Perpetual Futures on Optimism

Optimism (OP Mainnet) is an Ethereum L2 using the OP Stack, the same codebase that powers Base, Mode, and other chains. Orderly Network supports Optimism through its shared-liquidity infrastructure. Kwenta is retained only as a discontinued historical venue.

Tracked protocol history on OP Mainnet

Kwenta was a Synthetix-based perp interface on Optimism. It is discontinued and does not rank as a live venue. Its page keeps historical context and status information.

Orderly Network deploys its infrastructure layer across seventeen chains. Its Optimism integration provides backend liquidity for frontends that choose to build on that chain, rather than Orderly itself being the user-facing product.

Chain metrics and gas profile

DefiLlama's OP Mainnet page shows TVL in the $700 million-$1 billion range as of mid-2026, notably lower than Arbitrum or Base. Transaction costs are similar to Base: under $0.10 per order in most conditions. Block time is 2 seconds with near-instant subjective finality for users.

L2Beat's Optimism page tracks the security roadmap. OP Mainnet has a 7-day withdrawal period to Ethereum and uses a permissioned sequencer operated by the OP Labs team, with plans for decentralization through the Optimism Collective governance structure.

Why Optimism trails Arbitrum in perp DEX activity

Arbitrum launched its mainnet in May 2021, roughly four months before Optimism's public mainnet in December 2021. That first-mover gap meant GMX, the dominant perp DEX of the 2022-2023 cycle, built on Arbitrum. Network effects in perp trading are strong: liquidity attracts traders, who attract more liquidity. Optimism has not hosted a breakout perp DEX the way Arbitrum hosted GMX or Base is hosting SynFutures.

The OP Stack ecosystem does provide an indirect advantage. Chains built on the stack can share sequencer infrastructure and eventually settle to a shared "superchain." If a major perp DEX deploys on a new OP Stack chain, liquidity pathways to Optimism become easier to build.

Use the perpetuals listing for current venues. Use the cost comparison tool to estimate trading costs for available Optimism and Arbitrum alternatives.