multi-asset perpetual futuresEdition of 24 September 2026Figures dated at source
multi-asset perpetual futures
Multi-Asset Perpetual Fees Compared
Cross-Asset Desk ResearchUpdated: Terms read 18 September 2026
Multi-asset perpetual fees are simpler than they look: one maker and taker rate covers every asset class
on these venues. A $10,000 taker round trip runs from nothing on Lighter to $16.00 on Aevo,
and three of the six charge makers nothing at all. Funding, charged while a position is open, is the
larger bill on anything held.
Weights32What one account reaches28Cost of getting in and out18Custody of the margin12How the venue has held up10The book behind the quoteHow we rate
Venues compared by the cost of a $10,000 round trip
Terms read 18 September 2026
Cheapest first, by the taker cost of opening and closing a $10,000 position at the entry tier. The same
rate applies whether the contract tracks BTC, gold or a listed share — none of these venues charges by
asset class. The six rows are the register this desk scores: four or more asset classes outside crypto
in the venue's own documentation. edgeX, ApeX Omni and Paradex document three apiece and dYdX one, so a
cheap rate no longer buys any of them a row here. One note before the arithmetic: the rate is the small
number on this page. The margin behind a leveraged position is all it has, and a market that gaps can take the lot.
Rates quoted are the entry tier on the BTC perpetual; counts are the venues' own. Equal totals share a place. Whether a desk may open an account at all is a matter for the venue's terms, not for this page. Figures as read on 18 September 2026; the rule beside a score compares that venue with the highest total on this page.
What the ranking turns on
Nothing to pay on either side at the default tier: the Lighter standard account.
Cheapest paid taker: Extended at 0.025%, or $5.00 on a $10,000 round trip.
Cashback reshuffles the list: EVEDEX credits back up to 35% of a trader's own fees once paid.
Funding is the bigger cost on a long hold, and it is charged per position rather than per trade.
The default account pays 0% maker / 0% taker and accepts 300 ms of added taker latency
(Lighter docs, checked 18 September 2026), so a $10,000 round trip costs only the spread
across all six of its asset classes.
In favour
0% maker and taker on the default account
Same rate across six asset classes
Against it
300 ms taker delay on the free tier
Hours stated for its real-world-asset markets but not venue-wide
One schedule for every account, 0% maker / 0.025% taker, with no turnover steps behind it
(Extended docs, checked 18 September 2026): $5.00 to open and close
$10,000, across 325 markets in five asset classes.
In favour
0.025% taker with no volume tiers
325 markets across five classes
Against it
No documented forced withdrawal
Terms reserve a risk assessment before access
Not for: traders who want checks ruled out in writing.
Aster charges 0% maker / 0.040% taker on its order book (Aster docs, checked 18 September 2026)
across 578 markets in six asset classes, making a $10,000 taker round trip
$8.00 and passive orders free.
In favour
0% maker fee
578 perpetual markets
Against it
Chain contracts are not open-sourced
Shield Mode caps profit per position
Not for: a desk that needs the chain under its positions publicly validated.
The entry tier reads 0.015% maker / 0.045% taker
(Hyperliquid docs, checked 18 September 2026), coming down as 14-day turnover builds; a
$10,000 round trip costs $9.00 there. Its BTC book polled at a median
$10.1 million inside 10 basis points.
In favour
Median BTC depth of $10.1 million
Volume tiers reduce the rate
Against it
No documented forced withdrawal
Builder-deployed markets are not reviewed by the interface operator
Not for: traders who want an operator-independent exit.
One rate, 0.015% maker / 0.045% taker, covers crypto, metals, energy, currencies, shares and pre-IPO alike,
fixed rather than stepped by turnover. Against it EVEDEX credits back a slice of fees already paid: a
base slice climbing with a gamification level open to anyone, plus a flat five percentage points for
Prime (18 September 2026, EVEDEX documentation). Before that credit a $10,000 taker round trip runs
$9.00.
In favour
Cashback on fees already paid, up to 35% of a trader's own fees
Same rate on crypto, metals, energy, FX and shares
Against it
Headline taker rate above the cheapest venues here
Cross margin only, so one loss eats another position's collateral
Not for: UK retail clients.
6. Aevo — for the dearest round trip on the register
Aevo runs one schedule for perpetuals, 0.050% maker / 0.080% taker, with the fee page naming tiers it never
prints (Aevo docs, checked 18 September 2026). A $10,000 taker round trip therefore costs
$16.00, against $5.00 on Extended. Staking the venue's token returns
a discount of up to 20% by tier (Aevo staking discounts, checked 18 September 2026).
