Updated Rules checked 2026-10-21
The crypto terms that trip up beginners most fall into seven groups: account and security, trading and fees, futures and risk, deposits, withdrawals and blockchains, earn and staking, referral codes and rebates, and scams. This article explains 80 terms in a sentence or two each. Figures and rules come from the exchanges’ official documentation, and each term links to a fuller article on this site.
Keep in mind that exchanges use different words for the same thing: in Traditional Chinese, for example, Binance calls a deposit 儲值 while OKX calls it 充幣. The same term can also work differently from one exchange to the next, the withdrawal whitelist being one example. The first table below sorts out these easily confused words.
Every term has a fixed URL anchor (for example #term-funding-rate) that you can share directly. Futures has the most terms, because that is where costs and risks are concentrated: leverage magnifies both gains and losses, a position may be forcibly closed when the price moves against it, and you lose all the margin you put in.
Key points
Futures trading fees and funding fees are both calculated on position value, not on margin: 1,000 USDT of margin at 10x leverage is a position worth 10,000 USDT.
All 13 exchanges this site covers state in their official documentation that liquidation is based on the mark price (MEXC and Ourbit call it the fair price), yet candlestick charts show the last price by default.
When the funding rate is positive, longs pay shorts; when it is negative, shorts pay longs. Binance states that it takes no cut. A rate of 0.01% every 8 hours annualizes to 10.95% of position value.
The sending and receiving sides must choose the same network. Recovering a deposit sent without its Memo costs 5 times the coin’s withdrawal fee on Bybit.
On OKX, a withdrawal whitelist means “you can only withdraw to addresses on the list”; on Gate and Bybit it means “addresses on the list skip the verification code”.
The information below was checked against official pages on 2026-10-21 (the fact-check date) and is provided for reference.
Contents
- What does each exchange call the same thing?
- Account and security (13 terms)
- Trading and fees (17 terms)
- Futures and risk (23 terms)
- Deposits, withdrawals and blockchains (11 terms)
- Earn and staking (6 terms)
- Referral codes and rebates (3 terms)
- Scams (7 terms)
- FAQ
What does each exchange call the same thing?
When you switch to another exchange, the different button names are what confuse people most. The table below lists the words each exchange actually uses in its Traditional Chinese interface or help pages (in Chinese, with an English gloss where useful); the right-hand column shows where mistakes happen most.
| Concept | What each exchange calls it | Where people get confused |
|---|---|---|
| Moving crypto into the exchange (deposit) | Binance 儲值, OKX 充幣, Bybit 儲值/充值, Bitget and KuCoin 充值 | Different names for the same thing |
| Moving crypto out of the exchange (withdrawal) | Binance and Bitget 提領, OKX 提幣, Bybit 提幣/提現, KuCoin 提現/提幣 | Different names for the same thing |
| Moving assets between your own accounts | Binance 轉帳 (“transfer”), OKX 資金劃轉 (“fund transfer”), Bybit 劃轉 (“transfer”), Bitget 資產劃轉 (“asset transfer”) | On Binance, 轉帳 means moving between your own wallets; on OKX and KuCoin, 內部轉帳 (“internal transfer”) means sending to another user on the same platform |
| Extra address information | Binance “MEMO”, OKX 標籤 (“tag”), Bybit “Tag/Memo”, Bitget 標籤/備註 (“tag/memo”) | Whether you need it depends on the network, not just the coin |
| Withdrawal whitelist | OKX, MEXC, HTX, Pionex: once enabled, you can only withdraw to addresses on the list | Gate, Bybit: withdrawals to addresses on the list can skip the verification code |
| Referral code | Binance 推薦碼 (“referral code”); OKX, Bitget, KuCoin 邀請碼 (“invitation code”); MEXC app 推廣碼 (“promotion code”) | All of them are the code you enter at sign-up that links your account to a referrer |
Source: the exchanges’ official documentation as compiled in this site’s articles on deposit, withdrawal and transfer terms (checked 2026-10-17), exchange security settings and what a referral code is.
Account and security terms: what are KYC, UID and 2FA?
Changing security settings often locks withdrawals for a while, so it’s best to set everything up in one go when you have time.
KYC identity verification (Know Your Customer)
The process an exchange uses to confirm that the account is being used by its owner, usually by uploading an ID document and doing a face liveness check. New Binance users must reach the “Verified” level before they can deposit and trade, and Binance says reviews are usually completed within 48 hours. See the Binance KYC guide.
