# OKX Alternatives, Ordered by What a Round Trip Costs

Updated: 24 September 2026; Terms read 18 September 2026; Books checked to 22 September 2026; The Switch Guide editors

Two okx alternatives charge nothing at the entry tier: Lighter and Paradex both take
0% maker / 0% taker on a standard account, so a $10,000 round trip costs $0.00
against $9.00 at the far end of this table. Free is not the same as cheap: on $100,000
the impact gap between these books dwarfs the fee range.

## 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 entry-tier taker fee, with the maker fee breaking ties. 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= | Lighter | 25.3 | 0% / 0% | 214 | 50x, 2% margin |
| 1= | Paradex | 18.0 | 0% / 0% | 63 | 50x, 300 BTC limit |
| 3 | Extended | 23.1 | 0% / 0.025% | 325 | 50x to $4 million |
| 4 | Aster | 23.0 | 0% / 0.040% | 578 | 200x to 400 USDT |
| 5= | edgeX | 23.2 | 0.040% / 0.045% | 172 | 100x to $1 million |
| 5= | EVEDEX | 19.6 | 0.015% / 0.045% | 52 | 200x to $50,000 |

## Before you move

1. Nothing to pay: Lighter and Paradex both charge 0% maker / 0% taker at the entry tier, each with a few hundred milliseconds of added latency in return.
2. Free but empty: Paradex's BTC book held a median $703.00 in our readings, so the saved fee is lost to impact on any real size.
3. Cheapest deep book: Lighter at $0.00 the round trip with $17.4 million resting within 10 basis points.
4. Fixed rather than tiered: EVEDEX charges 0.015% maker / 0.045% taker to everybody and gives part of it back as cashback, up to 35% of a trader's own fees.

## 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lighter | $0.00 | $17.4 million | 0.70 bps | 93 |
| Paradex | $0.00 | $703.00 | 165.34 bps | 94 |
| Extended | $5.00 | $7.7 million | 0.06 bps | 93 |
| Aster | $8.00 | $14.8 million | 0.56 bps | 94 |
| edgeX | $9.00 | $29.1 million | 0.02 bps | 94 |
| EVEDEX | $9.00 | $18.9 million | 2.06 bps | 94 |

## Step 1 — Why the cheapest rate is rarely the cheapest trade

A fee is a published number and slippage is not, which is why fee tables win arguments they should
lose. On a $10,000 round trip the whole fee range on this page is $0.00 to
$9.00 — nine dollars. The impact range on a $100,000 order across the same venues is
0.02 bps to 165.34 bps, which on that size is the difference between a
few dollars and more than a thousand.

So read the two columns together. Paradex charges nothing and had a median $703.00
resting within 10 basis points when we read it; edgeX charges 0.045% and had
$29.1 million. For a trader moving size, the expensive venue is the cheap one.

Two of the zero-fee venues also charge in a currency that is not money. Lighter adds 300 ms of
latency to takes on a standard account, and Paradex adds a 300 ms speed bump to orders from its web
interface. Their priced tiers remove the delay and reinstate the fee.

## Venue 1 equal — [Lighter](https://lighter.xyz), move here for nothing to pay, on a book that is actually there (25.3 of 30)
0% maker / 0% taker on a standard account, so the round trip is $0.00, and unlike
the other free venue here the book is deep: a median $17.4 million resting within 10 basis
points. The trade-off is 300 ms of added latency on takes; a premium account pays 0.004% maker and
0.028% taker and drops it. Deposits sit on Ethereum, and each batch is proven back to it
([Lighter docs](https://docs.lighter.xyz/about-lighter/technical-architecture-lighter-core.md), checked 18 September 2026).

- Getting in: Wallet signature.
- Worth moving: $0.00 round trip with $17.4 million of resting BTC depth behind it; A documented exit if the sequencer stops.
- Worth knowing: 300 ms of added latency on every take at the free rate; No published bug bounty programme.
- Not for: anyone whose edge is measured in milliseconds.

