Hyperliquid vs Lighter: fees, cost and liquidity
Lighter cost less than Hyperliquid in all 6 BTC and ETH order sizes where both venues had a rank.
- Hyperliquid, $10K BTC
- 4.56 bps
- Lighter, $10K BTC
- 0.44 bps
- Hyperliquid, $1M BTC
- 4.79 bps
- Lighter, $1M BTC
- 0.78 bps
Measured cost of a market buy
| Order | Hyperliquid | Lighter |
|---|---|---|
| BTC $10,000 | 4.56 bps ($4.56)Rank 16 of 38 | 0.44 bps ($0.44)Rank 1 of 38✓ |
| BTC $100,000 | 4.56 bps ($45.61)Rank 13 of 37 | 0.51 bps ($5.12)Rank 1 of 37✓ |
| BTC $1,000,000 | 4.79 bps ($478.67)Rank 7 of 33 | 0.78 bps ($77.59)Rank 1 of 33✓ |
| ETH $10,000 | 4.70 bps ($4.70)Rank 13 of 39 | 0.59 bps ($0.59)Rank 1 of 39✓ |
| ETH $100,000 | 4.70 bps ($47.04)Rank 9 of 38 | 0.54 bps ($5.35)Rank 1 of 38✓ |
| ETH $1,000,000 | 4.77 bps ($476.69)Rank 4 of 33 | 1.52 bps ($151.82)Rank 1 of 33✓ |
Lighter removes the taker fee for standard accounts, so its cost depends on its book.
Hyperliquid charges a fixed base fee and runs its own chain.
Fees, funding and market data
| Item | Hyperliquid | Lighter |
|---|---|---|
| Taker fee, base tier | 0.045% | 0%✓ |
| Maker fee, base tier | 0.015% | 0%✓ |
| Maximum leverage | 40x on BTC, 25x on ETH; 3x to 40x by asset | 50x on BTC and ETH |
| Chain and settlement | Own layer 1 (HyperCore) | ZK rollup anchored to Ethereum |
| Custody of funds | USDC is minted natively on HyperCore; the legacy Arbitrum bridge holds less than 10% of it | Ethereum contracts; escape hatch to Ethereum |
| Account fee model | One base tier; volume and staking discounts | Standard (no fee) or premium (lower latency, fee)✓ |
| Exit if the operator stops | Validators run the chain and the bridge | Escape hatch to Ethereum |
| Audits named in docs | Zellic (legacy bridge) | Nethermind (core, deposit bridge) |
| BTC funding rate | 0.0013% per 1hOctober 16, 2026, 07:37 UTC · interval | 0.0012% per 1hOctober 16, 2026, 07:37 UTC · interval |
| ETH funding rate | 0.0013% per 1hOctober 16, 2026, 07:37 UTC · interval | 0.0012% per 1hOctober 16, 2026, 07:37 UTC · interval |
| BTC perp open interest | $3.40bOctober 16, 2026, 07:37 UTC | $161.4mOctober 16, 2026, 07:37 UTC |
| ETH perp open interest | $2.68bOctober 16, 2026, 07:37 UTC | $74.3mOctober 16, 2026, 07:37 UTC |
| Reported 24h volume | $10.20bOct 16, 2026 | $2.05bOct 16, 2026 |
- Hyperliquid
- fees, leverage, settlement, custody
- Lighter
- fees, leverage, settlement and custody
Each fee, leverage, settlement and custody value comes from the official page named here. PerpFinder read every page on Sep 23, 2026.
Why the measured cost differs
A Lighter standard account pays no trading fee. Its measured cost is only half the spread plus price impact. Hyperliquid charges a base taker fee of 0.045%, which is 4.5 basis points (bps), on its fee page.
That fee is the floor of every Hyperliquid market buy at the base tier. The measured table on this page shows how much the order book adds on top at each size.
Lighter also sells a premium account. The Lighter fee page lists 0.0040% maker and 0.0280% taker for premium accounts with no LIT staked. Premium buys lower latency, not a lower price. Our sweep uses the standard account.
Architecture and settlement
Hyperliquid runs its order books on its own layer 1 chain, HyperCore. Its overview page gives a median end-to-end latency of 0.2 seconds and 0.9 seconds at the 99th percentile. Those figures apply to a client placed near the network.
