⚠︎ Risk warning: leveraged derivatives on unregulated platforms — you can lose everything you deposit. Not investment advice.
Perp DEX Fees, Compared
Base-tier perp trading costs across every venue we cover, in one table. Each row's figures are restated from our per-venue fee pages — click the source link for the full schedule and the date it was verified against official documentation. One structural honesty note up front: these venues don't all charge the same way, and forcing GMX's pool-based model into a maker/taker column would produce a false comparison — so we don't. Funding is a separate, market-driven cost on every venue; see the funding guide and the live funding table.
| Venue | Fee model | Maker (base) | Taker (base) | Verified discount paths | What the flat rate hides |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hyperliquid full schedule + verified date | Order-book maker/taker; volume tiers; no gas per trade. | 0.015% | 0.045% | HYPE staking cuts fees 5%–40% by amount staked; referral link adds a 4% discount on the first $25M volume. | — |
| Aster full schedule + verified date | Order-book maker/taker; two perp contract families with different taker rates. | 0% | 0.04% (USDT-margined) / 0.005% (USD1-margined) | Referral rebate up to 10% (referrer-configured split, not guaranteed); ASTER-token fee payment discount exists as a separate lever. | 0% maker means maker-heavy flow pays nothing — and generates no referral commission. |
| dYdX full schedule + verified date | Order-book maker/taker; 30-day-volume tiers set by governance. | 0.01% | 0.05% | 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 fees up to 50% on a governance-voted grid. | Schedule is governance-set — thresholds and rates can change by vote. |
| GMX full schedule + verified date | Pool-based: position fee on open/close (imbalance-dependent) + borrowing fee while open + capped price impact. | n/a (no maker/taker split) | 0.04%–0.06% position fee, by pool imbalance | Referral code gives a 5% discount on open/close position fees at tier 1. | Borrowing accrues while the position is open — a holding cost the flat rates above don’t capture. |
| Lighter full schedule + verified date | Order-book; zero-fee Standard accounts, paid Premium tier for higher limits. | 0% (Standard) / 0.0040% (Premium) | 0% (Standard) / 0.0280% (Premium) | LIT staking reduces Premium rates on a published grid. | Standard’s trade-off is latency (300ms taker) and API rate limits, not hidden fees or position caps; LIT is live (staking discounts the Premium grid) and the points program remains a separate, conversion-undocumented track. |
Reading this honestly
Base-tier rates answer one narrow question: what a small taker order costs on day one. They don't decide which venue is cheapest for you — that depends on your maker/taker mix (Aster and Lighter charge makers nothing), your volume (dYdX's tiers eventually pay makers), how long you hold (GMX's borrowing fee accrues over time, and funding accrues everywhere), and which discounts you activate. The per-venue pages linked in each row carry the full tier tables; the earning comparison covers the other side of the ledger — what each venue offers, not what it charges.
Figures restated from our per-venue fee pages, each verified against official venue documentation with the date on the page. Fee schedules change; if a linked page and this table ever disagree, the linked page is newer — and tell us. Some linked pages contain disclosed referral links; see our methodology.