# Perp DEX List 2026 Updated: 24 September 2026 / Books polled 19 September 2026 / Spaces Research ## Readout This perp DEX list covers 14 venues checked on 18 September 2026: order-book hybrids, fully on-chain books and oracle-priced pools. Lighter scores highest at 8.5/10; Drift is paused after an April 2026 exploit. GMX, gTrade and Jupiter Perps are listed without a total: an oracle price has no book for us to read. ## Perp DEX list with scores, fees and restrictions Every venue we track, not a shortlist. Oracle-priced venues are listed with their facts and no score: our liquidity criterion measures an order book they do not run. Every row below is a leveraged contract. Leverage shortens the distance between the entry price and the liquidation price, and the whole margin sits inside that distance. | # | Venue | Score /10 | Maker / taker | Perp markets | Model | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | 1 | Lighter | 8.5 | 0% / 0% | 214 | Hybrid, ZK-proven | | 2 | Extended | 7.8 | 0% / 0.025% | 325 | Hybrid | | 3 | Aster | 7.7 | 0% / 0.040% | 578 | Own layer 1, operator-run | | 4 | edgeX | 7.6 | 0.040% / 0.045% | 172 | Hybrid | | 5= | ApeX Omni | 6.9 | 0.020% / 0.050% | 125 | Hybrid | | 5= | Hyperliquid | 6.9 | 0.015% / 0.045% | 324 | On-chain order book | | 7 | EVEDEX | 6.5 | 0.015% / 0.045% | 52 | Hybrid | | 8 | dYdX | 5.8 | 0.010% / 0.050% | 78 | App-chain, validator-held book | | – | Orderly (WOOFi Pro) | not scored | 0.025% / 0.040% on WOOFi Pro | 80 | Hybrid, not scored | | – | GMX | not scored | 0.04% or 0.06% to open and to close, plus price impact | 103 | Oracle pool | | – | gTrade | not scored | 0.035% to open and to close on BTC and ETH | 178 | Oracle vault | | – | Jupiter Perps | not scored | 0.06% to open and to close, plus price impact and borrow fees | 3 | Oracle pool | | – | Ostium | not scored | 0.06% to open BTC, no closing fee | 83 | Oracle vault | | – | Drift | not scored | Velocity: 0.0025% maker rebate / 0.06% taker | 4 | Paused; fork runs as Velocity | Facts as of 18 September 2026; entry-tier fees on the BTC perpetual. Access differs by country. Listed but not scored: Orderly (WOOFi Pro), GMX, gTrade, Jupiter Perps, Ostium, Drift — Orderly shows its book only to logged-in accounts; oracle-priced venues have no book to measure; Drift is paused. Weights: cost 25 · liquidity 25 · custody 20 · security 15 · coverage 10 · access 5, fixed 18 September 2026. Method: https://spacesdao.org/methodology ## What the numbers say 1. Order-book venues: 8 scored on one formula; oracle-priced GMX, gTrade and Jupiter Perps listed without a score. 2. Most markets: Aster with 578; Extended follows with 325, most of them request-for-quote markets without a public book. 3. Fewest markets: Jupiter Perps with 3 — SOL, ETH and wBTC. 4. Paused: Drift, after an attack Drift puts at $295.4 million of user losses. ## 1. [Lighter](https://lighter.xyz) — 0% fees and ZK proofs Score 8.5 of 10. Sequencer-matched trades proven on Ethereum, with a documented forced exit ([Lighter docs](https://docs.lighter.xyz/about-lighter/technical-architecture-lighter-core.md), checked 18 September 2026). BTC up to 50x. - Works: 0% fees on the default account. - Falls short: 300 ms taker latency on free accounts; No public bug bounty. - Not for: anyone unwilling to sit behind a single operator-run sequencer. ## 2. [Extended](https://extended.exchange/) — low flat fees on Starknet Score 7.8 of 10. Order book on Starknet, funds in self-custodial contracts ([Extended docs](https://docs.extended.exchange/about-extended/technical-architecture), checked 18 September 2026). 278 of its markets are request-for-quote; BTC up to 50x. - Works: 0% maker / 0.025% taker, flat for everyone. - Falls short: Most markets lack a public order book; No documented forced withdrawal. - Not for: a trader who needs a public book on every market listed. ## 3. [Aster](https://www.asterdex.com) — 578 markets on its own chain Score 7.7 of 10. Matching on Aster Chain, a closed-source layer 1 without outside validators yet ([Aster docs](https://docs.asterdex.com/overview/what-is-aster.md), checked 18 September 2026). Bug bounty up to $200,000. - Works: Most markets on this list. - Falls short: Closed-source chain; No documented forced withdrawal. - Not for: a trader who needs the matching engine's code published. ## 4. [edgeX](https://pro.edgex.exchange) — a deep BTC book Score 7.6 of 10. Rollup contracts on its EDGE chain, with an exit that bypasses the operator ([edgeX docs](https://pro.edgex.exchange/en-US/home), checked 18 September 2026). 