Huobi Australia Review: It’s Not What We Expected

Last Updated on December 24, 2023 by Kevin Groves

Huobi Global is one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges based on trading volume and user base. The platform supports a wide range of digital currencies and is up-to-date with the cutting-edge features you’d expect from a top-tier exchange. Huobi once had an Australian-only exchange, although this platform has now been folded and is part of the broader Huobi ecosystem.

This article will explore the ins and outs of Huobi Global to help you determine if the exchange is right for all of your crypto investment needs. 

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Quick Overview

Here is a quick summary of the exchange information.

Exchange name	Huobi Global
Supported countries	Australia, United States, Singapore, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong (and most others)
Fiat currencies supported	AUD, USD, BRL, EUR, GBP, UAH and 50+ more
Deposit methods	Bank transfer, Skrill, debit/credit card, AdvCash
Supported cryptocurrencies	BTC, ETH, USDT, SOL, ADA, XRP, APE +550 more
Deposit fee	None
Trading fee	Starts at 0.2% for makers and takers, approx ~4% for credit card trades
Margin	Up to 200x
Withdrawal fee	Variable network fee that depends on cryptocurrency
Mobile app	Yes (iOS and Android)

What Is Huobi Global?

Huobi Global is a leading cryptocurrency exchange based in China that shifted location after the Chinese government cracked down on digital currencies. The company is registered in Seychelles, but they also have offices in Singapore, Japan, South Korea and the United States. The exchange was founded in 2013 and has since built a customer base of over 10 million. The Huobi exchange became publicly listed in Hong Kong in 2018. 

Huobi Global initially offered an Australian-centric platform known as Huobi Australia, which was eventually halted and absorbed by the international exchange in 2019. However, this setback was offset by Huobi registering with regulatory body AUSTRAC in August 2022, allowing the team to expand its offerings to Australian residents.  

Huobi is highly-regarded among the crypto community. It has never been hacked and is licensed to operate in several different nations. The exchange supports trading over 600 digital currencies, as well as advanced trading options such as futures and top crypto trading bots. Huobi also offers a comprehensive earn hub for those wanting to earn on their crypto holdings passively.

Pros & Cons

Here’s Our Opinion of the Top Features

There is derivatives trading for experienced traders (only)

Huobi Global supports trading futures on an array of cryptocurrencies. You can purchase perpetual, weekly, bi-weekly and quarterly contracts on most major digital currencies, such as BTC, ETH, and LTC. There are over 70 derivatives trading pairs to choose between. While this should be enough for those getting started with futures, more experienced traders may consider alternatives like OKX or ByBit that support a greater range of options.

You can trade futures with leverage of up to 200x and set limit, trigger, trailing stop and grid orders. A unique feature of Huobi is their “hedge” order, which allows you to simultaneously go long and short on a contract to mitigate potential risks. Huobi Global’s trading interface for derivatives is quite complex and would likely overwhelm most beginners. As mentioned, there are better choices for Australian leverage traders as we compared in the list of the best crypto margin platforms.

Trading bots and copy-trading to master your strategy

Huobi offers some trading options for beginner/intermediate investors looking to dip their toes into more advanced trading. Trading bots are used by investors of all experience levels and provide a way to automate trades. In simple terms, Huobi Global’s trading bot will automatically execute orders between a custom price range depending on market movement. This is not a guaranteed profit-maker, especially during crypto bear runs where the price may fall below the bot’s “low” range. However, trading bots can help investors learn about strategic times to enter and exit positions.  

In a similar vein, Huobi supports copy trading for derivatives. Copy (or social) trading was pioneered over a decade ago by eToro and lets you copy the moves made by top-performing investors on a platform. You can vet and choose a user you’d like to align with and set up a proportionate investment schedule. For example, you could copy trade a user at 20% of their positions. So, if the desired portfolio opened an order at 20,000 USDT, you’d make the same trade with 4,000 USDT. 

While supporting a copy trading feature is a major benefit to the Huobi exchange, it is quite limited compared to other platforms. At this time, there are only six portfolios to choose between, and only a couple appear to be active. Additionally, the copy trading interface is quite an eye sore and difficult to navigate.

Earn products can make a little extra income (DYOR)

We were impressed by the comprehensive nature of Huobi Global’s platform to earn crypto interest. The flagship product, Huobi Earn, is a simple lending service where you can lock up your tokens with flexible or fixed terms in exchange for an automatically compounding interest rate. There are about 30 tokens that can be earned on, including USDT, BTC, ETH, DOT, ADA and CRO. 

Although the rates fluctuate, they are extremely competitive for some coins and underwhelming for others. For instance, Bitcoin’s flexible savings account only yields 0.18% APY, while Ethereum’s is slightly better at 0.2%. These rates are substantially lower than less-risky alternatives like term deposits or high-interest savings accounts. On the other hand, 14-day Cardano contracts have an APY of 30%.    