The overview page also claims about 200,000 orders per second. That is a documented capacity, not a figure that we measured.
Lighter is a ZK rollup. It sends proofs and its state root to Ethereum, per its architecture page. The Lighter fee page lists a taker latency of 300 ms on a standard account and 140 ms on a premium account. The two latency figures measure different things. Do not rank the venues on them.
Custody and the exit path
USDC is minted on the Hyperliquid chain, and the old Arbitrum bridge is deprecated, per the USDC page. Validators run the chain and the bridge, so a withdrawal depends on them. Lighter keeps deposits in Ethereum contracts.
If the Lighter sequencer does not process a priority request in time, the contract freezes. Users can then rebuild their balances from data on Ethereum and withdraw there.
Funding and leverage
Both venues settle funding every hour. Hyperliquid caps funding at 4% per hour, per its funding page. Lighter clamps funding at 0.5% per hour, per its funding page. The Hyperliquid cap is 8 times wider, so one hourly payment can be larger there.
Hyperliquid sets a leverage limit per asset, from 3x to 40x. The Lighter market API lists 50x for BTC and ETH. A higher limit is not a lower cost. It only changes the margin that one position needs.
Hyperliquid and Lighter book depth
The Hyperliquid BTC book held a $1,000,000 buy better. The order paid 0.29 bps above the fee on Hyperliquid and 0.78 bps on Lighter. The ETH result at $1,000,000 was 0.27 bps on Hyperliquid and 1.52 bps on Lighter. The book cost rose by 0.23 bps on Hyperliquid and by 0.34 bps on Lighter when the BTC order grew from $10,000 to $1,000,000.
Hyperliquid carried $3.40b of open BTC perp positions at the last sweep. Lighter carried $161.4m.
Audits and incidents on record
The Hyperliquid audit page names Zellic (legacy bridge contract). The JELLY perp was delisted by validator vote in March 2025. Every position settled at one fixed price (Halborn). In November 2025, the community vault took about $4.9 million of bad debt after a POPCAT manipulation (Halborn).
The Lighter audit page names Nethermind (Lighter Core and EVM deposit bridge). PerpFinder found no official Lighter incident report.
Who can open an account
Both venues bar persons in the United States. Only Lighter also bars the United Kingdom and Canada.
| Jurisdiction | Hyperliquid | Lighter |
|---|---|---|
| United States | Not available | Not available |
| United Kingdom | Not named | Not available |
| EU and EEA | Not named | Not named |
| Canada | Limited | Not available |
| Identity documents | Not asked in the interface | Not asked in the interface |
Hyperliquid collects a wallet address and geolocation data from users, not identity documents. Lighter states that a user interacts with the Protocol only through a public wallet address, not identity documents.
A country that the terms do not name is not a permission. Check your local law before you open an account.
Which one fits which trader
A trader who sends market orders at a size that the Lighter book can fill pays less on Lighter, when the measured rows agree. A trader who needs a wider market list, or who uses Hyperliquid vaults and HyperEVM tools, can accept the fee.
Check the $1,000,000 rows before you move a large order. Book depth changes the result faster than the fee does.
Hyperliquid vs Lighter FAQ
Is Lighter cheaper than Hyperliquid?
For a standard Lighter account, the taker fee is zero, while Hyperliquid charges 0.045% at the base tier.
The measured cost table shows the full result with spread and price impact for BTC and ETH at three sizes.
Do Hyperliquid and Lighter use the same funding interval?
Yes.
Both venues settle funding every hour. Lighter clamps the rate at 0.5% per hour, and Hyperliquid caps it at 4% per hour.
Can I withdraw from Lighter if the exchange stops?
Lighter documents an escape hatch.
Users can rebuild their account state from data on Ethereum and withdraw on Ethereum.
Which has higher leverage, Hyperliquid or Lighter?
Lighter lists 50x for BTC and ETH.
Hyperliquid caps BTC at 40x and sets a limit per asset, from 3x to 40x.
Are Hyperliquid and Lighter audited?
Yes, both docs name an audit firm.
Zellic audited the Hyperliquid legacy bridge contract. Nethermind audited Lighter Core and the Lighter EVM deposit bridge.
Can US residents use Hyperliquid or Lighter?
No.
The terms of both venues bar persons in the United States. Hyperliquid also bars Ontario, Canada, and Lighter bars all of Canada and the United Kingdom.