ApeX Protocol vs Extended Comparison
| 0.02% maker / 0.05% taker | Fees | 0% maker / 0.025% 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% maker / 0.025% 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
- 0% maker fee, 0.025% taker
- Daily maker rebates based on maker share
- Very low network fees on Starknet
- Unified margin across several asset classes
- Self-custody
- Considerably smaller than the market leaders
- Around 50 trading pairs — a narrower list than competitors
- 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
- Fee-free on the maker side
- Team with Revolut roots
- Cross-asset collateral and unified margin
- Network costs in the cents range
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.
Makers pay no trading fee, takers 0.025%. Depending on 30-day maker share, daily rebates of up to 2 basis points apply on top. Network fees on Starknet typically run to a few cents per transaction and barely register against the trading fee. 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 functional and aimed at users with futures experience. 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.
Extended runs more than 50 perpetual pairs and adds spot and lending markets. Collateral can be deployed across asset classes and margin is unified at account level. Alongside standard order types there are TP/SL brackets that set target and stop together. As of August 2026.
Details
| ApeX Protocol (by Bybit) | Company | Extended Finance |
| Singapore | Headquarters | Unknown (Decentralised team) |
Verdict
In our overall rating Extended leads with 4.4 against 3.7 for ApeX Protocol.
For most investors Extended 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.
Extended was built by a team with a Revolut background and runs on Starknet mainnet. The product promise goes beyond plain perpetuals: collateral can be used across asset classes, margin is unified, and spot and lending markets round out the offering.
On price Extended leads: makers pay nothing, takers 0.025%, with daily maker rebates depending on maker share. Network fees on Starknet run to a few cents per transaction, so total costs stay low even for frequent trading.
Scale needs stating plainly: measured by capital locked, Extended is far smaller than Hyperliquid or Lighter, and the market list covers roughly 50 pairs. The platform holds no EU authorisation; perpetuals sit outside MiCA in any case, and tax reporting rests entirely with the user.