UID (User ID)
An account number generated automatically at sign-up, one per account; Bitget and Pionex state that it cannot be changed. Someone who only has your UID cannot log in, place orders or withdraw, but never give out your password, verification codes or API keys. See what an exchange UID is.
Sub-account
An account that sits under your main account, with its assets recorded separately. On Binance each person can have only one verified personal account; to manage funds separately you can open sub-accounts (up to 5), and futures on a regular user’s sub-account are limited to 5x leverage.
Two-factor authentication (2FA)
When you log in or withdraw, you enter a one-time verification code on top of your password; the code can come by SMS, email or an authenticator app. Bitget warns that SMS verification carries the risk of SIM hijacking (someone impersonates you to get a replacement SIM card and receives your codes) and recommends an authenticator app or a passkey instead. See exchange security settings.
Passkey
You log in by unlocking with your face or fingerprint on your phone or computer, without typing a password or verification code. Of the 13 exchanges this site covers, 12 describe this feature in their official documentation; Ourbit’s help center does not mention it.
Anti-phishing code
A string of text you choose yourself. From then on, every official email from the exchange includes it, and Binance, Bybit and XT state that their text messages include it too (Binance anti-phishing code guide). Treat any “official email” that doesn’t carry this code as suspicious.
Withdrawal whitelist
A list of withdrawal addresses registered in advance. On OKX, MEXC, HTX and Pionex, once it’s enabled you can only withdraw to addresses on the list, and on OKX, MEXC and Pionex a new address also has a 24-hour wait. Gate’s and Bybit’s whitelists lean toward skipping verification: withdrawals to listed addresses can skip the verification code.
API key
A key that lets a trading bot or third-party software query your account and place orders on your behalf. Since 2023-01-30, Binance has required that API keys not bound to an IP address can only have read permission. A rebate site only needs your UID to verify a referral, so if anyone asks you to hand over an API key, don’t.
Withdrawal lock
A protection period during which the exchange suspends withdrawals after you change or reset your password, phone number, email or authenticator. It’s 24 hours on OKX, Bybit, Bitget and others, 24 to 48 hours according to Binance, and 72 hours on Pionex after a Google Authenticator reset. Binance, Gate and Pionex state that it cannot be lifted before it expires.
Frozen account (account restriction)
The exchange restricts withdrawals or trading on the account. Common causes are changes to security settings, a request for additional KYC or an explanation of the source of funds, and freezes by law enforcement. Appeal only through official customer support and tickets; OKX and HTX state that lifting a restriction costs nothing. See what to do if your exchange account is frozen.
Proof of reserves (PoR)
The exchange publishes a reserve ratio: “the amount of a coin the platform holds ÷ the amount of the same coin users hold on the platform”. Above 100% means that at the time of the snapshot, the platform held no fewer coins than the user assets included in the calculation. It doesn’t show company borrowing, other liabilities or whether assets have been pledged, and Merkle tree self-verification only confirms that your balance was counted. See proof of reserves compared.
Hot wallet / cold wallet
A hot wallet is connected to the internet and handles day-to-day withdrawals; a cold wallet keeps private keys offline. Of the 13 exchanges this site covers, 7 have had platform wallets hacked, 8 times in total. See exchange security track records.
User protection fund (SAFU and others)
Money an exchange sets aside itself to cover user losses in events such as hacks. The 7,000 BTC stolen from Binance in 2019 was covered in full by the SAFU fund; Bitget lost about 388 million USD in a hack on 2026-09-24 and said its protection fund would cover it.
Trading and fee terms: what are maker, taker and slippage?
The most common misunderstanding is that “a limit order is a maker order”. Which fee rate you pay depends on how the order actually fills.
Spot
Buying and selling the coin itself directly with a quote currency such as USDT. The coins you buy sit in your account, and they won’t be force-sold if the price falls. Binance’s spot fee for regular users (VIP 0) is 0.1%. For how spot differs from futures, see spot vs futures.
Trading pair
Written in the form BTC/USDT: the first coin is the one you buy or sell, the second is the quote currency, so the BTC/USDT price is how much USDT 1 BTC is worth. The same coin usually has several pairs, such as BTC/USDT and BTC/USDC, and each pair’s order book and fees need to be checked separately.
