# Bybit Alternatives, Ranked by the Depth We Measured Updated: 24 September 2026; Terms read 18 September 2026; Books checked to 22 September 2026; The Switch Guide editors Among bybit alternatives with a public order book, edgeX held the most BTC depth in our readings: a median $29.1 million within 10 basis points on 22 September 2026, against $48.0 million on Bybit's own perpetual the same day. EVEDEX came second at $18.9 million. Depth moves between readings, so nothing here rests on one. ## Where each venue lands Weights, fixed 22 September 2026 before a venue on this site was scored: Book depth we measured 28 · Who holds the collateral 22 · Cost of a round trip 18 · Markets on offer 14 · Record so far 12 · Whether the door opens 6. Method in full: https://doliacats.com/methodology Ordered by the median BTC depth we measured within 10 basis points of the mid price. The score column is the overall total and did not set this order: on that total Lighter leads, at 25.3 of 30. | No. | Venue | Score of 30 | Maker / taker | Perp markets | BTC leverage | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | 1 | edgeX | 23.2 | 0.040% / 0.045% | 172 | 100x to $1 million | | 2 | EVEDEX | 19.6 | 0.015% / 0.045% | 52 | 200x to $50,000 | | 3 | Lighter | 25.3 | 0% / 0% | 214 | 50x, 2% margin | | 4 | Aster | 23.0 | 0% / 0.040% | 578 | 200x to 400 USDT | | 5 | Extended | 23.1 | 0% / 0.025% | 325 | 50x to $4 million | | 6 | ApeX Omni | 21.2 | 0.020% / 0.050% | 125 | 100x to $100,000 | ## Before you move 1. Deepest book: edgeX at $29.1 million, still short of the $48.0 million we measured on Bybit's own perpetual. 2. Tightest quote: Aster and Lighter level at 0.01 bps median spread, against 0.04 bps on edgeX and 4.12 bps on EVEDEX. 3. Smallest price impact on a $100,000 order: edgeX at 0.02 bps, then Extended at 0.06 bps. 4. Depth is not cost: the deepest book here charges 0.040% maker / 0.045% taker, and the cheapest charges nothing at all. ## What we measured ourselves BTC perpetual order books read every 10 minutes in the hours between 07:10 and 23:58 UTC on 22 September 2026; every figure is the median of the successful readings. | Venue | Round trip on $10,000 | Depth within 10 bps | Impact of a $100,000 order | Readings | |---|---|---|---|---| | edgeX | $9.00 | $29.1 million | 0.02 bps | 94 | | EVEDEX | $9.00 | $18.9 million | 2.06 bps | 94 | | Lighter | $0.00 | $17.4 million | 0.70 bps | 93 | | Aster | $8.00 | $14.8 million | 0.56 bps | 94 | | Extended | $5.00 | $7.7 million | 0.06 bps | 93 | | ApeX Omni | $10.00 | $1.8 million | 0.36 bps | 94 | ## Step 1 — Why we read books instead of quoting volume Reported volume is the number a venue most wants you to see and the one it can most easily inflate. Resting depth is harder to fake, because it has to sit in a public book where anyone can read it. So a script read each venue's BTC perpetual order book every 10 minutes for the same window and recorded what was resting within 10 basis points of the mid, on both sides of the book. The tables print the median of those readings and how many stand behind it. Where a venue's own figures disagree with the book, the book wins: EVEDEX, for example, reports open interest close to its 24-hour volume on every pair, which is why nothing on this page rests on either number. Two caveats. The counts are not quite equal: every book here answered 94 times except Extended's and Lighter's, which answered 93. And all of this is BTC. A book that holds millions on BTC can hold four figures on a market that listed last week. Depth is also what a position leans on when it has to be closed in a hurry rather than chosen. Leverage shortens the distance between a position and its own margin, and moving venue does not lengthen it. ## Venue 1 — [edgeX](https://pro.edgex.exchange), move here for the deepest resting book on this page (23.2 of 30) We measured a median $29.1 million within 10 basis points of the BTC mid and a 0.04 bps median spread, with a $100,000 market order moving the price 0.02 bps. edgeX runs its own matching engine and commits each change of state to rollup contracts on the EDGE chain ([edgeX docs](https://pro.edgex.exchange/en-US/home), checked 18 September 2026), and it is one of the few venues that documents a withdrawal working "completely bypassing the operator". - Getting in: Wallet or MPC login. - Worth moving: Median $29.1 million of resting BTC depth, the deepest here; Documented exit that does not need the operator. - Worth knowing: 0.040% maker / 0.045% taker at the entry tier, expensive beside the zero-fee venues; No bug bounty programme published. - Not for: makers at the entry tier, who pay 0.040% on every resting order. ## Venue 2 — EVEDEX, move here for six asset classes on a single USDT balance, and a BTC book only edgeX beat here (19.6 of 30) Second by depth: a median $18.9 million within 10 basis