## Venue 1 equal — [Paradex](https://www.paradex.trade), move here for a zero rate, if size is not the point (18.0 of 30)
Orders from the web interface have paid 0% maker / 0% taker since 15 June 2026, with a 300 ms
speed bump; the programmatic tier pays 0.003% maker and 0.045% taker. Trades settle on Paradex
Chain, a Starknet-stack appchain posting proven state to Ethereum
([Paradex docs](https://docs.paradex.trade/trading/privacy.md), checked 18 September 2026). The catch is the book: a median $703.00 within
10 basis points and 165.34 bps of impact on $100,000 in our readings.

- Getting in: Wallet signature; account derived from the address.
- Worth moving: 0% maker / 0% taker from the web interface since 15 June 2026; Bug bounty of up to 500,000 USDC.
- Worth knowing: $703.00 of resting BTC depth, by far the thinnest reading in this guide; Rolled its chain back in January 2026 and refunded $650,000 to 200 accounts.
- Not for: any order large enough to notice the book.

## Venue 3 — [Extended](https://extended.exchange/), move here for one rate for everybody, on a mid-sized book (23.1 of 30)
0% maker / 0.025% taker for every account with no tiers at all, which puts the round trip at
$5.00 — the cheapest rate here that is actually charged. Every transaction is
validated and settled on Starknet ([Extended docs](https://docs.extended.exchange/about-extended/technical-architecture), checked 18 September 2026). Its BTC book held a median
$7.7 million within 10 basis points with 0.06 bps of impact on $100,000,
second only to edgeX on this page.

- Getting in: Wallet signature, EVM or Starknet.
- Worth moving: $5.00 round trip with no tier to climb; 0.06 bps of impact on a $100,000 order.
- Worth knowing: 278 of its 325 markets are quoted on request with no public book; No forced withdrawal in the documentation we read.
- Not for: traders whose market is one of the quote-on-request list.

## Venue 4 — [Aster](https://www.asterdex.com), move here for a deep book at a low taker rate (23.0 of 30)
0% maker / 0.040% taker at the entry tier, a $8.00 round trip, and a median
$14.8 million resting within 10 basis points at a 0.01 bps median spread, level
with Lighter's. Maker fees went to zero for every tier on 2 February 2026. Matching and
settlement run on Aster Chain, its own layer 1 ([Aster docs](https://docs.asterdex.com/overview/what-is-aster.md), checked 18 September 2026), whose core code
is closed and which ran phase one without outside validators. Its Pro book documents 200x on BTC,
which is a fact about the venue rather than a setting to reach for. Leverage shortens the distance between a position and its own margin, and moving venue does not lengthen it.

- Getting in: Wallet signature or email.
- Worth moving: $8.00 round trip on $14.8 million of resting depth; 578 perpetual contracts, the longest list in this guide.
- Worth knowing: Its own overview page still shows an older and higher schedule than its fees page; Operator-run chain, closed core code, no forced withdrawal documented.
- Not for: anyone who left a centralised venue to get away from a single operator.

## Venue 5 equal — [edgeX](https://pro.edgex.exchange), move here for the most expensive rate, on the deepest book (23.2 of 30)
0.040% maker / 0.045% taker at the entry tier is the costliest combination here, at
$9.00 the round trip, and the maker side is where it stings. What the money buys is
the deepest book on this page: $29.1 million within 10 basis points and
0.02 bps of impact on $100,000. Every state change is batched into rollup contracts on
the EDGE chain ([edgeX docs](https://pro.edgex.exchange/en-US/home), checked 18 September 2026), with a withdrawal documented for the day the
operator stops.

- Getting in: Wallet or MPC login.
- Worth moving: $29.1 million of resting BTC depth, the deepest of the venues scored here; Withdrawal without the operator described step by step.
- Worth knowing: 0.040% to make, where four venues on this page charge nothing; No bug bounty programme published.
- Not for: high-frequency makers, who will pay this rate all day.

## Venue 5 equal — EVEDEX, move here for a fixed rate with part of it handed back (19.6 of 30)
EVEDEX charges 0.015% maker / 0.045% taker, the same for everybody, which makes the round trip
$9.00. Cashback then returns part of the money already paid rather than discounting
the rate: the base share rises with a gamification level open to every user, and Prime subscribers
add a fixed five percentage points. At gamification level 5 that is 1.22% plus 5 points for Prime
and 1 point for Trader Skills, or 7.22% of the fees paid. The ceiling is 35% of a trader's own fees,
which works out at an effective 0.00975% maker and 0.02925% taker.

