Decentralized leveraged trading platforms are emerging with more blockchain adoption and distribution. Among them is Gains.Trade (gTrade), which looks to compete with forerunner platforms like DyDx, Leverj, Perp, Injective Protocol, among others.
In this review, we’ll examine gTrade, judging from different standpoints: products, features, security protocol, pros & cons, fee structure, and if it is worth a try.
But before we dive deep into it, let’s take a look at what Gains.Trade is, first.
At a Quick Glance
| Pug Score: | 4/5 |
| Fees: | 0.02% trading fees, minus gas fees |
| Best for: | Beginners and Advanced Traders |
| Number of Cryptocurrencies and Assets Traded: | 47 cryptocurrencies, 10 forex pairs |
Key Findings
Gains.Trade (gTrade) is a noteworthy decentralized leveraged trading exchange.
At a glance, you can navigate the platform and access its products that include staking pools, bridges for easy conversion between different token standards, etc.
At the time of writing, the platform runs on Ethereum and Polygon but looks to adopt the latter fully to reduce network fees.
Gains.Trade is suitable for beginners and advanced traders.
| Pros | Cons |
| Relatively low trading fees | Not regulated |
| Easy to use and access | Does not guarantee security |
| Many features and products | No properly defined customer support |
| Great user interface | |
| Includes forex instruments | |
| Excellent charting system |
What is Gains.Trade (gTrade)?
gTrade is a decentralized leveraged crypto trading platform powered by its parent ecosystem, Gains Network. It was Gains Network’s original product and ran on its website during its launch in 2017. It was later assigned an independent trading platform for decentralized leveraged crypto trading.
Before now, gTrade ran on Ethereum, but due to high gas fees and scalability problems they encountered with the network, the developers shifted to Polygon. Now, most of gTrade’s protocols run on the Polygon network. Chainlink is another network that powers some of the platform’s features too.
With the error-free hosting success on Polygon, gTrade’s developers began testing the possibility of introducing stocks and assets trading on the platform using the aforementioned networks.
At the time of writing, gTrade hosts over 47 crypto pairs on its exchange—20 more than its direct competitor, DyDx—and 10 forex pairs.
Although its competitors have leveraged their years of experience and surpassed it in trading volume, gTrade has achieved $3.35 billion so far in all-time volume.
A mover advantage of gTrade is its 150x leverage on crypto trades and 1000x leverage on forex pairs. It does this without borrowing the leveraged funds because its smart contracts burn the GNS tokens after each trade.
The GNS token is the primary trade opening asset on the platform. So it burns from the total supply (100,000,000) in circulation whenever you open trades with it.
Range of Offering
As stated earlier, gTrade has some features and products that may interest you. Below are some of them, including those in the pipeline:
1. GNS Token
The GNS token is gTrade’s utility token. It has been pivotal during the earlier stages of its development and fundraising campaign. We placed it first on the list because it is the token used to open trades on Gains.Trade.
GFARM2 is a community-driven ERC20 token standard its parent ecosystem, Gains Network, initially used to raise funds for its development. In October 2021, It migrated from the GFARM2 to GNS.
However, the migration process has been gradual due to slow cooperation from many holders of the GFARM2 protocol.
Alongside the GNS NFT, users can earn rewards when they trade or spend the token on gTrade. Its underlying value also depends on actual usage.
The total number of tokens minted (GFARM2 included) is 100,000,000. GNS token attained an all-time high of $4.92 in 2021.
Market data also estimate that over 23 million of the total tokens are in circulation. This says a lot about the tokenomics and potential of the GNS token rising to higher highs.
2. Staking Pool
The staking pool, also known as gTrade’s farm pools, allows GNS holders to earn appreciable rewards—through trading commissions and NFTs—when they provide liquidity to the platform.
The staking process on gTrade is pretty much the same as every other decentralized exchange. You stake LP tokens, say, GNS/DAI LP tokens, and earn rewards from trading fees or activities that require fees from other non-liquidity providers on the platform.
3. Practice / Testnet Trading
Like the demo trading on many centralized social trading platforms, gTrade introduced testnet/practice trading to help users understand how decentralized leveraged trading works on its platform.
Not many of gTrade’s competitors can boast of this initiative, making it another reason to be a go-to exchange with a huge prospect.
The “practice (testnet) trading” is open to anyone with a valid crypto wallet. You may also get started anonymously. A Metamask wallet may be a perfect way to get started.
- Just connect your wallet,
- Visit the gTrade exchange and toggle to the practice section.
- Here you can claim up to 10,000 free DAI and begin growing your trading experience on the platform.
Remember, you’re given free non-withdrawable DAI tokens for your practice. The protocol runs on the Ethereum (Kovan) testnet.
