Spaces Researchperp DEX and hybrid exchanges

Last check

24 September 2026

Poll interval

10 minutes, BTC perpetual books

Perp DEX List 2026

Updated: 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.

What the numbers say

  1. 01Order-book venues: 8 scored on one formula; oracle-priced GMX, gTrade and Jupiter Perps listed without a score.
  2. 02Most markets: Aster with 578; Extended follows with 325, most of them request-for-quote markets without a public book.
  3. 03Fewest markets: Jupiter Perps with 3 — SOL, ETH and wBTC.
  4. 04Paused: Drift, after an attack Drift puts at $295.4 million of user losses.

WeightsTrading cost25Liquidity25Custody and settlement20Security record15Market coverage10Access5how we rate

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.

#VenueScore /10Maker / takerPerp marketsModelUse it for
1 Lighter 8.50% / 0% 214 Hybrid, ZK-proven 0% fees and ZK proofs
2 Extended 7.80% / 0.025% 325 Hybrid low flat fees on Starknet
3 Aster 7.70% / 0.040% 578 Own layer 1, operator-run 578 markets on its own chain
4 edgeX 7.60.040% / 0.045% 172 Hybrid a deep BTC book
5= ApeX Omni 6.90.020% / 0.050% 125 Hybrid zkLink proofs and email sign-in
5= Hyperliquid 6.90.015% / 0.045% 324 On-chain order book a layer-1 book with isolated margin
7 EVEDEX 6.50.015% / 0.045% 52 Hybrid commodities, currencies and stocks beside crypto
8 dYdX 5.80.010% / 0.050% 78 App-chain, validator-held book email sign-in on a Cosmos app-chain
– Orderly (WOOFi Pro) not scored0.025% / 0.040% on WOOFi Pro 80 Hybrid, not scored a book only a logged-in account can see
– GMX not scored0.04% or 0.06% to open and to close, plus price impact 103 Oracle pool Chainlink-priced pools, no order book
– gTrade not scored0.035% to open and to close on BTC and ETH 178 Oracle vault oracle prices settled against gToken vaults
– Jupiter Perps not scored0.06% to open and to close, plus price impact and borrow fees 3 Oracle pool three markets against the JLP pool
– Ostium not scored0.06% to open BTC, no closing fee 83 Oracle vault an in-house oracle and the OLP vault
– Drift not scoredVelocity: 0.0025% maker rebate / 0.06% taker 4 Paused; fork runs as Velocity paused since the April 2026 exploit

Entry-tier fees on the BTC perpetual; market counts as each venue's own interface reports them. Equal totals hold the same rank. Availability is decided by each venue's terms, not by this desk. Facts as of 18 September 2026; Scores use one formula for the whole site, fixed on 18 September 2026. 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.

01

1. Lighter — 0% fees and ZK proofs

8.5of 10breakdown

Criterion scores before the weights, each out of ten

Trading cost Liquidity Custody and settlement Security record Market coverage Access

Sequencer-matched trades proven on Ethereum, with a documented forced exit (Lighter docs, checked 18 September 2026). BTC up to 50x.

Reads well

  • 0% fees on the default account

Reads badly

  • 300 ms taker latency on free accounts
  • No public bug bounty

Not for: anyone unwilling to sit behind a single operator-run sequencer.

Official site: lighter.xyz

02

2. Extended — low flat fees on Starknet

7.8of 10breakdown

Criterion scores before the weights, each out of ten

Trading cost Liquidity Custody and settlement Security record Market coverage Access

Order book on Starknet, funds in self-custodial contracts (Extended docs, checked 18 September 2026). 278 of its markets are request-for-quote; BTC up to 50x.

Reads well

  • 0% maker / 0.025% taker, flat for everyone

Reads badly

  • Most markets lack a public order book
  • No documented forced withdrawal

Not for: a trader who needs a public book on every market listed.

Official site: extended.exchange

03

3. Aster — 578 markets on its own chain

7.7of 10breakdown

Criterion scores before the weights, each out of ten

Trading cost Liquidity Custody and settlement Security record Market coverage Access

Matching on Aster Chain, a closed-source layer 1 without outside validators yet (Aster docs, checked 18 September 2026). Bug bounty up to $200,000.

Reads well

  • Most markets on this list

Reads badly

  • Closed-source chain
  • No documented forced withdrawal

Not for: a trader who needs the matching engine's code published.

Official site: asterdex.com

04

4. edgeX — a deep BTC book

7.6of 10breakdown

Criterion scores before the weights, each out of ten

Trading cost Liquidity Custody and settlement Security record Market coverage Access

Rollup contracts on its EDGE chain, with an exit that bypasses the operator (edgeX docs, checked 18 September 2026). 93 of its contracts are stocks and ETFs; BTC up to 100x.

