MEXC is our pick within this comparison for altcoin and futures traders outside the US and the EEA: 0% spot maker against KuCoin's 0.10%, 0.040% futures taker against 0.06%, and 879 new perpetuals listed in sixteen months.
KuCoin is the better choice if trading bots run your strategy or you want an exchange that holds a MiCA authorisation on paper.
Key Takeaways
MEXC is our top pick in this comparison for non-US altcoin traders: 0% maker and 0.05% taker on spot against KuCoin's 0.10% both ways, and 0.010% and 0.040% on standard perpetuals against 0.02% and 0.06%, as of 3 September 2026.
KuCoin's US exit is court-ordered: a guilty plea on 27 January 2025 with penalties above $297 million, then a CFTC consent order on 30 March 2026 barring US users unless it registers as a foreign board of trade.
MEXC lists faster: 135 new spot listings in March 2026 alone against KuCoin's 107 between January and July 2026.
CoinGecko tracks 1,633 coins on MEXC against 840 on KuCoin, and KuCoin's self-reported 1,600 plus is not a comparable count.
KuCoin wins on trading bots, on a MiCA authorisation for its Austrian entity, and on a 2020 incident in which every affected user was made whole.
KuCoin EU holds a licence it cannot yet trade on and MEXC holds no MiCA licence, so EEA readers should use an ESMA-listed platform instead of either.
The reason people search "MEXC vs KuCoin" in 2026 is the US exit: KuCoin's operator pleaded guilty on 27 January 2025 and agreed to leave the US market for at least two years, and a CFTC consent order on 30 March 2026 made the exit permanent unless it registers as a foreign board of trade.
A US resident cannot use either exchange, so the reader who can act on this comparison is an altcoin or futures trader elsewhere, and for that reader three numbers decide.
Number one is the fee gap.
KuCoin's VIP 0 schedule, as relayed by its 2026 fee announcements and independent trackers, is 0.10% maker and 0.10% taker on spot, falling to 0.08% when fees are paid in KCS, and 0.02% maker and 0.06% taker on perpetuals.
MEXC charges 0.0000% maker and 0.0500% taker on spot, with a 20% MX deduction that takes the taker rate to 0.0400% on eligible pairs, and 0.010% maker and 0.040% taker on standard USDT-M perpetuals (mexc.com/fee, retrieved 2 September 2026). BTCUSDT on MEXC carries a pair-specific Special Rate of 0.000% maker and 0.020% taker.
Number two is listing pace.
MEXC's own listing analysis recorded 135 new spot listings in March 2026, 65% of them platform-first, and CoinGecko's 2026 perpetuals report counted 879 new MEXC perpetuals between January 2025 and April 2026, about 55 a month. CoinGecko's KuCoin Exchange Report counted 107 new spot listings and 198 new perpetuals on KuCoin between January and July 2026, and 121 of those perpetuals, 61.1%, were tokenized stock or index contracts rather than crypto tokens.
Number three is breadth.
Here is what the fee gap means in cash.
A trader who buys $50,000 of altcoins a month with market orders pays $600 a year on KuCoin, $480 if fees are paid in KCS, $300 at MEXC's taker rate, $240 with the MX deduction, and nothing at all as a maker.
On $300,000 of monthly perpetual notional filled as taker, KuCoin costs $2,160 a year, a standard MEXC pair costs $1,440, and BTCUSDT on MEXC costs $720.
Those savings only matter if you can hold the account, so the caveat comes before the button: MEXC prohibits residents of the US, UK, Canada and several other jurisdictions and holds no MiCA licence, and KuCoin's licensed EU entity is not yet permitted to open for business.
If that is you, the rest of this article is information rather than a recommendation, and the answer is a platform registered in your market.
We publish MEXC Learn, so read this section as the interested party speaking in the first person.
We scored this comparison on the same six dimensions we use across our exchange reviews: fees, listings, derivatives, security, fiat access and regulation, with trading bots added because they are the product KuCoin is known for.
