How Crypto Trading Is Changing With Zero Fees and AI
Twenty merchants gathered in Bali in August for the ultimate of Alpha Arena S03, competing stay in a simulated buying and selling atmosphere for a share of $100,000.
The competitors, backed by MEXC Ventures and held throughout CoinFest Asia, was gained by Japan’s Arumando, adopted by Murasaki Trades from the Philippines and Coin6097 from South Korea.
For MEXC CEO Vugar Usi, the competitors proved {that a} dealer can enter the market with a small sum of money, catch the correct commerce, and turn out to be rich nearly in a single day – an concept that has lengthy been basic to crypto’s enchantment.
Exposing Trading for What It Is
During Alpha Arena, Usi pointed to the distinction between watching merchants throughout a complete session and following them on social media, the place profitable trades can obtain much more consideration than the losses, uncertainty, and emotional choices surrounding them.
At the Bali competitors, merchants may very well be noticed all through the method. Organizers even measured contributors’ coronary heart charges, permitting viewers to see how they reacted as markets moved and whether or not they adopted their unique technique or made choices underneath strain.
“You see what sort of choices they make. Are they panicking? Are they panic shopping for or panic promoting? Are they good at following their intuition, or are they extra sensible?” Usi mentioned.
That is a part of why he believes buying and selling has an unusually low barrier to entry in contrast with {many professional} fields. Someone can research markets independently, develop a strategy, and probably compete towards merchants with formal monetary coaching and entry to far costlier expertise.
For exchanges making an attempt to draw the following era of customers, this additionally adjustments the job. Aside from entry to markets, merchants additionally need info, analytical instruments, and merchandise that assist them interpret what is occurring as soon as they arrive.
On Zero Trading Fees
Competition has turn out to be significantly fierce as main exchanges combat over buying and selling prices.
MEXC has made zero-fee buying and selling a giant a part of its technique. Its present providing contains zero maker and taker charges throughout spot markets, alongside chosen futures merchandise, though eligibility and charge preparations range between merchandise and campaigns. The alternate said its zero-fee initiatives saved 3.44 million customers roughly 1.1 billion USDT throughout 2025.
Usi argues that lowering value to zero forces exchanges to compete elsewhere.
“When value is zero, it means the person isn’t selecting you due to simply value,” he mentioned. “That is the place the competitors truly begins.”
Once an alternate can not meaningfully undercut one other platform on charges, he argues, product high quality, velocity, obtainable markets, buying and selling instruments, and different person advantages turn out to be extra necessary.
Of course, the corporate now affords publicity to equities by means of a number of codecs, together with greater than 300 inventory and index futures, over 200 tokenized shares, and greater than 7,000 international shares and ETFs by means of RealStocks, in response to figures launched by MEXC.
It kinds a part of Usi’s longer-term plan to take MEXC past the traditional definition of a crypto alternate.
AI Could Give Retail Traders Institutional-Level Tools
Artificial intelligence was a giant a part of the dialog with Usi.
His background in conventional finance influences how he thinks about buying and selling expertise. Professional companies have traditionally paid massive sums for merchandise akin to Bloomberg Terminal as a result of entry to information, communication instruments, and analytics can materially enhance how merchants course of info.
Naturally, retail merchants are put at an obstacle.
Usi believes AI affords a chance to cut back that divide by taking capabilities that after required specialist software program and presenting them to particular person merchants at a a lot decrease price.
In his personal buying and selling, he mentioned he makes use of an AI assistant to check order books and determine the place capital is concentrated, one thing that might be troublesome for an individual to repeatedly calculate throughout massive quantities of market information.
“The alternative with AI is not only to automate issues,” he mentioned, describing its potential to convey institutional-grade buying and selling instruments to retail customers.
Demand seems to be coming from customers themselves. Usi mentioned a current marketing campaign inviting buyer suggestions produced greater than 2,500 pages of responses, with AI rising as the most typical topic.
The necessary query will likely be how far exchanges take that help. Tools that summarize information, monitor markets, and floor related info can help merchants with out eradicating the necessity for judgment. Alpha Arena itself demonstrated how in another way individuals can interpret the identical market even after they have entry to related info.
Competition for Trust
Better instruments and cheaper buying and selling have restricted worth if customers are uncomfortable holding belongings on an alternate, significantly after a succession of failures and safety incidents throughout the crypto trade.
Usi mentioned transparency has due to this fact turn out to be one among his priorities since taking on as CEO of MEXC in April 2026. The appointment was one thing of a homecoming for BeInCrypto, the place he beforehand served as Chief Marketing Officer earlier than later becoming a member of Bitget and ultimately MEXC.
“I don’t need the person to imagine belief. I need the person to be snug,” he mentioned.
MEXC publishes month-to-month Proof of Reserves studies audited by blockchain safety firm Hacken. Its August disclosure reported reserve ratios of 115% for USDT, 114% for USDC, and above 100% for different reported main belongings.
The alternate has additionally been constructing its Guardian Fund. MEXC announced in May that it plans to develop the fund from $100 million towards $500 million over two years and acquired 1,000 BTC as a part of its reserve preparations.
Separately, its futures insurance coverage fund stood at roughly 751 million USDT in its August disclosure.
Traders Want Different Things, Depending on the Market
The Bali occasion additionally gave MEXC an in depth have a look at merchants throughout Asia-Pacific, the place Usi sees totally different financial motivations from these widespread in wealthier markets.
Where disposable earnings is decrease, a traditional funding returning a number of proportion factors per 12 months could make comparatively little distinction to somebody’s funds. Some merchants due to this fact settle for significantly larger threat seeking returns massive sufficient to have a direct affect.
In wealthier nations, individuals who have already amassed substantial belongings could care extra about preserving that wealth and incomes steadier returns.
“In creating markets, persons are extra liable to make a lot riskier, way more leveraged trades,” Usi mentioned, contrasting wealth era with the larger emphasis on wealth preservation he sees in developed economies.
Usi beforehand labored on institutional adoption, however mentioned one motive he joined MEXC was the corporate’s heavier emphasis on particular person customers.
“Retail comes first,” he mentioned, noting that institutional participation is turning into a significant supply of crypto buying and selling exercise and exchanges are increasing merchandise geared toward skilled capital.
The Exchange of 2031?
Earlier in his profession, Usi anticipated exchanges to steadily resemble banks. Now, he argues that the other has occurred as banking apps have added investing, crypto, commodities, funds, and different monetary merchandise.
“In the following 5 years … we will likely be seeing these monetary tremendous apps, tremendous platforms, gateways the place we are able to meet all our monetary wants in a single place,” he mentioned.
MEXC is already pursuing elements of that mannequin by means of crypto buying and selling, inventory merchandise, yield merchandise, AI-assisted buying and selling instruments, and its deliberate card providing.
Whether customers in the end need all of these providers from one firm stays an open query. What is already turning into obvious, nonetheless, is that cryptocurrency exchanges are competing throughout way over the variety of tokens they checklist.
Alpha Arena noticed how merchants from totally different nations entered the identical market with the identical goal, but used totally different methods and reacted in another way as circumstances modified.
The exchanges serving them face an analogous contest. Once entry turns into low-cost and buying and selling charges strategy zero, differentiation has to return from some other place.
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