ApeX Protocol vs dYdX Comparison
| 0.02% maker / 0.05% taker | Fees | 0.05% taker / 0.01% maker |
Cost comparison
The basis is a Bitcoin purchase worth €1,000, including all fees and spreads.
| 0.02% maker / 0.05% taker | Fees | 0.05% taker / 0.01% maker |
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
- Fully decentralised order book — matching runs through validators
- Purpose-built Cosmos chain rather than a rollup dependency
- Long operating history and mature market structure
- 200+ markets
- Low network fees
- Market share has fallen sharply as liquidity moved to newer venues
- Thinner books and higher slippage in secondary markets
- No EU authorisation
- Support runs through community channels
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
- Decentralised matching at validator level
- Purpose-built Cosmos chain
- Established name in derivatives
- 200+ perpetual markets
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.
Fees run around 0.01% for makers and 0.05% for takers, tiered by trading volume, plus very low network fees on the native Cosmos chain. Against the fee-free newcomers in the segment that is no longer competitive; against centralised exchanges it remains inexpensive. 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 aimed squarely at professional users and assumes experience with margin and funding. Access runs through a wallet connection. 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.
More than 200 perpetual markets run on a purpose-built Cosmos chain. The architectural distinction is that the order book is not operated centrally but by the network's validators. Market and limit orders are joined by stop-loss, stop-limit and take-profit. As of August 2026.
Details
| ApeX Protocol (by Bybit) | Company | dYdX Trading Inc. |
| Singapore | Headquarters | United States |
Verdict
In our overall rating dYdX leads with 4.3 against 3.7 for ApeX Protocol.
For most investors dYdX is therefore the better choice.
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.
dYdX set the standard in decentralised derivatives for years and made the most consistent architectural move in the sector with version 4: away from Ethereum, onto a purpose-built Cosmos chain where validators run the order book themselves. Matching, not just settlement, is decentralised — something most competitors still do not offer.
Market position has shifted drastically. From clear leadership in 2023, dYdX has fallen to a low single-digit share of perpetual volume while Hyperliquid and newer order-book DEXs absorbed the liquidity. For traders that mainly means thinner books in secondary markets and more noticeable slippage than at the volume leaders.
Technically the platform remains solid and fees of around 0.01% maker and 0.05% taker are reasonable. Traders who weight decentralisation highly find the most consistent implementation here; those chasing tight spreads are better served elsewhere. The platform holds no EU authorisation; perpetuals sit outside MiCA in any case, and tax reporting rests entirely with the user.