KuCoin beats us on three points, and we would rather write them here than let you find them on its own MEXC review page.
Its trading bot suite, from spot grid to infinity grid and DCA, is older and deeper than ours, and a trader whose whole strategy runs on bots should weigh that first.
Its Austrian entity holds a MiCA crypto-asset service provider authorisation dated 27 November 2025, which is a licence we do not hold, even though the Austrian regulator has not yet allowed that entity to commence business.
Its handling of the September 2020 theft, with 84% of the funds recovered by November 2020 and the remainder covered by its insurance fund so that no user lost money, is a tested incident record that we cannot claim because we have not had to.
We also accept the most common complaint against us: risk-control reviews that delay withdrawals, which is why the switching steps below tell you to test a withdrawal before you move size.
What would change our verdict is a licence in your market: if KuCoin EU is cleared to open and you live in the EEA, it becomes the licensed option and we do not, and you should act on that.
Everywhere else, the numbers above are the case for MEXC, and every one of them carries the date on which we checked it.
Dimension | MEXC | KuCoin | Edge within this comparison |
Spot fees (entry tier) | 0.0000% maker, 0.0500% taker; taker 0.0400% with MX deduction on eligible pairs | 0.10% maker, 0.10% taker on Class A pairs; 0.08% when fees are paid in KCS; lower with VIP tiers | MEXC |
Futures fees (entry tier) | 0.010% maker, 0.040% taker standard; BTCUSDT 0.000% maker, 0.020% taker; API futures orders 0.060% maker, 0.080% taker | 0.02% maker, 0.06% taker at VIP 0; maker falls to 0% from VIP 9 | MEXC |
Coins and listing pace | 1,633 coins and 2,021 spot pairs on CoinGecko; 135 spot listings in March 2026; 879 new perpetuals January 2025 to April 2026 | 840 coins on CoinGecko; 107 spot listings and 198 perpetuals January to July 2026, 121 of them tokenized stock or index contracts | MEXC |
Derivatives and bots | More than 1,040 USDT-M perpetuals; leverage set per contract; grid and DCA bots | Perpetual futures plus the broadest bot suite in this comparison; tokenized stock and index perpetuals since March 2026 | MEXC on cost and breadth, KuCoin on bots |
US stock access | RealStocks: real shares, 7,000 plus tickers, USDT-funded; tokenized stock pairs and stock futures alongside | Tokenized stock and index perpetuals; no real-share product identified in this review | MEXC |
Security and Proof of Reserves | Monthly Proof of Reserves with Hacken-named audits; no recorded custody-level breach | Self-reported 44 months of Proof of Reserves and 14 Hacken audits; September 2020 theft above $280 million, fully covered for users | KuCoin on incident record, tie on reporting |
Fiat and ecosystem | Card and bank transfer partners plus P2P; USDT-centric; Launchpad and Launchpool | Card, P2P and third-party channels; KCS ecosystem and Earn products | Tie |
Regulation and availability | Not licensed in the US, UK, EEA or Canada; on the FCA Warning List and ESMA's non-compliant list; prohibited jurisdictions listed in the User Agreement of 29 May 2025 | Permanently barred from serving US users without CFTC registration; Austrian MiCA authorisation held but business not yet permitted; self-reported registrations elsewhere | KuCoin on paper, neither in practice for US and EEA readers |
Data verified as of 3 September 2026 against mexc.com/fee (official screenshot of 2 September 2026), KuCoin's fee announcements of 19 March and 30 April 2026, CoinGecko exchange pages, CoinGecko's KuCoin Exchange Report and 2026 perpetuals report, the US Department of Justice, the CFTC and the Austrian FMA.
MEXC is cheaper on every published entry rate, and the KCS discount closes only a fifth of the maker-fee gap and two-fifths of the taker-fee gap.
