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HT HTX VS UP Upbit
Both exchanges offer Spot. The differences below come from our individual reviews of HTX and Upbit.
| HTX | Upbit | |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2013 | 2017 |
| Regions | Blocked entirely for US and mainland China customers. EU access is unsettled: HTX has pursued licenses in Malta and Dubai, but its own user terms have at times folded the whole EU into an all-services ban. The UK government sanctioned the Huobi Global S.A. entity behind HTX in May 2026; verify current local availability and sanctions status before signing up. | Built primarily for South Korean residents: full KRW trading requires a real-name-verified account at K Bank, Upbit's sole partner bank, plus Korean identity verification. Separate Upbit Singapore, Upbit Indonesia, and Upbit Thailand entities serve those markets under local licenses. Not available to US persons or several sanctioned countries. |
| Products | Spot, Margin, Futures, Options | Spot |
| Maker fee | Verify current tier: HTX uses a volume-based maker/taker schedule (roughly 0.2% at the base tier, lower for high-volume traders), with additional discounts for paying fees in HTX or TRX tokens | Verify current tier: Upbit's KRW pairs have run around 0.05%, and BTC/USDT crypto pairs were cut from a standard 0.25% to a promotional 0.05% in mid-2026 amid competitive pressure, so check the live rate and which promotion (if any) is active before trading |
| Taker fee | Verify current tier: HTX uses a volume-based maker/taker schedule (roughly 0.2% at the base tier, lower for high-volume traders), with additional discounts for paying fees in HTX or TRX tokens | Same volatility applies here: verify current tier and any active promotional rate before trading, since Upbit has changed crypto-market fees more than once in response to fee-free competitors |
HTX pros
- One of the longest-running major exchanges, operating continuously (as Huobi, then HTX) since 2013, with deep liquidity and a wide asset listing
- Broad, genuinely full-featured product lineup: spot, margin, futures, and options under one account, with fee discounts for token holders
- Publishes regular proof-of-reserves attestations across major assets
- Wider licensing footprint than most offshore-only competitors, including a Dubai VARA license
Upbit pros
- By far the deepest KRW order-book liquidity of any Korean exchange, useful for anyone actually trading in won
- Real-name bank verification through K Bank adds a genuine anti-fraud layer most offshore exchanges don't have
- Wide listing of Korea-origin and Korea-popular tokens that are thinly traded or unlisted elsewhere
- Moved to holding over 99% of assets in cold storage following its 2025 breach, well above Korea's 80% legal minimum
This table is generated from the same data behind our individual exchange reviews. See methodology for how it's put together. Fee figures marked "not yet verified" need confirming against live terms before this page is treated as launch-ready.