Is coinw scam or legit? coinw.com reviews and complaints

An In-Depth Review of CoinW Crypto Exchange

CoinW is a cryptocurrency exchange that has been operating since 2017. In this in-depth review, we will take a comprehensive look at CoinW exchange including its features, trading conditions, fees and commissions, investment programs and more based on our research and user feedback.

Overview of CoinW Exchange

CoinW is incorporated in British Virgin Islands and claims to have over 7 million users globally, making it one of the larger crypto exchanges. It supports trading in over 120 countries and has localized versions of its website in major languages.

CoinW primarily enables crypto to crypto trading, allowing users to trade between various cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin etc. It also offers derivatives trading in the form of cryptocurrency futures and options. Additionally, CoinW has its own staking and mining programs for earning passive income from cryptocurrencies.

The exchange is accessible via its website trading terminal as well as via the TradingView platform. It also has apps for Android and iOS. CoinW markets itself as a one stop destination for not just trading but also investing in early stage crypto projects via its venture capital arm CoinW Ventures.

Trading Conditions and Instruments

Let’s analyze the trading conditions and available instruments on CoinW exchange:

• Supported Markets: As mentioned earlier, CoinW focuses exclusively on cryptocurrency markets without any fiat currency or traditional market support.

• Available Pairs: It offers over 100 cryptocurrency trading pairs across major coins like BTC, ETH as well as smaller altcoins. Additionally futures and options are available on select coins.

• Order Types: Basic order types like market, limit, stop and stop-limit orders are supported on the CoinW terminal.

• Leverage: Cryptocurrency futures on CoinW offer leverage of up to 1:20. There is no leverage for spot trading.

• Deposits & Withdrawals: Deposits can be made via crypto transfers. Withdrawals have small fees varying by cryptocurrency.

• Minimum Deposit: The minimum deposit requirement on CoinW is just 0.001 BTC, making it very accessible for small accounts as well.

• Trailing Stops: Advanced order types like trailing stops are not supported for automated profit taking.

So in summary, while the selection of markets is limited to cryptocurrencies only, CoinW offers decent tradable instruments and order types for crypto trading.

Fees and Commissions

Let’s analyze the various fees charged by CoinW exchange:

• Maker-Taker Fees: The base trading fees are 0.2% for both makers and takers. It reduces progressively as trading volumes increase.

• Withdrawal Fees: Withdrawal fees vary between 0.001 to 0.05 BTC depending on the cryptocurrency. Generally fees are below average.

• Inactivity/Dormancy Fees: CoinW does not charge any fees if the account is not used for a certain period.

• Deposit Fees: There are no deposit fees charged on any funding methods like crypto transfers.

• Futures/Options Fees: Additional premiums and commissions apply to futures and options markets.

Compared to many top exchanges, the 0.2% base trading fee and absence of account maintenance charges makes CoinW fees quite competitive for low volume traders.

Investment & Earning Programs

Another big attraction at CoinW are various investment and earning programs available:

• Crypto Staking Pools: Users can stake and earn rewards on coins like DOT, ADA, ETH through CoinW’s own staking infrastructure.

• Cloud Mining: It offers mining contracts for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum to earn a portion of block rewards.

• Lending/Earnings: Users can lend their crypto to the exchange and earn interest on it. Rates are around 5-15% depending on market conditions.

• CoinW Ventures: Accredited investors can participate in funding early stage crypto and blockchain startups through this equity investment program.

• Affiliate Program: Traders are incentivized to refer others and earn commissions of up to 1 USDT per referred user’s trade.

These value added services make CoinW appealing for users looking to put their crypto holdings to work and generate additional yield besides trading.

Platform and Security

Let’s evaluate CoinW’s trading platforms and the security measures in place:

• Web Platform: The exchange’s own web based trading terminal is feature rich but has below average user reviews.

• Mobile Apps: CoinW provides dedicated Android and iOS apps for on-the-go crypto portfolio management and trading.

• API Access: It offers public WebSocket and REST API access for building trading bots and integrations.

