Crypto trading platform Phemex has launched a Premium membership program that enables fee-less spot trading. The exchange, which was founded by a group of ex-Morgan Stanley executives late last year, aims to challenge the dominance of industry heavyweights such as Binance and BitMEX by furnishing users with superior trading experience.
The new program will go live on May 15, with membership priced at $9.99 USDT per month. Traders who avail themselves of the offer can swap as much or as little crypto as they desire without incurring fees, with existing and new members given the opportunity to try a free seven-day Premium trial. Eligible swaps against USDT include BTC, ETH, LINK, XRP, XTZ, and LTC.
As well as the monthly package, the Singapore-based exchange is offering users a three-month Premium membership priced at $19.99 USDT or an annual membership for $69.99. Premium memberships can be extended at any time or allowed to expire, with no renewal obligation and Premium spot traders can gift a 30-day Premium trial to anyone they wish.
“As a company, our goal is to transition into a more comprehensive financial service provider, one that always puts its customers’ needs first,” said Phemex CEO Jack Tao, who spent 11 years with Morgan Stanley, latterly as the MSET BXS global development leader. “We believe that our new membership spot trading program perfectly exemplifies this philosophy.”
Tao is one of eight former Morgan Stanley executives to have built Phemex including Trading System Architect Yang Du. Like many Asian exchanges, Phemex is headquartered in Singapore but operates globally. The company is registered in the British Virgin Islands and deploys a remote workforce spanning China, Korea, Japan, the US, and Singapore.
No Crypto Trading Fee, No Problem
Free trading is normalized in the traditional financial markets, particularly when it comes to ETFs and online stock and options transactions. Now, just over six months since its launch, Phemex has become the first crypto exchange to offer zero-free trading on demand. Phemex also claims to be the fastest crypto derivatives exchange in a super-competitive market, with its ultra-swift CrossEngine capable of handling 300,000 transactions per second.
In the first quarter of 2020, Malta-based Binance enjoyed over 50% of spot trading market share, with BitMEX still leading the derivatives market. Neither platform offers free trading, although Binance allows users to reduce trading fees by utilizing its native Binance Coin (BNB). The crypto spot and futures markets witnessed $8.8 trillion combined trading volume in the first quarter, driven by a 314% quarterly increase for futures trading and 104% for spot trading.
At present, Phemex offers bitcoin, ethereum and XRP perpetual contracts and up to 100x leverage, though plans are afoot to support traditional offerings such as S&P 500 stocks, stock indexes, FOREX, commodities, and metals. It has already onboarded over 100,000 users since launching in December.
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