In favour
102 markets across five asset classes
Every matched trade settles in the venue's own rollup contracts
Against it
0.080% taker, the highest rate in this table
Withdrawing to Ethereum mainnet costs 25 USDC and takes about three hours
Three costs sit outside the fee table and usually dwarf it. Funding, paid between longs and shorts for
as long as a position is open, which on a quiet pair held for weeks exceeds every trading fee. Impact,
the price a taker order moves walking the book: the six books on the register ran from
$3.8 million of BTC within 10 basis points to $19.1 million in the readings. And gap
risk on assets whose underlying market closes.
How cashback and zero fees actually work
One venue here charges nothing on either side at the entry tier, and it attaches a condition: Lighter's
zero applies to its default account, which adds 300 ms to taker orders. Two more charge makers nothing
and takers a rate — Extended at 0.025%, Aster at 0.040% — so a passive
strategy pays neither of them anything to trade.
EVEDEX goes a third way. The published rate holds at 0.015% maker / 0.045% taker, and a slice of what a
trader already paid comes back: it grows with a gamification level anyone can climb, and Prime adds a
flat five percentage points. At the ceiling that is 35% of a trader's own fees, or 0.02925% borne by a
taker (18 September 2026, EVEDEX documentation).
How the comparison was made
Every column here but one is read rather than measured. On 18 September 2026 the desk read each
venue's terms and documentation for what it lists, when those markets are open, what it charges, who
can move the collateral. Depth nobody publishes, so the desk took it: each BTC perpetual book read
on a timer, ten minutes apart, closing 17:58 UTC on 20 September 2026. The desk keeps an account at none of them.
The same five criteria, settled on 23 September 2026 and set out on the method page, order
the 6 venues scored here. The round trip is a $10,000 market entry and exit at the entry-tier taker
rate from each venue's published schedule.
The hours are the softest column here, and one page is ordered by them — a line in a venue's own
document about when a market is open, not something anyone watched. Custody is read the same way.
Depth is measured, but only on BTC, the one contract all of these venues run; thickness there says
nothing about the XAUT book beside it. Fees are the day-one rate, nothing a trader earns back taken
off. Cashback, rebates and turnover steps sit in the cards, not the score.
The order-book readings
BTC perpetual order books read on a timer, ten minutes apart, closing 17:58 UTC on 20 September 2026. Each figure is the median of the successful snapshots behind it.
Venue
Median spread
Median depth within 10 bps
Median impact, $100,000 order
$10,000 round trip, taker fees
Snapshots
Lighter
0.27 bps
$16.5 million
0.45 bps
$0.00
17
Extended
0.12 bps
$7.4 million
0.06 bps
$5.00
17
Aster
0.01 bps
$13.8 million
0.39 bps
$8.00
27
Hyperliquid
0.12 bps
$10.1 million
0.06 bps
$9.00
28
EVEDEX
4.12 bps
$19.1 million
2.06 bps
$9.00
28
Aevo
1.61 bps
$3.8 million
2.87 bps
$16.00
28
Readers' questions
perp dex fee comparison
A taker pays between nothing and 0.080% at the default tier here, a maker between nothing
and 0.050%. Across a $10,000 taker round trip the whole range, cheapest to dearest, comes
to $16.00 — less than a thin book costs a large order on impact alone.
Do fees differ between gold and crypto markets?
Not on the venues here: one maker and taker rate applies across every asset class a venue lists, so a
gold or equity contract costs the same to trade as a BTC one. What differs by market is liquidity, and
through it the impact a larger order pays.
what's funding rate in crypto
A periodic payment between longs and shorts that keeps the contract near its index. It is charged on
the position rather than on the trade, so weeks of holding can cost more in funding than in fees. On
EVEDEX the rate is computed every eight hours and settled hourly.
perp dex with lowest fees
One charges nothing on either side at the default tier: the Lighter account you get without asking.
Of the rest Extended asks least of a taker — 0.025%, or $5.00 on a
$10,000 round trip, against $16.00 on Aevo at the dear end of the same six.
How does cashback differ from a volume discount?
A volume discount lowers the rate once monthly turnover crosses a threshold. Cashback returns part of
fees already paid, and on EVEDEX the rate rises with a gamification level open to every user rather
than with volume, so it applies from the first trade.
Are pool-priced venues cheaper?
They charge differently rather than less: opening and closing fees on the position plus a borrowing or
rollover cost for holding it. That makes a direct comparison with maker and taker rates awkward, and
the total depends heavily on how long the position stays open.