ApeX Protocol vs Backpack Comparison
| 0.02% maker / 0.05% taker | Fees | 0.02% maker / 0.05% taker |
Cost comparison
The basis is a Bitcoin purchase worth €1,000, including all fees and spreads.
| 0.02% maker / 0.05% taker | Fees | 0.02% maker / 0.05% taker |
Pros & Cons
- No gas costs for users
- Perpetuals on equities, commodities and prediction markets too
- Around 90 crypto perpetuals, up to 100x leverage on BTC and ETH
- Operating since 2022 with no known loss of user funds
- Well-known backers
- Considerably lower volume than the market leaders
- Thinner order books in secondary markets
- No EU authorisation
- Support runs through community channels
- MiCA authorisation for the European entity, passported across the EU
- Perpetuals for EU clients through an entity under MiFID II supervision
- A named European supervisory counterparty
- Clean, approachable interface
- 200+ markets in the global offering
- EU clients limited to roughly 40 pairs and 10x leverage
- Fees above the fee-free competitors
- Not a pure DEX — execution runs on operator-run order-book infrastructure
- Account with identity verification required
Score Comparison
Features
- No gas costs
- Crypto, equity and commodity perpetuals in one interface
- Operating since 2022 without a known security incident
- Up to 100x leverage on the main markets
- One of the few perpetual venues with EU authorisation
- MiCA CASP since May 2026
- Perpetuals for EU clients since September 2025
- Solana-native infrastructure
The five areas head to head
AI AnalysisFees & Costs
Perpetuals carry roughly 0.019% maker and 0.0475% taker fees, spot trading around 0.0425%. Users bear no gas costs. Referral programmes and rebates can lower effective costs further. As of August 2026.
Standard fees are 0.02% for makers and 0.05% for takers, roughly the market average. At high volume, taker fees can be reduced further through limit orders. Against the fee-free competitors in this segment that is the more expensive route — set against a regulated framework. As of August 2026.
Usability & User Experience
The interface follows centralised exchange conventions and is immediately legible to users with futures experience. Access runs through a wallet connection without conventional registration. As of August 2026.
The interface is among the most approachable in the segment and navigable even without long futures experience. Unlike the pure on-chain competitors, an account with identity verification is required. As of August 2026.
Features & Offering
The offering covers roughly 90 crypto perpetuals with up to 100x leverage on BTC and ETH and around 50x on most other pairs. Beyond that, perpetuals on equities and commodities and prediction markets are available — a breadth that is unusual in the segment. As of August 2026.
Globally the offering spans more than 200 markets at up to 50x leverage. EU clients operate under a separate, tighter frame: roughly 40 perpetual pairs and up to 10x leverage, offered through a European entity under MiFID II supervision. Reduce-only orders are available alongside standard order types. As of August 2026.
Details
| ApeX Protocol (by Bybit) | Company | Backpack Exchange (Coral) |
| Singapore | Headquarters | United Arab Emirates |
Verdict
In our overall rating ApeX Protocol leads with 3.7 against 2.9 for Backpack.
Neither provider reaches 4.0 out of 5 in our rating, so we do not give an unreserved recommendation here.
ApeX — now operating as ApeX Omni — has run perpetual markets since 2022 and is backed by investors including Dragonfly Capital, Jump Crypto and Bybit-affiliated Mirana. No security incident involving loss of user funds is known, which counts for something in a segment with a short half-life.
Fees run around 0.019% for makers and 0.0475% for takers, and users bear no gas costs. The offering reaches beyond crypto: alongside roughly 90 crypto perpetuals at up to 100x leverage on BTC and ETH — around 50x on most secondary pairs — there are perpetuals on equities and commodities as well as prediction markets.
On scale ApeX sits clearly behind the volume leaders, which shows as thinner books in secondary markets. It is most interesting for users who want crypto and non-crypto perpetuals from a single interface. The platform holds no EU authorisation; perpetuals sit outside MiCA in any case, and tax reporting rests entirely with the user.
Backpack sits apart in this comparison because the question is not whether you accept a regulatory gap. Its European entity obtained a MiCA CASP licence and a payment institution licence from the Latvian central bank in May 2026, both passported across the EU and EEA. Perpetuals themselves fall outside MiCA — a separate European entity under MiFID II supervision covers them.
The price of that protection is a much tighter frame: EU clients trade roughly 40 pairs at up to 10x leverage, against up to 50x globally. Fees of 0.02% maker and 0.05% taker sit around the market average and above the fee-free competitors.
For EU-based traders this is a different proposition from the rest of the field: less leverage, fewer markets, higher fees — but a regulated framework and a named supervisory counterparty. For anyone unwilling to trade perpetuals entirely outside European supervision, it is one of the few available routes.