# USDT Margined Perpetuals on Currency Pairs 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 USDT margined perpetuals on currency pairs quote EUR/USD or USD/JPY with stablecoin collateral and no expiry. Six venues list them; Lighter leads our scoring at 90 of 100, on breadth and no default fee. The margin behind a leveraged position is all it has, and a market that gaps can take the lot. ## Venues listing currency perpetuals Ordered by the overall score. Currency pairs move in fractions of a percent, so the two columns that decide the outcome of a position are the fee and the hours — not the headline market count. Who gets a row is settled before any of that: a venue is scored here only when its own documentation lists four or more asset classes outside crypto, which is where edgeX, at three, lost the place it used to hold. | # | 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 | Hyperliquid | not stated in the documentation we read | 76 | 324 | 0.015% / 0.045% | On-chain order book | | 5 | EVEDEX | All markets 24/7, shares and commodities included | 67 | 52 | 0.015% / 0.045% | Hybrid | | 6 | 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. Collateral is a dollar stablecoin on four of the six, whatever the pair quotes: USDT on EVEDEX and Aster, USDC on Lighter and Hyperliquid. Extended takes either, and Aevo takes six assets, ETH and wBTC among them. 2. Cheapest entry tier: Lighter at 0% maker / 0% taker on the default account. 3. Continuously quoted: EVEDEX documents 24/7 trading across all its markets, EUR/USD and USD/JPY included. 4. Session-bound alternative: Ostium quotes forex Sunday 17:00 to Friday 17:00 ET, continuous 24/5. ## 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 | | 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 | ## 1. [Lighter](https://docs.lighter.xyz) — for currency pairs at zero default cost Score 90 of 100. Lighter lists FX among six asset classes across 214 markets ([Lighter docs](https://docs.lighter.xyz/trading/real-world-assets-rwas.md), checked 18 September 2026), trading at 0% maker / 0% taker on the default account. On a pair that moves 0.3% in a session, a zero fee is a larger share of the outcome than it is on BTC. - 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 FX inside the widest five-class listing Score 85 of 100. Extended carries FX 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: 0.025% taker fee with no volume tiers; 325 markets across five classes. - 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 currencies inside the longest market list Score 82 of 100. Aster lists FX 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, with a zero maker fee that suits the passive orders an FX strategy tends to use. - In favour: 0% maker fee; 578 perpetual markets. - 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. [Hyperliquid](https://hyperliquid.gitbook.io/hyperliquid-docs) — for currency markets on its own layer 1 Score 76 of 100. Hyperliquid lists FX among four asset classes across 324 markets, many deployed by builders ([Hyperliquid docs](https://api.hyperliquid.xyz/info), checked 18 September 2026). Fees are 0.015% maker / 0.045% taker at the entry tier and every order is a chain transaction. - In favour: Orders and fills recorded on its own chain; Median BTC depth of $10.1 million. - Against it: Builder-deployed markets are not reviewed by the interface operator; No documented forced withdrawal. - Wrong fit for: traders who want every listing vetted by one operator. ## 5. EVEDEX — for EUR/USD and USD/JPY that stay open Score 67 of 100. EVEDEX lists EUR/USD and USD/JPY in the same cross-margined USDT balance as its crypto, metals and equity markets, and states that all 52 of them trade 24/7 (18 September 2026, EVEDEX documentation). The published ladder names the markets on its top rungs and gives the rest as counts, so the two currency pairs sit in either the 75x or the 50x band (EVEDEX trading terms, checked 18 September 2026). Fees are 0.015% maker / 0.045% taker before cashback on fees already paid. - In favour: Currency markets documented as open 24/7; Currencies, metals and crypto in one USDT balance. - Against it: Two currency pairs against nine on each of the oracle-priced venues here; Cross margin only, so one loss eats another position's collateral. - Wrong fit for: UK retail clients. ## 6. [Aevo](https://www.aevo.xyz/docs) — for three currency markets in a cross-margin account Score 58 of 100. Aevo lists three currency markets, EUR/USD and USD/JPY among them, inside 102 perpetuals across five asset classes ([Aevo market list](https://api.aevo.xyz/markets?instrument_type=PERPETUAL), checked 18 September 2026). Every position draws on one margin pool, so a currency trade shares collateral with a crypto one. Rates are 0.050% maker / 0.080% taker. - In favour: Three currency markets inside a five-class listing; One margin pool across five asset classes. - Against it: 0.080% taker, the dearest rate on this page; Withdrawals can be flagged at random and held for a further 60-minute check. - Wrong fit for: a strategy that turns a currency pair over many times a day. ## How usdt margined perpetuals change an FX position In conventional foreign exchange a trader borrows one currency to hold another, and the carry between the two interest rates is the running cost. In a perpetual the mechanism is replaced: collateral sits in USDT, and funding payments between longs and shorts pull the contract towards the index. The exposure is the same shape; the plumbing is not. Two