HTX (formerly Huobi) runs two kinds of earn products. SmartEarn sits inside your USDT-M futures account: once switched on, your margin keeps working for trading while HTX pays interest on the day's lowest balance, credited in USDT to your spot account after 17:00 (UTC+8) the next day. HTX Earn holds the flexible, fixed, new-listing and Dual Investment products. Flexible can be redeemed any time, early redemption of fixed forfeits all earnings, and Dual Investment is not principal-protected (HTX announcements, checked 2026-10-17).
Based on HTX's help-center product pages and announcements, this guide covers SmartEarn's interest rules and Trading Boost, how flexible and fixed products accrue and redeem, the SVIP Flexible products for Prime 5 and above, how Dual Investment settles, and the APYs HTX's product list showed on 2026-10-17. APYs on the page float, so the numbers here describe the check date only and are not what you will necessarily earn later.
If you trade on HTX, sign up with code FEEOTTER and link your UID on Fee Otter for a 50% futures rebate (30% automatic rebate from the exchange + 20% extra rebate), 2.5 times a typical 20% code. Earn products charge no trading fee; how they relate to rebates is covered near the end.
Key points
- SmartEarn: assets in USDT-M futures, copy trading and futures grid accounts earn interest with no subscription or lock-up. Supports USDT, USDC, USDD, BTC and ETH, capped at 2 million USDT equivalent.
- Interest uses the day's lowest balance: HTX takes random snapshots from 00:00 to 24:00 (UTC+8) and uses the minimum, so money moved in today earns nothing today.
- Flexible: subscribe and redeem any time, principal back to spot immediately. HTX's 2026 product announcements say interest starts at the next full hour and compounds hourly.
- Fixed: simple interest from T+1, paid in one lump after maturity. Early redemption returns no earnings.
- SVIP Flexible: Prime 5 and above only, USDT at 6% to 9% with per-tier caps.
- Dual Investment: interest is paid at purchase, but you may receive the other coin at expiry; not principal-protected.
Two kinds of earn, two different accounts
| Product | Where the funds sit | Withdraw any time? | Yield source |
|---|---|---|---|
| SmartEarn | USDT-M futures, copy trading, futures grid accounts | Yes; no interest on the day you switch it off | HTX's funding-rate arbitrage |
| Flexible (incl. SVIP Flexible) | Earn account | Yes, principal back immediately | Not itemised in HTX's announcements |
| Fixed, NewList | Earn account | Early redemption allowed, earnings lost | Not itemised in HTX's announcements |
| Dual Investment, Shark Fin | Structured products | Dual Investment locked until expiry | Option structure |
| ETH 2.0 and other on-chain earn | On-chain staking | Per product rules | Staking rewards |
HTX's December 2025 Earn website upgrade announcement split Earn into five sections: Overview, Simple Earn (flexible and fixed), New Listings, Structured Products (Dual Investment, Shark Fin) and On-chain Earn (ETH 2.0 node staking), and added SVIP and new-user zones.
SmartEarn: interest on margin left in the futures account
From Introduction to SmartEarn (January 4, 2026; checked 2026-10-17):
- Yield source: HTX buys spot and shorts an equal amount of perpetual futures, collecting funding when the rate is positive and longs pay shorts. HTX's example: BTC funding at +0.002%, settled three times a day, earns 6 USDT a day on a 1 BTC position.
- Accounts included: USDT-M futures, copy trading and lead trading, and futures strategy accounts, with main and sub-accounts combined. Available margin, position margin and order margin all count.
- Excluded: unrealised profit on open positions, futures, copy trading and grid trial bonuses, and Coin-M account assets.
- Timing: random snapshots from 00:00 to 24:00 (UTC+8), lowest value used, paid in USDT to spot after 17:00 (UTC+8) the next day. No interest is settled for a day on which you switch SmartEarn off.
- Formula: yesterday's interest = yesterday's effective assets × yesterday's APY × (1 − SmartEarn reserve ratio) ÷ 365. HTX adjusts the reserve ratio with market conditions and does not publish it, so the APY on the page is not exactly what you receive.
- Limits: USDT, USDC, USDD, BTC and ETH combined, up to 2 million USDT equivalent, minimum 1 USDT.
- Manual only: HTX says SmartEarn cannot be switched on or off via API yet.
The lowest-balance rule is where people lose interest. Move money in during the day, or move it out later in the day, and only the lowest moment counts. HTX's own example: switch on SmartEarn on January 1 and deposit 100 USDT that day, and January 1's lowest balance is 0, so no interest. Keep 100 USDT through January 2 and the first interest arrives on January 3.