93 of its contracts are stocks and ETFs; BTC up to 100x. - Works: Median BTC depth of $29.5 million within 10 bps. - Falls short: 0.040% maker fee at the entry tier; No bug bounty programme. - Not for: market makers at the entry tier. ## 5. [ApeX Omni](https://omni.apex.exchange/) — zkLink proofs and email sign-in Score 6.9 of 10. Trades proven on the zkLink rollup, with a forced withdrawal to layer 1 ([ApeX Omni docs](https://docs.zk.link/architecture/transactionflow), checked 18 September 2026). Wallet or email sign-in. - Works: Documentation states no KYC and no forms. - Falls short: 0.050% taker fee; Audits cover zkLink, not ApeX's own engine. - Not for: high-frequency takers. ## 5. [Hyperliquid](https://hyperliquid.xyz) — a layer-1 book with isolated margin Score 6.9 of 10. Order books on its own layer 1 ([Hyperliquid docs](https://hyperliquid.gitbook.io/hyperliquid-docs/about-hyperliquid.md), checked 18 September 2026). BTC up to 40x. - Works: Cross and isolated margin; bug bounty up to 1 million USDC. - Falls short: HLP vault losses in 2025; No documented withdrawal without validators. - Not for: traders who need an audit of the node software, not the old bridge. ## 7. EVEDEX — commodities, currencies and stocks beside crypto Score 6.5 of 10. Off-chain matching with settlement on Arbitrum (EVEDEX documentation as of 18 September 2026). Its markets include Tether Gold, oil, currencies, stocks and pre-IPO contracts, all open 24/7; 200x on BTC, ETH and SOL up to $50,000. - Works: Five asset classes beyond crypto on one account. - Falls short: Positions reach the chain as periodic snapshots; No bug bounty programme. - Not for: UK retail clients. ## 8. [dYdX](https://www.dydx.xyz) — email sign-in on a Cosmos app-chain Score 5.8 of 10. Validator-held books committed to dYdX Chain ([dYdX docs](https://docs.dydx.xyz/concepts/architecture/overview), checked 18 September 2026). BTC up to 50x; email, Google or Apple sign-in. - Works: Bug bounty of up to $1 million. - Falls short: Chain halt in October 2025; Thin BTC book: $845,322 within 10 bps. - Not for: traders who cannot have a withdrawal gated after an outage. ## [Orderly (WOOFi Pro)](https://orderly.network/) — a book only a logged-in account can see Not scored (Hybrid, not scored). One off-chain book serves every builder front-end ([Orderly (WOOFi Pro) docs](https://orderly.network/docs/introduction/trade-on-orderly/trading-basics/orderbook-design), checked 18 September 2026), and matched trades are batched to the chain. - Works: Immunefi smart-contract bounty up to $100,000. - Falls short: The book is shown only to a logged-in account, so its depth could not be read; Its separate web and API bounty programme is shown as paused. - Not for: traders who want to see the book before depositing. ## [GMX](https://gmx.io) — Chainlink-priced pools, no order book Not scored (Oracle pool). Keepers execute against GM and GLV pools on Arbitrum, Avalanche and MegaETH ([GMX docs](https://docs.gmx.io/docs/intro/), checked 18 September 2026). - Works: Immunefi bounty up to $5,000,000, live since October 2021. - Falls short: A July 2025 exploit of the older V1 vault left an estimated $2.0 million shortfall; No order book to read, so there is nothing to measure before sending an order. - Not for: traders who size an order off a visible book. ## [gTrade](https://gains.trade) — oracle prices settled against gToken vaults Not scored (Oracle vault). Each order takes a median oracle price and settles against shared gToken vaults ([gTrade docs](https://docs.gains.trade/gtrade-leveraged-trading/overview), checked 18 September 2026). - Works: 178 pairs across five asset classes. - Falls short: Its own app's bounty link returned a 404 when we opened it on 18 September 2026; Holding costs add funding to a per-block borrowing fee charged to the heavier side. - Not for: traders holding the crowded side for weeks. ## [Jupiter Perps](https://jup.ag/perps) — three markets against the JLP pool Not scored (Oracle pool). The JLP pool on Solana is the counterparty to every trade, priced by oracle ([Jupiter Perps docs](https://docs.jup.ag/user-docs/trade/perps/index), checked 18 September 2026); up to 250x. - Works: Any token Jupiter Swap supports can be posted as collateral. - Falls short: 3 perpetual markets, all of them crypto; Disclosure goes to an email address with no published reward schedule. - Not for: anyone wanting a market beyond SOL, ETH and wBTC. ## [Ostium](https://www.ostium.com) — an in-house oracle and the OLP vault Not scored (Oracle vault). An in-house consensus oracle prices positions that settle in USDC through the OLP vault ([Ostium docs](https://docs.ostium.com/protocol/how-ostium-works), checked 18 September 2026). - Works: Immunefi bounty up to $200,000, live since April 2025. - Falls short: Stock pairs follow the underlying session and day trades auto-close at 15:45 ET; Liquidation keeps whatever collateral is left as part of the settlement. - Not for: traders in the jurisdictions its terms exclude. ## [Drift](https://www.drift.trade) — paused since the April 2026 exploit Not scored (Paused; fork runs as Velocity). The v2 program has been paused since 1 April 2026 ([Drift docs](https://docs.velocity.exchange/protocol), checked 18 September 2026) after an attack Drift puts at $295.4 million of user