Extended vs Vertex Protocol Comparison
| 0% maker / 0.025% 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% maker / 0.025% taker | Fees | 0.02% maker / 0.05% taker |
Pros & Cons
- 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
- 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
- Fee-free on the maker side
- Team with Revolut roots
- Cross-asset collateral and unified margin
- Network costs in the cents range
- 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
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.
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 is functional and aimed at users with futures experience. Access runs through a wallet connection. 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
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.
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
| Extended Finance | Company | Vertex Protocol |
| Unknown (Decentralised team) | Headquarters | USA |
Verdict
In our overall rating Extended leads with 4.4 against 3.0 for Vertex Protocol.
For most investors Extended is therefore the better choice.
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.
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.