Lighter DEX fees: zero base rate, measured cost and tiers
Lighter fees at a glance
- All-in cost of a $10,000 BTC buy
- Rank 1 of 38 at 0.44 bps (October 16, 2026)
- Base level taker rate
- 0% (0 bps)
- Base level maker rate
- 0% (0 bps)
- Maximum BTC leverage
- 50x
- Funding settles every
- 1 hour on every market
Lighter and Paradex are the 2 venues on these pages with a 0% base rate on both sides. On Lighter, the account type sets the fee and the order latency together, and the free Standard account has the slower taker path.
Lighter measured cost: rank 1 of 38 on BTC
Lighter charged no trading fee, so the full 0.44 bps of the $10,000 BTC buy came from spread and impact. Lighter held a top-five place in 28 of 28 ranked sweeps over the last 7 days. Its median BTC cost in that window was 0.29 bps.
| Cost part | BTC $10,000 | BTC $100,000 | BTC $1,000,000 | ETH $10,000 | ETH $100,000 | ETH $1,000,000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Place in the sweep | 1 of 38 | 1 of 37 | 1 of 33 | 1 of 39 | 1 of 38 | 1 of 33 |
| Taker fee, bps | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| Half of the spread, bps | 0.44 | 0.44 | 0.44 | 0.59 | 0.39 | 0.39 |
| Price impact, bps | 0.00 | 0.07 | 0.34 | 0.00 | 0.15 | 1.13 |
| All-in cost, bps | 0.44 | 0.51 | 0.78 | 0.59 | 0.54 | 1.52 |
| All-in cost, USD | $0.44 | $5.12 | $77.59 | $0.59 | $5.35 | $151.82 |
What a zero Lighter fee leaves to pay
With no fee, the spread and the price impact are the full cost of a market order.
| Rate | Percent | bps | Fee on $10,000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maker | 0% | 0 bps | $0.00 |
| Taker | 0% | 0 bps | $0.00 |
Lighter fees vs Binance and Hyperliquid
Lighter undercuts both Binance and Hyperliquid on the base taker rate, by 5 and 4.5 bps.
| Metric | Lighter | Binance | Hyperliquid |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maker rate, base level | 0% | 0.020% | 0.015% |
| Taker rate, base level | 0% | 0.050% | 0.045% |
| Fee on a $10,000 taker order | $0.00 | $5.00 | $4.50 |
| Fee on a $100,000 taker order | $0.00 | $50.00 | $45.00 |
| Best volume-tier taker rate | — | 0.017% from $25B | 0.024% from $7B |
| All-in cost of a $10,000 BTC buy, bps | 0.44 | 5.01 | 4.56 |
| All-in cost of a $100,000 BTC buy, bps | 0.51 | 5.01 | 4.56 |
| Hours between funding payments | 1 | 8 | 1 |
Worked example: a $10,000 round trip on Lighter
Hypothetical: a $10,000 Lighter position opens and closes at one price, so only the trading fees apply. The fee total is zero, so the market-order cost on Lighter is only the spread and the price impact.
| Entry + exit | Entry fee | Exit fee | Total fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Taker + taker, base | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
Lighter funding interval and leverage cap
Lighter settles funding every hour on every market. The Lighter BTC perpetual allows leverage of up to 50x.
- Funding payments occur at each hour mark. The clamp is 4% per 8 hours, or 0.5% per hour. docs.lighter.xyz, read September 23, 2026.
Lighter discounts and fee conditions
- The Standard account is the default and pays 0% maker and 0% taker, with 300 ms taker latency. docs.lighter.xyz, read September 23, 2026.
- The opt-in Premium account pays 0.0040% maker and 0.0280% taker with no LIT staked. At 500,000 LIT staked, the rates go down to 0.0028% and 0.0196%. docs.lighter.xyz, read September 23, 2026.
- Premium cuts the taker latency to 140 ms. The opt-in Plus account, for API volume, pays a flat 0.5 bps and gets higher rate limits. docs.lighter.xyz, read September 23, 2026.
Lighter fee questions
What fees does Lighter DEX charge?
The default Lighter account pays 0% maker and 0% taker on perpetual futures.
The Standard account is the default and pays 0% maker and 0% taker, with 300 ms taker latency.
The opt-in Premium account pays 0.0040% maker and 0.0280% taker with no LIT staked. At 500,000 LIT staked, the rates go down to 0.0028% and 0.0196%.
How often does Lighter charge funding?
Lighter settles funding every hour on every market.
Is Lighter cheaper than Binance?
Yes, by measured cost: a $10,000 BTC buy cost 0.44 bps on Lighter and 5.01 bps on Binance on October 16, 2026.
At $100,000, the base taker fee is $0.00 on Lighter and $50.00 on Binance.
What does a $10,000 Lighter trade cost in fees?
A $10,000 order on Lighter pays no trading fee at the base level, so the spread and the price impact are the full cost.
On October 16, 2026, the cost engine measured 0.44 bps ($0.44) for a $10,000 BTC market buy, rank 1 of 38.
More on Lighter
Sources
- Base rates: docs.lighter.xyz, read September 23, 2026
- BTC leverage cap: mainnet.zklighter.elliot.ai
- Funding interval: docs.lighter.xyz
- Measured cost: PerpFinder cost methodology