Order book
A list of all unfilled buy and sell orders. The highest buy price is the best bid and the lowest sell price is the best ask. An order placed in the order book to wait for someone to fill it is a maker; an order that fills right away against orders already in the book is a taker.
Market order
An order with no set price that fills immediately at the best prices currently in the order book. A market order is always a taker, and slippage can also make the fill price worse than the price you saw on screen.
Limit order
An order with a set price that fills only at that price or better. A limit order is not the same as a maker order: if it can match an opposing order the moment it’s submitted, you pay the taker rate.
Maker
An order that doesn’t fill right after it’s submitted and instead joins the order book to wait for someone else to fill it. Among the 13 exchanges this site covers, the USDⓈ-M futures maker fee for regular users is 0.02% at most of them and 0% on MEXC. For a comparison, see maker vs taker fees.
Taker
An order that fills against orders already in the book as soon as it’s submitted. For regular users at the 13 exchanges, the USDⓈ-M futures taker fee ranges from 0.02% to 0.08%, mostly 2.5 to 4 times the maker fee; for spot, 10 of them, including Binance, Bybit and Bitget, charge the same rate for maker and taker.
Post only
An option on limit orders: if the order would fill immediately, the exchange cancels it instead of letting it fill as a taker. Tick it when you want to be sure you pay the maker rate.
Slippage
The gap between the actual fill price and the price you saw or set. It is most likely with market orders and market-triggered stop-losses when the market moves sharply or the order book is thin. Slippage doesn’t appear in your fee breakdown, but it is still a cost.
VIP level
Fee tiers that an exchange assigns based on 30-day trading volume or assets; the higher the tier, the lower the fees. At Binance, OKX, Bybit, Bitget and BingX, the VIP 1 threshold is mostly 5 million to 10 million USD in 30-day futures volume, or 30,000 to 100,000 USD in account assets. See exchange VIP levels compared.
Exchange token fee discount
Paying fees with the exchange’s own token gets you a discount. Binance states that paying with BNB saves up to 25% on spot and margin and up to 10% on futures (Binance BNB fee discount guide, updated 2026-02-06). You carry the risk of the token’s own price moves.
Convert
Swapping one coin for another in a single step at the exchange’s quoted price, without dealing with the order book. Many exchanges label Convert as free of trading fees, but the cost is built into the quote; Bitget’s Convert quote, for example, has a spread against the spot price. See Convert vs spot.
Margin trading
Borrowing money or coins from the exchange to buy and sell on the spot market. What you buy are real coins, and the cost is trading fees plus borrowing interest calculated hourly. Binance’s cross margin offers 3x or 5x leverage, and you are liquidated when the margin level falls below 1.1.
Dollar-cost averaging (DCA)
Buying crypto with a fixed amount at fixed intervals. Binance says its Convert “Recurring” feature has zero fees, with the cost built into the quote; OKX’s recurring buy is charged at spot fees, and Pionex’s TWAP DCA bot charges 0.05%. See DCA fees for buying crypto.
Grid trading
A price range is split into many grids, each with a buy order and a sell order, and a bot automatically buys as the price falls and sells as it rises. When the price leaves the range, the bot stops placing orders; the net profit per grid is roughly the grid spacing minus two trading fees. See what grid trading is. 11 of the 13 exchanges offer grid bots; see trading bots compared.
Copy trading
In the exchange app you pick a lead trader, and the system copies their orders into your copy trading account; the funds stay in your own account. The costs are profit sharing (mostly 10% to 30%, charged only on profits), trading fees on every fill, and slippage. See the real cost of copy trading.
Take profit / stop loss (TP/SL)
Conditional orders set in advance to close a position; a market or limit order is sent only when the price touches the trigger price. On spot, OCO (when one order fills, the other is canceled automatically) is often used to set both sides at once. A trailing stop’s trigger price moves with the market, and on Binance futures the callback rate can be set from 0.01% to 20%. See how to set take profit and stop loss.
Futures and risk terms: what are leverage, liquidation and the funding rate?
Futures terms are the ones most likely to cost you money when misunderstood. Leverage magnifies both gains and losses, a position may be forcibly closed when the price moves against it, and you lose all the margin you put in. This section only explains the rules and does not recommend any leverage level.
Futures
A contract in which the two sides don’t exchange coins and only settle profit and loss on price changes. You can go long or short and use leverage. A futures position doesn’t hold the coin, and when the price moves against you to the liquidation price, the system closes the position. See spot vs futures.