- Getting in: Wallet signature.
- Worth moving: $9.00 round trip on $18.9 million of measured BTC depth; Cashback capped at 35% of a trader's own fees, worth 0.02925% effective on the taker side.
- Worth knowing: The headline rate is mid-table before any cashback is counted; Positions reach Arbitrum in periodic batches rather than trade by trade; No bug bounty listed on CertiK Skynet, checked 18 September 2026.
- Not for: traders who want the low rate on the screen rather than returned later.

## In their own words

> "Currently, Extended features a flat fee structure for both perpetuals and spot markets: Taker: 0.025% Maker: 0.000%" — Extended documentation, Trading fees and rebates, 18 September 2026. https://docs.extended.exchange/extended-resources/trading/trading-fees-and-rebates
> "Effective February 2, 2026, Maker fees for all VIP tiers were set to 0 bps." — Aster documentation, VIP programme, 18 September 2026. https://docs.asterdex.com/program-and-rewards/vip-program.md
> "For both perpetual futures and spot markets, Lighter currently charges no maker or taker fees for Standard Accounts, allowing all participants to trade across all markets free of charge." — Lighter documentation, Trading fees, 18 September 2026. https://docs.lighter.xyz/trading/trading-fees
## FAQ from people mid-switch

### What is a good alternative to OKX?

It depends which column you came for. On cost, Lighter at 0% maker / 0% taker for a
$0.00 round trip. On depth, edgeX at $29.1 million within 10 basis points of
the BTC mid price. On breadth inside one account, EVEDEX, with 52 contracts
across crypto, shares, metals, oil and currencies.

### Which crypto exchange has zero fees?

Two here. Lighter charges 0% maker / 0% taker on a standard account and Paradex
0% maker / 0% taker on orders from its web interface. Both pay for it with a few hundred
milliseconds of added delay, and both charge their priced tiers instead.

### How much are perpetual futures fees?

Across the six venues on this page the entry-tier taker rate runs from 0% to
0.045%, and the maker rate from 0% to 0.040%. On a
$10,000 position, paying the taker rate twice costs between $0.00 and
$9.00, before any funding payment and before slippage.

### What is the difference between maker and taker fees?

A maker order rests in the book and waits; a taker order removes what is resting. Makers are charged
less or nothing, because they supply the depth: Aster and Extended both charge
0% to make while taking costs 0.040% and 0.025%.

### Do DEXs have lower fees than centralized exchanges?

Often, at the entry tier, because there is no account to upgrade. Four of the six venues here charge
0% to make. The saving disappears on a thin book: Paradex is free and showed
165.34 bps of impact on a $100,000 order.

### Is zero fee trading really free?

Not quite. The cost moves into latency, into the spread you cross, and into the funding rate you pay
while the position is open. On a thin book it also moves into impact, which is unpublished and can
cost more in one order than a year of fees.

### What is a round trip fee?

What it costs to open and close the same position as a taker, so twice the taker rate. That is the
figure a switch actually pays, and on $10,000 it runs from $0.00 to $9.00 across this page. Maker rates are lower, but only if your order rests.

### Does cashback lower my trading fees?

It returns part of what has already been paid rather than changing the posted rate. On EVEDEX the
ceiling is 35% of a trader's own fees, which works out at an effective 0.02925% on the taker side. A
programme like that is worth whatever the volume behind it turns out to be.

### Why do exchanges pay makers?

Because resting orders are the product. A venue with nothing in the book cannot fill anyone, so the
maker side is priced at or below zero and the taker side pays for it. Lighter charges 0% maker / 0% taker on a standard account and takes its cost in added latency instead.

### Which is cheaper, funding or fees?

Over a single day, usually the fees. Hold a leveraged position for a week and funding is often the
larger line, charged every few hours whichever way the market goes, and worked out on the whole notional
rather than on the margin you posted behind it.

## 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.