KuCoin's public VIP fee page is rendered in the browser and returns nothing to a fetch, so our KuCoin figures come from its own fee announcements of 19 March and 30 April 2026 and from independent trackers that converge on the same VIP 0 rates: 0.10% spot both ways, 0.08% with KCS, and 0.02% maker and 0.06% taker on perpetuals.
KuCoin's April 2026 announcement removed negative maker fees and set spot maker fees to 0% from VIP 8, and its March 2026 announcement set futures maker fees to 0% from VIP 9, so the schedule now rewards very high volume rather than rebating it.
MEXC's schedule is flat and public: 0.0000% maker and 0.0500% taker on spot, and the 20% MX deduction takes the taker rate to 0.0400% on eligible pairs, with some pairs excluded.
Standard USDT-M perpetuals cost 0.010% maker and 0.040% taker.
Three boundaries stop that being a free lunch.
The Special Rate is pair-specific: BTCUSDT is 0.000% maker and 0.020% taker and ETHUSDT is 0.000% maker and 0.010% taker, but the tag does not apply to every contract.
API futures orders have carried their own schedule of 0.060% maker and 0.080% taker since 1 June 2026, and that schedule overrides web and app rates, promotions and the MX deduction.
Zero-fee promotions on specific pairs, such as XRP/USDT on spot, are campaign pricing and can end.
The kucoin vs mexc question on fees therefore has one answer for spot, where MEXC's maker rate is zero and KuCoin's is 0.10%, and a narrower one for futures, where the standard gap is 0.040% against 0.06% for a taker.
Scenario | KuCoin | MEXC |
$50,000 a month of spot market orders, one year | $600 at 0.10%; $480 paid in KCS | $300 at 0.05% taker; $240 with MX deduction; $0 as maker |
$300,000 a month of USDT perpetual notional as taker, one year | $2,160 at 0.06% | $1,440 at the standard 0.040%; $720 on BTCUSDT at the 0.020% Special Rate |
$300,000 a month of USDT perpetual notional as maker, one year | $720 at 0.02% | $360 at the standard 0.010%; $0 on BTCUSDT at the Special Rate |
Data verified as of 3 September 2026 against mexc.com/fee (official screenshot of 2 September 2026) and KuCoin's VIP 0 schedule as corroborated by its 2026 fee announcements. Spreads, funding rates, card fees and network fees are excluded; MEXC API futures orders follow the separate 0.060% and 0.080% schedule.
On entry-tier taker fees MEXC is the only one of the five below 0.10% on spot and the only one below 0.05% on standard perpetuals.
Readers comparing KuCoin usually compare two or three other venues at the same time, so the table below puts the five schedules side by side on the same date basis.
Exchange | Spot maker and taker (entry tier) | Token discount on spot | USDT perpetual maker and taker (entry tier) | Notes |
MEXC | 0.0000% maker, 0.0500% taker | MX deduction 20%: taker 0.0400%, some pairs excluded | 0.010% maker, 0.040% taker standard; BTCUSDT 0.000% maker, 0.020% taker | API futures orders 0.060% maker, 0.080% taker from 1 June 2026 |
KuCoin | 0.10% maker, 0.10% taker | KCS payment 20%: 0.08% | 0.02% maker, 0.06% taker | Maker falls to 0% from VIP 9 on futures and VIP 8 on spot |
OKX | 0.08% maker, 0.10% taker | Tier upgrades via OKB holdings or volume | 0.02% maker, 0.05% taker | Options 0.02% maker, 0.03% taker |
Bybit | 0.1000% maker, 0.1000% taker at VIP 0 | MNT 25%: 0.0750% at VIP 0 | 0.0200% maker, 0.0550% taker | MNT 10% off futures: 0.0180% maker, 0.0495% taker; API trading excluded |
Binance | 0.100% maker, 0.100% taker | BNB 25%: 0.075% | 0.0200% maker, 0.0500% taker on USDT-M; 0.0000% maker, 0.0400% taker on USDC-M | VIP 1 needs $1 million of 30-day volume plus 5 BNB |
Data verified 31 August to 3 September 2026 against each platform's official fee schedule, help centre or fee announcements. MEXC rates from mexc.com/fee.
