⚠︎ Risk warning: leveraged derivatives on unregulated platforms — you can lose everything you deposit. Not investment advice.
Aster vs dYdX (2026): 0% Maker vs Maker Rebates
Two self-custody order books with no KYC, and very different ideas about who should pay. Aster charges makers nothing from the first trade and takers a published rate that depends on the perp family. dYdX charges both sides at its base tier and, at the top of a governance-set volume ladder, pays makers a rebate. Aster runs a points programme its docs tie to an airdrop; dYdX documents none.
Verdict
Aster for makers who are not whales; dYdX for makers who are. Aster's 0% maker rate needs no tier. dYdX's maker rebate needs its top tier and, until then, its base maker rate is a cost. On the taker side dYdX's base rate is higher than Aster's USDT-family rate. dYdX counters with perps since 2020, published access rules, and a token with staking utility, though governance retired most of its markets during 2026 (the dYdX review tracks the count); Aster counters with a live $ASTER token and the only documented points-to-airdrop path of the two.
At a glance
| Aster | dYdX | |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture | Aster Chain L1 · order book | Cosmos app-chain · CLOB |
| Custody | Self-custody | Self-custody |
| KYC | None | None |
| Base perp fees | 0.04% (crypto) / 0.1% (Group B) / 0.0125% (RWA) / 0% t/m WINNER | 0.05% / 0.01% t/m |
| Funding | 8h default; 1h, 2h, 4h or 8h per symbol via the API | Hourly · P2P |
| Token | $ASTER · live (TGE claim window 17 Sep – 17 Oct 2025) | DYDX · live |
| Points programme | Active · Aster Convergence: Stage 6 | None documented |
| Operating entity / access | US, Canada, UK among 11 barred (Terms) | US access restricted |
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/ , /compare/hyperliquid-vs-dydx/ , /dydx/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/.
dYdX — Order-book maker/taker; 30-day-volume tiers set by governance. Base tier: 0.05% taker, 0.01% maker. Discounts: Tiers drop taker to 0.025% and turn maker into a rebate (−0.011%) at top volume; referred accounts start at fee tier 3; staked (bonded) DYDX cuts net positive fees up to 50% on a governance-voted grid; docs state a 50% trading rebate paid directly per trade since DYDX rewards were zeroed. Schedule is governance-set — thresholds and rates can change by vote. Schedule verified 2026-09-21 on /dydx/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 2026-10-07, Aster lists 573 perp markets and dYdX lists 73; 68 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.
- dYdX: DYDX · live. Points: None documented . Docs: the trading-rewards "C factor has been set to 0" and "since the C factor has been reduced to 0, traders now get rebates directly". No points or season programme is documented.
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
Fees without a ladder: 0% maker on every perp category, and a taker rate below dYdX's 0.05% base: 0.04% on crypto pairs and 0.0125% on RWA pairs. Points: Stage 6 is active, weekly, and its docs state that points accumulate toward an $ASTER airdrop share. Market breadth: Aster lists the most perps of any venue in this site's join.
Where dYdX wins
Maker economics at scale and documentation. The top tier pays a maker rebate, referred accounts start at a higher tier, and staked DYDX cuts fees on a published grid. Both venues' access restrictions are stated: dYdX's name the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, and so do Aster's, among eleven named countries. Funding is hourly and peer to peer on a fixed cadence; Aster's default interval is longer and varies per symbol.
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.
- dYdX: Fee thresholds and rates are governance-set and can change by vote; this site restates the schedule as of its verification date.
Which to pick
If you make liquidity at ordinary size, Aster is cheaper today. If you make liquidity at a size that reaches dYdX's rebate tier, price the rebate against Aster's zero. If you take liquidity, Aster's published rates are lower. If you are farming points, only Aster has a programme, and its conversion ratio is unpublished. The Aster review and dYdX review hold the full schedules and their verification dates.
Related comparisons
- 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
- Aster vs Derive
- Aster vs Ondo Perps
- Hyperliquid vs Aster
- Hyperliquid vs dYdX
FAQ
Does dYdX have points or an airdrop programme?
No. Its docs describe per-trade trading rewards whose multiplier governance has set to zero, with fee rebates paid directly instead. Aster's Stage 6 is the only points programme on this page.
Which has lower fees?
Aster at the base tier, on both sides. dYdX becomes cheaper for makers only once volume reaches the tiers where its maker fee turns into a rebate.
Which chain is safer?
Different models, not a ranking: Aster runs on Aster Chain, its own L1 (Proof-of-Staked Authority), and dYdX on its own Cosmos app-chain with its own validator set. This site does not score one above the other.
affiliate link — we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you · methodology