# Oil Perpetuals and Where They Trade Cross-Asset Desk Research. Edition of 24 September 2026; terms read 18 September 2026. Weights: What one account reaches 32 · Cost of getting in and out 28 · Custody of the margin 18 · How the venue has held up 12 · The book behind the quote 10, on a scale of 100. Version 1.1, fixed 23 September 2026. Method: https://gerhardandlinger.net/method ## In brief Oil perpetuals track a crude price with USDT as collateral and no delivery date. Five order-book venues on the register list one; Lighter leads our scoring at 90 of 100 and documents its real-world-asset markets, commodities included, as 24/7, as EVEDEX does its whole list. ## Venues listing a crude oil perpetual Ordered by the overall score, with the hours column beside it. Oil is the market where the gap between a venue that quotes continuously and one that follows the futures session is easiest to feel. Five rows, because this desk scores a venue only when its own documentation lists four or more asset classes outside crypto; edgeX and ApeX Omni both carry crude and both stop at three classes, so this desk reads them and ranks neither. | # | Venue | When the non-crypto markets are open | Score of 100 | Perp markets | Maker / taker | Venue type | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | 1 | Lighter | Real-world assets stated as 24/7; no venue-wide hours page | 90 | 214 | 0% / 0% | Hybrid, ZK-proven | | 2 | Extended | Order-book real-world assets 24/7; Prime markets 24/5 or session-bound | 85 | 325 | 0% / 0.025% | Hybrid | | 3 | Aster | not stated in the documentation we read | 82 | 578 | 0% / 0.040% | Own layer 1, operator-run | | 4 | EVEDEX | All markets 24/7, shares and commodities included | 67 | 52 | 0.015% / 0.045% | Hybrid | | 5 | Aevo | not stated in the documentation we read | 58 | 102 | 0.050% / 0.080% | Hybrid | Figures read on 18 September 2026; fees are the entry tier on the BTC perpetual. Access differs by country. ## What the ranking turns on 1. Continuous quotes: EVEDEX states all 52 markets trade 24/7, crude included. 2. Session-bound alternative: Ostium follows CME-style hours, Sunday 18:00 to Friday 17:00 ET. 3. Leverage on oil: 100x on EVEDEX's crude market, up to 250x on gTrade's commodity pairs. 4. What settles: USDT, always — no barrels, no futures roll, no expiry. ## The order-book readings BTC order books read on a timer, ten minutes apart, closing 17:58 UTC on 20 September 2026; medians of the snapshots behind each row. | 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 | | 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 | ## 1. [Lighter](https://docs.lighter.xyz) — for commodity exposure at zero default cost Score 90 of 100. Commodities sit inside six asset classes and 214 markets ([Lighter docs](https://docs.lighter.xyz/trading/real-world-assets-rwas.md), checked 18 September 2026), and a default account pays 0% maker / 0% taker to trade them. Proofs of each batch go to Ethereum, and an urgent exit can be filed on-chain instead of through the interface. - In favour: 0% maker and taker on the default account; On-chain exit documented. - Against it: Hours stated for its real-world-asset markets but not venue-wide; 300 ms taker delay on the free tier. - Wrong fit for: traders who need the session written down. ## 2. [Extended](https://docs.extended.exchange/) — for crude inside a 325-market list Score 85 of 100. Extended carries commodities among five asset classes across 325 markets ([Extended docs](https://docs.extended.exchange/extended-resources/trading/rwa-markets), checked 18 September 2026) at 0% maker / 0.025% taker for every account, with audits and a published bug bounty behind it. - In favour: 325 markets across five classes; Public bug bounty of up to $500,000. - Against it: Prime real-world-asset markets halt outside their sessions; No documented forced withdrawal. - Wrong fit for: traders who want an operator-independent exit. ## 3. [Aster](https://docs.asterdex.com) — for the widest listing that includes energy Score 82 of 100. Aster lists commodities among six asset classes across 578 markets ([Aster docs](https://docs.asterdex.com/overview/what-is-aster.md), checked 18 September 2026) at 0% maker / 0.040% taker. Matching runs on its own chain, whose core contracts are not open-sourced. - In favour: 578 perpetual markets; 0% maker fee. - Against it: Chain contracts are not open-sourced; No trading-hours policy in the documentation we read. - Wrong fit for: a desk that needs the chain under its positions publicly validated. ## 4. EVEDEX — for crude that stays open when the futures pit does not Score 67 of 100. EVEDEX lists a WTI crude perpetual with up to 100x leverage, alongside gold through XAUT and silver, and states that every one of its 52 markets trades 24/7 (18 September 2026, EVEDEX documentation). Margin is cross only and posted in USDT; fees are 0.015% maker / 0.045% taker before cashback on fees already paid. - In favour: Crude market documented as open 24/7; Energy, metals and crypto in one USDT balance. - Against it: Cross margin only, so one position's loss eats another's collateral; 52 markets against hundreds on the widest venues. - Wrong fit for: UK retail clients. ## 5. [Aevo](https://www.aevo.xyz/docs) — for crude inside a five-class commodity list Score 58 of 100. A WTI contract sits beside gold, silver, platinum and copper in Aevo's market list, five commodity markets among 102 perpetuals in five asset classes ([Aevo market list](https://api.aevo.xyz/markets?instrument_type=PERPETUAL), checked 18 September 2026). Matched trades settle in its own rollup contracts, batched to Ethereum hourly. Rates are 0.050% maker / 0.080% taker. - In favour: Crude quoted beside four metals in one commodity list; Every matched trade settles in the venue's own rollup contracts. - Against it: Real-world-asset contracts capped at 10x against 20x on BTC; No trading-hours policy in the documentation we read. - Wrong fit for: traders sizing a crude position