Perpetual futures
Futures with no expiry date that use funding fees to keep the contract price close to spot. They are currently the most traded type of futures, and Binance’s documentation also states that “perpetual contracts have no expiry date”.
Delivery futures (quarterly futures)
Futures with an expiry date that settle automatically when they expire, with no funding fees. Binance’s quarterly futures expire at 08:00 UTC on the last Friday of the quarter month, and a separate delivery fee is charged at settlement, at the same rate as the taker fee.
USDⓈ-M futures (USDT-margined)
Futures that use USDT or USDC as margin and settle profit and loss in it. Binance’s fee formula is position value × fee rate (Binance futures fee guide, updated 2026-05-01), and regular users pay 0.02% maker and 0.05% taker. For the steps from opening an account to placing an order, see the Binance futures guide.
Coin-margined futures (COIN-M)
Futures that use a coin such as BTC as margin and settle in that coin; fees are also charged in that coin. Binance’s USDⓈ-M and COIN-M futures wallets are separate, so funds have to be transferred into each one.
Long / short
Going long means expecting the price to rise; going short means expecting it to fall. In futures you can open a short directly. In spot you can only buy first and sell later, so to short on spot you need margin trading to borrow coins and sell them.
Leverage
The multiple that lets part of your funds open a larger position: position value = margin × leverage. The higher the multiple, the closer the liquidation price is to the entry price. A 10x isolated long with a 0.5% maintenance margin rate, ignoring fees, is liquidated after a 9.55% drop.
Margin
The funds you put up when opening a futures position, which is the money you lose if the position is liquidated. Binance’s rule: liquidation is triggered when initial margin plus realized and unrealized PnL falls below the maintenance margin.
Position value (notional value)
The amount a futures position actually represents, equal to margin × leverage. Trading fees and funding fees are both charged on it: 1,000 USDT at 10x is a position worth 10,000 USDT, and a 0.05% taker fee on entry and exit comes to 10 USDT in total. See how futures fees are calculated.
Maintenance margin
The minimum margin that keeps a position from being liquidated, equal to position value × maintenance margin rate; the larger the position, the higher the rate. Among the 11 exchanges whose figures this site could find, the first tier for BTCUSDT ranges from 0.10% to 0.50%. On Binance, a position is liquidated when the margin ratio (maintenance margin ÷ margin balance) reaches 100%, and Binance recommends keeping it below 80% (Binance liquidation protocol).
Liquidation (forced liquidation)
When losses push your margin below the maintenance margin, the system closes the position for you, and the margin you put in is lost. People often call it “getting liquidated” or “blowing up” a position in casual talk. All 13 exchanges this site covers use the mark price to decide whether to liquidate.
Liquidation price
The mark price at which position equity falls to the maintenance margin. For a USDⓈ-M long: liquidation price = (entry price − margin ÷ quantity) ÷ (1 − maintenance margin rate − closing fee rate). A 20x long opened at 60,000 USDT with a 0.5% maintenance margin rate and a 0.05% closing fee rate has a liquidation price of 57,315.23, so a 4.47% drop liquidates it. You can try your own numbers with the liquidation price calculator.
Cross margin
The available balance of one currency is shared across all cross margin positions. The liquidation price is further away, but a liquidation may take that currency’s balance with it. Binance, Bybit and XT default to cross margin. See cross vs isolated margin.
Isolated margin
Each position gets its own margin, and a liquidation loses at most that margin. With 1,000 USDT in the account, using only 200 USDT to open a 10x isolated long (0.5% maintenance margin rate, ignoring fees) means a 9.55% drop liquidates it, while the other 800 USDT is unaffected.
One-way mode / hedge mode
In one-way mode you can hold only one direction in a given contract, and an order in the opposite direction offsets or reduces the existing position. Hedge mode lets you hold a long and a short in the same contract at the same time (Binance hedge mode guide).
Mark price
A fair price calculated from the index price (a weighted average of prices on several spot exchanges) plus the funding rate or the order book basis. It is used to calculate unrealized PnL and to decide liquidation. MEXC and Ourbit call it the “fair price”. See mark price vs last price.
Last price
The price of the most recent trade in this contract on this exchange. Candlestick charts show it by default, and actual fill prices and realized PnL are based on it. Bybit and XT trigger take profit and stop loss on the last price by default.