You can stake popular tokens

Huobi Global also supports soft staking on 14 coins, including NEAR, CRO, ATOM, AVAX, TRX and SOL. The reward rates will vary depending on blockchain congestion and the number of stakers, but are relatively consistent with rewards from other staking platforms in Australia.

Huobi utility token (HT) gives nice perks

Huobi Global exchange has a native utility token, ticker symbol HT. The cryptocurrency is built atop Ethereum’s blockchain with a max supply of 500 million. Huobi Token has all sorts of applications within the broader Huobi ecosystem, including accessing the Huobi Cloud, developing projects in partnership with Huobi and providing business-to-business services.

For the average exchange user, HT can be used to pay transaction fees, providing a discount of up to 65%. The coin is also commonly distributed as a reward for participating in Huobi competitions and promotions.

P2P exchange comes with a variety of payment methods

Huobi supports a peer-to-peer marketplace where you can trade cryptocurrency directly with vendors on the platform. Trading on P2P is quite cost-effective, as there is only a $100 trading minimum and no fees. Four cryptocurrencies can be bought or sold via Huobi P2P – USDT, BTC, ETH and HT.

Like some P2P exchanges supported by a larger platform (such as KuCoin and Binance), there isn’t a huge range of sellers available for AUD trading pairs. However, at least two merchants for each coin usually accept instant bank transfers and Osko payments. There is also a rating system so buyers can easily filter out sellers with too much negative feedback. A better P2P alternative for Australians is Elbaite which has AUD pairs.

Plenty of rewards and promotions

Huobi offers regular promotions that encompass a broad range of features. One of their more consistent offerings is limited time increases on Huobi Earn rewards. For example, the team increased the APY for lending FLOW over one week. These promotions tend to occur at least once per week.

In addition, Huobi Global has a solid referral system where you earn 30% cashback (paid out in USDT or HT) on any fees they pay. The company will occasionally increase the referral incentive by offering 5-10 USDT for signing up new accounts with your unique referral link.

You can keep up to date on all the latest Huobi Global promotions by visiting the support centre.

Mobile app is good (but not great)

Huobi offers a modern and clean mobile app to buy and manage crypto while away from your desktop. The app, available on both iOS and Android devices, has the majority of features available on the browser version of the exchange. The application has an impressive 4.7/5 star rating on the Google Play Store, and a 5/5 star rating on the Apple App Store.

However, these high ratings reflect a sleek and intuitive smartphone app, which may not paint the full picture. Individual customer reviews have frequently mentioned the app encountering frequent bugs, issues with lag and an inability to pass KYC processes consistently. The Huobi customer support team is extremely active, responds to nearly every complaint or review, and is diligent in fixing any problems the app may present.

What Are The Supported Cryptocurrencies?

Huobi supports a wide range of major cryptocurrencies, altcoins and stablecoins. Its list includes over 550 digital currencies, which is likely more than enough for the needs of both beginner and experienced investors. The number of derivatives trading pairs falls behind that of trading-focussed exchanges like Binance. Still, it should be comprehensive enough for most basic strategies.   

It’s worth noting that, as of September 2022, the number of cryptocurrencies you can purchase directly with AUD is rather small. There are about 20 tokens available for Quick Trade, including USDT, BTC, ETH, DOT, DOGE and SOL. You can access the rest of Huobi’s supported coins by depositing cryptocurrency of fiat like EUR.

Huobi Fees Explained

Deposit fees

Huobi does not charge deposit fees for cryptocurrencies. There are no fiat currency fees either, as you cannot currently deposit AUD into your Huobi account. 

The minimum deposit varies depending on the currency, although it is typically rather low. For example, USDT’s minimum deposit is only 1 USDT, while Ethereum’s is 0.01 ETH.

Withdrawal fees

Huobi does not support AUD withdrawals at this time, so there are no fees for Australians withdrawing fiat.

Withdrawing cryptocurrency from Huobi incurs a variable fee that depends on the blockchain being used. Withdrawals made on the Ethereum network are usually quite expensive – often greater than $20 USD. On the other hand, withdrawal fees when using blockchains like Solana, Tron or Avalanche are typically less than a dollar.

The max withdrawal for base-level accounts is 1 BTC across all cryptocurrencies. This limit can be increased by verifying your account or directly applying to the Huobi team.

Trading fees

Huobi employs a tiered fee structure for spot transactions on the exchange. The base fee rate is 0.2% – quite competitive, but a little more expensive than competitors like KuCoin and Binance Australia.

You can reduce this fee by holding the platform’s native utility token HT in a wallet, or through high trading volume. Those with greater than 100,000 BTC in monthly trading volume are charged maker fees of 0.0097% and taker fees of 0.0193%. Additionally, those with under 1,000 BTC in monthly trading volume can reduce their fees to 0.07% by holding over 5,000 HT in their account wallets.

If you want to use Huobi’s “Quick Trade” feature to buy crypto with AUD, the fees can get a little hefty. Credit/debit card purchases of crypto incur a fee of ~4%, while using a third-party provider will cost at least 1% in fees, and even more in spreads.