MEXC lists more coins and lists them sooner, and KuCoin's 2026 pipeline has shifted toward tokenized stock and index perpetuals.
CoinGecko tracked 1,633 coins and 2,021 spot pairs on MEXC in early September 2026, and MEXC's fee page listed more than 2,080 spot pairs and more than 1,040 USDT-M perpetual pairs when counted on 2 September 2026.
CoinGecko tracked 840 coins on KuCoin, while KuCoin's own figure of 1,600 plus listed assets, relayed in CoinGecko's KuCoin Exchange Report as data provided by KuCoin, uses a different counting method and is not comparable. Speed is where the gap is widest.
MEXC's listing analysis for March 2026 recorded 135 new spot listings in that single month, 65% of them platform-first, and CoinGecko's 2026 perpetuals report found MEXC added 879 perpetual contracts between January 2025 and April 2026, while six of the eleven largest exchanges added fewer than 20 a month.
Of those 198 perpetuals, 121 were tokenized stock or index contracts, a category that did not exist on KuCoin before 13 March 2026, which leaves about 77 new crypto perpetuals in seven months, or roughly 11 a month.
The same report shows where KuCoin's book has moved: BTC and ETH fell from 74.3% to 45.2% of volume among its top 18 spot pairs, so the exchange is broadening within a shorter list rather than lengthening the list.
Day-one listings include tokens that later fail, and MEXC's risk labels and small-cap warnings exist for that reason, as our guide to new-listing exchanges explains.
MEXC is the cheaper and broader perpetuals venue and the only one of the two with real US shares, while KuCoin is the place to run bots.
MEXC's fee page carried more than 1,040 USDT-M perpetual pairs on 2 September 2026, with leverage limits published contract by contract.
KuCoin does not publish a comparable perpetual count, and CoinGecko's report records average daily perpetual volume of $3.07 billion against $1.99 billion on spot for the first half of 2026, so derivatives carry the platform.
KuCoin's trading bots, spot grid, infinity grid, DCA and futures grid among them, are the product it is known for, and MEXC offers grid and DCA bots without claiming parity on depth of tooling.
On stocks, KuCoin's 2026 additions are tokenized stock and index perpetuals, price contracts without share ownership.
MEXC RealStocks, launched on 1 June 2026, lets eligible users buy real shares in US-listed companies through Atomic Vaults Securities, a FINRA-registered broker, paying in USDT, across 7,000 plus US stocks and ETFs, with tokenized stock pairs and USDT-margined stock futures alongside. Leverage magnifies losses as fast as gains on both platforms, and high leverage on small-cap contracts is a risk to manage rather than a feature to chase.
KuCoin has survived a large theft with every user made whole, MEXC has no custody-level breach to survive, and both report reserves monthly.
KuCoin reports 44 consecutive months of Proof of Reserves with 14 Hacken audits, SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 certifications, and a $2 billion Trust Project, figures that CoinGecko's report notes were provided by KuCoin.
MEXC publishes monthly Proof of Reserves with Hacken-named audits and has no custody-level hack on record, and its account-level protections cover two-factor authentication, withdrawal whitelists, anti-phishing codes and a fund password.
The complaint that follows MEXC in third-party reviews, including Datawallet's July 2026 audit, is withdrawal delays and account freezes triggered by risk-control reviews, and the practical response is to test any new exchange with a small withdrawal before moving a balance.
On identity checks, the US Department of Justice found that KuCoin did not require identifying information from customers until at least July 2023 and imposed mandatory verification in August 2023, while MEXC's tiers and limits are set out in its own verification guide and are not restated here.
KuCoin is barred from the US by court order and holds an EU licence it cannot use yet, while MEXC is licensed nowhere in the US, UK, EEA or Canada and says so.