• 2-Factor Authentication: Both Google Authenticator and SMS verification supported for adding an extra layer of security.

• Data Security: CoinW claims to use bank-grade infrastructure and regular security audits to protect user funds and information.

• Insurance Coverage: However, there is no official information released about any insurance coverage in case of hacks or exchanges shutting down.

So while security practices seem adequate as per standard protocols, lack of insurance for users’ crypto deposits is a drawback compared to major regulated exchanges.

User Experience and Support

Let’s examine CoinW from a customer experience perspective:

• User Interface: The trading terminal UI has average reviews from traders. It can be improved to be more beginner friendly.

• Support Channels: Support is provided through online help center articles, Telegram and Twitter DMs which have complaints of slow response.

• Community Engagement: An active Reddit community provides a platform for users to discuss CoinW, though not affiliated with the exchange.

• Educational Resources: CoinW website has some basic tutorials and guides to help new users learn about crypto trading basics.

• Regional Support: While site is translated to multiple languages, support seems focused only around English, Chinese, Korean.

• Account Recovery: Poor password recovery process and lack of phone support raises security related concerns highlighted by users.

So while the scale of operations is large, CoinW could enhance the customer experience with more professional support services across languages and regions.

Regulation & Transparency

Finally, let’s examine CoinW from a regulatory compliance perspective:

• Jurisdiction: The exchange is registered and licensed to operate by the regulators in British Virgin Islands.

• KYC Requirement: It follows basic KYC norms of verifying identity documents of users based on their account activity levels.

• AML Policies: CoinW claims to have adequate anti-money laundering measures in place but details are not publicly shared.

• Audits & Disclosures: Unlike regulated exchanges, no independent financial audits of cold wallets or terms of reserves are published.

• Legal Recourse: As BVI registered company, users have little legal recourse in case of any losses due to the exchange in their home countries.

• Tax Compliance: Users are responsible for their own tax compliance as CoinW does not collect or share any user transaction data with local tax authorities.

So in summary, CoinW complies with basic global standards but lacks transparency expected of large exchanges in developed regions due to its unregulated status.

User Reviews and Ratings Analysis

Let’s analyze what actual CoinW users are saying about their experience by examining major third party review sites:

Trustpilot Ratings

On Trustpilot, CoinW has a poor 1.5 star rating out of 5 based on over 1600 reviews. A majority of negative reviews cite issues like:

• Difficult verification process holding funds for weeks or months.

• Trades not executing or getting closed at wrong prices with no compensation.

• Support tickets and emails not responded for a long time or account restrictions without reason.

• Funds not reflecting in accounts or withdrawals getting stuck.

Clearly, most users have faced some form of operational or customer service issues with CoinW as per these Trustpilot reviews.

Reddit Discussion Analysis

On Reddit’s cryptocurrency and CoinW specific subreddits, the sentiment is also mixed at best. While some praise CoinW staking rates, most discussions are around problems like:

• CoinW team deliberately ignoring or banning users raising concerns.

• Exchange glitches causing account locks, missing deposits or botched withdrawals.

• Negative trades appearing out of nowhere draining people’s crypto holdings overnight.

So Reddit provides further validation of the complaints highlighted on Trustpilot as actual problems faced by users of CoinW exchange.

Other Review Channels

Other major third party sites like CryptoCompare and ExchangeRates also echo similar issues flagged by users on Trustpilot and Reddit – mainly technical glitches, poor support quality and restricted withdrawals without clear reasons impacting user funds and experience.

So in summary, the real user feedback available publicly across multiple review sites presents a concerning picture of frequent operational and customer issues with CoinW exchange that casts doubts on its reliability.

TU Rating and Experts’ Recommendations

TradersUnion (TU), a leading independent broker review website, has also examined and rated CoinW based on various parameters. Here are the key highlights:

• CoinW scores a below average rating of 3.49/10 in TU’s comprehensive evaluation system accounting for around 100+ objective parameters.

• It ranks only 50th among top 199