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Lighter vs Extended (2026): Rollup vs TradFi Perps
Lighter is a crypto-perps venue that competes on cost: a zero-knowledge rollup on Ethereum with zero-fee Standard accounts. Extended is a Starknet-settled venue with off-chain matching that competes on collateral and leverage: crypto perps beside dozens of TradFi markets, five collateral assets with haircuts, and leverage up to 100x on FX. One has a live token; the other's docs say its points are not an entitlement to one.
Verdict
Cost versus collateral, and the token side is settled in Lighter's favour. Extended's 0% maker and 0.025% taker with documented rebates is cheap; Lighter's Standard 0% on both sides is cheaper. Both list TradFi perps: Lighter's docs describe real-world-asset markets across equities, indexes, commodities and FX, so Extended's edge is five collateral assets and leverage up to 100x on FX. Lighter's LIT is live; Extended's docs state that points do not currently represent a token or create a present entitlement. Pick Extended for multi-asset collateral, Lighter for cost and a live token.
At a glance
| Lighter | Extended | |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture | zk-rollup on Ethereum | Starknet; off-chain matching |
| Custody | Non-custodial (rollup) | Self-custodied Starknet contracts (docs) |
| KYC | Not stated | No KYC step in docs; US, UK, Canada restricted |
| Base perp fees | 0% (Standard) / 0.0280% (Premium) / 0% (Standard) / 0.0040% (Premium) t/m WINNER | 0.025% / 0% t/m |
| Funding | 1h period · P2P | Hourly; capped 0.25%–2%/h by group |
| Token | LIT · live WINNER | None documented |
| Points programme | Unverified · Points Season 2 | Active · Points program (continuous; no seasons) |
| Operating entity / access | US, Canada, UK among 14 barred (Terms) | X10 Ltd (unlicensed) |
facts verified · each venue's official docs Every cell restates a claim on one of this site's pages: /compare/hyperliquid-vs-lighter/ , /lighter/fees/ , /eu/lighter/ , /extended/ , /extended/how-to-start/ , /extended/fees/ , /airdrops/ .
Fees
Lighter — Order-book; zero-fee Standard accounts, paid Premium tier for lower latency, Plus tier for higher rate limits. Base tier: 0% (Standard) / 0.0280% (Premium) taker, 0% (Standard) / 0.0040% (Premium) maker. Numerics reflect Standard accounts (zero-fee); Premium trades 0.0040%/0.0280% with a LIT-staking discount grid. Discounts: LIT staking reduces Premium rates on a published grid. Standard’s trade-off is latency (300ms taker) and API rate limits rather than fees, except TWAP orders, which carry a 1 bp fee on Standard per the API docs; LIT is live (staking discounts the Premium grid) and the points program remains a separate, conversion-undocumented track. Schedule verified 2026-09-16 on /lighter/fees/.
Extended — Order-book maker/taker with documented maker rebates. Base tier: 0.025% taker, 0% maker. Discounts: Maker rebates of 0.002%–0.013% for makers with ≥0.5% of 30-day maker volume; referred users get 10% off commissions on their first $50M. Schedule verified 2026-09-10 on /extended/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
Extended 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. Lighter lists 209 perp markets in the 2026-10-07 snapshot; see the market index.
Token and points
- Lighter: LIT · live. Points: Unverified — Points Season 2; Retail track: 200,000 points/week, distributed Fridays for Wednesday – Tuesday activity. The docs do not state what points redeem for, and no points-to-LIT conversion is documented. LIT is live and bought back from fee revenue. The market-makers page says "Points Season 2 ended on December 26th 2025"; the retail page and the overview still describe weekly Season 2 distribution and have not been updated with an end date. The docs do not say whether the retail track continues, so the status stays unverified until they do. Separately, the docs carry a "Lighter on Robinhood Chain Points" programme (terms effective 10 August 2026, weekly drops from Friday 21 August) whose page does not mention LIT; the 11 million LIT conversion pool for it is stated by Robinhood, not by Lighter's docs.
- Extended: None documented. Points: Active — Points program (continuous; no seasons); Weekly, capped at 600,000 points per distribution; 67,225,227 distributed in total as of 8 Sep 2026 (docs). Docs: points "do not currently represent a token … and do not create a present entitlement to receive tokens"; they "may be taken into account in connection with a future token distribution".
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 Lighter wins
Fees and the token. Standard accounts pay nothing, and the Premium grid is published for those who need it. LIT is live, bought back from fee revenue, and discounts the Premium grid when staked. Its matching and liquidations are backed by validity proofs settled on Ethereum rather than by an off-chain matcher.
Where Extended wins
Markets and collateral. Dozens of TradFi perps beside crypto, leverage to 100x on FX and 50x on BTC and ETH, and five accepted collateral assets, all verified on this site's Hyperliquid vs Extended page. Its points programme publishes a weekly cap and a running total, which Lighter's retail page matches on cadence but its market-makers page contradicts on status.
What this site could not verify
- Lighter: KYC — no statement either way in the docs this site verified.
- Lighter: Whether Points Season 2 is still running: the market-makers page says it ended on 2025-12-26, the retail page has not been updated.
- Lighter: What points redeem for — no points-to-LIT conversion is documented.
- Extended: No token is live; the docs say points do not create a present entitlement to one.
- Extended: Insurance fund size — not stated in the docs read on 2026-09-10.
Which to pick
Both venues list FX, indices and equities as perps, so choose on collateral and leverage: Extended takes five collateral assets; Lighter's margin-enabled assets are USDC, ETH and tokenised gold (XAUT), per its review. If you care about cost or a live token, Lighter. Neither points programme has a documented conversion, and Extended's terms say explicitly that holding points creates no entitlement, so weigh points at zero on both. The Lighter review holds the full fee and points mechanics.
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FAQ
Does Extended have a token?
Not a live one, per its docs on the verification date. The points page states that points do not represent a token and do not create a present entitlement to receive one, while leaving open a future distribution under separate terms.
Can I trade stocks or FX on Lighter?
Yes. Lighter's docs describe real-world-asset perps across equities, indexes, commodities, FX, pre-IPO names and a 10-year US government bond; see Lighter RWA markets. The market index shows what each venue lists in the current snapshot.
Which is cheaper?
Lighter's Standard tier, at 0% both sides. Extended's 0% maker is level with it; its 0.025% taker is not, though its documented maker rebates can matter for quoting strategies.
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