⚠︎ Risk warning: leveraged derivatives on unregulated platforms — you can lose everything you deposit. Not investment advice.
Aster vs Derive (2026): Perp Shelf vs Options Exchange
Aster is a perp-first order book on its own chain with a long list of crypto, stock and commodity markets. Derive is an options-first exchange whose v3 matches off-chain and settles proven batches on Ethereum L1, with 15 perps beside its options.
Verdict
For perps, Aster; for options, Derive. Aster charges 0% maker on every perp category and 0.04% taker on crypto across a far longer list. Derive charges perps 0.03% plus $0.01 as a taker and 0.01% as a maker on 15 markets at up to 15.15x, and adds European options, portfolio margin and RFQ discounts. Its docs disagree on the liquidation fee and on funding caps.
At a glance
| Aster | Derive | |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture | Aster Chain L1 · order book | Off-chain order book + RFQ · ZK-proven batches settled on Ethereum L1 |
| Custody | Self-custody | Ethereum contracts; withdrawals pay out on batch verification; L1 escape hatch |
| KYC | None | No identity step for trading in the docs read; some vaults may require KYC |
| Base perp fees | 0.04% (crypto) / 0.1% (Group B) / 0.0125% (RWA) / 0% t/m | 0.03% + $0.01 per order / 0.01% t/m WINNER |
| Funding | 8h default; 1h, 2h, 4h or 8h per symbol via the API | Hourly; per-market caps (sources differ) |
| Token | $ASTER · live (TGE claim window 17 Sep – 17 Oct 2025) | DRV · live (collateral in every risk universe; staking lowers fee tiers) |
| Points programme | Active · Aster Convergence: Stage 6 | None documented |
| Operating entity / access | US, Canada, UK among 11 barred (Terms) | Lyra Technologies Corp (app) and Derive DAO (protocol), Panama law; excludes US persons, Australian tax residents, Ontario |
facts verified · each venue's official docs Every cell restates a claim on one of this site's pages: /compare/hyperliquid-vs-aster/ , /aster/fees/ , /eu/aster/ , /derive/ , /derive/how-to-start/ , /derive/fees/ , /airdrops/ .
Fees
Aster — Order-book maker/taker; 0% maker on every perp category, taker by category: Crypto General (USDT- or USD1-quoted) 0.04%, Group B 0.1%, RWA 0.0125%; Shield Mode and 1001x use their own fee rules. Base tier: 0.04% (crypto) / 0.1% (Group B) / 0.0125% (RWA) taker, 0% maker. Taker numeric uses Crypto General pairs (USDT- or USD1-quoted); RWA pairs trade at 0.0125% and Group B pairs at 0.1% — pick per category when calculating. Discounts: 5% off when fees are paid in ASTER; spot VIP grid 4.0→2.3 bps taker by 14-day volume and ASTER held; market-maker rebates to −0.5 bps; referral rebate up to 10% (referrer-configured split, not guaranteed). 0% maker means maker-heavy flow pays nothing — and generates no referral commission. Schedule verified 2026-09-29 on /aster/fees/.
Derive — Order-book maker/taker on perps with a per-order taker base fee; options-first venue, ZK-proven settlement on Ethereum L1. Base tier: 0.03% + $0.01 per order taker, 0.01% maker. Numerics are the perp percentage rates; takers also pay a $0.01 base fee per order. The public instruments API carries 0.0001 / 0.0003 / base 0.01 on all 15 perps. Discounts: Lower tiers for more volume or staked DRV, shown in the app rather than the docs; RFQ multi-leg trades get up to 100% off cheaper legs. Options fees differ ($0.5 + min(0.03% notional, 12.5% premium) taker); the docs give the liquidation fee as both 10% and 2%, and funding caps differ between pages and the API. Schedule verified 2026-10-05 on /derive/fees/.
Base-tier rates answer one narrow question — what a small taker order costs on day one. Your maker/taker mix, volume tier and holding period decide the real number; the fee comparison lays all 20 venues side by side and the execution-cost tool adds live slippage on top.
Markets they share
In this site's market join, snapshot 2026-10-05, Aster lists 571 perp markets and Derive lists 15; 14 appear on both. The market index shows every asset with the venues that list it and each venue's published leverage, and the join is refreshed weekly by a fail-closed pipeline. Breadth is not depth: a listing says nothing about how much size a book absorbs, which the execution-cost tool measures live where a venue publishes its order book.
Token and points
- Aster: $ASTER · live (TGE claim window 17 Sep – 17 Oct 2025). Points: Active — Aster Convergence: Stage 6; Calculated weekly; five point categories × team boost, plus two-level referral points; weightings undisclosed. Docs: points "accumulate toward your $ASTER airdrop share at the conclusion of Stage 6". Conversion ratio, Stage 6’s share and the end date are not published.
- Derive: DRV · live (collateral in every risk universe; staking lowers fee tiers). Points: None documented . The v3 developer docs (llms.txt index read in full) describe no points season. The Institutional Trading Rewards Program pays market makers "up to $500K USDC and 1M DRV per 28-day epoch, allocated by score, volume, and stDRV holdings". Only the v3 developer docs were read; retail campaigns, if any, would appear in the app.
Both rows are restated from the points & airdrop tracker, which is re-read against each venue's docs on a 45-day cadence and never prices a point.
Where Aster wins
The shelf and maker pricing. Aster lists far more perps, including stocks and commodities, with 0% maker on every category. $ASTER is live and its Stage 6 points are tied by its docs to an airdrop.
Where Derive wins
Options and settlement. Derive lists European options to 400 days with portfolio margin, discounts multi-leg RFQ trades, publishes a leverage cap per perp, and settles every batch on Ethereum L1 with a zero-knowledge proof. The Hyperliquid vs Derive page covers the model.
What this site could not verify
- Aster: Audits of the perpetuals trading engine — the published reports cover vault, earn and yield-token contracts.
- Aster: Liquidity depth — not benchmarked by this site.
- Aster: The points-to-token ratio, Stage 6’s share of the airdrop allocation, and the stage’s end date — unpublished.
- Derive: The liquidation fee — 10% on the fees page, 2% of the liquidatable fraction on the liquidation page.
- Derive: Funding caps — the funding page, the parameter page and the API disagree.
- Derive: A retail points programme — none in the developer docs read.
Which to pick
For perps across many markets, Aster. For options and hedged option books, Derive. Both exclude US persons; Derive also excludes Australian tax residents and Ontario. The Aster review and the Derive review carry the detail.
Related comparisons
- Aster vs dYdX
- Aster vs edgeX
- Aster vs Paradex
- Aster vs Extended
- Aster vs Pacifica
- Aster vs GMX
- Aster vs GRVT
- Aster vs Variational
- Aster vs ApeX Omni
- Aster vs SoDEX
- Aster vs Veranta
- Aster vs Nado
- Aster vs Vest Markets
- Hyperliquid vs Aster
- Hyperliquid vs Derive
FAQ
Which is cheaper for perps?
For a maker, Aster at 0%. For a taker, Derive's 0.03% plus $0.01 sits under Aster's 0.04% on all but the smallest trades.
Where does each venue settle?
Aster matches and settles on its own chain, Aster Chain. Derive matches off-chain and verifies every batch on Ethereum L1 with a zero-knowledge proof.
Do they list the same perps?
The shared-markets count above comes from this site's coverage snapshot; Derive lists 15 perps, so the overlap is small by construction.
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