Reads well

  • Median BTC depth of $29.5 million within 10 bps

Reads badly

  • 0.040% maker fee at the entry tier
  • No bug bounty programme

Not for: market makers at the entry tier.

Official site: pro.edgex.exchange

05shared place

5. ApeX Omni — zkLink proofs and email sign-in

6.9of 10breakdown

Criterion scores before the weights, each out of ten

Trading cost Liquidity Custody and settlement Security record Market coverage Access

Trades proven on the zkLink rollup, with a forced withdrawal to layer 1 (ApeX Omni docs, checked 18 September 2026). Wallet or email sign-in.

Reads well

  • Documentation states no KYC and no forms

Reads badly

  • 0.050% taker fee
  • Audits cover zkLink, not ApeX's own engine

Not for: high-frequency takers.

Official site: omni.apex.exchange

05shared place

5. Hyperliquid — a layer-1 book with isolated margin

6.9of 10breakdown

Criterion scores before the weights, each out of ten

Trading cost Liquidity Custody and settlement Security record Market coverage Access

Order books on its own layer 1 (Hyperliquid docs, checked 18 September 2026). BTC up to 40x.

Reads well

  • Cross and isolated margin; bug bounty up to 1 million USDC

Reads badly

  • 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.

Official site: hyperliquid.xyz

07

7. EVEDEX — commodities, currencies and stocks beside crypto

6.5of 10breakdown

Criterion scores before the weights, each out of ten

Trading cost Liquidity Custody and settlement Security record Market coverage Access

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.

Reads well

  • Five asset classes beyond crypto on one account

Reads badly

  • Positions reach the chain as periodic snapshots
  • No bug bounty programme

Not for: UK retail clients.

08

8. dYdX — email sign-in on a Cosmos app-chain

5.8of 10breakdown

Criterion scores before the weights, each out of ten

Trading cost Liquidity Custody and settlement Security record Market coverage Access

Validator-held books committed to dYdX Chain (dYdX docs, checked 18 September 2026). BTC up to 50x; email, Google or Apple sign-in.

Reads well

  • Bug bounty of up to $1 million

Reads badly

  • 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.

Official site: dydx.xyz

--Hybrid, not scored

Orderly (WOOFi Pro) — a book only a logged-in account can see

not scoredthe liquidity criterion needs an order book we could read

One off-chain book serves every builder front-end (Orderly (WOOFi Pro) docs, checked 18 September 2026), and matched trades are batched to the chain.

Reads well

  • Immunefi smart-contract bounty up to $100,000

Reads badly

  • 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.

Official site: orderly.network

--Oracle pool

GMX — Chainlink-priced pools, no order book

not scoredthe liquidity criterion needs an order book we could read

Keepers execute against GM and GLV pools on Arbitrum, Avalanche and MegaETH (GMX docs, checked 18 September 2026).

Reads well

  • Immunefi bounty up to $5,000,000, live since October 2021

Reads badly

  • 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.

Official site: gmx.io

--Oracle vault

gTrade — oracle prices settled against gToken vaults

not scoredthe liquidity criterion needs an order book we could read

Each order takes a median oracle price and settles against shared gToken vaults (gTrade docs, checked 18 September 2026).

Reads well

  • 178 pairs across five asset classes

Reads badly

  • 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.

Official site: gains.trade

--Oracle pool

Jupiter Perps — three markets against the JLP pool

not scoredthe liquidity criterion needs an order book we could read

The JLP pool on Solana is the counterparty to every trade, priced by oracle (Jupiter Perps docs, checked 18 September 2026); up to 250x.

Reads well

  • Any token Jupiter Swap supports can be posted as collateral

Reads badly

  • 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.

Official site: jup.ag/perps

--Oracle vault

Ostium — an in-house oracle and the OLP vault

not scoredthe liquidity criterion needs an order book we could read

An in-house consensus oracle prices positions that settle in USDC through the OLP vault (Ostium docs, checked 18 September 2026).

Reads well

  • Immunefi bounty up to $200,000, live since April 2025

Reads badly

  • 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.

Official site: ostium.com

--Paused; fork runs as Velocity

Drift — paused since the April 2026 exploit

not scoredthe liquidity criterion needs an order book we could read

The v2 program has been paused since 1 April 2026 (Drift docs, checked 18 September 2026) after an attack Drift puts at $295.4 million of user losses; the app now redirects to Velocity Exchange.

Reads well

  • The Velocity fork was audited by OtterSec after the fork

Reads badly

  • 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.

Official site: drift.trade

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.

Snapshots cover BTC only; entry-tier fees ignore discounts.

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.

Spaces Research — Updated: — write to editorial@spacesdao.org