Crypto exchanges use loss compensation, contests to retain traders

A trader who sustains a loss may shut the app. Zoomex has given some users an incentive to come back: credit for additional trading.

Loss compensation is among the tactics Fernando Aranda, Marketing Director at Zoomex, says exchanges employ to hold onto customers. Speaking with BeInCrypto at TOKEN2049, he outlined a sector under pressure to give users reasons to stay.

“In this market, most of the big platforms started offering it because they saw users weren’t being retained. They were moving to brokers or platforms outside Web3,” he said of exchanges expanding into traditional markets.

Recent data illustrate why customer engagement matters. Crypto’s total market capitalisation gained 39.6% in the third quarter of 2026, yet spot trading volume on the 10 largest centralised exchanges dropped 14.2%, CoinGecko reported.

Higher valuations failed to produce a proportional rise in trading activity.

Following the Traders Who Leave

Aranda says seasoned traders look elsewhere when crypto does not present the opportunities they are seeking.

“When we go through a bear market, traders look for something with more volatility, something that moves faster, and they typically shift to traditional markets.”

That pushes exchanges to develop new products before customers take their capital elsewhere.

Zoomex’s strategy includes contracts linked to traditional assets and availability outside standard market hours. Prediction markets provide another entry point. Aranda notes its World Cup launch drew in people who had little prior interest in crypto.

“What I believe is that this kind of product launch brings in new users who aren’t primarily focused on Web3 — they come from Web2.”

Keeping those new users requires a product they can grasp.

“If you make it too complex, the user gets lost.”

Can a Trading Competition Teach Restraint?

Once a user joins, a community can offer a reason to return. Aranda says Zoomex’s team competitions help participants learn from experienced captains.

“The captains we have usually come with organic communities, because they want to teach.”

He describes leaders explaining how to open positions and set orders aimed at limiting losses. That can make a complex product more accessible.

The competition also encourages activity. Zoomex’s 2026 championship promotes a conditional prize pool of up to 5 million USDT. Certain rankings are based on trading volume.

Eligible captains may receive 20% of their team’s rewards, giving them a financial motive alongside their teaching role.

That leads to a practical question: what happens when a trader’s best decision is to refrain from trading?

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority examined similar incentives in a 2024 experiment involving more than 9,000 consumers. It concluded that push notifications and prize draws could raise trading frequency and risk-taking behaviour. The study did not evaluate Zoomex.

Aranda’s defence rests on the calibre of the people leading the teams.

“If users are learning and they’re open to it, I think that’s quite important.”

What Does “Covering Your Losses” Buy You?

Learning can carry a high cost when real money is at stake. Zoomex uses partial compensation to make trying its products less expensive for eligible users.

“At Zoomex we try to run a campaign with loss compensation every month, so that if a user loses on a trade, we can compensate part of it.”

The terms determine how much relief that offers. A campaign from September 16 to October 13 provided eligible copy traders with up to 50 USDT in bonus compensation for their first week’s net realised losses. Copy trading automatically mirrors another trader’s positions.

The bonus could offset copy-trading losses and related fees. It could not be withdrawn or exchanged for cash.

For a customer wanting to continue, that credit is usable. Its value depends on further activity within the platform.

Ongoing costs also count. “Newer users often don’t pay attention to fees, but it matters,” Aranda said. A promotion is temporary; fees remain part of every trade’s outcome.

A Bot Can Make Staying Easier

Exchanges are also working to lower the effort involved in trading. Aranda sees AI’s immediate value in sifting through information that average customers find hard to handle.

“Every trader on Zoomex can connect their bots and trade directly.”

He describes Zoomex as a gateway for outside developers, letting customers bring tools onto the exchange. That gives traders more flexibility without forcing them to shift their funds for each new strategy.

It also places responsibility on the platform. Aranda says users require assistance setting limits on leverage and position size. He acknowledges that “these tools can be profitable but can also create losses.”

Access to a bot provides customers with another trading method. Whether it improves their outcomes depends on the strategy and the controls around it.

What Keeps Someone After the Bonus Ends?

Asked what retains customers after campaigns end, Aranda starts with trust. He points to external security work and says product teams must keep improving. Hacken’s public directory lists security assessments for Zoomex.

His description of customer feedback is more ordinary, and more telling.

“Every month we send out feedback forms or surveys. We try to listen. Every time they give us advice, even when it’s quite harsh, we try to bring it into the product and the platform.”

For customers, that promise is easiest to assess when something goes wrong. How an exchange handles an order problem can matter long after the reward for placing it has been used.