Best of

Best perp DEXes (2026)

For trading perpetual futures on-chain, 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: Jupiter Perps, Lighter, GMX. Cheapest: Lighter ($0.00 on a $1,000 round trip).

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

Hyperliquid

$88.5M
Fees paid by users, 30d

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
#2

Jupiter Perps

$8.2M
Fees paid by users, 30d

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

US: Not availableSolana

Open Jupiter Perps
#3

Lighter

$5.9M
Fees paid by users, 30d

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

Full ranking

#VenueBest forRound tripUSFees paid, 30d
1HyperliquidPerps 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 $88.5M Open
2Jupiter PerpsSolana users already on Jupiter who want high-leverage SOL, ETH or BTC perps against the JLP pool. 0.12% Not available $8.2M Open
3LighterNon-US, non-UK retail perps traders who want zero trading fees and can accept slower taker execution than paid accounts. 0% Not available $5.9M Open
4GMXTraders 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
5AsterNon-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
6PacificaSolana 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 $3.8M Open
7edgeXNon-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 $3.3M Open
8AvantisTraders who want crypto, forex, commodities and US or Korean equity exposure from one USDC balance on Base. 0.09% Unverified $611K Open
9ApeX OmniTraders who want a large perp listing with TradFi and stock perps and a staking-based fee discount, and who are outside the United States. 0.1% Not available $330K Open
10dYdXNon-US, non-UK, non-Canadian traders who want an open-source, order-book perps venue with volume-tiered fees. 0.1% Not available $295K Open

The picks

  1. 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

  2. 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

  3. 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

  4. 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

  5. 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

  6. 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

  7. 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

  8. Avantis

    Base · web · 0.09% round trip

    Avantis, now documented as Veranta, is a USDC-margined perpetuals exchange on Base for crypto, forex, commodities, indices and equities. Crypto majors pay a 0.045% taker commission, and real-world asset markets are commission-free while in growth mode.

    • Zero maker and taker commission on real-world asset markets while in growth mode.
    • Gasless trading: the platform submits orders and sponsors gas.

    Watch out: Docs disagree on the maker rate (0.001% on one page, a swapped 1 bp figure in the table).

    Open Avantis · Full Avantis sheet

  9. ApeX Omni

    Zklink · web · 0.1% round trip

    ApeX Omni is a perpetuals exchange built on zkLink X with over 100 perpetual contracts, TradFi and stock perps, prediction markets and a grid bot. Base fees are 0.020% maker and 0.050% taker, with an APEX staking route to lower tiers.

    • Fee ladder is published with seven levels, and staking APEX can unlock Levels 1 to 4 without volume.
    • Gas on its Layer 2 is subsidised and cancelled orders cost nothing.

    Watch out: US persons are barred by the Terms of Use.

    Open ApeX Omni · Full ApeX Omni sheet

  10. 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

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 dexes?

For trading perpetual futures on-chain, 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: Jupiter Perps, Lighter, GMX. Cheapest: Lighter ($0.00 on a $1,000 round trip).

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 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.