multi-asset perpetual futuresEdition of 24 September 2026Figures dated at source
multi-asset perpetual futures
USDT Margined Perpetuals on Currency Pairs
Cross-Asset Desk ResearchUpdated: Terms read 18 September 2026
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.
Weights32What one account reaches28Cost of getting in and out18Custody of the margin12How the venue has held up10The book behind the quoteHow we rate
Venues listing currency perpetuals
Terms read 18 September 2026
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.
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
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.
Cheapest entry tier: Lighter at 0% maker / 0% taker on the default account.
Continuously quoted: EVEDEX documents 24/7 trading across all its markets, EUR/USD and USD/JPY included.
Session-bound alternative: Ostium quotes forex Sunday 17:00 to Friday 17:00 ET, continuous 24/5.
1. Lighter — for currency pairs at zero default cost
Lighter lists FX among six asset classes across 214 markets
(Lighter docs, 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
Not for: traders who need the session written down.
Extended carries FX among five asset classes across 325 markets
(Extended docs, 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
Not for: traders who want an operator-independent exit.
Aster lists FX among six asset classes across 578 markets
(Aster docs, 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
Not for: a desk that needs the chain under its positions publicly validated.
Hyperliquid lists FX among four asset classes across 324 markets, many
deployed by builders (Hyperliquid docs, 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
Not for: traders who want every listing vetted by one operator.
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
Not for: UK retail clients.
6. Aevo — for three currency markets in a cross-margin account
Aevo lists three currency markets, EUR/USD and USD/JPY among them, inside 102
perpetuals across five asset classes (Aevo market list, 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
Not 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, 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, 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 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.
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
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.