Best of

Best perp DEX on Arbitrum?

For trading perpetual futures on-chain on Arbitrum, our top pick is GMX — traders who want oracle-priced perps on Arbitrum or Avalanche, including gold, oil and US index markets, without an order book. Also strong: Aster, Ostium. Cheapest: Ostium ($0.60 on a $1,000 round trip).

Checked 2026-10-17 · 3 venues · method
#1 · Top pick

GMX

Perp DEXSelf-custody
$5.6M
Fees paid by users, 30d

Traders who want oracle-priced perps on Arbitrum or Avalanche, including gold, oil and US index markets, without an order book.

US: UnverifiedArbitrumAvalanche

Open GMX
#2

Aster

Perp DEXSelf-custody
$4.9M
Fees paid by users, 30d

Non-US, non-UK traders who want zero maker fees on order-book perps, very high leverage modes, or privacy-shielded orders.

US: Not availableAster ChainBNB Chain

Open Aster
#3

Ostium

Perp DEXSelf-custody
$164K
Fees paid by users, 30d

Traders who want onchain leveraged exposure to stocks, forex, commodities and indices from a self-custodied wallet, outside the US.

US: Not availableArbitrum

Open Ostium

Full ranking

#VenueBest forRound tripUSFees paid, 30d
1GMXPerp DEXSelf-custodyTraders who want oracle-priced perps on Arbitrum or Avalanche, including gold, oil and US index markets, without an order book. 0.12% Unverified $5.6M Open
2AsterPerp DEXSelf-custodyNon-US, non-UK traders who want zero maker fees on order-book perps, very high leverage modes, or privacy-shielded orders. 0.08% Not available $4.9M Open
3OstiumPerp DEXSelf-custodyTraders who want onchain leveraged exposure to stocks, forex, commodities and indices from a self-custodied wallet, outside the US. 0.06% Not available $164K Open

The picks

  1. GMX

    Perp DEXSelf-custody

    Arbitrum · Avalanche · Megaeth · web · 0.12% round trip

    GMX is a decentralized spot and perpetuals exchange on Arbitrum, Avalanche and MegaETH, with 100+ crypto and TradFi markets and up to 100x leverage. Trades execute against GM and GLV liquidity pools at Chainlink oracle prices rather than an order book.

    • 100+ markets, including gold, silver, oil, natural gas, SPY and QQQ, tradeable 24/7 with up to 100x leverage.
    • Trades that reduce the long/short imbalance pay 0.04% instead of 0.06%, and price impact can be positive.

    Watch out: Holding costs include hourly borrow fees, priced from 45-55%/yr below 75% utilization on typical markets.

    Open GMX · Full GMX sheet

  2. Aster

    Perp DEXSelf-custody

    Aster Chain · BNB Chain · Arbitrum · web · 0.08% round trip

    Aster is a decentralized perpetuals exchange offering order-book perps on crypto, stocks and commodities, plus a Shield Mode with order privacy, a one-click 1001x mode and spot trading. It runs on Aster Chain, its own privacy-focused layer 1, which announced mainnet in March 2026.

    • Maker fees are 0% at every VIP tier on order-book perps since February 2026.
    • General crypto perps start at 0.04% taker and drop to 0.016% at VIP 6.

    Watch out: The Terms bar residents of the US, Canada and the UK, among others.

    Open Aster · Full Aster sheet

  3. Ostium

    Perp DEXSelf-custody

    Arbitrum · web · 0.06% round trip

    Ostium is an Arbitrum-based perpetuals venue offering leveraged exposure to 75 pairs across stocks, ETFs, commodities, indices, forex and crypto, settled in USDC against a liquidity vault and hedged off-chain with institutional partners.

    • Covers 75 pairs across stocks, ETFs, commodities, indices, forex and crypto, which most crypto perp venues do not list.
    • Fee is charged once on opening with 0 bps on close; major index pairs cost 1 bp and forex majors 2 bps.

    Watch out: A July 2026 oracle exploit drained 23.75M USDC from the OLP vault and paused trading for about a week.

    Open Ostium · Full Ostium sheet

What a trade costs on each

Cost of a round trip (buy + sell). Platform fee only; network and pool fees are extra.

VenueRate (round trip)You pay

How we ranked

Filtered to live venues that fit the job, then ranked by how much traders actually use them: total fees users paid in the last 30 days, from DefiLlama. Venues DefiLlama does not track come last, ordered by fee. Fees are shown for every pick so you can trade off popularity against cost. Fee data comes from each venue's own fee page, checked 2026-10-17. Venues that are suspended or merged are excluded.

FAQ

What is the best perp dex on arbitrum??

For trading perpetual futures on-chain on Arbitrum, our top pick is GMX — traders who want oracle-priced perps on Arbitrum or Avalanche, including gold, oil and US index markets, without an order book. Also strong: Aster, Ostium. Cheapest: Ostium ($0.60 on a $1,000 round trip).

Which is cheapest?

Ostium: 0.06% per round trip, platform fee only.

Which of these work in the US?

None of these list the US as fully available in their terms.

How did DexSheet rank these?

Filtered to live venues that fit the job, then ranked by how much traders actually use them: total fees users paid in the last 30 days, from DefiLlama. Venues DefiLlama does not track come last, ordered by fee. Fees are shown for every pick so you can trade off popularity against cost.