Best perp DEXes for beginners (2026)

For trading perpetual futures for the first time, our top pick is Hyperliquid — perps traders outside the US who want onchain order-book trading from their own wallet, with fees that drop by volume and HYPE staking. Also strong: Lighter, Jupiter Perps, Aster. Cheapest: Lighter ($0.00 on a $1,000 round trip).

Checked 2026-10-17 · 10 venues · method

#1 · Top pick

Hyperliquid

0.09%

Round trip fee

Perps traders outside the US who want onchain order-book trading from their own wallet, with fees that drop by volume and HYPE staking.

US: Not availableHyperliquid

Open Hyperliquid — 4% off fees

Lighter

Round trip fee

Non-US, non-UK retail perps traders who want zero trading fees and can accept slower taker execution than paid accounts.

US: Not availableEthereum

Open Lighter — 10% off fees

Jupiter Perps

0.12%

Round trip fee

Solana users already on Jupiter who want high-leverage SOL, ETH or BTC perps against the JLP pool.

US: Not availableSolana

Open Jupiter Perps

Full ranking

#	Venue	Best for	Round trip	US
1	Hyperliquid	Perps traders outside the US who want onchain order-book trading from their own wallet, with fees that drop by volume and HYPE staking.	0.09%	Not available	Open
2	Lighter	Non-US, non-UK retail perps traders who want zero trading fees and can accept slower taker execution than paid accounts.	0%	Not available	Open
3	Jupiter Perps	Solana users already on Jupiter who want high-leverage SOL, ETH or BTC perps against the JLP pool.	0.12%	Not available	Open
4	Aster	Non-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	Open
5	Backpack Exchange	KYC-verified traders outside the US who want a licensed custodial venue for crypto spot and perps, including EU users via Backpack EU.	0.1%	Partly available	Open
6	dYdX	Non-US, non-UK, non-Canadian traders who want an open-source, order-book perps venue with volume-tiered fees.	0.1%	Not available	Open
7	Paradex	Non-US traders who place orders manually through a web UI and want zero-fee perps plus options from one margin account.	0%	Not available	Open
8	edgeX	Non-US, non-Canadian perps traders who want an Ethereum-settled order book with stock and forex perps and an email login option.	0.09%	Not available	Open
9	GMX	Traders who want oracle-priced perps on Arbitrum or Avalanche, including gold, oil and US index markets, without an order book.	0.12%	Unverified	Open
10	Pacifica	Solana perp traders who want a published volume ladder, 50x leverage on majors and exposure to RWA and pre-IPO markets, and who are outside the United States.	0.08%	Not available	Open

The picks

Hyperliquid

Hyperliquid · web · 0.09% round trip

Hyperliquid is a layer-1 blockchain whose HyperCore layer runs fully onchain perpetual futures and spot order books, with a HyperEVM smart-contract layer alongside. It targets active perps traders who want order-book trading from a self-custodied wallet.
- Base perps fees are 0.045% taker / 0.015% maker, falling to 0.024% / 0% at the top volume tier.
- Staking HYPE gives a 5% to 40% fee discount, and high-share makers can earn rebates.
Watch out: The Terms bar US and Ontario residents and prohibit VPN use to get around that.
Open Hyperliquid — 4% off fees · Full Hyperliquid sheet
Lighter

Ethereum · web, ios, android · 0% round trip

Lighter is an order-book perpetuals and spot exchange running as a ZK rollup on Ethereum, operated by Elliot Technologies, Inc. Its default Standard account trades with zero maker and taker fees; lower-latency Premium and Plus accounts pay fees.
- The default Standard account charges 0% maker and 0% taker on perps and spot.
- Paid Premium accounts start at 0.028% taker / 0.004% maker and drop up to 30% with LIT staking.
Watch out: Free Standard accounts carry 300 ms taker latency versus 140 ms on paid Premium accounts.
Open Lighter — 10% off fees · Full Lighter sheet
Jupiter Perps

