KuCoin provides a streamlined, easy-to-understand trading experience for crypto investors and traders of all skill levels. Whether you're new to trading or are a seasoned expert, KuCoin makes it easy to find the trading pairs you want and trade them the way you prefer.
If you're just starting your crypto journey and are ready to make your first trade, the wide range of trading features and tools available on KuCoin can appear complicated at first glance. Making your first trade on KuCoin, however, isn't difficult.
In this article, we'll explore and explain the steps involved in making your first trade on the KuCoin Spot Market and get you started on your crypto trading journey.
Introduction to Spot Markets & Spot Trading
Spot trading in crypto refers to the direct purchase or sale of cryptocurrencies for immediate delivery and payment.
What Is a Spot Market?
Spot markets are markets in which traders exchange assets for immediate delivery. A spot market facilitates the trading of assets at the current market price – trades occur "on the spot," meaning that the exchange of assets between trades occurs immediately or within a short time frame.
Both individuals and institutions use spot markets to trade cryptocurrencies and determine the market prices of assets based on a variety of factors, which include supply and demand, trading volume, market depth, investor sentiment, and more.
In spot markets, spot traders trade crypto using the assets or capital they currently possess and fully own the assets they trade for once an order is completed. Spot trading differs from margin trading, in which traders borrow capital from third parties in order to trade, allowing them to open larger trading positions or trade larger quantities of cryptocurrencies.
What Are Spot Trading Pairs?
In spot trading markets, spot trading pairs are the assets that can be traded in any given market. For example, a spot trading pair that allows traders to exchange Tether (USDT) for Bitcoin (BTC) is expressed as BTC/USDT.
What Is Spot Price?
Spot price refers to the current market price at which a particular asset or crypto can be traded for immediate delivery or settlement. It is the price at which an asset is traded on the spot market and is generally determined by the forces of supply and demand in the market.
Order Types in Spot Markets
KuCoin spot markets provide traders with a variety of different order types that can be used to execute trades.
Order types offer different kinds of conditions or instructions that can be used to trade crypto or assets at specific prices or in certain scenarios. Orders are submitted to spot markets by a trader and remain in the order book until they are matched with another order that meets the order type's conditions or requirements.
Some commonly used order types in spot markets include
Market Orders
A market order is an instruction to buy or sell an asset at the best available price in the market. Market orders guarantee the execution of an order, but don’t specify an exact price – market orders are filled at the best possible current market price, and are generally completed instantly.
Limit Orders
A limit order allows traders to buy or sell an asset at a specific price or better. A buy limit order, for example, allows a trader to specify the exact price they want to pay for an asset.
Sell limit orders, conversely, allow traders to specify the maximum price they will accept for their assets. Unlike market orders, limit orders may not be completed instantly – a limit order will remain active until the price specified by the trader that created the order is available.
How to Make A Spot Market Trade on KuCoin Website
Before you get started with your first trade on the KuCoin spot market, you'll need to make sure you've completed a few steps beforehand.
If you haven't already verified your account or funded your account, these guides can help you get ready to make your first trade:
Once you've verified and funded your KuCoin account, you're ready to start trading!
In the example below, we'll take a look at one of the most popular trades on KuCoin – BTC/USDT trades. The following guide will show you how to trade Tether (USDT), the most widely-used fiat currency backed stablecoin, for Bitcoin (BTC), the most popular cryptocurrency.
Step 1. Navigate to the KuCoin Spot Trading Interface
Navigate to KuCoin in your web browser, complete the login process, and select "Spot Trading" from the "Trade" option along the top menu of the KuCoin user interface.
Step 2. Familiarize Yourself with the Spot Trading Interface
Once you've selected the "Spot Trading" option, you'll be presented with the KuCoin spot trading interface. Using this interface, you'll be able to select the trading pair you want to trade, view chart information, market depth, and order information, as well as place orders or track your order history.
The areas we'll focus on in this guide are the trading pair selection tool in the top left of the trading interface, and the spot trading interface at the top right.
Step 3. Select a Trading Pair
You can choose the trading pair you’d like to trade at the top left of the trading interface. In the example below, the trading pair is set to BTC/USDT.