4. GNS NFT
The GNS NFT is one of the two incentivized campaigns on gTrade—the other being the GNS token. All of them are Ethereum standard tokens (ERC20 and ERC721).
gTrade’s roadmap shows that it will soon introduce its NFT marketplace, where users can get the most experience out of their NFT rewards.
There are five levels of NFT benefits, and users can unlock them depending on how well they interact and contribute to the platform. They subdivide into:
- Bronze
- Silver
- Golden
- Platinum
- Diamond
Depending on your level or worth of NFT you hold, you could unlock any of the benefits listed below:
- Reduced spreads which start at 15% for Bronze levels up to 35% for Diamond levels
- Exclusive rights to customize trading bots that help you execute trades
- Amplified LP rewards when you stake at least 3 NFTs on the V5 pool. The boosted rewards begin from 2% for Bronze level up to 13% for Diamond levels.
There could be more rewards and incentivized campaigns when gTrade introduces the V6 pool.
5. NFT Marketplace on Polygon
As mentioned earlier, the Polygon network primarily hosts most of gTrade’s protocols; it will also host its upcoming NFT marketplace.
The V1 of the marketplace, which runs on the Ethereum network, appears as a snippet on the current gTrade platform.
gTrade developers believe Polygon will make its marketplace flexible and open to more decentralized integrations.
With Polygon, there will be an integration of an “instant buy/sell order” for NFTs. This is being tested at the time of writing.
6. gTrade Statistics
What makes “gTrade statistics” stand out is its aggregator model; thanks to the Chainlink network.
gTrade statistics will draw data from an average of 7 oracles to ensure that traders do not fall into trading traps and slippages arising from slow network and poor market data predictions.
7. Crypto Exchange/Bridge
Like many DEXes, gTrade provides a bridge that lets you convert one token standard to another. You can convert or swap your ERC20 or ERC721 tokens to other token standards to aid your trading experience on the platform.
Using this medium, you can also swap non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to fungible tokens.
For those swapping from the GFARM2 ERC token to Polygon $GNS, you must use the Polygon bridge first before converting on the GNS Migration bridge.
8. Instant Swapping on QuickSwap
The instant swapping feature at the top right corner of gTrade platform allows users to buy the GNS token. Gains.Trade partners with QuickSwap to provide this solution. Connecting your wallet to the platform and clicking the “Buy GNS” button gets you started.
Commission and Fee Structure
While gTrade redistributes most of its fees as rewards to loyal traders and liquidity providers, it still generates some revenues from trading fees.
Gas fees may apply when you use products like NFTs and Staking pools because the protocol still runs on the Ethereum network.
However, with complete migration to the Polygon network from Ethereum, there could be lesser trading and gas fees on gTrade.
gTrade charges up to 0.02% on trading fees for leveraged trading. It charges users on any trade they execute on the platform. So you may have to trade at higher volumes to reduce the number of fees it charges you.
Ease of Account Opening
It is virtually easy to get started on any decentralized platform. So we do not need much emphasis on this.
Simply connecting a valid crypto wallet gets you started on gTrade.
With that in mind, you must have a wallet ready. Metamask and Trust wallet are good options for mobile or web wallets. You can also use Hardware wallets like Trezor or Ledger Nano.
Deposit and Withdrawal
You can make deposits and withdrawals through your connected wallet. The only fee you will pay during the process is the network fee.
gTrade does not control how you pay gas fees. The ball falls into the court of the network’s market, speed of transactions, and many other factors.
Platform User Interface and Trading Experience
gTrade’s developers beautifully designed its interface with satisfactory color combinations. Its user experience (UX) should help with easy navigation and access.
Both beginners and advanced traders will find gTrade interesting. What makes it more astounding is its real-time charts and market data properly verified and filtered using Chainlink to protect traders from potential slippages.
Spreads are tight, and you can trade crypto and forex at leverages up to 150x and 1000x your initial deposit and set up risk management tools like stop losses and take profits.
Also, in one view, you can see your open trade and limit orders on the platform.
How to Trade on gTrade
It shouldn’t take up to 15 mins to set up your account and begin trading. For this section, we will use a desktop as an example.
- Visit Gains.Trade.
- Toggle to “Connect Wallet” and connect your preferred wallet, say, Metamask, as a web extension or a mobile wallet.
- Approve the wallet with a signature, and locate the “platform” menu at the top of the page.
- Now, you can set leverages, stop losses, take profits, indicators, technical tools, and choose the trading option you like.
- At the time of writing, gTrade offers only 10 currency pairs and 47 crypto pairs.
It is important to note that your trades may evolve in the following ways:
- If you close a position while in profit, the original position plus profits are added and sent to your account.
- If you close a position while in loss, the original position minus the losses are summed and forwarded accordingly to your wallet.