Wick
A long shadow on a candlestick, showing that the price swung far away and snapped back within a very short time, usually because of large orders or a thin order book. A stop-loss triggered by the last price can get hit by a wick. Liquidation uses the mark price, so a wick of a few seconds on the futures market alone usually won’t trigger liquidation.
Funding rate
A fee that longs and shorts in perpetual futures pay each other at regular intervals: when the rate is positive, longs pay shorts; when it is negative, shorts pay longs. Binance states that it takes no cut, and funding settles every 8 hours by default (Binance funding rate guide, updated 2026-03-06). Funding fee = position value × funding rate, and 0.01% every 8 hours annualizes to 10.95%. See what the funding rate is.
Unrealized / realized PnL
Unrealized PnL is the paper profit or loss on a position you still hold, calculated at the mark price, and it moves with the price. Realized PnL is the profit or loss locked in once you close, calculated at the actual fill price.
Insurance fund
A fund that takes over the part of a liquidation loss that exceeds the margin: a position that can’t be closed out is handed to the fund at the bankruptcy price (the price at which the margin is exactly used up), so the fill price can be worse than the liquidation price. Binance states that it is not an insurance product and will not be used to make up traders’ losses (Binance insurance fund overview).
Auto-deleveraging (ADL)
When the insurance fund isn’t enough to take over a bankrupt position, the system forcibly closes positions on the other side in order of leverage and profit, so even a profitable position can be closed. On BingX, you can see your own place in the ADL queue in the risk ratio section of the positions page.
Liquidation fee
An extra fee some exchanges charge on liquidation, and it varies a lot: Bybit charges none on perpetual futures, OKX charges at the taker rate, and Pionex’s example uses a liquidation fee rate of 1.75%.
Deposit, withdrawal and blockchain terms: what are transfers, networks and Memos?
When money actually goes missing, it’s usually because of a detail in this group: the two sides chose different networks, a required Memo was left out, or the amount was below the minimum. Before moving a large amount, send a small amount first and confirm it arrives.
Deposit / withdrawal
A deposit moves money or crypto into your exchange account; a withdrawal moves it out. In Chinese, exchanges use several words for each (儲值, 充值 and 充幣 for deposits; 提領, 提幣 and 提現 for withdrawals), but they all mean the same thing. For a side-by-side list of the wording, see deposit, withdrawal and transfer terms explained.
Transfer
Moving assets within your own account, from the funding account to the trading or futures account. Nothing goes on-chain, and OKX and Bybit state that it’s free. OKX lists the common reasons a transfer won’t go through: open positions, margin debt, or Earn products that haven’t been redeemed.
Network (chain)
The same coin can circulate on different blockchains; USDT, for instance, exists on TRC20, ERC20, BEP20, Solana, TON and more. The sender and the receiver must choose the same network. Binance states that if you choose an incompatible network, the funds may be lost and cannot be recovered.
TRC20 / ERC20 / BEP20
The token standards on TRON, Ethereum and BNB Smart Chain respectively, and the three most common networks for sending USDT. On 2026-10-21, Binance charged 0.01 USDT to withdraw USDT over BEP20 and 1.5 USDT over TRC20 (Binance deposit and withdrawal fees page). For a comparison of 13 exchanges, see USDT withdrawal fees compared.
Memo / Tag
An identifier that tells the exchange whose money a deposit is. Deposit pages for networks such as XRP, XLM and TON show it, and it must be copied exactly. To recover a deposit sent without its Tag/Memo, Bybit charges 5 times the coin’s withdrawal fee, and transactions older than 180 days are not accepted (Bybit guide to recovering deposits with a missing Tag/Memo, updated 2026-10-16).
Withdrawal fee / minimum withdrawal
The withdrawal fee is a fixed amount per withdrawal, no matter how much you withdraw, and it depends on both the exchange and the network; the minimum withdrawal is the smallest amount you can withdraw at a time. Withdrawing the same 100 USDT from Binance, the fee is 1.5% over TRC20 but only 0.01% over BEP20. OKX states that network fees are adjusted according to congestion.
Block confirmations
After an on-chain transfer is sent, the receiving side credits it only once the blockchain has added a certain number of block confirmations; the higher the number, the longer the wait usually is. OKX’s deposit page even shows two numbers: the confirmations needed for the deposit to arrive and the confirmations needed to unlock it for withdrawal.
