Bybit Review 2026: Fees, Products and a Trader's Honest Take

Updated: 2026-10-27 · 9 min read · TradeGid

Bybit is a crypto exchange whose strongest side is derivatives: USDT perpetuals, options, and now perpetuals and options on US stocks. A regular account pays 0.1% on spot and 0.02% / 0.055% (maker / taker) on futures. It works in India and Nigeria, but not in the US, and in the Philippines new sign-ups were halted after the SEC blocked it in 2025.

Who Bybit is for, and who should skip it

I've been trading since 2020, and Bybit has always been my futures exchange: a clean terminal, decent liquidity on altcoins, and a clear funding history for every contract. You can use it to buy and hold coins too, but that's not where it stands out.

• Good fit if you trade perpetual futures and want one account for spot, derivatives and options.
• Good fit if you need P2P in your local currency – buying USDT from other users with a bank transfer or mobile money.
• Good fit if you want US stocks in crypto form: xStocks tokens on spot, stock perpetuals and options on them, all settled in USDT.
• Not available in the US, Canada, Singapore, Hong Kong or mainland China – they're on Bybit's restricted list.
• Problematic in the Philippines: the SEC named Bybit an unlicensed platform in August 2025, and new registrations from the country stopped in November 2025.
• Not a fit if you need an exchange supervised by your own regulator with deposit protection – global Bybit offers neither.

Bybit is a tool for active trading, especially derivatives. If you only buy some bitcoin once a month, most of what makes it good won't matter to you.

Who owns Bybit

Bybit was founded in 2018 by Ben Zhou, who is still the CEO. The company issues its press releases from Dubai and in May 2026 described itself as serving "over 80 million users" – that's Bybit's own number, not an audited one.

"Bybit" is several companies under one brand. There's global bybit.com, Bybit EU GmbH (bybit.eu, MiCA-licensed by Austria's FMA since 28 May 2025), Bybit Kazakhstan under an AFSA licence, and a separate UK launch. Products and rules differ between them, which is why Bybit reviews on Reddit and Trustpilot from different countries often contradict each other.

Bybit products: what you can trade

Over the last two years Bybit has grown well beyond a futures-only exchange. The main products on global bybit.com:

As of October 2026, based on Bybit press releases and Help Center. Availability depends on your country: some products are closed in the EEA and other regions.

Futures and the Unified Trading Account

Futures on Bybit run through the Unified Trading Account, where spot, futures and options share one margin pool. Convenient, but there's a trap: in cross mode a losing futures position can eat the spot coins sitting in the same account. I covered the difference in cross vs isolated margin.

Maximum leverage depends on the contract and position size – check the contract specs for each pair. Before your first trade, work out your liquidation price and read how funding works.

Stocks on Bybit: three different products

Easy to mix up. xStocks are spot tokens – you hold a token tracking the share. Stock perpetuals are futures – no ownership, but leverage, shorting and funding, and Bybit doesn't offer them to EEA residents. TradFi on MT5 is CFDs in a separate account. More on tokenized stocks in the xStocks guide.

Bybit fees for spot and futures

Fees depend on your VIP tier, which depends on trading volume and balance. Most new users are on the regular tier (VIP 0), so those are the rates below.

As of October 2026, per Bybit's official fee structure and P2P fee page. Bybit says rates may vary by region – check your exact rate on the fee page in your account.

Always count the round trip. A 10,000 USDT futures position opened and closed with market orders costs 5.5 + 5.5 = 11 USDT. The same position with limit orders costs 2 + 2 = 4 USDT. If you scalp ten times a day, maker vs taker adds up fast.

Funding on perpetuals is separate – it's not an exchange fee but a payment between longs and shorts, and on a position held for weeks it can easily outgrow trading fees. Withdrawal network choice matters too: the same USDT withdrawal can cost several times less on one network than another.

Bybit vs Bybit EU and where Bybit is restricted

In December 2024 Bybit scaled back services in the EEA, and in 2025 it launched bybit.eu for European residents. Pick an EEA country at sign-up and you'll be sent there. Everyone else uses global bybit.com, unless their country is on the restricted list.

Russia is not on bybit.com's restricted list as of October 2026, but EU sanctions (Article 5b of Regulation 833/2014) bar EU crypto firms from serving Russian nationals and residents, so bybit.eu has not opened accounts for Russian citizens since November 2025. Cards of sanctioned Russian banks are not accepted on P2P either.

As of October 2026. Bybit's restricted list was last updated 16 Oct 2026 – current version on the Service Restricted Countries page.

Bybit in India

In January 2025 Bybit suspended most services in India after FIU-IND found it operating without registration. It then registered as a reporting entity, paid a fine of about $1 million, and in September 2025 restored full access through the App Store and Google Play. Crypto income in India is taxed separately – check current TDS and tax rules with a local adviser before you trade actively.

Verification (KYC) on Bybit

You can't do much on Bybit without KYC: the Help Center says Standard level is mandatory for all products. Without it you can only withdraw what's already there – up to 20,000 USDT a day and 100,000 USDT a month.

• Standard – photo ID plus a face check. Withdrawal limit up to 1,000,000 USDT a day.
• Advanced – adds proof of address dated within the last three months. Limit up to 2,000,000 USDT a day.
• Pro – enhanced due diligence with proof of income, for large clients.

Standard is enough for normal trading and takes 15 minutes to 48 hours. You'll only need proof of address if you hit limits or Bybit asks.

The full walkthrough with documents and common rejection reasons is in Bybit registration and verification.

P2P on Bybit: buying USDT with local currency

P2P is a marketplace: you pick a USDT seller, send money to their bank or wallet, and they release the coins. While the order is open the seller's coins are locked in escrow, so they can't just vanish. If something goes wrong you open an appeal and support decides.

Fees depend on the currency. For NGN, takers pay nothing and only makers posting buy ads pay 0.25–0.3%; currencies not listed on Bybit's fee page have no P2P fee at all. Your bank or mobile money provider may still charge its own fee. Cashing out is covered in how to withdraw USDT to a card.

Bybit reviews, complaints and security

The biggest event in Bybit's history was the hack on 21 February 2025: over $1.5 billion in ETH was taken from a cold wallet, and the FBI attributed it to North Korea's Lazarus Group. Bybit kept withdrawals open, covered the gap within about three days with loans and partner support, and published a proof-of-reserves audit on 24 February. Customers didn't lose funds, but it showed that even a top exchange isn't a vault.

Read Bybit reviews on Trustpilot, Reddit or Telegram and the complaints repeat:

1. Slow or repeated KYC, especially after a large deposit or P2P activity.
2. P2P disputes: the seller didn't release, or the buyer paid from someone else's account.
3. Account freezes for source-of-funds checks.
4. Futures liquidations blamed on "wicks", when the real cause is usually leverage.
5. Template replies from first-line support.

Nearly all complaints are about checks and P2P, not missing money. Clean P2P trades and honest KYC data prevent most of them.

Bybit pros and cons

Bybit is a solid workplace for trading, especially futures. I wouldn't keep my whole stack on it, whatever the fees.

How to find your USDT wallet address on Bybit

Assets → Deposit → choose USDT → choose the network (for example TRC20, BEP20 or TON) → copy the address. Each network has its own address, and the sender must use the same network or the coins can be lost. If the network shows a memo or tag, copy that too.