What this exchange is
OKX has run since 2017 (as OKEx until 2022) and holds second place behind Binance on spot book depth. For arbitrage that makes it the reference counterpart: if a gap shows up between Binance and OKX, it is almost certainly real rather than an artefact of a thin market.
A separate strength is the number of trading pairs. On spot instruments OKX often exceeds Binance, including coins Binance does not list at all.
The Web3 wallet and DEX aggregator
The main thing setting OKX apart here: a full non-custodial wallet with a decentralised exchange aggregator lives inside the app. In practice you can buy a coin on spot, move it to your own wallet and swap it on a DEX without leaving one interface or installing anything.
For arbitrage between centralised and decentralised venues that shortens the path considerably. But understand the difference: funds in the Web3 wallet are yours and the exchange is not responsible for them — a lost recovery phrase means lost money.
Fees, funding and withdrawals
Base spot rates are slightly better than the market average for limit orders; the discount grows with volume and with OKB held. Withdrawal fees per network are in the live table above.
OKX's P2P is well developed, especially in CIS currencies and the Turkish lira. The advertisement interface is tidier than most competitors' and payment-method filters behave predictably.
What to know
In February 2025 OKX pleaded guilty before US authorities to operating without the required money transmitting licence and paid around half a billion dollars. It is a familiar industry story: the venue served American users without permission to do so.
The practical consequence for a user elsewhere is small but real: after settlements like this, exchanges tighten checks and look harder at the source of funds.
Worth noting separately: for users in the European Economic Area, OKX operates through a separate legal entity on a separate domain. API keys created in one environment do not work in the other — we ran into this ourselves while connecting the exchange to the scanner.
Who it suits
Anyone who wants deep spot and a wide listing at once. And especially anyone working across centralised and decentralised venues: the built-in Web3 wallet saves more time than it first appears.