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Use the live tools
Lighter charges 0% maker and 0% taker on standard accounts. MEXC charges 0% maker and 0.02% taker at its base CEX tier. Your total cost also depends on order type, funding, slippage, and withdrawal cost. Compare the applicable rates for your order size and hold time.
Key takeaways
- Lighter charges 0% maker and 0% taker on standard accounts.
- MEXC charges 0% maker and 0.02% taker at its base tier.
- Drift's maker rebate is unavailable because the venue has been offline since its April 2026 exploit.
- Hyperliquid charges 0.015% maker and 0.045% taker at its base tier.
- Funding and withdrawal costs can exceed trading fees on multi-day holds.
Live fee ranking: CEX and DEX
The live fee table comes straight from PerpFinder's live dataset and is checked on every site update. It is ranked by taker fee:
| Venue | Maker | Taker |
|---|---|---|
| LighterDEX | 0% | 0% |
| ParadexDEX | 0% | 0% |
| VariationalDEX | 0% | 0% |
| Vest MarketsDEX | 0.01% | 0.01% |
| DESKDEX | -0.01% | 0.017% |
| MEXCCEX | 0% | 0.02% |
| SynFuturesDEX | 0.01% | 0.02% |
| HotstuffDEX | -0.002% | 0.025% |
| ExtendedDEX | 0% | 0.025% |
| CoinbaseCEX | 0% | 0.03% |
| Orderly NetworkDEX | 0% | 0.03% |
| EtherealDEX | 0% | 0.03% |
Base tier — PerpFinder live dataset · verified 2026-07-23
A few venues stand out. Lighter runs a zero-fee model on standard accounts and earns its money on pro flow instead. MEXC charges 0% maker and 0.02% taker at its base tier. Drift charged takers 0.035% and paid makers a small rebate before its April 2026 exploit took the venue offline. Aster posts 0% maker / 0.04% taker. Hyperliquid sits at 0.015% maker / 0.045% taker, with a 4% referral discount. Among the big CEXes, Binance, OKX, and Gate.io all quote 0.02% maker / 0.05% taker. dYdX matches the 0.05% taker with a 0.01% maker. Bybit charges 0.02% / 0.055%. Run your exact size through the fee calculator for real numbers.
Why maker fees matter more for active traders
If you place limit orders and wait for fills, the maker column is your fee schedule. On several venues that column reads zero; Drift, which used to pay makers, has been offline since its April 2026 exploit. A trader posting $1M per month of maker volume pays $200 on Bybit at 0.02%, $150 on Hyperliquid's 0.015%, and nothing on Lighter or MEXC. That gap, $1,800-2,400 a year, is pure venue choice. Market-order traders can ignore the maker column and rank by taker fee.
Hidden costs that beat trading fees
Funding rates are the big cost on held positions. Positive BTC funding has spiked to 0.1% per 8 hours in hot markets, which is 0.3% per day on full notional, far above any fee line. Check the funding rates tool before entering, and see our funding guide for settlement schedules by venue.
Gas costs: Hyperliquid's L1 and Lighter's zk-rollup charge no per-trade gas. Arbitrum venues like GMX cost cents per trade; Solana venues like Jupiter cost far less than a cent.
Withdrawal fees (CEX): a CEX charges you to withdraw, and ERC-20 withdrawals can run several dollars. A DEX has no such fee, though you pay the chain's own transfer cost.
Total cost example
A $10,000 position held 3 days, entered and exited with limit orders, at typical recent funding:
- Lighter: $0 fees + funding ≈ $6-15 = $6-15 total
- Hyperliquid: $1.50 entry + $1.50 exit + funding ≈ $6-15 = $9-18 total
- Binance: $2 entry + $2 exit + funding ≈ $6-15 = $10-19 total
Use market orders instead and the fee legs grow to $0 (Lighter), $9 (Hyperliquid), and $10 (Binance) per round trip. The gap grows with trade count and size.
What is the cheapest crypto futures exchange in 2026?+
Lighter charges 0% maker and 0% taker on standard accounts. MEXC charges 0% maker and 0.02% taker at its base CEX tier. Drift's maker rebate is unavailable while the venue is offline.
Are zero-fee venues a catch?+
The schedules are real but narrow. Lighter earns from pro and high-frequency accounts rather than retail flow. Zero-fee venues can also run thinner books than Hyperliquid or Binance, so big market orders pay in slippage what they save in fees.
Do referral codes actually lower fees?+
Yes, on venues that support them. Hyperliquid's code takes 4% off, and several CEXes rebate 10-20% of fees. Stack a code with limit orders and the all-in rate on a cheap venue gets close to zero. Current offers are on the deals page.
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