COBINHOOD is a cryptocurrency trading platform whose beta version was launched at year-end 2017. The exchange boasts real-time trades and high security, but its most famous feature is as the maiden exchange to offer zero trading fees (though ironically the Robinhood exchange expanded into cryptocurrencies in 2018 and similarly offers that feature.)
COBINHOOD was founded by Popo Chen and Wei-Ning Huang, the latter of whom is a Google alum. The exchange boasts a seasoned management team and tapped technology veteran Tony Scott, a former Microsoft executive who also served in the Barack Obama administration, as an advisor.
7.3
Score7.3
Score Android
Score iPhone
Location
CurrenciesBTC, ETH, XRP, LTC, DASH, XLM, NEO, BCH, ETC
LanguagesEN, DE, ES, FR, IT, NL, PL
Buy withBTC
Fees
AltcoinsYes
Margin tradingNo (Exchange does not support margin trading)
Trust scoreA
Beginner friendlyNo (Exchange is complex and difficult for beginners)
Stability3. Much (Exchange is stable, but it has a downtime in the high stakes)
FiatNo (The Exchange does not support Fiat currency like USD, EUR, etc ...)
APIYes (API is available for public to use)
Rest APIYes (The Exchange has Rest API support)
WebsocketYes (The Exchange has Websocket support)
Mobile appYes (Exchange has a mobile app)
Credit cardNo (Exchange does not support credit cards)
ReferralYes (Exchange offers an affiliate program)
Two factor authentificationYes (The Exchange supports two factor authentication)
LendingNo (Exchange does not support lending)
Stop limitYes (Exchange supports stop limit)
US licenceNo (Exchange don't have US licence for Money transmitter)
PGP supportNo (Exchange does not have PGP encryption)COBINHOOD supports bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, NEO and more than 40 altcoins along with multiple trading pairs. You can view a list of all the digital currencies they support here. They run both a centralized and decentralized trading platform with plans to migrate the centralized exchange onto the decentralized trading platform.
In addition to a cryptocurrency trading platform, COBINHOOD also runs an initial coin offering (ICO) underwriting business that the exchange’s co-founder Popo Chen compares to Goldman Sachs’ IPO underwriting business, only for new tokens.
COBINHOOD promotes investor security as a top priority, as evidenced by features like two-factor authentication, an offline vault, insured (in the case of the centralized exchange) online wallets, multi-signature wallets and more. There are no major security breaches to speak of since the exchange went live in December 2017. More than 13,000 users signed up for the exchange on their debut trading day.
The decision to create a zero-fee trading platform came from Chen’s personal experience trading cryptocurrencies, in which he said he felt like he was being robbed when he discovered the cut that the exchanges were taking.
That was the inspiration for offering zero-fee trading to investors, but COBINHOOD still must earn money, and they do so via a two-pronged business model. COBINHOOD attaches an interest rate to the loans they provide for margin trading of up to 10x leverage, and they generate revenue from the ICO underwriting business.
You can learn more about the inspiration for COBINHOOD’S zero-trading fee approach in the below interview with exchange co-founder Popo Chen
COBINHOOD Pros
- Supports several of the leading cryptocurrencies along with many other altcoins.
- Real-time trading
- Spot trading
- Margin trading with up to 10x leverage
- Instant withdrawals
- Market orders/limit orders/stop limit orders available both in the browser version and on mobile apps
- Supportive of hard forks including Bitcoin Cash, NEO and Gas
- No known security breaches. The exchange stores assets in an offline multi-sig cold vault and in online wallets that in the case of the centralized exchange are insured (this is a similar approach taken by Coinbase).
- Multiple trading pairs
- Easy-to-navigate trading interface that’s available in more than a dozen languages that can be changed via a drop-down menu on the home page.
- They have a referral program and offer bounties including BTC
Manuals for Cobinhood
Click on Exchange to get to the trading dashboard. Next, select which trading pair (product) you’d like to use from a drop-down menu. The default trading pair is COB/ETH, but you can select from a list of dozens more across four markets: BTC, ETH, USDT and COB.
On the right side of the dashboard, there’s the Order Book comprised of current orders. Sell order prices are depicted in red, while buy order prices are in green. Place your order as either Market Order, Limit Order or Stop Order.
Trade history reflects buy and sell orders of all users on the platform. You also have access to charting including bar, hollow candle, candlestick or line graphs. COBINHOOD runs a mini ticker with the latest price and relevant information for the product you selected, including –
- Last trade price
- 24-hour change in price
- 24-hour high price
- 24-hour low price
- 24-hour trading volume
COBINHOOD boasts real-time trading, a feature that Chen explains they can offer because the exchange built the entire cloud-based backend system themselves. He says in a Medium blog post: “The proprietary order book matching engine that can process millions of orders per second for every trading pair and under sub-millisecond latency. He adds: “The whole system is designed to be fully distributed, highly available and auto scalable.”
Security rating of Cobinhood
COBINHOOD checks most of the security boxes that cryptocurrency exchanges have to offer, including
- Cryptocurrency assets are stored in both hot wallets and multi-signature cold wallets
- Two-factor authentication, which can be activated via Google Authenticator or SMS.
- KYC – the exchange is transitioning from a semi-manual ID verification process to one that is more automated, which should improve identity verification times.
- Technology is built on the Google Cloud Platform, which relies on a layered security model, using Golang
- They guarantee 100% of reserves
There are no major security breaches to speak of since COBINHOOD launched at year-end 2017. COBINHOOD further describes its security features as such -
- The exchange stores “98% of cryptocurrency assets in an offline multi-signature vault. This vault requires five-out-of-eight geo-distributed hardware security modules to open.”
- Assets in an offline-wallet are “ultra-secured”
- Assets stored in online wallets are “backed by insurance companies.”
- The centralized trading platform boasts insured assets from various insurance companies. This is designed to protect investors’ funds if deposits are lost. If that happens, the exchange would “immediately liquidate their loss in fiat and calculate the average market orders at the time of the loss.”
As an added security measure, if you log-in from a different IP address, you’ll receive a “new device verification” email. The COBINHOOD management team also appears to welcome forthcoming regulation, as evidenced by Chen’s remarks –
“We believe that blockchain financial system will be under regulation in the future and we are more than happy to see that coming. We plan to operate under full legal compliance,” according to COBINHOOD’s Chen.
Review of Cobinhood
COBINHOOD is an emerging cryptocurrency exchange that supports the major markets and offers trading in dozens of altcoins across numerous possible trading pairs. It’s ideal for investors who trade with frequency, given the zero fees, as well as investors looking to gain access to some of the newer coins that aren’t available on major exchanges, if you are willing to endure lower trading volumes until the exchange and its altcoins become more widely used.
Mobile apps review of Cobinhood
They boast “stable and lightning fast APIs”
COBINHOOD also has an official app for iOS and Android, both of which have trading capabilities.
The COBINHOOD app on Google Play for Android 4 stars out of a possible 5 stars across more than 300 user reviews. On the positive side, traders rave about zero fees, but on the negative side, some investors suffer from unanswered support tickets and lost funds amid new coins that are no longer available.
The app is also downloadable via the App Store for iOS.
