# Crypto Derivatives Exchange List 2026, Scored and Unscored Updated: 24 September 2026 | Book readings 22 September 2026 | The Margin Brief desk ## Summary This crypto derivatives exchange list carries thirteen of the sixteen venues on file, read on 18 September 2026: seven run a matched order book and are scored out of 15, led by Lighter at 12.5. Aevo, the eighth scored venue, has its own page; the other six carry no total. Weighting: Exit liquidity 30 · Collateral and settlement 22 · Cost per round trip 20 · Loss record and audits 14 · Contracts and asset classes 9 · Getting a position on 5, fixed 22 September 2026. Method: https://insurancerefocused.com/how-we-rate ## What the figures decide 1. Seven of the thirteen venues here carry a total; of the six that do not, four price from an oracle, one is paused and one sells its book to other front-ends. 2. Contract counts run from 3 at Jupiter Perps to 578 at Aster, nearly two hundredfold inside one category. 3. Four of the six unscored venues settle against a shared pool or vault, so the counterparty is that pool, not another trader. 4. Drift has been paused since 1 April 2026, and its documentation now redirects to a fork trading four markets. ## The seven venues this page scores, September 2026 Every venue in this table runs a matched order book this desk polled, which is what the heaviest criterion needs. Aevo is scored on the same six weights and set out at [alternatives to Aevo](/aevo-alternatives) rather than here; the six after the cards carry no total. | # | Venue | Score of 15 | Maker / taker | Markets | Model | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | 1 | Lighter | 12.5 | 0% / 0% | 214 | Hybrid, ZK-proven | | 2= | edgeX | 11.5 | 0.040% / 0.045% | 172 | Hybrid | | 2= | Extended | 11.5 | 0% / 0.025% | 325 | Hybrid | | 4 | Aster | 11.3 | 0% / 0.040% | 578 | Own layer 1, operator-run | | 5 | Hyperliquid | 10.2 | 0.015% / 0.045% | 324 | On-chain order book | | 6 | EVEDEX | 9.7 | 0.015% / 0.045% | 52 | Hybrid | | 7 | Paradex | 9.0 | 0% / 0% | 63 | Hybrid, Starknet appchain | Venue facts as of 18 September 2026; entry-tier fees on the BTC perpetual. Access differs by country. Listed but not scored: GMX, gTrade, Ostium, Jupiter Perps, Drift, Orderly (WOOFi Pro) — the heaviest criterion measures the dollars resting in an order book: four price from an oracle instead, one is paused, and one sells its book on to front-ends and was not polled here. ## Assessments ### 1. [Lighter](https://lighter.xyz) — a book that costs nothing to cross Score 12.5/15. Lighter charges its Standard account no maker or taker fee ([Lighter docs](https://docs.lighter.xyz/trading/trading-fees.md), checked 18 September 2026) and lists 214 markets across seven asset classes. Its book held $16.9 million. - Works: 0% maker / 0% taker on the Standard account; A documented exit queue that needs no sequencer. - Falls short: The zero fee costs 300 ms of added taker latency; Unavailable 4.5 hours in October 2025, compensated after. - Not for: traders needing the fastest taker fill. ### 2. [edgeX](https://pro.edgex.exchange) — the deepest book here, counted two ways Score 11.5/15. edgeX matches off-chain and settles on its own chain. Its interface listed 172 contracts against 162 on the CoinMarketCap ranking of 22 September 2026. - Works: $29.3 million of median BTC depth, the deepest here; Withdrawals executable on-chain without the operator. - Falls short: 0.040% maker, the dearest maker rate scored here; No bug bounty programme in its documentation or help centre, read 18 September 2026. - Not for: makers trading repeatedly at the entry tier. ### 2. [Extended](https://extended.exchange/) — 325 markets, most of them quoted on request Score 11.5/15. Extended settles on Starknet and reports 325 markets across six asset classes ([Extended docs](https://docs.extended.exchange/extended-resources/trading/rwa-markets), checked 18 September 2026), 278 quoted on request with no public book. Its book held $7.8 million. - Works: Bug bounty up to $500,000, no loss of user funds in 24 months; 0% maker for every account, not only a top tier. - Falls short: 278 of its 325 markets have no public book; No operator-free withdrawal is documented. - Not for: traders reading a market count as a count of books. ### 4. [Aster](https://www.asterdex.com) — the longest file here, on a chain the venue runs Score 11.3/15. Aster lists 578 perpetual markets, more than any venue on file, on a proof-of-stake chain of its own launched 16 March 2026. Its book held $14.8 million. - Works: 578 markets across six asset classes; 1.11 bps of impact on a $1 million order. - Falls short: Chain core code closed-source, no external validators in phase one; No operator-free withdrawal is documented. - Not for: a trader who needs the chain holding the margin validated from outside. ### 5. [Hyperliquid](https://hyperliquid.xyz) — an order book kept inside a chain of its own Score 10.2/15. Hyperliquid keeps its books inside its own chain. The CoinMarketCap ranking of 22 September 2026 put it top of the file on both counts: $8.7 billion of open interest, $13.4 billion of turnover in 24 hours. - Works: Every order and liquidation written into the chain; Bug bounty of up to 1 million USDC. - Falls short: Roughly $4.9 million left the vault it runs