losses; the app now redirects to Velocity Exchange. - Works: The Velocity fork was audited by OtterSec after the fork. - Falls short: Trading on Drift v2 is paused and its own app sends you elsewhere; The fork's audit reported 41 High findings, all stated as fixed. - Not for: anyone who needs to place a trade today. ## Oracle-priced, shared-book and paused venues Six venues in the table above carry facts and no score. Five of them price from an oracle or show their book only to a logged-in account, so the liquidity criterion has nothing to read; the sixth is paused. Each has a card of its own below, with the same sourcing and the same two-drawback rule as every scored venue on this page. ## How the readings were taken Facts come from each venue's documentation and trading terms, checked on 18 September 2026; depth from the BTC order-book snapshots. Scores follow [How we rate](/methodology). Snapshots cover BTC only; entry-tier fees ignore discounts. ## Sourced quotes > "The attack resulted in the loss of $295M in user funds." — Drift Protocol, recovery plan for affected users, 18 September 2026. https://www.drift.trade/updates/recovery-plan-for-affected-users > "There is no public order book. The order book displayed on the trading screen is indicative only and does not represent resting orders from other traders." — Extended documentation, RFQ execution, 18 September 2026. https://docs.extended.exchange/extended-resources/trading/rfq-execution > "EVEDEX is a hybrid cryptocurrency exchange combining CEX-level user experience with DEX self-custody security." — CertiK Skynet, project profile, 18 September 2026. https://skynet.certik.com/projects/evedex ## FAQ ### Can you provide a list of DEXs? For perpetual futures, the table above is our list: 14 venues with pricing model, entry fees, market count and access limits on 24 September 2026. For spot DEXs such as Uniswap, CoinGecko and DefiLlama keep broader directories ranked by volume. ### What is a perp dex? A perp DEX is a decentralized venue for perpetual futures, leveraged contracts with no expiry that follow a price through funding. Some run order books, like edgeX and Extended; others fill at oracle prices against a pool, like GMX. Collateral stays in smart contracts. ### Which Perp DEX has the highest volume? Hyperliquid. CoinMarketCap put the 24-hour volume of Hyperliquid at $13.4 billion on 22 September 2026, against $3.2 billion for Aster and $2.0 billion for Lighter. Reported volume is not depth: the snapshots measure what a market order would fill against in the book. ### Which DEX is best for perps? Among the order-book venues we score, Lighter leads with 8.5/10 on 24 September 2026. The answer changes with the trade: for currencies, commodities and stocks beside crypto, Lighter lists the widest mix with six classes outside crypto, and Aster, Extended and EVEDEX carry five each. ### where to trade crypto futures using a dex? Any venue on this list that accepts residents of your country: read the venue's card below and its own terms first. Then compare entry fees, which run from 0% on Lighter's default account to 0.050% for takers at ApeX Omni and dYdX, and the depth measured beside them. ### What apps/ dexs you guys use to trade futures? We rate venues rather than trade on them. By our 24 September 2026 scores, Lighter leads the order-book group; among oracle-priced venues, GMX runs the largest bug bounty, up to $5 million. Every venue here needs only a wallet to start. ### where the perp dex is heading? Toward more asset classes and easier sign-in. Several of the 8 order-book venues we score list stocks, commodities or currencies beside crypto, and ApeX Omni, dYdX and edgeX accept email sign-in. The April 2026 Drift exploit shows contract risk remains. ### Is hyperliquid a dex? Yes. Hyperliquid runs its order books, matching and settlement on its own layer-1 chain, and users trade from a wallet or an email login. That makes it an on-chain order-book DEX rather than a hybrid, because the chain itself matches orders. ### What are the top 10 DEXs? By reported open interest in the CoinMarketCap ranking of derivatives DEXs on 22 September 2026, Hyperliquid led at $8.7 billion, then Aster at $1.4 billion and Variational at $746.9 million. Our list adds smaller venues and scores them on cost, liquidity, custody, security, coverage and access. ### Is lighter dex safe? Lighter keeps deposits in Ethereum contracts, documents an exit if its sequencer stops and publishes nine audits. It has no public bug bounty and had a 4.5-hour outage on 10 October 2025, after which it compensated traders. Safety here means custody and disclosure, not a promise about the next outage. ## Editorial note One published formula, every figure dated and sourced. Corrections: editorial@spacesdao.org. Spaces Research, 24 September 2026 Publication on this site is commissioned and paid for, and a venue compared here may be the sponsor behind the page.