⚠︎ Risk warning: leveraged derivatives on unregulated platforms — you can lose everything you deposit. Not investment advice.
Aster vs GMX (2026): Order Book vs Pool Model
This is a comparison of two trading models more than two fee schedules. Aster is an order book: makers post, takers cross, and the cost is a maker or taker rate on each fill. GMX has no order book; GM pools are the counterparty, and the cost is a position fee on open and close that depends on pool imbalance, plus borrowing while the position is open and a capped price impact. Putting GMX's numbers in a maker/taker column would produce a false comparison, so this page does not.
Verdict
Different axes, so no fee winner is declared. Aster's 0% maker is a real advantage for quoting strategies that GMX's model cannot offer at all. GMX's cost is a function of holding time and pool state, which can be cheaper or dearer than Aster's taker rate depending on the trade; the GMX fees page lays out the components. On tokens, both are live; on incentives, Aster runs Stage 6 points while GMX runs a Rewards program paying esGMX and GT on position fees, with its staking distribution suspended.
At a glance
| Aster | GMX | |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture | Aster Chain L1 · order book | Pool model · GM pools |
| Custody | Self-custody | Self-custody |
| KYC | None | None |
| Base perp fees | 0.04% (crypto) / 0.1% (Group B) / 0.0125% (RWA) / 0% t/m | 0.04%–0.06% position fee, by pool imbalance / n/a (no maker/taker split) t/m |
| Funding | 8h default; 1h, 2h, 4h or 8h per symbol via the API | Per-second; cost or credit |
| Token | $ASTER · live (TGE claim window 17 Sep – 17 Oct 2025) | GMX · live (staking distribution suspended); GT · TGE not completed |
| Points programme | Active · Aster Convergence: Stage 6 | Active · Rewards program (esGMX + GT on position fees, Arbitrum only) |
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-gmx/ , /gmx/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/.
GMX — Pool-based: position fee on open/close (imbalance-dependent) + borrowing fee while open + net price impact settled on close, capped per market. Base tier: 0.04%–0.06% position fee, by pool imbalance taker, n/a (no maker/taker split) maker. Not maker/taker-comparable: total cost depends on pool imbalance, holding time (borrowing), and trade size (price impact) — see the fees page for the verified components. Discounts: Referral code gives a 5% (tier 1) or 10% (tiers 2–3) discount on open/close position fees only; TradFi markets run reduced on-hours position fees (e.g. 0.01% / 0.02% on gold, oil, QQQ, SPY). Borrowing accrues while the position is open — a holding cost the flat rates above don’t capture. Schedule verified 2026-09-18 on /gmx/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
GMX is not in this site's market join — it has no public market list the join normalises — so no shared-listing count is published here rather than an estimate. Aster lists 573 perp markets in the 2026-10-07 snapshot; see the market index.
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.
- GMX: GMX · live (staking distribution suspended); GT · TGE not completed. Points: Active — Rewards program (esGMX + GT on position fees, Arbitrum only); Weekly epochs from Wednesday 00:00 UTC; each 1× of multiplier (0–10×, no default) returns 10% of the net eligible position fee in esGMX plus 20% of that value in GT. Docs: esGMX "is a non-transferable reward token" that vests into GMX subject to allowance and collateral; "GT has not completed its TGE and should not be represented as currently liquid, transferable, or immediately redeemable." No points programme is documented. Docs: rewards "may be reduced, paused, or discontinued at any time" — a promotional incentive, not a yield.
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
Everything an order book gives a maker: 0% maker on every perp category and the ability to rest orders at all, which a pool model does not have. A live $ASTER token with a published 53.5% Airdrop category and an active Stage 6 points programme that its docs tie to an airdrop share. The largest perp market list in this site's join; GMX is not in the join because it has no public market list the join normalises.
Where GMX wins
A self-custody pool model on Arbitrum, Avalanche and MegaETH: per its docs, GMX routes every order against its GM and GLV pools at the oracle index price rather than relying on an order book or external market makers, so there is no resting book to trade against. Funding settles per second as a cost or a credit rather than at an interval. A referral code gives a published discount on position fees. Its earning routes are LP pools, referrals and a trading Rewards program on Arbitrum; GMX staking exists but its distribution is suspended per the docs.
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.
- GMX: GMX staking distribution is suspended per its docs; the resumption condition is a token-price threshold this site does not forecast.
Which to pick
If you make liquidity, or want a points programme with a documented airdrop link, Aster. If you prefer a pool counterparty, want Arbitrum or Avalanche settlement, or hold positions where GMX's per-second funding and borrowing work out cheaper than a taker rate, GMX, priced on its own components rather than a headline rate. The Aster review and GMX review carry the verified detail.
Related comparisons
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- Aster vs Pacifica
- 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 GMX
FAQ
Why is there no fee winner?
Because GMX has no maker/taker rate to compare. Its cost is a position fee that varies with pool imbalance, plus borrowing over time and price impact; Aster's is a per-fill rate. The table shows both as published without ranking them.
Does GMX have a points programme?
No points programme — but GMX runs a Rewards program: trades on Arbitrum earn esGMX plus GT on their position fees, scaled by a 0–10× multiplier with no default. The docs say GT has not completed its token generation event, and that rewards may be reduced, paused or discontinued at any time. Staking rewards are suspended, with bought-back GMX accumulating in the treasury. Aster's Stage 6 is the only points programme on this page.
Why is GMX missing from the shared-markets count?
GMX is not in this site's market join, which only covers venues with a public market list the join can normalise. The page says so rather than printing a zero.
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