MEXC review: fees, memecoins and safety

In short

• Spot fees are 0% maker and 0.05% taker, among the lowest of any large CEX.
• Lists long-tail memecoins earlier than Binance, Coinbase or Kraken, often within days of a coin trending.
• Fiat on-ramp is mainly P2P; card purchases route through third-party providers with their own spreads.
• No service in the US, Canada or the UK, and thin books on new pairs mean market orders can slip badly.

Overview

MEXC is a large centralised exchange whose main draw for memecoin buyers is listing speed. Where Coinbase or Kraken take months to review a token, MEXC frequently opens a USDT spot pair within days of a coin gaining volume on Solana, Base or BNB Chain. For a buyer, that means you can hold a coin like BONK or WIF in a normal exchange account, with a chart, a limit-order book and a withdrawal address, instead of connecting a wallet to a DEX.

The other half of the pitch is cost. Spot maker fees are 0% and taker fees are 0.05%, so even a market order costs a fraction of what an app like Moonshot charges and roughly a twentieth of Coinbase’s standard retail rate. Holding MX, the exchange token, discounts fees further.

What you give up is vetting and depth. A listing on MEXC is not a quality signal — plenty of listed coins go to zero — and the newest pairs can have order books thin enough that a few thousand dollars of market buying moves the price several percent. MEXC is also closed to residents of the US, Canada and the UK, so buyers in those markets should look at a domestic exchange or a self-custody route instead.

Memecoin coverage

Coverage is the widest of the venues we track for established and mid-cap memecoins: DOGE, SHIB, PEPE, BONK, WIF, FLOKI, POPCAT and SPX6900 all trade as USDT spot pairs, and newer Solana coins usually appear once daily volume is sustained rather than a single spike.

Very new launches — a token that graduated from Pump.fun this morning — are still an on-chain-only story. If a coin is hours old, a Solana terminal or Telegram bot is the only way in, and MEXC becomes an option later if the coin survives.

Because listings are fast but not curated, treat the listing itself as neutral information. Check the contract address on the coin’s own page before assuming the pair tracks the token you researched; ticker collisions are common in memecoins.

Key facts

What it costs

• Spot: 0% maker, 0.05% taker at the base tier. MEXC notes rates can vary by region and promotion, so confirm on the fee page before a large order.
• Holding at least 500 MX for 24 hours enables a further spot-fee discount.
• Withdrawal fees are charged per chain and are separate from trading fees — withdrawing a Solana memecoin costs cents, an ERC-20 costs materially more.
• Card purchases are handled by third-party payment providers whose spread is usually far larger than MEXC’s trading fee. Buying USDT via P2P and then trading is normally cheaper.

How to buy on MEXC

1. 1

   Create the account

   Sign up with an email address and enable two-factor authentication immediately. Trading works before verification, but raise your KYC level if you plan meaningful withdrawal volume.

2. 2

   Fund with USDT rather than fiat where possible

   Either transfer USDT in from another exchange or wallet, or buy it through P2P. Compare the P2P rate against the third-party card provider quote — the difference is usually larger than the trading fee.

3. 3

   Find the correct pair

   Search the ticker, then cross-check the contract address MEXC lists against the address on our coin page. Several memecoins share tickers.

4. 4

   Buy with a limit order

   On thin books a market order can fill several percent above the last trade. A limit order at or just above the best ask also earns the 0% maker rate when it rests on the book.

5. 5

   Withdraw to self-custody if you plan to hold

   Send the coin to a wallet you control — Phantom for Solana, MetaMask or Rabby for EVM chains, ideally with a hardware wallet behind it. Test with a small amount first.

Safety and risks

• Balances are custodial. An exchange failure or account lock puts your coins out of reach, so keep long-term holdings in your own wallet.
• Enable 2FA with an authenticator app rather than SMS, and set a withdrawal allow-list where available.
• Early listings are volatile in both directions; size positions so a total loss is survivable.
• MEXC restricts several jurisdictions. Using it from a restricted country risks account freezes regardless of any VPN.

Nothing here is financial advice. Memecoins are high-risk and can go to zero; only risk what you can afford to lose.

Alternatives to MEXC

• Gate — Similar breadth of altcoin listings on a conventional published fee ladder and a longer operating history.
• Moonshot — If you want a card or Apple Pay purchase of a Solana memecoin without touching P2P or a wallet.
• Photon — For coins too new to be listed anywhere, a Solana terminal buys directly from the on-chain pool.

Coins to research next

• Bonk
• Dogwifhat
• Floki
• Pepe
• SPX6900

Frequently asked questions