- If you are an NFT holder and your open position enters a liquidation zone, you can keep part of your initial position to yourself (up to 10% in rewards: 5% as an NFT holder, 5% as a GNS holder).
How to Participate in gTrade’s Staking Pool/Farm
Staking (farming) on gTrade requires you to invest and harvest LP tokens. The primary liquidity provider (LP) tokens include ERC20 and ERC721 standard tokens.
The ERC721 are non-fungible Ethereum tokens (NFTs), while the ERC20 tokens are the fungible DAI, GNS, and ETH tokens.
To access and use the staking pool:
- Visit Gains.Trade and connect your crypto wallet.
- Locate and click the “staking” at the top menu bar of the web page.
- You’ll be redirected to the staking portal, where you select your desired LP tokens or farming options (NFT and LP farming in the old GFARM2 pool or new GNS/DAI pool)
At the top of the staking webpage, you can find some interesting tokenomics with relevant information like
- Current GNS token price in USD
- Market capitalization and circulation of the token
- Total value locked (TVL) in the pool for GNS and DAI LP tokens.
These should help you make informed decisions while you decide to invest in gTrade’s farm pool.
- After choosing your preferred pool, you can now click on “provide liquidity” to add LP tokens accordingly.
- You can click “Harvest” to withdraw your tokens. Rewards and Interest rates apply accordingly in APY.
- Alternatively, you may click “Unstake” to remove your pending stakes. If you have earned appreciable rewards at the time of unstaking, you can still withdraw your stake plus rewards accordingly.
Mobile Application
gTrade doesn’t have a standalone mobile app for trading or staking at the time of writing. However, traders or investors can use their desktops or mobile phones to trade or farm on the platform through its web portal.
The web portal is mobile interactive, which makes it a lot easier for anyone to trade from anywhere, at any time.
Supported Cryptocurrency
There are a variety of trading options available on Gains.Trade. Popular pairs include the DAI/USD, GNS/USD, and many other crypto assets against the US dollar.
Through its roadmap documentation, the platform has announced to include crypto pairs against BTC and ETH (DOT/BTC or DOT/ETH), and BTC and ETH against Euro (BTC/EUR or ETH/EUR).
Educational Tools
gTrade doesn’t have a standalone educational section as many new platforms do. However, it has a data and information hub on DeFi Pulse and Medium.
Its content managers regularly post announcements and newsletters on Medium to help users and investors stay updated with its latest protocols and integrations.
Customer Support
There is no clearly defined customer support tool on gTrade. There is even no help center or FAQ section on the platform.
The platform plans to include a live chat soon on its web app to help users resolve complaints easily. It has communities on Reddit, Twitter, Telegram, and Discord where users can get as much support as possible.
Regulation and Security
gTrade is not regulated, and tax laws and money laundering policies may differ, depending on the region you find yourself in. Meaning that you should understand the regulations guiding the use and spending of virtual currencies in your region before using the platform.
Security-wise, gTrade claims to prioritize users’ securities on the platform. It also claims to be properly audited on various occasions by the US-based blockchain security auditor, CertiK.
Asides from being audited, the platform will introduce a bug bounty program to help users trade and invest safely on its platform.
Is gTrade Safe?
Gains.Trade (gTrade) appears to be safe. There have never been reports of security breaches on the platform.
However, the platform doesn’t guarantee 100% security. A good practice should be to use a hardware/offline wallet to store your funds and use the platform.
Conclusion
A solid recap on this review examines every nook and cranny of gTrade. The platform has a positive tick on security and trading experience. However, the lack of a mobile application and high gas fees on its farm pool appears to be a limitation.
Meanwhile, trading and investing should depend on your knowledge about the market, not just hopping onto any decentralized exchange with great features and products.
Introducing some decentralized Whitelabel protocols on gTrade’s front end will likely facilitate faster integration of the proposed stock trading in the future.
FAQs
As a decentralized exchange, gTrade is open to virtually anyone from any region. What matters at this point is your compliance with your local authority’s regulation on securities and exchanges.
On that note, US-based traders may use the exchange but ensure they properly report taxes and follow the rules guiding trading securities and virtual assets in different US jurisdictions.
gTrade does not accept credit/debit cards at the moment. But with future Whitelabel integrations, users may be able to use credit/debit cards on the platform. However, this claim is not verified yet.
Currently, gTrade offers only leveraged crypto trading and forex instruments. The platform has announced, through its roadmap, that it will include stocks trading and many other tradable assets in the future. So we should expect more tradable assets on the exchange soon!
You can trade currency pairs on gTrade. At the time of writing, there are just 10 currency pairs with leverage up to 1000x your initial deposit. Meaning that with a $100 deposit, you may trade with a margin of $100,000.
That is a huge one, but you should also be aware of the high risk of losing your entire funds if you do so. Knowing the market should help you on your trading journey on gTrade.
