ApeX Protocol vs Vertex Protocol 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
- Cross-margin across spot and perpetual positions
- Competitive fees of roughly 0.02% maker / 0.05% taker
- Migration onto a Kraken-incubated layer 2
- Product direction retained according to the provider
- Existing network deployments are being deprecated
- The VRTX token is being wound down
- Migration not complete at the time of review
- Considerably lower liquidity than the market leaders
- No EU authorisation
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
- Rebuild onto the Ink layer 2 underway
- Cross-margin model
- Existing EVM deployments deprecated
- Token wind-down announced
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 most recently ran at roughly 0.02% for makers and 0.05% for takers. Reliable figures for the period after the move to the new layer 2 are not available at the time of review, so terms should be checked immediately before trading. 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 targeted experienced users and assumed knowledge of margin and funding. Given the rebuild underway, users should focus above all on the migration status and the deadlines applying to existing positions. 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.
The defining feature was a cross-margin model in which spot and perpetual positions share collateral. The feature set after the migration to Ink is not conclusively documented at the time of review. The existing deployments on Arbitrum and further chains are deprecated. As of August 2026.
Details
| ApeX Protocol (by Bybit) | Company | Vertex Protocol |
| Singapore | Headquarters | USA |
Verdict
In our overall rating ApeX Protocol leads with 3.7 against 3.0 for Vertex Protocol.
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.
More important than any fee detail is the rebuild underway at Vertex: the existing EVM deployments — Arbitrum, Mantle, Sei, Base and Sonic among them — are being deprecated. The exchange is being rebuilt on Ink, an Ethereum layer 2 incubated by Kraken on the OP Stack. In parallel, the VRTX token is being wound down.
The product itself is meant to survive, according to the team — what changes is the technical substrate, not the direction. Vertex was valued for its cross-margin model, in which spot and perpetual positions share collateral, and for fees of roughly 0.02% maker and 0.05% taker.
For users the practical implication is clear: anyone holding capital or running positions here needs to follow the migration plan actively, because the existing deployments and the token are not permanent. Until the move is complete and proven in operation, Vertex is not a candidate for a fresh start — quite apart from the absence of EU authorisation.