Encrybit Revealed Real-time Cryptocurrency Exchange Problems — Survey Insights
The cryptocurrency exchange issue online survey was conducted by “Encrybit — The Future of Exchange” between 23rd April and 30th April 2018 via Google forms.
About Encrybit
Encrybit is an upcoming cryptocurrency exchange platform. The team behind Encrybit is an amalgamation of Cryptocurrency and Blockchain experts who are dedicated to developing the world’s finest exchange.
Purpose of the Survey
The cryptocurrency ecosystem is still in its early stages and current cryptocurrency exchange platforms are evolving gradually in the face of unprecedented demand.
Yet there remain significant problems in these centralized exchange platforms that need to be overcome in order to earn the trust of both seasoned traders and newcomers alike, who are willing to trade but are hindered by the Wild West attitude of many exchanges where “Enter at Your Own Peril” seems to be the motto.
Steep learning curves, poor customer service, fear of loss and many other problems are holding back the true potential of this market. In order to overcome these hurdles, a cutting edge, secure cryptocurrency exchange platform is desperately needed.
The Encrybit team has done in-depth research into the technical requirements for a next-gen crypto exchange. Our prototype platform is already implementing features not available elsewhere and we are confident you are going to love it!
So then we wanted to go further and gather opinions and ideas from the people who matter — you, the trading community — in order to further improve our platform.
Our survey asked for feedback from traders regarding the problems they face using current trading platforms and also, which new features they would love to see.
The Encrybit vision is to build the “People’s Exchange” and in response to our first ever survey, the crypto community did not disappoint. Thank you all for your participation.
In Summary
We had an amazing response from 1108 respondents in total, which meant we could have a high confidence level that the results were a statistically significant representation of the crypto trading community.
We asked about current problems faced by users of cryptocurrency exchanges and suggestions on how to improve things. Some headline findings were as follows:
Top complaints:
- Security
- High trading fees
- Lack of liquidity
Most used exchanges:
- Binance,
- Huobi.pro
- Okex
Most wanted features:
- Simplicity
- Expedited withdrawals
- Improved security
The Breakdown (Question-by-question):
- What are the biggest problems that you see in currently available exchanges?
Each exchange has certain pros and cons. The main issues faced are:
· 40% of participants said that security is a major concern.
· 37% said high trading fees are the chief hurdle.
· 36% mentioned lack of liquidity as a concern.
· 33% of the participants say that unethical response time from exchange support team on issues like account suspension, 2fa issues, withdraw and deposit information, missing funds while trading.
· 22% complained about a lack of crypto pairs hindering good quality trading options.
· 21% said current exchanges are not user-friendly and have a non-interactive platform user-interface.
· 18% are upset with high withdrawal fees.
· 9% opted for nothing and a few had no idea about the issues on trading platform.
Other individual issues faced by traders are as follows:
· Advanced trading features such as stop-loss not working properly, and missing trailing-stop-loss functionality.
· Most traders expect USDT pairing prices to rise when BTC is in a downtrend, but there are only a few coins available in USDT pairing. This is limiting and frustrating for traders.
· The largest exchanges do not support fiat currency which means traders are forced to buy BTC/ETH from a ‘gateway’ exchange before transferring it to the crypto exchange to trade with. This process takes time as well incurring a fee for the transfer.
· Exchanges unable to keep their new account opening facility open all the time due to influx of people. Because of this issue, many affluent traders were not able to register at their desired exchange.
· Due to lack of liquidity or slow system execution, sometimes orders are not placed on time. Supply and demand is low on the exchange for some coins so the trader has to wait for required buyer/seller to arrive on the exchange.
· Fork and airdrop policy is hit-and-miss. Some exchanges pass on coins received in airdrops and forks to their customers. Others are reluctant to do so or flatly refuse and keep them for themselves. This is an unnecessary stress and unethical.
· In highly volatile markets sometimes profitable trades have been placed, but due to the exchange’s inability to handle high volume trades it has resulted in the day trader missing the opportunity to earn profits.
· Unexpected shutdown of trading platforms, subsequently taking hours or days to get back in action, and that all with no information or notification from exchange support.
2. Which exchange do you like the most? Mention the features you’re fascinated by.
Virtually all respondents referred to centralized exchanges here. These remain the primary choice for traders until decentralised exchange (DEX) versions can improve their value proposition. The current generation of DEXs suffer from poor usability, scalability and liquidity and are not credible alternatives for wide-scale use at present.
· 27% of participants pointed towards Binance for its good volume and airdrop policy.
· 19% to Huobi.pro for its superior arbitrage opportunity.
· 14% of the participants prefer Okex.com because of it’s trading platform and volume.
· 11% to Bitfinex — Best UI for on-the-spot TA and algorithmic trading options, trading with margin and direct withdrawals in fiat currency.
· 9% of participants said Bittrex is their favourite because it has good GUI, good coins, easy and simple to use.