Solana · web, ios, android · 0.12% round trip

Jupiter Perps is Jupiter's perpetuals exchange on Solana. SOL, ETH and wBTC markets trade against the JLP liquidity pool at oracle prices with up to 250x leverage, while Beta markets (JUP, HYPE, ZEC and stock perps) run on GUM's order-book engine with USDC collateral.
- SOL, ETH and wBTC markets offer up to 250x leverage at oracle prices.
- Base fee plus price impact is capped at 0.50% of trade size on JLP markets.
Watch out: Jupiter's terms prohibit wallets in the United States, China, Singapore and several other countries.
Open Jupiter Perps · Full Jupiter Perps sheet
Aster

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
Backpack Exchange

Solana · Ethereum · Bitcoin · web, ios, android · 0.1% round trip

Backpack Exchange is a centralized, custodial crypto exchange offering spot, margin, lending and perpetual futures, licensed by Dubai's VARA, with an EU arm (Backpack EU) built on the MiFID II licence acquired from FTX EU. It is not a decentralized exchange.
- Base perps fees are 0.02% maker / 0.05% taker, with maker fees reaching 0% from VIP2 ($25M 30-day volume).
- Holds a Dubai VARA VASP licence, and the EU arm operates under a MiFID II licence acquired with FTX EU.
Watch out: Custodial exchange: KYC is required and users do not hold their own keys on the exchange.
Open Backpack Exchange · Full Backpack Exchange sheet
dYdX

Dydx Chain · web · 0.1% round trip

dYdX is an order-book perpetuals exchange running on its own appchain, the dYdX Chain (v4), whose protocol, indexer and front end are open source. Fees are tiered by 30-day volume and set by governance.
- Protocol, indexer and front end are open source, and dYdX Trading Inc. does not run any of them.
- Tier 1 perps fees are 0.05% taker and 0.01% maker, falling to 0.025% taker with a maker rebate at the top tier.
Watch out: dydx.trade terms block US, UK and Canadian persons.
Open dYdX · Full dYdX sheet
Paradex

Paradex · web · 0% round trip

Paradex is a perpetuals, dated-options and spot exchange running on its own Starknet-based appchain, with a unified margin account across 90+ markets. Orders placed through the web interface are classed as Retail and pay zero trading fees; API (Pro) orders pay a taker fee.
- Retail orders pay 0% maker and 0% taker on perps, spot and options.
- Positions, entries, PnL and liquidation levels are hidden from the public.
Watch out: US persons, Canadian persons and US territories are restricted.
Open Paradex · Full Paradex sheet
edgeX

Ethereum · web · 0.09% round trip

edgeX is an order-book perpetuals exchange, operated by edgeX Trading Inc., that settles to Ethereum. V1 ran on the StarkEx ZK-rollup engine; V2 is a dedicated modular rollup anchoring state roots to Ethereum. It lists crypto, stock and forex perps plus spot.
- Settles to Ethereum, with V1 built on the StarkEx ZK-rollup engine and V2 anchoring state roots to Ethereum L1.
- Email login creates an MPC wallet, so new users do not need an existing crypto wallet.
Watch out: The regular-user maker fee of 0.040% is close to the 0.045% taker fee, so resting orders save little.
Open edgeX · Full edgeX sheet
GMX

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
Pacifica

Solana · web · 0.08% round trip

Pacifica is a Solana perpetuals and spot exchange that launched in June 2025 and now also lists real-world assets and pre-IPO markets. Base fees are 0.015% maker and 0.040% taker, and referrals pay in points rather than fee discounts.
- Fee schedule is published with eight tiers and a 0% maker fee at the VIP tiers.
- BlockSec audited the perpetuals contracts, with the report linked in the docs.
Watch out: Referrals pay in points; the docs document no fee discount for referred traders.
Open Pacifica · Full Pacifica sheet

What a trade costs on each

Trade size (USD)

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

Venue	Rate (round trip)	You pay

How we ranked

Filtered to live venues that fit the job, then ordered by how directly each one does this job (fewest steps, no separate wallet needed first). Fees are shown for every pick. 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 dexes for beginners?

Which is cheapest?

Lighter: 0% 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 ordered by how directly each one does this job (fewest steps, no separate wallet needed first). Fees are shown for every pick.