On 30 March 2026 the CFTC announced a consent order that permanently enjoins Peken Global from the charged conduct, bars US participants from the KuCoin platform unless it registers as a foreign board of trade, and imposes a $500,000 civil penalty. In the EEA the position is unusual: the Austrian Financial Market Authority granted KuCoin EU Exchange GmbH a MiCA authorisation on 27 November 2025, barred it from new business on 19 February 2026 after key anti-money-laundering and sanctions roles fell vacant, lifted that ban on 18 May 2026, and states that commencement of business remains inadmissible under a separate decision until governance conditions are met.
KuCoin also reports registrations with Australia's AUSTRAC and India's Financial Intelligence Unit, figures relayed as self-reported in CoinGecko's report.
We state MEXC's position in full.
MEXC's User Agreement, last updated 29 May 2025, names the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Mainland China, Kazakhstan, sanctioned states and the Russian-controlled regions of Ukraine as prohibited jurisdictions. Region | MEXC | KuCoin | Our guidance |
United States | Prohibited jurisdiction under the User Agreement of 29 May 2025 | Barred from serving US users by the CFTC consent order of 30 March 2026 unless registered as a foreign board of trade | Neither; use a US-registered platform |
EEA | Not authorised under MiCA; no EEA service after 1 July 2026 | KuCoin EU authorised on 27 November 2025 but not yet permitted to commence business; global platform excludes France and the Netherlands | Neither for now; use an ESMA-listed platform |
United Kingdom and Canada | Prohibited jurisdictions; MEXC Global Ltd is on the FCA Warning List | Not verified for this comparison; check KuCoin's terms | Not MEXC |
Other markets | Available subject to the User Agreement; RealStocks for eligible users | Available subject to KuCoin's terms; self-reported registrations in Australia and India | MEXC for fees and listings, KuCoin for bots |
Data verified as of 3 September 2026 against the MEXC User Agreement, the FCA Warning List, the US Department of Justice press release of 27 January 2025, CFTC release 9203-26 and the Austrian FMA notice of 18 May 2026.
neither exchange is a bank, and the extras differ: KCS and Earn at KuCoin, Launchpad, Launchpool and Kickstarter at MEXC.
KuCoin offers card purchases, P2P and third-party payment channels, an Earn suite, and a KCS ecosystem that feeds its VIP tiers and fee discounts.
MEXC's fiat access runs through card purchases, global bank transfer partners and its P2P market, and most of its markets quote in USDT.
MEXC's ecosystem is built around trading and new tokens: spot and futures copy trading, grid and DCA bots, Launchpad, Launchpool and Kickstarter token events, and on-chain trading through DEX+.
If your edge is automation, KuCoin's toolset is deeper.
If your edge is being early to a token, MEXC's listing pipeline is the product.
Four advantages survive every fee table in this article.
Bots: spot grid, infinity grid, DCA and futures grid strategies with a longer track record than MEXC's bot suite.
A MiCA authorisation on paper: KuCoin EU holds a licence that MEXC does not, and if the FMA clears it to open, EEA readers gain a licensed option there.
A tested incident record: the 2020 theft was recovered and covered without user losses.
Self-reported reserve reporting and certifications: 44 months of Proof of Reserves, 14 Hacken audits, SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001, as relayed by CoinGecko.
KuCoin's shorter coin list is a fifth advantage for traders who would rather have 840 tracked assets than 1,633 fast ones.