Selecting the trading pair button will present you with a trading pair selection window. You can search for a specific trading pair or crypto via the search function or scroll through a list of KuCoin's supported trading pairs.
Step 4. Enter Your Trading Password
Once you're familiar with the KuCoin trading interface, you'll need to enter your six-digit trading password into the password field in the spot trading interface at the bottom right. For this section of the guide, we'll isolate the spot trading interface.
After you've entered your trading password, you can view the spot trading interface. It's important to note that the spot trading interface will request your trading password every two hours. This helps keep your account secure.
Step 5. Choose Your Order Type
Once you've entered your password, you're ready to make your first trade. There are several different types of orders you can use when trading on KuCoin spot markets. These orders include
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Limit orders
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Market orders
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Stop market orders
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One-Cancels-the-Other (OCO) orders
Find out all about the different order types on KuCoin Spot Market.
Different orders offer different advantages and are used for a variety of reasons. In this guide, we'll make a market order, as it's one of the simplest orders. In the next step, we'll set up our order.
Step 6. Familiarize Yourself with the Order Interface
A market order, in simple terms, is an order that allows traders to trade one asset for another at the best possible price available in the market at the time the order is placed.
KuCoin spot markets cover an extremely broad variety of markets and trading pairs that include Stablecoins, Bitcoin (BTC), KuCoin Token (KCS), and a variety of Altcoins (ETH, TRX, and many more).
For this example, we'll create a market order to trade Tether(USDT) for Bitcoin (BTC).
The BTC/USDT spot trading interface has two columns: Buy Bitcoin, on the left, and Sell Bitcoin, on the right. In this example, we want to buy Bitcoin with USDT, so we'll use the left column.
To create a market order for Bitcoin using USDT, you'll need to select "Market" from the order type in the spot trading interface.
Step 7. Create a Market Order
Once you've selected "Market" from the order type, you'll notice that the "price" field in the order interface changes to "Best Market Price." All you'll need to do from here is select the amount of USDT you'd like to trade for BTC by entering it into the "Amount" field or use the quick percentage buttons below the field to instantly select 25, 50, 75, or 100 percent of your available balance.
If you don't see any available USDT in your trading balance, you may need to move funds from your Main (Funding) account to your Trading account. To do this, select the swap icon next to the "Available" balance beneath the "Amount" field.
This feature will present you with the transfer tool, which can be used to instantly transfer assets between your Funding (Main) and Trading account.
Step 8. Place Your Order
Once you've entered the amount of USDT you'd like to exchange for BTC, review the information you've entered into the spot trading interface. If you're satisfied with your order, select the green "Buy BTC" button, which will place your order.
Your open orders can be viewed at the bottom left of the trading interface, under the "Open Orders" tab.
In this case, your market order is likely to be filled nearly instantly. If you’d like to view your order once it's complete, you can do so via the "Order History" tab in the same section.
Once you've completed the steps outlined above, you'll find your Bitcoin in your Trading Account. You can view your accounts via the "Assets" tab at the top right of the trading interface, in the KuCoin top menu.
We hope this article has been helpful. If you have any other questions, please reach out to our 24/7 customer support via online chat or submit a ticket.
Happy trading on KuCoin!
KuCoin Spot Trading FAQs
1. What Are KuCoin's Spot Trading Fees?
The KuCoin spot trading fee starts at 0.1%. You can lower your trading fee by holding KCS or increasing your trading volume. For more details, refer to the KuCoin Fee Level page.
2. What Is the Minimum Amount for Each Trade?
The minimum amount varies depending on the coin and can be found on the trade page.
3. What Is Pay Fee with KCS?
On KuCoin, you can enable Pay Fee with KCS to enjoy 20% off trading fees.
For more info, refer to Use KCS to Pay Trading Fees and Enjoy 20% Off
4. Why Is My Available Trading Balance Zero?
You may need to transfer assets from your Main balance to your Trading balance. Refer to step 7 of this guide for more information on how to transfer assets between your KuCoin Main and Trading balances.