practical consequences follow. There is no conversion into euros or yen at any point, so a position never leaves the stablecoin balance. And the funding rate, not an interest differential, is what a carry trade earns or pays — which means it reflects positioning on the venue rather than central bank policy. ## Why the hours matter less here, and still matter Foreign exchange already trades close to continuously: Ostium's documentation places forex from Sunday 17:00 to Friday 17:00 ET, effectively 24 hours a day on weekdays ([Ostium market reference](https://docs.ostium.com/traders/reference/markets), checked 18 September 2026). The weekend is the only gap, and for most currency pairs it is uneventful. Most, not all. A weekend election, a central bank statement or a sanctions announcement moves a pair before the cash market reopens, and gTrade's documentation warns that stop losses cannot be guaranteed across a closed market ([gTrade documentation](https://docs.gains.trade/gtrade-leveraged-trading/asset-classes/forex), checked 18 September 2026). EVEDEX states that its currency markets stay open like everything else it lists (18 September 2026, EVEDEX documentation), which is the difference between reacting on Sunday and reading about it on Monday. ## 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 6 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 > "By default, our platform enables cross-margin, allowing collateral to be shared among all perpetual positions within a single trading account." — Extended documentation, trading accounts and modes, 18 September 2026. https://docs.extended.exchange/extended-resources/trading/trading-accounts-and-modes > "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 > "Tracks the exchange rate of EUR/USD." — Lighter documentation, market specifications, 18 September 2026. https://docs.lighter.xyz/trading/real-world-assets-rwas/market-specifications.md ## FAQ ### what is perpetual futures A contract that tracks a price with no settlement date, margined here in USDT. Whether it follows BTC, gold or EUR/USD, the margin, the profit and the loss are all denominated in the same stablecoin, so nothing is ever converted into euros or yen along the way. ### can i trade forex with usdt Through a perpetual, yes. Six venues here quote EUR/USD or USD/JPY against USDT collateral, and the position never touches the underlying currency. It is exposure to a rate rather than a holding of euros, which is why no currency account is involved. ### what is forex trade In the conventional market, an exchange of one currency for another at an agreed rate. On these venues nothing is exchanged: a trader opens a contract on the rate, posts USDT against it and closes in the same stablecoin, so no euros or yen are ever held. ### How does funding work on an FX perpetual? A rate derived from the gap between the contract and its index is exchanged between longs and shorts periodically. It replaces the interest-rate carry of a conventional FX position, so it reflects positioning on the venue rather than the policy difference between two central banks. ### What leverage is available on currency pairs? Not one published rung. The EVEDEX ladder names the markets on its top rungs and gives the rest as counts, which leaves EUR/USD and USD/JPY at either 75x or 50x (EVEDEX trading terms, checked 18 September 2026). At those multiples a move of 1.3% to 2% against the position removes the margin. ### Is forex open at the weekend? The cash market closes Friday evening and reopens Sunday evening ET, and Ostium's contracts follow that schedule. EVEDEX states that its currency markets stay open throughout, which means the venue itself is quoting the pair while the interbank market is shut. ### Which pairs can you trade? Order-book venues keep the lists short: EVEDEX carries EUR/USD and USD/JPY, and the others list a handful of majors. The oracle-priced venues are barely longer — Ostium and gTrade each document nine currency pairs — and neither has a resting book behind the quote. ### perpetual futures vs futures A dated currency future settles on a fixed day and has to be rolled to keep the exposure. A perpetual has no such day: longs and shorts exchange funding instead, so the carry is charged continuously and the position ends only when a trader closes it. ### Do I need a forex broker? Not for these contracts. A wallet signature opens the position and USDT covers the margin, so there is no brokerage account, no base-currency conversion and no separate funding rail. There is also none of the protection a regulated broker relationship would carry. ### Are spreads wider than at a broker? Usually, yes, and the gap grows with size. Retail FX brokers quote major pairs in fractions of a pip; an order-book venue quotes what is resting in its book, which on a currency pair is thinner than on BTC, and the impact shows up on larger orders. ### Can I hold an FX position for months? Nothing forces it closed, since perpetuals have no expiry. The running cost is funding, charged repeatedly for as long as the position is open, so a long hold on a quiet pair can pay out more in funding than the price move ever delivers. ### Which venue is best for currency perpetuals? On cost, Lighter at 0% maker / 0% taker on its default account. On breadth, the oracle-priced venues list far more pairs. If the position has to be adjustable over a weekend, EVEDEX is the venue documenting markets that stay open around the clock. ## 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.