HTX says SmartEarn's APY never goes below zero and describes it as principal-protected; when funding turns negative, a separate SmartEarn reserve pays the cost. That is HTX's description. HTX decides the reserve's size and top-ups and says it "may (but is not obligated to)" inject assets. Your funds still sit on HTX, so platform risk does not go away.
Trading Boost: extra APY for futures volume
HTX's Trading-Based APY Boost announcement (September 20, 2026): with SmartEarn on, reaching a daily futures volume tier (UTC+8 day) adds extra APY on top of the basic rate, paid in USDT with the basic interest after 17:00 the next day. Volume covers USDT-M futures, copy trading and trading bots across main and sub-accounts. Market makers get the basic APY only.
| Daily futures volume (USDT) | Extra APY | Boost principal cap |
|---|---|---|
| ≥ 10,000 | 0.30% | 1,000,000 USDT |
| ≥ 100,000 | 0.50% | 1,000,000 USDT |
| ≥ 500,000 | 1% | 1,000,000 USDT |
| ≥ 1,000,000 | 2% | 1,000,000 USDT |
| ≥ 2,000,000 | 3% | 1,000,000 USDT |
| ≥ 5,000,000 | 5% | 1,000,000 USDT |
In numbers: 10,000 USDT in the futures account and 120,000 USDT of futures volume in a day lands in the 0.50% tier, so the boost is 10,000 × 0.5% ÷ 365 ≈ 0.14 USDT. The same 120,000 USDT, all taker at Prime 0's 0.06%, costs 72 USDT in fees, or 36 USDT after a 50% Fee Otter rebate. Trading more just to unlock the boost does not pay; it is a small extra for people who trade anyway. A separate campaign with boosts up to 13% ran from August 21 to September 18, 2026 and has ended.
Flexible and fixed: accrual and redemption
From Introduction to HTX Current and Fixed-Term Products (published 2023):
- Flexible: daily interest = assets × APY ÷ 365, with APY changing daily. No interest on the subscription day; it accrues from the next day. Each product has a subscription cap and closes when full.
- Fixed: simple interest at the APY on your subscription day, from T+1, paid in one lump the day after maturity, with automatic redemption to spot.
- Early redemption of fixed: allowed any time, but you get none of the earnings accrued so far.
HTX's 2026 announcements for newer flexible products ($U Flexible, SVIP Flexible) say interest starts at the next full hour, compounds hourly and is credited instantly, with principal returned to spot immediately on redemption. Rules differ by product, so read the product page before subscribing.
APYs on HTX's product list, 2026-10-17
The public product list HTX's Earn page uses (/v1/saving/mining/index/active/list) showed these flexible "yesterday's APY" values on 2026-10-17: USDT 2.00%, USDC 2.30%, BTC 1.00%, ETH 0.80%, SOL 1.00%, TRX 2.00%. These are the previous day's actual rates and change daily. The list also showed 7-day fixed products in USDT, BTC, ETH and USDC labelled 100% APY with a special tag; eligibility and quotas only show after login, so we could not confirm whether they are new-user offers.
At 2.00% on flexible USDT, 1,000 USDT for 30 days earns about 1,000 × 2% ÷ 365 × 30 ≈ 1.64 USDT, assuming the rate holds for all 30 days.
SVIP Flexible: Prime 5 and above
Since March 2026 HTX has launched flexible products only for Prime 5 (SVIP) users and above, with APY and quota rising by Prime level:
| Asset | Prime 5-7 | Prime 8-9 | Prime 10-11 | Announcement |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| USDT | 6%, 50,000 | 7%, 80,000 | 9%, 100,000 | 2026-03-30 |
| BTC | 0.6%, 1 BTC | 0.8%, 2 BTC | 1.0%, 3 BTC | 2026-07-14 |
| ETH | 2.00%, 5 ETH | 2.50%, 10 ETH | 3.00%, 15 ETH | 2026-09-16 |
HTX says APY and quotas are adjusted periodically; if your quota drops, the excess moves to regular flexible. With auto-subscribe on, spot balances fill SVIP Flexible first and then regular flexible. The standard Prime 5 threshold is 100 million USDT of 30-day futures volume, 12 million USDT of spot volume, 150,000 USDT in assets, or 30,000 USDT worth of $HTX; see HTX VIP fee tiers.
If you are already a VIP at another exchange or trade in size, contact Fee Otter support. We work directly with exchange teams to request benefits such as VIP trials; the exchange decides what is granted.
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