MEXC Review: 0% Maker Fees and 3,000 Coins, Against a Record of Frozen Accounts and No Licence
MEXC charges 0% maker and 0.05% spot taker and lists more than 3,000 coins. We weighed that against its lack of a tier-one licence, risk-control freezes reported up to 12 months and the KYC rules that apply.
The verdict
MEXC is cheap and lists new tokens faster than almost anyone: 0% maker, 0.05% taker, and 3,000+ coins. That is the whole case for it. Against it stand the lack of any tier-one licence, regulator warnings, and a pattern of risk-control account freezes that reviewers say can last up to 12 months. It is acceptable for small, short-term altcoin trades and a bad place to keep savings.
Best for Experienced altcoin traders who keep only small, active balances offshore
Pros
- Spot fees of 0% maker and 0.05% taker are among the lowest at a large exchange
- More than 3,000 coins and a very fast listing pace for new tokens
- Futures at 0% maker and 0.02% taker on the standard rate
- Reserve data is viewable and a $100 million Guardian Fund is declared
Cons
- No tier-one licence, and regulator warnings from Germany and Hong Kong are reported
- Risk-control freezes are documented, and some are reported to last up to 12 months
- Heavy exposure to early-stage tokens, which can go to zero or be manipulated
- US, UK, Canada, Singapore and Hong Kong users are restricted, and a tax ID is required for full limits
Ask traders why they use MEXC and the answers are always the same two words: cheap and early. It lists tokens before bigger exchanges will touch them, and it charges almost nothing to trade them.
Ask people who stopped using it and the answer is also short: it froze my account.
Both groups are right. Whether MEXC suits you depends on how much you keep there and how long you keep it.
What the low fees look like
Spot trading costs 0% for makers and 0.05% for takers, per CryptoSlate's review. Futures run 0% maker and 0.02% taker on the standard rate. Those are real figures that sit well below the usual 0.1% a general-purpose exchange charges.
The caveat is in MEXC's own words. Its fee page warns that maker rates "may vary with platform events or user region" and tells you to check your trade history. We would do exactly that on day one. The page also describes a fee discount for paying with the MX token, though the page text we captured shows that discount as 0%.
Low fees matter most to active traders, and MEXC knows it. The cost of trading there is small. The cost of being wrong about the venue is not.
Coins, and the problem with having so many
Third-party reviews count more than 2,700 coins and over 3,000 trading pairs. CryptoSlate adds that MEXC has "heavy exposure to early-stage tokens". Read that as a warning. A new token that lists on MEXC first has little history, thin books and often a team that can move the price.
If your goal is to find the next big token, this is where you look. If your goal is not to lose money, most of that menu is a place to stay out of.
KYC, limits and the tax ID
A basic account can be opened without identity checks, and reviews put its withdrawal cap at 10 BTC a day. Primary KYC lifts crypto withdrawals to 80 BTC a day, and Advanced KYC to 200 BTC, plus fiat up to 20,000 USD a day.
From 1 January 2026, MEXC applies CARF reporting rules, and reviewers say users must supply a tax ID to keep full limits. Expect to be asked, and expect "no KYC" claims in older guides to be out of date.
Restricted countries include the US, Canada, the UK, Singapore and Hong Kong, among others. If you live in one, using the site means breaking its terms, and that weakens any claim you would later make to get funds back.
The freezes, and why we weight them
This is the section that decides the rating. MEXC holds no tier-one licence and is run from the Seychelles. Reviews report regulator warnings from Germany's BaFin and Hong Kong's SFC.
On top of that sits a documented pattern. CryptoSlate describes a trader nicknamed "White Whale" whose roughly $3 million balance was frozen in July 2025 under risk control for flagged order activity, then released after a long public campaign. It also reports that freezes can last "up to 12 months" and that large or unusual withdrawals can sit in manual review for days or weeks. There were withdrawal delays in November 2025, in a record outflow period.
We cannot tell you how often this happens. We can tell you what happens when it does: you have almost no one to appeal to. There is no licensing regulator and no deposit scheme.
MEXC states a $100 million Guardian Fund and shows reserve data, which is more than many rivals offer. It does not publish a full audit of liabilities, so reserves are not proof of solvency.
Support
The Help Center offers self-service tools such as account data export, plus 24/7 customer service, which is useful. Use it before there is a problem, to learn how long a response takes.
Verdict
Use MEXC if you are an experienced trader, you can legally access it, and you move money in for a specific altcoin trade and out again. Keep balances small, withdraw on a schedule, and avoid anything that looks like unusual activity.
Do not use it as a savings place, as your only exchange, or as a first exchange. A 5.6 reflects a platform that is excellent on price and poor on protection. This is not financial advice, and no fee saving covers a locked account.
Specifications
- Spot fees
- 0% maker, 0.05% taker
- Futures fees
- 0% maker, 0.02% taker (standard)
- Coins listed
- 3,000+ per third-party reviews
- No-KYC withdrawal
- Up to 10 BTC a day, per reviews
- Primary KYC
- Withdraw up to 80 BTC a day
- Advanced KYC
- 200 BTC a day, fiat up to 20,000 USD a day
- Insurance
- $100M Guardian Fund, futures insurance fund
- Base
- Seychelles, no tier-one licence
- Restricted
- US, UK, Canada, Singapore, Hong Kong and others
As published by MEXC Global when we tested it.