in November 2025, after about $4 million in March 2025; No operator-free withdrawal is documented. - Not for: traders unwilling to sit behind a venue-run vault. ### 6. EVEDEX — a matched book off the chain, settled on Arbitrum Score 9.7/15. EVEDEX runs a central order book matched off the chain and writes position data to Arbitrum once enough has changed. It carries 52 contracts across six asset classes, margined from one USDT balance. - Works: All 52 contracts stated to trade around the clock; Median BTC depth of $18.4 million, second deepest of the seven read here. - Falls short: 52 contracts against 578 at the widest venue here, with no spot market; Position data reaches Arbitrum in batches, not at every fill; No bug bounty listed on CertiK Skynet, read 18 September 2026. - Not for: UK retail clients, and traders wanting a record at every trade. ### 7. [Paradex](https://www.paradex.trade) — nothing to pay, and the thinnest book on file Score 9.0/15. Paradex holds its book off-chain and settles on a Starknet-stack appchain; retail orders through its own interface have been free of charge since 15 June 2026. - Works: 0% maker / 0% taker on retail orders through the interface; Sherlock bug bounty of up to 500,000 USDC. - Falls short: The thinnest book here at $55.00: a $100,000 order moved the price 162.91 bps, and $1 million went unfilled; A corrupted state on 19 January 2026 forced a rollback and $650,000 of refunds. - Not for: any position that has to be closed at size. ### [GMX](https://gmx.io) — a pool that can close a winning position for you Not scored (Oracle pool). Oracle-priced pools on Arbitrum over 103 markets. - Works: No book to read, no queue to join; Docs describe access as permissionless, no KYC. - Falls short: Auto-deleveraging can close a profitable position to protect the pool; A July 2025 exploit took about $42 million of the $46 million in Arbitrum GLP. - Not for: a trader who needs a winning position left alone. ### [gTrade](https://gains.trade) — stock pairs that freeze when the exchange shuts Not scored (Oracle vault). Oracle-priced vaults, 0.035% to open and to close on BTC and ETH. - Works: 178 pairs: crypto, currencies, commodities, shares; No signup and no deposit to start. - Falls short: A share stop is not guaranteed, and the position cannot be edited while its market is shut; Liquidation sends the whole collateral assigned to the trade to the vault. - Not for: anyone holding a share position through a weekend. ### [Ostium](https://www.ostium.com) — a desk that closes your day trade at 15:45 ET Not scored (Oracle vault). An oracle-priced vault over 83 markets, 0.06% to open BTC, no closing fee. - Works: Shares, indices and commodities beside crypto; The site states there are no account approvals. - Falls short: Positions above the overnight leverage cap are force-closed at 15:45 ET, with no grace period; Liquidation keeps the remaining collateral; the oracle fee is charged even when an open fails. - Not for: a trader carrying a leveraged position past the overnight cut-off. ### [Jupiter Perps](https://jup.ag/perps) — three markets, and a fee that walks the liquidation price in Not scored (Oracle pool). One Solana pool shared across SOL, ETH and wBTC, 0.06% to open and to close, plus price impact and borrow fees. - Works: One pool deep enough to fill size on those three; Opens from a Solana wallet, nothing to register. - Falls short: Borrow fees drag the liquidation price toward the market with no move in price at all; Liquidation forfeits every remaining dollar of collateral to the pool. - Not for: a trader who wants more than three contracts. ### [Drift](https://www.drift.trade) — stopped trading, with a fork at the old address Not scored (Paused; fork runs as Velocity). Paused since 1 April 2026; the 4 markets at its address are Velocity, a separate program. - Works: The successor documents what a pause does to funds; Velocity quotes a maker rebate, not a maker fee. - Falls short: The April 2026 exploit cost $295 million of user funds; no balance carries over to the fork; The successor program is not open source, and a cold-tier admin change takes effect with no notice. - Not for: anybody at all, on the record its own pages keep. ### [Orderly (WOOFi Pro)](https://orderly.network/) — one book sold to front-ends, priced by whoever sells it Not scored (Hybrid, not scored). A matched book behind other interfaces; WOOFi Pro's figures, 0.025% / 0.040% on WOOFi Pro. - Works: One shared book across 80 markets; Settlement and balances sit in readable contracts. - Falls short: The fee is set by the front-end, which must charge at least the base rate and may charge more; One wallet holds a separate account per front-end, so balances and fee tiers do not carry across. - Not for: a trader expecting one account to follow them between interfaces. ## Sources quoted > "Trading is powered by GM and GLV liquidity pools. GMX routes every order against these pools and quotes the oracle index price rather than relying on an order book or external market makers." — GMX documentation, Introduction, 18 September 2026. https://docs.gmx.io/docs/intro/ > "This is possible because Gains does not match buy and sell orders through an order book. Instead, trader PnL is calculated in the smart contracts and settled against the gToken