Your profile | Better fit | Why |
Resident of the United States | Neither | MEXC prohibits US residents and KuCoin is barred by court order |
Resident of the EEA | Neither for now | MEXC holds no MiCA licence and KuCoin EU is not yet permitted to open |
Non-US altcoin trader hunting new listings | MEXC | 135 spot listings in March 2026 alone and 879 new perpetuals in sixteen months |
Non-US trader placing limit orders on spot | MEXC | 0% maker against 0.10% |
Futures trader placing the orders personally | MEXC | 0.010% maker and 0.040% taker standard, 0% maker on BTCUSDT, against 0.02% and 0.06% |
Trader whose strategy runs on bots | KuCoin | Deeper bot suite with a longer track record |
Investor who wants real US shares paid for in USDT | MEXC | RealStocks holds real shares for 7,000 plus tickers; KuCoin's stock products are perpetual contracts |
Holder who values a tested incident record | KuCoin | 2020 theft recovered and covered without user losses |
If you fall into one of the MEXC rows, the next step is a small account, a small deposit and a test withdrawal before you commit real size.
Step 1: Open and verify the MEXC account.
Register at MEXC, complete identity verification and enable two-factor authentication before you deposit anything.
Step 2: Move a test amount first.
Withdraw a small amount of USDT from KuCoin to your MEXC deposit address on a network both platforms support, and confirm the address, network and any memo or tag character by character.
Wait for it to credit, then withdraw a small amount back out of MEXC to confirm the exit works as well as the entry.
Step 3: Stop bots, close positions, move the balance and set your fee options.
Stop running bots and close open futures positions on KuCoin before you withdraw margin, send the rest once the test clears, switch on the MX deduction if you hold MX, and remember that API futures orders use their own fee schedule.
Is MEXC cheaper than KuCoin?
Yes on published entry rates: MEXC spot is 0% maker and 0.05% taker against KuCoin's 0.10% both ways, and MEXC standard perpetuals cost 0.010% maker and 0.040% taker against 0.02% and 0.06%, as of 3 September 2026.
Is KuCoin leaving the US and what does it mean for users?
KuCoin has left: its operator pleaded guilty on 27 January 2025 and agreed to a two-year exit, and a CFTC consent order on 30 March 2026 bars US users unless it registers as a foreign board of trade.
US residents cannot use MEXC either and should use a US-registered platform.
Which lists new coins faster, MEXC or KuCoin?
MEXC: it recorded 135 spot listings in March 2026 alone and 879 new perpetuals between January 2025 and April 2026, against KuCoin's 107 spot listings and 198 perpetuals from January to July 2026.
Most of KuCoin's new perpetuals were tokenized stock or index contracts.
Is MEXC safer than KuCoin?
Both publish monthly Proof of Reserves, MEXC has no custody-level breach on record, and KuCoin recovered or covered every user's funds after its September 2020 theft.
Neither holds a US registration, and KuCoin EU's MiCA licence is not yet permitted to operate.
Does KuCoin have better trading bots than MEXC?
KuCoin's bot suite is deeper and older, covering spot grid, infinity grid, DCA and futures grid, while MEXC offers grid and DCA bots.
Choose KuCoin if bots are your whole strategy.
Can I use KuCoin or MEXC in the EU?
Not at present: KuCoin EU holds a MiCA authorisation dated 27 November 2025 but the Austrian FMA has not yet permitted it to commence business, and MEXC holds no MiCA licence.
EEA residents should use a platform listed in the ESMA register.
How do I move assets from KuCoin to MEXC?
Stop bots, close open positions, withdraw USDT from KuCoin to your MEXC deposit address on a network both platforms support, send a small test amount first, then move the rest.
MEXC is not licensed in the United States, the United Kingdom, the EEA or Canada, and its User Agreement prohibits residents of the jurisdictions listed above.
KuCoin is barred from serving US users without CFTC registration, and its EU entity is not yet permitted to commence business.
Nothing in this article is an invitation to residents of prohibited or restricted jurisdictions to open an account on either platform.
Futures, margin, bots and leveraged products can lose more than your initial margin, and high leverage on small-cap contracts increases that risk sharply.
New listings carry a high failure rate, and tokenized stock products and stock futures do not confer direct shareholder rights.
Fees, listings and regulatory statuses change, and every figure above carries the date on which we verified it.
This article is information, not investment, legal or tax advice.