TXID (transaction hash)
The ID of each on-chain transfer, which you can look up in a block explorer to see the transfer’s status. You need it when asking about a deposit that hasn’t arrived, applying for recovery or reporting to the police. On Pionex, recovery applications must be submitted within 30 calendar days of the TXID being recorded on-chain.
Recovering a wrong-network deposit or missing Memo
When coins are sent over a network the receiving side doesn’t support, or without a required Memo, some exchanges let you apply for recovery, but they charge a fee and success isn’t guaranteed. For example, recovering a deposit sent without its Memo costs 40 USDT on KuCoin and 20 USDT on MEXC. See how to recover a wrong-network deposit.
Stablecoin: USDT / USDC
Cryptocurrencies pegged 1:1 to the US dollar; USDT is issued by Tether and USDC by Circle. Both have lost their peg: USDT briefly fell to about 0.95 USD on 2022-05-12, and USDC fell to about 0.86 USD on 2023-03-11. Both returned to around 1 USD within a few days. See USDT vs USDC.
P2P / C2C trading
Buying and selling USDT for fiat directly with other users (merchants) on an exchange’s platform. On 2026-10-17, Binance P2P’s New Taiwan dollar (TWD) market showed 0 buy orders and 0 sell orders for USDT. For the process and the risks, see the C2C/P2P guide to buying USDT.
Earn and staking terms: what are APR, staking and dual investment?
These are all the exchanges’ own products. They are not bank deposits, and your principal is not guaranteed. When you see a very high annualized figure, first check how much money and how many days it applies to.
Flexible / locked savings (Simple Earn and others)
Putting coins into an exchange’s earn product to collect interest. Flexible products can be redeemed at any time; locked products pay back only at maturity. High annualized rates often apply only to a small first tier: in the 2026-10-13 snapshot, Bybit’s 6.87% on flexible USDT applied only to the first 200 USDT, and the amount above that earned 1.87%. See USDT flexible savings rates compared.
APR / APY (annualized return)
APR is the annual rate without compounding; APY includes compounding, so for the same rate, APY comes out a little higher than APR. Annualized figures need to be converted to the actual number of days: for a 7-day Binance dual investment at 13.92% APR, the official formula gives an actual return of 0.26% of the principal.
Staking
Handing coins such as ETH or SOL to an exchange that runs blockchain validator nodes and collects network rewards. You usually receive a receipt token representing the staked position, such as Binance’s WBETH or OKX’s BETH. On 2026-10-21, Binance’s reference APR for ETH staking was 2.24%; Binance takes a 7.5% commission, and redemption takes about 12 days. See exchange staking rates compared.
Dual investment
You pick a target price and a settlement date in exchange for an annualized return. The interest is always paid; which coin you get back depends on whether the settlement price reached the target price. Your principal is not protected, and at settlement you may end up holding the coin that fell. See what dual investment is.
Launchpool / Launchpad
In a Launchpool you lock specified coins such as BNB or USDT in a pool, and the exchange hands out new tokens every hour in proportion to your share of the pool. Most allow redemption at any time, and Binance’s minimum lock is 0.01 coins. A Launchpad, by contrast, is where you pay to subscribe to new tokens. For a rules comparison, see the Launchpool guide.
Airdrop / HODLer Airdrops
Tokens handed out for free by an exchange or a project team. Binance’s HODLer Airdrops don’t require a separate lock; they are based on randomly chosen historical snapshots of the BNB you hold in Simple Earn or On-Chain Yields; each snapshot needs more than 0.01 BNB, each user’s share is capped at 4% of the total, and rewards arrive in your spot account (for OPG on 2026-06-30, within about 5 hours of the announcement). For each exchange’s rules, see how to get exchange airdrops.
Referral code and rebate terms: what are referral codes and rebates?
There are quite a few rebate-related terms (rebate percentage, automatic rebates, adding a referral after sign-up, rebinding, rebate cancellation rules and more), so I’ve put them in a separate referral rebate glossary. Only the three most basic ones are listed here.
Referral code (invitation code)
A code entered at sign-up that links the new account to a referrer. Binance calls it a referral code; OKX, Bitget and KuCoin call it an invitation code. Entering one costs you nothing extra. In most cases it can only be entered at sign-up, and of the 13 exchanges, only 6 officially state that you can add one later. See what a referral code is.