· 13% had a mixed choice of exchanges they like to use such as Kucoin, Bitstamp, Poloniex, Bithumb, Upbit, Coinbase (GDAX) and Hitbtc.
· 7% of participants didn’t have any preferred exchange which may indicate a need for a better trading platform, or that they are comfortable with any of the existing trading platforms.
3. Which trading indicator or chart do you think is missing with the currently available exchanges?
This can be a very personal choice for a trader. Often they will have invested lots of research and time to gain expertise with a particular set of indicators.
· As most of the participants are casual traders, 60% of them said nothing.
· 10% were not sure what trading indicators are.
· 30% of them are aware and said the following:
o [Trading Chart] Line chart and Candle sticks are most common, but Mountain, Bar chart, Renko and Kagi chart is missing.
o [Trading Indicator] ADX and Stochastics are not available on most of the exchanges.
o Volume, MACD, SMA, EMA, RSI (Lack of customization).
4. What are the trading features you want to see in trading software within an exchange which fulfills your trading requirements?
Again this question received a wide variety of answers.
· As there were many casual traders, 13% of the participants had no expectations for trading features.
Other individual responses included:
· Back testing and Forward testing facility
· Alarm function which sends notification via email/sms when the price of a coin moves past set trigger points.
· Multiple chart windows for better trading and strategy formation.
· Comparison of different cryptos to aid better trading decisions.
· Social trading is missing with crypto exchanges.
· Paper trading.
· View all fundamentals and technical info for new and current coins.
5. What do you want to see in Level 1 and Level 2 features such as “Buy/Sell” and “Order Book”? Do you have any suggestions to make it better compared to currently available exchanges in the market?
Level 1 provides only top potential bid/ask for listed price, whereas level 2 provides all available potentials bid/ask for listed price.
Some exchanges provide all the available orders in their level 2 order book whereas some show less of them by merging several near-priced orders together. Again this was a more technical and professional question.
· And so 65% said nothing.
Other suggestions included:
· Stop-loss and limit feature
· Alerts on, below or above coin price
· Order book should have easy to understand UI
· There should be a graphical representation of the order book.
· Trailing stop-loss to manage risk levels.
6. Please add any other issues faced and/or your suggestions/expectations from an exchange.
Again a mixed response from professional and casual traders. The more general responses were as follows:
· 20% of participants expect an exchange which is simple and easy to use with interactive user interface.
· 29% demand expedited fiat withdrawals to their bank account.
· 32% are concerned for security of their deposits.
Other individual responses included:
· The exchange’s dashboard should have a newsfeed which showcases the latest updates in the crypto world.
· Integration with modern features like Face ID and NFC.
· Referral bonuses.
· Traders’ community where traders share thoughts and ideas with each other — such as a discussion forum or chat room.
· Same fee structure for maker and takers.
· Margin and lending facility with lower fee.
· Most traders expect transparent trading and holding policies along with low withdrawal fees.
· Some traders says they expect all well-known coins in USDT pairs.
· Customer support needs to be timely.
· More security features like biometric verification via mobile (Face ID and touch ID).
· Knowledge centre and blog to educate new comers about the crypto exchange and trading features.
Key takeaways
Although most traders will use more than one exchange, the current winners in this field are Binance, Huobi.pro and Okex and it was interesting that each of these had a specific reason attached as to why they were most used. None of the exchanges encompassed all requirements. There is clearly a need for an exchange that can provide all the stated benefits under one roof.
The key concerns for traders came as no surprise, with security, high fees and lack of liquidity coming top of the list. Encrybit is working hard to solve these issues which are often battles against external pressures. However, issues such as poor customer service, unfriendly user-interfaces and unethical behaviour from exchange operators surely have no place in this market. These aspects are entirely down to poor operating practices and Encrybit is committed to bringing you a fresh new kind of experience, free of such concerns.
Many other desired features were mentioned by our survey respondents, encompassing charting, indicators and user interface improvements, although it was noted that some respondents did not answer these questions, suggesting that this segment had no particular thoughts about these issues. This could be explained by some traders being more casual, needing only simple functionality. Rest assured, Encrybit aims to cater to the casual trader who needs an easy to navigate platform. At the same time, Encrybit will provide powered-up, cutting-edge features for professional traders who require the full range of technical analysis tools and fundamentals information at their fingertips.
Where next?
2017 saw an unparalleled increase in interest in Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies — the total marketcap of crytpto saw exponential growth over 3000%. In response to this new worldwide demand, many new crypto exchanges sprung up and continue to do so. CoinMarketCap now lists just over 200 exchanges.
As DEX technology matures and scalability/liquidity issues are solved by upcoming improvements in blockchains, we would aim to adapt Encrybit to that model — in fact market forces would demand it.
In the meantime, our goal at Encrybit is to keep improving the centralized exchange model in favor of traders as much and as fast as possible.
If you feel inclined towards the contemplation of your fellow associates, do share this post and circulate till it reaches every member of the crypto community.
And you are free to share your thoughts otherwise in the comments!
