10 Things to Know Before Using a Crypto Exchange for the First Time: Account Security, Test Transfers, Spreading Your Funds, Withdrawal Routes, Scams and Fees

When people use an exchange for the first time, things usually go wrong in the steps around buying and selling: an account that was not secured gets taken over, a transfer goes out on the wrong network, all the money sits at one exchange, or someone posing as support talks them out of their funds. I have used Bybit and Binance the longest, and later started using OKX and Bitget too. This article puts the 10 things a beginner should know about using an exchange for the first time in the order you will meet them, and each one links to a detailed guide on this site.

The short version: set up your account security the day you sign up, send a small test before every transfer, and keep only the amount you want to trade on the exchange. The other seven are: look at safety before fees when choosing an exchange, work out how you will withdraw before you deposit, download the app only from official channels, always check the network and Memo, spread your funds across two or three exchanges, stop when someone tells you to transfer crypto, and understand how fees are calculated.

This article is a summary of information and my personal approach, and not investment, tax or legal advice. Exchange rules, fees and features change; every figure here is marked with the date it was checked. Before you act, go by the exchange’s official pages at the time, and follow the law where you live.

Before you use an exchange: check safety first, then plan how your money comes out

When choosing an exchange, safety and reserves matter more than fees

A slightly lower fee saves you small change over a year; a problem at the exchange hits your principal. Of the 25 centralized exchange incidents from 2014 to 2026 I compiled, users eventually got everything back in 17 of the 20 hacks. Bankruptcies were very different: for the 3 cases with data, the median time from the incident to the first distribution was 1,562 days, and in none of them did users get their original coins back (“Centralized exchange incident timeline”, verified 2026-10-12).

So when I choose an exchange, I look at proof of reserves and past incidents first, and fees after that. For how to read the 5 criteria, see “How to choose a crypto exchange”; for what proof of reserves can and cannot prove, see “How to check proof of reserves”; to choose by what you need, see “Choosing an exchange by need”.

Before you put money in, work out how to get it out

Beginners often research how to buy first, and only after buying find they cannot convert back to fiat, or have to go through several steps to do it. Before you move money onto an exchange, check three things:

• Which fiat currency you will end up converting to, and where: for example, converting USDT to US dollars on Bitfinex and withdrawing by wire transfer (see “Bitfinex USDT to USD”), or converting USDT to TWD on MAX in Taiwan and withdrawing to a bank account (see “MAX USDT to TWD”).
• Whether the exchange can be used where you live: confirm it in the terms of service, and check which operating entity you will be signing up with.
• Where your USDT comes from: the channels differ if you are in Taiwan holding TWD versus living overseas; see “How to buy USDT”.

The day you sign up: use only official channels and turn on account security first

Sign up and download the app only from the official website and official app stores

Fake exchange apps and fake websites look almost like the real thing. After you deposit, the paper profits look great, and only when you try to withdraw are you told to “pay tax first” or “pay a deposit first”. How to check:

• Download the app only from the official website or an official app store, and do not tap links from groups, direct messages or search ads. With OKX, for example, the developer of the official iOS app is “OKX Inc.” (OKX help, updated 2026-08-25).
• Type the official website address yourself once and bookmark it, then always go in from the bookmark.
• Websites, emails and social media accounts can be checked with the exchange’s official verification tool, such as Binance Verify and OKX’s official channel verification (checked 2026-10-12).

For a roundup of each exchange’s verification tool, see “Crypto scam playbooks in the Chinese-speaking world”.

Replace SMS verification, and turn on a withdrawal whitelist and an anti-phishing code

After you sign up and before you deposit anything, set up these three:

The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) explains how SMS codes get intercepted in a document dated 25 October 2023: scammers persuade the victim’s mobile carrier to move the phone number to a phone the scammer controls, and from then on the scammer receives the codes.

Do these settings before you are in a hurry to withdraw. Binance’s help page (checked 2026-10-16) says that after security actions such as changing your password, withdrawals are paused for 24 to 48 hours and the pause cannot be lifted before then. For which features each exchange supports and where to set them, see “Exchange account security settings compared”.

Your first transfer: send a small amount first, and check both the network and the Memo

Every time you send to a new address, send a small test first

A transfer on a blockchain cannot be reversed once it is sent. For a new exchange, a new wallet or a new network, I always send a small amount first and send the rest once it arrives.

Even with the right network and address, the receiving side can be delayed. On 8 October 2026 I sent 134,515 USDT from OKX to Bitfinex on Solana. It confirmed on-chain in two minutes, but Bitfinex’s Solana deposits happened to have a technical delay and the funds were credited about 6 hours later. When this happens, first confirm on a block explorer that the transaction succeeded, then contact support with the transaction ID, and do not send it again. The steps are in “USDT deposit delayed: what to do”.

Pick the wrong network or Memo and you may not get it back

It is all USDT, but TRC20, ERC20, BEP20, Solana and TON are different chains. Before you send, check in this order:

1. First see which networks the receiving side supports, then pick the one with the lower withdrawal fee among the networks both sides have.
2. Copy and paste the address, then check the first and last few characters.
3. If the receiving side asks for a Memo (note or tag), you must fill it in.

Mistakes are not cheap. At Binance, for example, if you send on an EVM network Binance does not support, self-service recovery costs 20 USDT and takes about 30 working days, is charged only if it succeeds, and Binance states that success is not guaranteed (Binance help, checked 2026-10-16). Leaving out a Memo costs money too: for a Bitfinex TON deposit without one, help recovering it costs US$150 (Bitfinex fee page).

For each exchange’s withdrawal fees, see “How to choose a USDT withdrawal network”; if you have already sent on the wrong one, see “USDT sent on the wrong network” for how to recover it.

