GMX Referral Code PRO Live Protocol Statistics

GMX does not use a standard maker/taker schedule. 0.04% or 0.06% when opening and again when closing; rate depends on whether the action improves or worsens pool imbalance PerpFinder excludes this venue from maker/taker rankings. Confirm the selected market and all variable costs before trading.

GMX Review 2026

What GMX is

GMX launched on Arbitrum in September 2021 and expanded to Avalanche shortly after. It has more than four years of operating history. The protocol pioneered the pooled liquidity model. LPs deposit assets into a shared pool that acts as the counterparty to all trades. The V2 upgrade in mid-2023 moved from one shared pool (GLP) to isolated per-market pools called GM pools. That change reduced shared pool exposure and gave LPs more control over their market exposure.

V2 also introduced synthetic markets. Each market pairs a long token, a short token (usually USDC), and a Chainlink price feed as the index. For example, the ETH/USD market uses WETH as long collateral and USDC as short. Traders execute through a pool instead of an order book. GMX then applies net price impact from the market's balance and configured caps.

Security and audits

Three firms audited GMX: ABDK, Sherlock, and Guardian Audits. The Sherlock audit is different from a standard review. Sherlock runs an audit market where auditors stake their own capital. They lose it if they miss a bug that later gets exploited. That creates a financial incentive for care that one-time audits do not.

GMX has operated since September 2021 — over four years — without a major security incident. The multi-chain setup adds resilience. Each chain runs independently. An Avalanche issue does not affect the Arbitrum deployment. That is a real structural edge over single-chain competitors.

The Arbitrum DeFi ecosystem provides composability that isolated chains cannot match. GMX positions and LP tokens plug into lending protocols, yield tools, and hedging tools that treat GMX assets as native collateral.

Fees in detail

GMX charges either 4 bps or 6 bps per position open or close. The rate depends on whether the trade improves or worsens the long/short OI balance in the relevant GM pool. A trade that reduces imbalance costs 4 bps. A trade that adds to imbalance costs 6 bps.

A $10,000 BTC position closed at break-even costs $8-$12 in base fees. Hyperliquid costs $9 at its base taker rate, and dYdX costs $10. These venues use different fee models, so compare the full selected-side cost.

Borrow fees compound for multi-day positions. They accrue hourly based on pool use. When a popular pair is heavily one-sided, borrow fees can add several bps per day. GMX v2 added funding rates to encourage balance, but borrow fees run on their own. Check carry costs on our funding rates tracker before holding a GMX position overnight.

GM pool APYs have ranged from 10-40% depending on volume and volatility. The referral code PRO gives referred traders a 10% fee discount and earns referrers esGMX token rewards, which vest over 12 months.

See the full cost comparison at our cost comparison tool.

Volume and market position

PerpFinder tracks GMX through DefiLlama's GMX V2 perps page. Use the live page for current TVL and volume because both values change with market activity.

GMX's market share has declined since Hyperliquid's rise in 2024-2025. GMX v2 has been copied by multiple protocols — including GMTrade on Solana — making it more influential than its own volume figures show.

The protocol sends 63% of fee revenue to GM pool LPs and 27% to GMX token stakers. The treasury gets 10%. That makes GMX one of the higher-yield LP venues in DeFi when volume is high.

Trading experience

The interface at app.gmx.io shows price charts, position panels, and liquidity metrics. Orders fill at quoted oracle prices, with confirmation taking a few seconds on Arbitrum. That is slower than Hyperliquid's sub-second speed but fast enough for most strategies.

The GM pool page shows live APY estimates per market. Depositing into the ETH/USD GM pool gives the LP WETH and USDC yield, plus funding and liquidation fee income. The page tracks current use rates, open interest, and borrow fee rates per market.

GMX supports up to 100x, but the limit is market-specific. Some TradFi markets also change leverage by trading session. No account setup is required.

GMX's 4-vs-6 bps trigger logic, worked through

GMX gets covered everywhere — CoinGecko market data, CoinDesk's V2 launch story, The Block's perp DEX rankings — yet four practical details stay missing:

1. Live GMX 24h volume from DefiLlama with 7-day delta on our protocol page 2. Cost model: GMX 4 bps vs 6 bps trigger logic with a $10,000 worked example, compared against Hyperliquid and dYdX at our cost comparison tool 3. Sherlock's financial-incentive audit structure explained, and why it differs from a standard fixed-fee audit 4. Live GM pool APY and borrow fee estimates alongside GMX funding rates on our funding rates tracker

Who GMX is for

DeFi composability users: GMX plugs more deeply into the Arbitrum DeFi stack than any rival. If you want to use your LP position as loan collateral or run a yield optimizer on top of a GM pool, that infrastructure exists.

Security-conscious traders: four years of operation without an exploit, three audit firms, and Sherlock's financial-incentive audit model gives GMX the strongest security record in this comparison.

High-frequency traders: GMX's 4-6 bps per-trade fee is not competitive with Hyperliquid (4.5 bps total taker, zero gas). GMX suits traders holding for hours or days, not scalpers doing dozens of round-trips.

LP yield seekers: GM pools are one of the most open LP structures in DeFi. Every fee, use rate, and directional exposure is visible on-chain in real time.

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