For futures trading, Huobi has a different fee structure. The fee rate is 0.04% for takers and 0.02% for makers, which is about average for the industry.

So, Is Huobi Safe?

Chinese-founded cryptocurrency exchanges sometimes have a bad reputation regarding security and legitimacy. While some Chinese platforms, unfortunately, live up to this name, Huobi is not one of them. The Huobi executive team has done a lot in the past few years to set itself apart as one of the market’s most reputable and trustworthy cryptocurrency exchanges.

For starters, Huobi encountered regulatory issues with many nations, such as Japan and the United States. During this time, the exchange could not service customers from these regions. However, they have since re-opened their platform to these countries as they continue to meet the evolving regulatory requirements. In addition, Huobi recently registered with the Australian regulatory body AUSTRAC, which has helped add an extra layer of trust.

Huobi Global’s exchange features bank-like security measures, and multiple 2FA options and has never experienced a security incident in over nine years of operating. The team also diverts a portion of its income to an insurance fund in the case of such an event. Due to this, Huobi is one of the safest and most trustworthy exchanges on the market.

How To Get Started On Huobi

Opening an account on Huobi Global is a simple process and just like registering on any other exchange. To get started, all you need is an email address or mobile phone number you can access. Simply select “Sign Up”, enter a mobile/email and password and verify your account with a six-digit code.

You can access some trading features almost immediately. However, to unlock the full experience of using Huobi, it’s a good idea to pass the Know Your Customer (KYC) verification process. You can unlock three levels of account permissions depending on your investment needs. The most basic verification only involves providing your first name, surname, country of residency and birth date.

To access Huobi’s fiat services, you must also provide images of a government-issued document such as a passport or driver’s license. Finally, you will need to enable two layers of 2FA via mobile phone, email or Google Authenticator.

What Is Trading On Huobi Like?

Huobi’s Quick Buy/Sell hub is an incredibly simple way for Australian investors to grow their digital currency portfolios. Only a few cryptocurrencies are available for purchase with AUD – USDT, BTC, ETH, HT, XRP and LTC. Once you select your desired asset, various payment methods will come up. Some coins accept direct purchases with debit/credit cards, while others require you to set up a P2P buy order. Once you’ve input the amount of crypto you’d like to buy, all you have to do is confirm the transaction. Before long, the digital currency will be safely in your Huobi wallet.

While this method can be great for beginners, Quick Trade on Huobi is relatively limited for Aussies. Only Ethereum can be purchased with a credit card, and doing so incurs a hefty 3+% fee. We advise Australians just getting started to consider an alternative trading platform like Swyftx or Digital Surge for their lower costs and superior support for AUD transactions.

However, more experienced investors will feel at home with Huobi’s trading hub. The interface is relatively clean and has all the features you’d expect from a modern cryptocurrency exchange. Huobi has partnered with TradingView to provide customisable charting, complete with a huge number of indicators. 

It’s easy for investors to find advanced order options like Triggers and Stop-Limits, and margin trading derivatives can be enabled by simply clicking a leverage option below the chart. Traders can also browse the Orderbook, market depth and their trading history.

What About The Customer Support?

We found Huobi’s customer support more than adequate for most needs. The platform offers a Help Centre that contains hundreds of articles. These articles vary from competition announcements, upgrade information, walkthroughs on buying/selling crypto and more. The structure of the Help Centre isn’t as clear as it could be, though, and it might take a little while to find a guide for your specific question. Occasionally the guides suffer from poor translation and grammar, but for the most part they are helpful and will resolve most basic issues.

In addition to the Help Centre, Huobi also has a Customer Service Center. This section of the platform answers the most commonly asked questions, and allows you to reset your 2FA and export your trading history as a document. There is a chatbot that will try and direct you to a relevant guide depending on your keywords.

If the chatbot is unsuccessful, you can submit a request directly to a customer support member. The team typically tries to reply within 24 hours, which is a fairly reasonable timeframe. Additionally, the customer support is known for being helpful – however, some customers have reported issues with a language barrier.

In general, Huobi’s customer support services may be a little scattered, but overall the company is dedicated to providing you with the best possible trading experience. They respond to every question and negative review and are known for taking on-board client feedback.

Our Final Verdict

Huobi Global has a couple of limitations for Australians new to investing in cryptocurrency. Many trading features are geared toward experienced traders, and support for AUD is still fledgling. However, Huobi has secured an AUSTRAC license and continues to enhance its reputation as a secure, trustworthy exchange worldwide.

Huobi will likely add additional support for the Australian currency in the coming years. However, in the meantime, the exchange is still one of the best options for intermediate and advanced traders. There is a comprehensive array of features, including a competitive earning hub, an active P2P marketplace and a copy trading system.

In addition, Huobi Global’s trading fees are relatively cost-effective compared to most Australian-based platforms (although they are more expensive than some other international exchanges). Overall, the exchange is a reliable and safe place brimming with features, perfect for more accomplished crypto investors.