points, a 4.12 bps median spread and 2.06 bps of impact on a $100,000 order. EVEDEX matches on its own engine and writes position data to Arbitrum once enough changes have accumulated (EVEDEX documentation, consulted 18 September 2026). Behind the BTC book sit 52 perpetual contracts covering crypto, five US stocks, an index, Tether Gold, silver, WTI crude oil, two currency pairs and two pre-IPO names. - Getting in: Wallet signature. - Worth moving: Median $18.9 million within 10 basis points, second only to edgeX on this page; Open interest of $704.9 million reported to CoinMarketCap on 22 September 2026. - Worth knowing: Positions reach Arbitrum in periodic batches rather than trade by trade; No bug bounty listed on CertiK Skynet, checked 18 September 2026; 52 markets against hundreds elsewhere, and no spot market. - Not for: traders who need hundreds of altcoin books rather than six asset classes. ## Venue 3 — [Lighter](https://lighter.xyz), move here for depth that costs nothing to trade against (25.3 of 30) A median $17.4 million within 10 basis points and a 0.01 bps spread, for 0% maker / 0% taker on a standard account. The sequencer matches off-chain and proves each batch on Ethereum ([Lighter docs](https://docs.lighter.xyz/about-lighter/technical-architecture-lighter-core.md), checked 18 September 2026), with a priority queue and a documented desert mode if it stops. The catch is in the same line as the price: a standard account carries 300 ms of extra latency on every take. - Getting in: Wallet signature. - Worth moving: $17.4 million of resting depth at 0% maker / 0% taker; A documented way out if the sequencer stops answering. - Worth knowing: 300 ms of added latency on takes from a standard account; No published bug bounty programme. - Not for: anything timing-sensitive on the free tier. ## Venue 4 — [Aster](https://www.asterdex.com), move here for a quote as tight as any on the page (23.0 of 30) Aster and Lighter shared the narrowest median spread we recorded, 0.01 bps, and Aster held $14.8 million resting within 10 basis points. Matching and settlement run on Aster Chain, its own proof-of-staked-authority layer 1 ([Aster docs](https://docs.asterdex.com/overview/what-is-aster.md), checked 18 September 2026) — closed core code, no outside validators in phase one. It carries 578 perpetual contracts and charges 0% maker / 0.040% taker at the entry tier. - Getting in: Wallet signature or email. - Worth moving: 0.01 bps median spread, level with Lighter at the tightest here; 578 perpetual contracts and 0% to make. - Worth knowing: Its chain is operator-run with closed core code; No forced withdrawal documented, and the bridge is validator-signed. - Not for: traders leaving a centralised venue because one company ran it. ## Venue 5 — [Extended](https://extended.exchange/), move here for a mid-sized book with one rate for everybody (23.1 of 30) A median $7.7 million within 10 basis points, 0.12 bps spread and 0.06 bps of impact on $100,000 — a smaller move than EVEDEX showed on a book more than twice as deep. Every transaction is validated and settled on Starknet ([Extended docs](https://docs.extended.exchange/about-extended/technical-architecture), checked 18 September 2026), and the rate is 0% maker / 0.025% taker for every account. Of its 325 markets, 278 are quoted on request with no public book at all. - Getting in: Wallet signature, EVM or Starknet. - Worth moving: 0.06 bps of impact on a $100,000 order; 0% maker / 0.025% taker with no tier to climb. - Worth knowing: Most of its market count has no public book behind it; No forced withdrawal in the documentation we read. - Not for: anyone whose market is one of the 278 quoted on request. ## Venue 6 — [ApeX Omni](https://omni.apex.exchange/), move here for the thinnest book here, with the easiest door (21.2 of 30) The shallowest reading on this page: a median $1.8 million within 10 basis points and a 0.63 bps spread, though impact on $100,000 still came in at 0.36 bps. ApeX Omni sends matched trades to the zkLink rollup ([ApeX Omni docs](https://docs.zk.link/architecture/transactionflow), checked 18 September 2026), with a forced withdrawal to layer 1 written into its documentation. You can sign in with an email address and still hold the keys, and its terms shut out fewer countries than anything else scored in this guide. - Getting in: Wallet, or email with a Privy wallet. - Worth moving: Forced withdrawal to layer 1 documented; Email sign-in into a wallet that stays yours. - Worth knowing: $1.8 million of resting depth, the thinnest book on this page; 0.050% to take, the highest rate here. - Not for: size. A large market order will walk this book. ## In their own words > "The platform combines off-chain order matching with verifiable on-chain settlement, giving traders institutional-grade infrastructure without relying on any