Rebate
The exchange returns part of the trading fees you actually pay on each trade. Rebates only cover trading fees; funding fees, card payment fees and withdrawal fees don’t generate rebates. For each exchange’s percentage, see crypto exchange referral codes.
Fee voucher / trial bonus
A one-off credit from the exchange with a face value and an expiry date; once it’s used up or expires, it’s gone. With a trial bonus, usually only the profit you make from it can be withdrawn. OKX, MEXC, BingX and others state that fees paid with a voucher don’t count toward rebates. See fee vouchers vs referral rebates.
Scam terms: what are pig butchering, fake support and recovery scams?
Exchange-related scams almost always end up on one of two paths: getting you off the exchange’s official website and app, or getting you to pay first or hand over your password and verification codes. If something seems suspicious, first call Taiwan’s 165 anti-fraud hotline (165 反詐騙專線) to check (165 anti-fraud website).
Phishing site / fake app
A copy of an exchange’s website or app that tricks you into entering your account, password and verification codes. Type the URL yourself or use a bookmark, and download the app from the link on the official website. A legitimate referral link always lands on the exchange’s official domain; for each exchange’s domains, see 5 types of exchange scams.
Fake customer support
Someone posing as exchange support messages you privately and, citing an account problem or offering to unfreeze your account, asks for your password or verification codes or tells you to transfer coins. Binance, OKX, Bitget, MEXC and BingX all state that their support will never message you privately for your password or two-step verification codes, nor ask you to move assets to an address.
Pig butchering (romance investment scam)
Someone you met online teaches you to buy USDT on a legitimate exchange and then send it to an “investment platform” they provide. The profits on that platform exist only on screen; when you try to withdraw, you’re told to pay taxes, a deposit or an unfreezing fee first. Taiwan’s Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB, 刑事警察局) states that legitimate investment channels do not ask for payment under these labels. See fake exchange withdrawal scams.
Trading signal groups
Groups on LINE or Telegram that claim to lead trades with guaranteed profits and eventually steer you to a website or app off the exchange. The CIB states that “if you’re asked to add someone on LINE to invest, it is definitely a scam” (CIB: fake investment), whereas with an exchange’s built-in copy trading, the funds stay in your own account. See how to spot copy trading scams.
Fake referral codes / fake rebates
“Ultra-high rebates” used as bait to get you to pay, hand over account details or download an unofficial app. A referral code is just a field on the sign-up page and costs nothing. OKX states that the invitee rebate range is 0%–20%, so be on guard when someone promises more than the official cap. See rebate scam warning signs.
Recovery scam (second-round scam)
After you’ve been scammed, people claiming to be lawyers, hackers or crypto tracing analysts say they can get your money back but want a fee first. The CIB explains that lawyers cannot recover funds on their own, and that you should report to the police as soon as you realize you’ve been scammed.
Alert account
A bank account reported by the police as involved in fraud and restricted from use. If you receive scam money while selling crypto through C2C (P2P), your bank account may also be listed as an alert account. See fake exchange withdrawal scams.
FAQ
Is liquidation the same as blowing up a position?
Yes, they’re the same thing. “Blowing up” is slang; the formal term in exchange documentation is forced liquidation, meaning the system closes your position for you when losses push your margin below the maintenance margin. All 13 exchanges this site covers use the mark price to decide whether to liquidate. To work out a liquidation price, plug your own numbers into the liquidation price calculator.
What’s the difference between APR and APY?
APR doesn’t include compounding and APY does, so for the same rate, APY comes out a little higher than APR. Both are annualized figures, and what you actually receive has to be converted to the number of days you hold. On 2026-10-21, the reference APR for Binance ETH staking was 2.24%; accrued through the exchange ratio, which approximates daily compounding, it comes to about 2.27%.
Are a referral code and an invitation code the same?
Yes. Referral code, invitation code and promotion code all refer to the code you enter at sign-up that links your account to a referrer; exchanges just use different words. Binance calls it a referral code, while OKX, Bitget and KuCoin call it an invitation code. An account can be linked to only one referrer, and in most cases the code can only be entered at sign-up.
To work out a month of futures costs, use the perpetual futures cost calculator. To compare fees across exchanges, see the lowest-fee crypto exchanges. If you’re opening an account, crypto exchange referral codes lists the code to enter at sign-up for each exchange and its rebate. Advanced rebate terms are in the referral rebate glossary.