vaults." — gTrade documentation, Overview, 18 September 2026. https://docs.gains.trade/gtrade-leveraged-trading/overview > "An off-chain order book (Matcher) system manages buy and sell orders outside the blockchain." — EVEDEX documentation, matching engine, cited in text without a link, 18 September 2026. ## What a crypto derivatives exchange list has to cover The phrase covers three machines, and posted margin is exposed to a different thing in each. On a matched order book an order rests until another crosses it, and the exit is priced by the depth resting at that moment; the seven scored venues are all of this kind. On an oracle-priced pool there is no book — a position opens and closes at a fetched price against a pool of depositors. On a vault, trader profit and loss sits on that vault's balance sheet. The exposure is depth on a book, a formula on a pool, solvency on a vault. ## How the figures were taken Nobody publishes what an exit costs, so depth, spread and impact are this desk's own: every public BTC perpetual book read over 122 polls between 21 September 2026 and 22 September 2026, no account anywhere, no order of ours. Charges, margin demands, ladder rungs, market lists and audit history are each venue's own record on 18 September 2026. Six weights, settled 22 September 2026 and unchanged since, carry 7 venues ([how we rate](/how-we-rate)). The six without a total were read the same way, minus the book. Read the margin figures as arithmetic, not as a warning: a documented cap divided into a hundred thousand dollars of exposure, closed out at the maintenance level with collateral still in the account. Settlement, exit routes and audit history are what each venue publishes, never the whole of it. Fee columns are the entry tier, before cashback or volume tiers, and BTC alone was measured, its smaller neighbours on the same venues being thinner. ## FAQ ### How many crypto derivatives exchanges are there? No single number is right: the category holds at least three different machines. The CoinMarketCap derivatives ranking captured on 22 September 2026 carried 27 venues; this page carries thirteen of the sixteen on file, seven of them scored on a book we polled and six left without a total. ### What is an oracle-priced perpetual? A contract that opens and closes at a price fetched from a price feed instead of from a book of resting orders. GMX, Jupiter Perps, gTrade and Ostium all work this way, and the trade settles against a pool of depositors. There is no depth to measure. ### Which crypto derivatives exchanges do not use an order book? Of the thirteen read on 18 September 2026, four: GMX with 103 markets, gTrade with 178, Ostium with 83 and Jupiter Perps with 3. Each prices from an oracle and settles against a pool or a vault rather than against another trader's order. ### Who is the counterparty when you open a perpetual position? On the seven scored venues it is whoever placed the order on the other side of the book. On the four oracle-priced venues it is the pool that depositors fund, which takes the other side of the outcome. The venue holds the collateral either way, and the margin is what can be lost. ### Which perpetual exchanges list stocks, gold and oil? Most of the file. Lighter lists seven asset classes, Aster and Extended six each, EVEDEX six across 52 contracts, and Ostium six without an order book. Paradex and edgeX carry four apiece, crypto alongside shares and commodities, all of it read on 18 September 2026. ### Is Drift still trading? Not under that name. The program has been paused since the exploit of 1 April 2026, and the addresses for the application and its documentation now redirect to Velocity, a fork deployed as a separate program with 4 markets, read on 24 September 2026. ### What is a synthetic perpetual? A contract whose price is copied from somewhere else rather than discovered on the venue. gTrade settles trader profit and loss in smart contracts against its vaults with no matching at all, which lets it list 178 markets across five asset classes. ### Do oracle-priced perpetuals have slippage? Not as a spread, but the cost arrives by another route. GMX charges a position fee of 0.04% or 0.06% to open and to close and adds a price impact charge; Jupiter Perps charges 0.06% each way plus impact and borrowing. ### Which perpetual exchange lists the most contracts? Of the thirteen here, Aster at 578 perpetual markets read on 18 September 2026, ahead of Extended at 325 and Hyperliquid at 324. The CoinMarketCap ranking of 22 September 2026 counted the same two venues at 686 and 444, which is why a count needs its source. ### Why do some exchanges not appear in liquidity rankings? Because a liquidity ranking measures resting orders, and a venue without a book has none to report. The six unscored venues here publish fees, market counts and audits like everyone else, so they sit on the page with their facts and the date each was read. ## Editorial note These are leveraged perpetual futures: the margin behind a position is all of what it can lose. Placement here is paid for; the order of the table is not. Corrections: editorial@insurancerefocused.com. The Margin Brief desk, 24 September 2026 Placement in this file is paid for; the order of every table follows the published formula and nothing else.