Where to keep your money: only the amount you want to trade stays on the exchange

Keep long-term holdings in a wallet where you hold the private keys

When your money is on an exchange, the exchange holds the private keys. If the exchange goes bankrupt, your account balance becomes a claim against the exchange. In most cases it is converted to US dollars at the coin price on the day the bankruptcy was filed and then paid out in rounds. FTX users got back 105% to 120% measured in US dollars, but by my calculation, an FTX.com customer claim for 1 BTC would buy back only about 0.19 BTC if you used each payout to buy BTC as it arrived (“What happens when an exchange goes bankrupt”, verified 2026-10-12).

Exchanges themselves keep only a small share of assets in hot wallets. Coinbase, for example, writes in its 2025 annual report that it generally keeps hot wallets within 2% of the assets it holds in custody. Cold wallets are not foolproof either: on 21 February 2025 about US$1.46 billion was stolen from Bybit, and what was attacked was an Ethereum multisig cold wallet (Bybit incident timeline).

My approach is to separate funds by purpose: what I trade stays on exchanges, and what I hold long term goes to a cold wallet. For the risks of each of the three ways to hold crypto, see “Cold wallet vs hot wallet vs exchange custody”; for the checks to run after buying a cold wallet, see “The Ledger theft incident”.

Spread your funds across two or three exchanges and keep a backup route

I do not keep all my assets on one exchange; I spread them across two or three. When one exchange pauses withdrawals, or deposits on one chain are delayed, there is still another route, and the transfer above that took 6 hours to be credited is an example.

Spreading out has a cost too: the more accounts you have, the more security settings to set up and passwords to remember. Set up account security at every exchange the way described above, and do not skip it because you “only keep a little there”.

Scams: if someone tells you to transfer crypto or pay first, stop

Crypto scams in the Chinese-speaking world follow five common playbooks: the “teacher” in an investment group, fake exchange apps, fake support, Telegram groups impersonating an exchange, and “recovery firms” that come back to scam you a second time. They all end at the same step: getting you to send crypto to a place they name, approve something in your wallet, or pay a “fee” before you can withdraw.

The exchanges’ official position is clear. OKX’s page on common scam tactics (updated 2026-09-07, checked 2026-10-16) says that OKX will not contact you privately to tell you to buy, withdraw or transfer crypto, and will not ask for your seed phrase or private keys; it also lists “withdrawals refused, with a deposit required before you can withdraw” as a sign of a scam platform.

Three rules are enough:

• Real support never needs your password, verification code or seed phrase. Always open support from the app or from the official website you typed in yourself.
• If you have to pay more money to withdraw your own money, it is a scam.
• If you have already sent money, go straight to the police, and do not turn to anyone who claims they can “recover” it.

For each playbook’s script, the giveaways and where to report in different places, see “Crypto scam playbooks in the Chinese-speaking world”.

Fees: understand Maker and Taker first, then look at costs beyond fees

Exchange trading fees are split into Maker (placing an order on the book) and Taker (filling an existing order). Most people buy and sell with market orders, so they usually pay the Taker rate. At Binance, for example, regular users pay 0.1% for both Maker and Taker spot trades, so buying 1,000 USDT worth of crypto costs about 1 USDT; paying the fee in BNB brings it to 0.075% (Binance fee schedule, checked 2026-10-16). In the official rates on 8 October 2026, the spot fee for regular users at most international exchanges was also 0.1% (see “International exchange fee comparison”).

There are three ways to lower fees, and each is calculated differently:

Fees are only part of the cost. Market orders also come with spread and slippage, and a “zero-fee” trading pair with a thin order book can end up costing more on a large trade; see “Are zero-fee exchanges really cheaper”. The withdrawal fee on a transfer depends on the network you choose.

Checklist: 10 things for your first time on an exchange

Reviews of each exchange and more guides are on the crypto topic page.

FAQ

What should I set up first when I start using a crypto exchange?

Turn on three account security settings the day you sign up: replace SMS verification with a passkey, a hardware security key or an authenticator app, turn on the withdrawal address whitelist, and set an anti-phishing code. It is best to do this before you need to withdraw anything, because changing security settings can pause withdrawals for a while.

Why send a small test transfer first?

A blockchain transfer cannot be reversed once it is sent. If you pick the wrong network, leave out the Memo or paste the wrong address, you may not get the funds back. Send a small amount first, and send the rest once it arrives, so a mistake only costs you that small amount.

Can I get USDT back if I sent it on the wrong network?

Not always. At Binance, for example, if you sent it on an EVM network Binance does not support, you can apply for self-service recovery. It costs 20 USDT, takes about 30 working days, is charged only if it succeeds, and Binance states that success is not guaranteed. Funds sent to an address nobody controls are basically gone.

Can I keep all my money on an exchange?

I would not. I keep only the amount I want to trade on exchanges and hold the long-term part in a wallet where I keep the private keys myself. When an exchange is hacked, users have mostly been compensated, but when one goes bankrupt your balance becomes a claim, which takes years and does not return the coins you originally held.

Someone claiming to be exchange support sent me a direct message asking me to transfer crypto. What should I do?

Stop and do not transfer anything. OKX states that it will not contact you privately to tell you to buy, withdraw or transfer crypto. Always open support from the exchange's app or from the official website you typed in yourself, and check the account that contacted you with the exchange's official verification tool.

How are exchange trading fees calculated?

At most international exchanges the spot fee for regular users is 0.1%. At Binance, for example, regular users pay 0.1% for both Maker and Taker spot trades, so buying 1,000 USDT worth of crypto costs about 1 USDT. Signing up with an invitation code gives you the exchange's official fee discount: the actual rate equals the official rate multiplied by (1 minus the discount percentage).