centralized custodian." — edgeX, home page, 18 September 2026. https://pro.edgex.exchange/en-US/home > "A Sequencer coordinates first-in–first-out transaction ordering and provides soft finality, executing exchange operations and generating data consumed by other system components." — Lighter documentation, Technical architecture, 18 September 2026. https://docs.lighter.xyz/about-lighter/technical-architecture-lighter-core.md > "An off-chain order book (Matcher) system manages buy and sell orders outside the blockchain. This approach follows the same principle as centralized exchanges, enabling faster order processing and matching." — EVEDEX documentation, Off-chain order book, 18 September 2026. ## FAQ from people mid-switch ### What is a good alternative to Bybit? Depends what you are replacing. For the fill, edgeX: we measured $29.1 million resting within 10 basis points of the BTC mid against $48.0 million on Bybit. For cost, Lighter at 0% maker / 0% taker. For breadth in one account, EVEDEX, with 52 contracts across six asset classes. ### Which DEX has the most liquidity? It depends whether you mean reported or resting. Hyperliquid reports the largest open interest of any decentralised venue, $8.7 billion on 22 September 2026. For BTC orders actually sitting in a book, our readings put edgeX first at $29.1 million and EVEDEX second at $18.9 million. ### How do you measure exchange liquidity? Read the public order book and add up what is resting near the mid price. We take both sides within 10 basis points, every 10 minutes, and publish the median with its reading count. Volume counts what has already traded; depth is what your next order would meet. ### Is slippage worse on a DEX? Not on BTC, on this evidence. A $100,000 market order moved the price a median 2.06 bps on EVEDEX, 0.02 bps on edgeX and 0.36 bps on ApeX Omni. On smaller markets the gap against a centralised book widens quickly. ### What is order book depth in crypto? The value of buy and sell orders waiting near the current price. Ours is measured within 10 basis points of the mid, both sides: at $14.8 million on Aster, a market order that size would fill inside a tenth of a per cent of where the price stands. ### Why is my order filling at a worse price than I set? Because a market order eats the book outward from the top of it, and a thin book runs out fast. The impact column is the measure of that: 0.36 bps on the thinnest book here against 0.06 bps on Extended for the same $100,000 order. ### Does Bybit have more liquidity than a DEX? On BTC it still does: $48.0 million rested within 10 basis points on Bybit against $29.1 million on edgeX, the deepest book on this page, read by the same script on the same day — though Bybit's book answered us 9 times against 94 on edgeX. Away from BTC the gap is wider again. ### How often does order book depth change? Constantly, which is why every figure here is the median of readings taken every 10 minutes rather than one snapshot, and why the count of successful readings sits beside each median in the table. A single reading taken at the wrong minute can be out by a factor of two. ### What is the spread on a perp DEX? Narrow on BTC. Our readings put Aster at 0.01 bps, edgeX at 0.04 bps and EVEDEX at 4.12 bps, against 0.01 bps on Bybit, from the 9 readings its book returned that morning. On a thin altcoin book the spread, not the fee, is what a switch costs. ### Which perp DEX is best for large orders? By these readings edgeX, which held the deepest book on this page and the smallest impact on it: 0.02 bps on a $100,000 order against 0.06 bps on Extended, the next smallest. Depth on one market is not depth everywhere, so test with a small order before assuming any of it holds at size. ## Where every figure on this page came from One of the six numbers is ours and five are quotations. Depth is measured here, in the window this page names. Fees, markets, ladders, sign-in, who the terms refuse and audit history were lifted from each venue's own documentation and terms on 18 September 2026. The rule that weights them was settled on 22 September 2026 and is set out on [how we rate](/methodology). Placement on this guide is paid for; the order of the table is not. Three things this guide cannot do. It cannot watch a venue behave: custody, the route out, who gets in and the record come off pages the venue wrote itself; silence costs points without proving anything. It cannot price your trading: the fees here are what a new account pays, before volume tiers and rebates. And only BTC was read, so anything narrower is thinner than it looks. The Switch Guide editors, 24 September 2026. Corrections, say which step it is on and what the venue actually publishes: editorial@doliacats.com This guide is paid to publish, and a venue you are being walked towards may be the one who bought the walkthrough.