help like third time, then they finally understand the question and tell me NOTHING.

    Simply tell me to be aware and read their tnc next time before transaction.

    So? I lost some money and Huobi simply pocket it, CS can’t understand English well, NOT helping at all

  20. coco, 13. November 2019

    huobi are scam, i deposit over 300 dogecoin, they eat them!

    why set a minimum deposit? otherwise they will not refund your deposit ! but the deposit was sent succefully! absolutly to still the deposits who was under the minimum.

    how many poeple lost there deposits on the brokers who set minimum deposit like “huobi” “binance” and more others…

    the victims was traders who missed reading the requirement deposit, or a beginners traders.

    they take my deposit= they are robber.

    be carfull poeple !

    i suggest “yobit” or “bethoven” who doesn’t set minimum deposit.

  21. SB, 28. April 2019

    Had the same issue- not being able to log in, when resenting password it said the account was invalid which was impossible.
    I was in the process of writing an email complaint and about to leverage social media to generate a quick reaction from their customer service teams when I realised that there is a new domain for their exchange
    the new domain is: http://www.hbg.com as opposed to huobi.com
    Tried my credentials there and it worked!
    obviously, it’s not acceptable to move the exchange domain without notifying your customers appropriately- my crypto funds are still there…
    Had the same issue with the mobile app last week but it is working now- I assume it has been updated in the meantime
    Last email from them on an unrelated topic was April 10 2019 it is now April 28 2019

    Hope it helps

    SB

  22. Shanker, 10. November 2018

    First it said minimum deposit amount is 0.0001 BTC. Then after i transferred 13000 sat and immediately it change to minimum deposit amount to 0.001 BTC. When is going on Huobi?

  23. Arimor, 9. September 2018

    Absolute nightmare to deal with.

    I bought UTK with ETH back in January 2018, and although I can see a deposit of ETH and a balance of UTK, I am unable to view the actual trade.

    Now, Huobi is making me jump through hoops, even after I have verified my account, in order to obtain this information which I need to complete my tax return.

    They have told me to “wait patiently”, it’s now Sunday and don’t know when they’re going to get back to me.

    I find this whole thing highly suspicious as literally ALL Crypto Exchanges which I have signed up to allow you to view your transactions easily, why are they all of a sudden having to pass on my query to the relevant support team to extract this data for the one and only small trade I performed on their exchange?

    Not a happy bunny..

  24. Kate O Hara, 29. August 2018

    Recently recovered my funds from a scam broker, i hired a professional it was quick and efficent. Glad to share my experience with others. (www) Binaryoptionrecoveryspecialist(dot)(com)

  25. ryan, 12. June 2018

    Hi,

    I am Ryan from Huobi, I noticed that your site has been using the old logo of Huobi. Please update it. Refer here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huobi#/media/File:Huobi_Group.jpg

    Regards,
    Ryan

  26. Ed, 31. May 2018

    Clueless. Unilingual support staff who have no idea what they’re doing. Use at your own risk.

  27. Apprich, 21. May 2018

    nightmare huobi,
    Sent 100 usdt , because of transaction fee money became 95 and not deposited… is just token by huobi.. after that sent 100 xrp is not deposited to my account because of wrong tag.
    3 months waiting to solve issue, 15 emails sent and received… it turned out to be nightmare. horrible experience.. $200 is gone…
    Stay away Huobi again…

  28. Richter, 10. April 2018

    Huobi first closed my account without any reason. It was no longer possible to login.
    After I have been complaining through telegram, they reopen my account; but I could no longer withdraw. The woman on telegram wrote me that it is because my account is suspended. It might be because they reopen my account with the country China in my settings (I’m living outside China).
    Huobi took me all my cryptocurrencies.
    Huobi is the worst exchange.

  29. ABDEL, 18. March 2018

    Stay away from this company. I’m currently going through hell over the last two months trying to recover my missing deposit of XRP. I wasn’t aware that I had to add a tag number in the transaction. Customer service is by the far the worst I have come across where consultants just leave the conversation in chats and many of the emails sent are unanswered. Very unprofessional

  30. cointraderaupr, 13. March 2018

    So regretted that i didn’t read this before depositing my coins into this exchange. It seems to be totally rubbish when i tried to cancel my order like 10times. The only message I received was “your cancellation order has been submitted” and nothing happens at all.Hopefully, i can withdraw the coins out of this exchange soon since my verification is still in process.