on leverage. ## How oil perpetuals differ from oil futures A futures contract expires and has to be rolled, which is where most of the cost of holding energy exposure has traditionally come from. A perpetual never expires: instead of a roll, longs and shorts exchange funding payments that keep the contract near the underlying price. For a trader that swaps a calendar problem for a running cost, and it removes the delivery question entirely — nothing physical exists at either end of the trade. What it does not remove is the shape of the underlying market. Crude moves on inventories, OPEC decisions and freight, and those headlines land when the cash market is often shut. ## What happens over a weekend Oracle-priced venues stop quoting with the underlying. Ostium's documentation places commodities from Sunday evening to Friday evening ET with a daily settlement break, queueing limit orders and rejecting market orders outside it ([Ostium market reference](https://docs.ostium.com/traders/reference/markets), checked 18 September 2026). EVEDEX states the opposite policy: all of its markets stay open, crude among them (18 September 2026, EVEDEX documentation). Neither is risk-free. A closed market can gap over the break, and gTrade warns that stop losses cannot be guaranteed across a close ([gTrade documentation](https://docs.gains.trade/gtrade-leveraged-trading/asset-classes/forex), checked 18 September 2026). An open one means the venue prices crude with the cash market shut, which is a thinner, more opinionated quote than the one you get on a Tuesday afternoon. Either way the position sits there over the break on borrowed size. The margin behind a leveraged position is all it has, and a market that gaps can take the lot. ## 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](/method) page, order the 5 venues scored here. 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. ## In their own words > "Market orders are rejected during closed hours." — Ostium documentation, Markets reference, 18 September 2026. https://docs.ostium.com/traders/reference/markets > "Unlike crypto markets, forex markets are not always open." — gTrade documentation, Forex, 21 September 2026. https://docs.gains.trade/gtrade-leveraged-trading/asset-classes/forex > "Aevo is a decentralized derivatives exchange built on a custom OP Stack Layer 2. Options, perpetual futures, OTC, and automated strategies, all from a single margin account, with off-chain order matching and on-chain settlement." — Aevo documentation, overview, 18 September 2026. https://www.aevo.xyz/docs/readme ## FAQ ### how is oil traded On these venues, as a perpetual contract on a crude price, margined in USDT and with no settlement date. Instead of rolling into the next month a trader pays or receives funding, and the position closes in stablecoin rather than in barrels. The cash market it follows is a different thing entirely. ### how to trade oil with crypto Connect a wallet to one of the five order-book venues here that list a crude market against stablecoin collateral, deposit USDT, then open a long or a short. No commodity account and no broker is involved at any stage, and the position sits in the same balance as a crypto trade. ### What leverage is available on oil? Up to 100x on EVEDEX's crude market and up to 250x on gTrade's commodity pairs, by their own published ladders. Crude routinely moves several percent in a single session, so triple-digit leverage leaves a very short distance between the entry price and the liquidation price, and an overnight headline can cover it. ### how long are oil futures contracts A dated crude future runs to a set month and has to be closed or rolled before it ends. The contracts on this page do not: a perpetual is held for as long as a trader wants it and pays or receives funding for the privilege, so the cost shows up continuously rather than at a roll. ### Is oil trading open at the weekend? It depends on the venue rather than on the commodity itself. Ostium follows the futures session from Sunday evening to Friday evening ET and queues anything placed outside it, rejecting market orders. EVEDEX states the opposite policy: its markets, crude included, are documented as trading around the clock. ### what is crude oil futures A contract on a crude benchmark, usually West Texas Intermediate, the grade most of these feeds track. A dated future settles into a delivery month; the perpetual version on this page never does, and its price follows the futures market rather than a physical cargo. ### How is funding calculated on a commodity perpetual? The same way as on a crypto perpetual: a rate derived from the gap between the contract and its index, charged periodically between longs and shorts. On EVEDEX the rate is computed every eight hours and settled hourly at one eighth of it. ### what exchange is crude oil traded on For the perpetual version, the venues on this page: EVEDEX, Lighter, Extended, Aster and Aevo on an order book, Ostium and gTrade from an oracle. edgeX and ApeX Omni quote crude too and sit outside the register. The dated contract behind the feed trades on the commodity exchanges, which none of these is. ### can you trade oil Long or short, yes, and a perpetual is symmetrical about it: a short pays or receives funding exactly as a long does and profits when the price falls. No borrowing arrangement is needed, because nothing physical is delivered in either direction at any point. ### What happens if oil gaps over a weekend? On a session-bound venue a position can reopen far from where it closed, and queued orders fill at the first available price. That is the scenario gTrade's documentation has in mind when it says stop losses cannot be guaranteed across a closed market. ## About this sheet One published formula; every figure dated. Corrections: desk@gerhardandlinger.net. — Cross-Asset Desk Research. Edition of 24 September 2026. This desk is paid to publish, and a venue covered here may be the party that paid.