  31. Scott, 10. March 2018

    I never had any problems with them… what is this exchange FUD. They work fine, one of the best.

  32. Greg Hall, 25. February 2018

    Painful verification and ealing with support was next to impossible with the language barrier.

    Also, my withdrawals keep getting rejected because there is “not enough confirmations, please try again later”!! WTF … just let the bloody thing confirm on the network however long that takes.

    This exchange is by dar the worst and will slowly see its own demise with how its run.

  33. Sun, 25. February 2018

    The Huobi-support is very poorly trained. I went through the verification process, and they had an issue with a letter in my last name. My last name is German and contains an “a” with two dots on top, so in international communication, I write this odd kind of “a” as “ae”. I have done this for 40+ years now and never ever had a problem. After they rejected my application, I urged them to review. The answer, I got, was: “Hi do you have passport?” This is rather disturbing, after having uploaded images of my passport and other private documents.

    This is the email-dialog:
    Me: “Hi, yes, I placed a foto of it (passport) on your website. Can you please review, what I uploaded? Your question tells me, you did not look at my case. Please do.”
    Thx
    H: “Ok please provide your UID or Email.”
    Me: “This is my email.”
    H: “Ok your problem is we need all of your name.Write all names.”
    Me: “I gave you all my names. Here they are again
    First name: A..
    Middle Name: B..
    Surname: H…In Germany, we write it “Hägermann” but as you do not have “”ä” in English, everybody writes it “ae”. This has never been a problem, so please figure it out. This was my last attemt to getting into business with you.”
    Me: “Goodby”
    The problem has still not been resolved.

    They are also very impolite. If they want to compete with Binance, the have to improve a lot.
    I cannot recommend them.

  34. Ben, 1. February 2018

    I send my ethereum to them for about 3 hours now and still no confirmation. but in the eitherscan. it says the transaction happened. im worried, and concerned about this. If i knew about this situation i wouldn’t have signed up to them

  35. John, 24. January 2018

    F#$%ing sucks so much, I couldn’t withdrawal initially because my phone was not “binded to my account”, and after connecting my phone my withdrawal gets rejected once again… The reason of it being rejected was written in Chinese but the direct translation means “the trial can not be a reason” Which I have noooo idea what that means and the 24 hour support doesn’t respond to me even tho I have been “next in the queue” for the past 4 hours.. I have lost hope and hope they shove those $600 up their @ss

  36. Steve, 18. January 2018

    Scam exchange! The support don’t respond, telegram also or they ask 10 times the same docs like a robot. Unable to access my account or withdraw. I’m not alone in this case

  37. Mario R, 18. January 2018

    Superb platform ! Best rates and fast transaction .. Helped me make a lot of money…. woohooo

  38. Marius, 15. January 2018

    DO NOT USE! They took almost 12$ and still not helping me. they have exaggerating limit of deposit.and guess what, if you deposit under the limit they are taking your money.

    Customer support is POOR!

  39. James, 15. January 2018

    Do not use Houbi, a fucking shit exchange.

  40. sparkes25, 13. January 2018

    i cant get my money off and the support keeps sending me useless reply’s.
    eg i cant withdraw because it wont let me connect my phone to my account, i contact the support and i get told to buy another phone.
    on the 2nd reply the tell me to use my connected phone to connect my phone.

    all of the emails i get off them are in chinese or have been translated in to gibberish english.

    they also keep talking about my “coin net” account and my “mail box” but when i ask them what these are they dont reply.

    i consider my funds on that site to be nothing more then lost money as i have little hope of getting it off at this stage

  41. Thib, 27. December 2017

    Impossible to withdraw coins for over one week

  42. Paul, 23. November 2017

    Huobi are no good. Avoid, unless you Chiese, in which case who cares ..