GMX vs Lighter

Detailed side-by-side comparison of features, fees, and trading experience

GMX

+ Low dynamic perpetual trading fees starting at 0.04% for balance-improving trades, reduced from 0.05% in January 2025
+ Up to 100x leverage on BTC, ETH, and other major perpetual pairs with isolated margin
+ Multichain deployment across 8 networks including Arbitrum, Avalanche, Ethereum, Base, and Solana

− US users are geo-restricted at the frontend level, along with several sanctioned countries
− No native mobile app — requires third-party wallet dApp browsers for mobile trading
− Dynamic fee model (0.04%-0.06%) can be less predictable than fixed-fee exchanges

+ Zero trading fees for standard accounts — all retail makers and takers trade free; premium accounts pay only 0.004% maker / 0.028% taker with up to 30% discount via LIT staking (maker fees as low as 0.0028%, taker as low as 0.0196% at max tier)
+ ZK-proof verified trading: every order match, liquidation, and settlement is cryptographically proven via custom ZK circuits — no other perp DEX offers this level of on-chain verifiability
+ Massive trading volume: $232B in 30-day volume before TGE and ~$3.75-4.58B daily volume as of January 2026, making it one of the deepest liquidity pools for perp trading

− Restricted in US, Canada, UK, China, Russia, Ukraine, North Korea, Cuba, Iran, Venezuela, and Syria — a broader exclusion list than most perp DEXs including the UK
− TVL of ~$1-2B is significantly lower than Hyperliquid's $4B+ as of early 2026 — lower liquidity depth may mean worse fills for large orders
− Only USDC and ETH accepted as collateral — no multi-collateral support like GMX; limited flexibility for users with other assets

Is GMX or Lighter better?

GMX has a higher rating (4.5 vs 4.2). Lighter offers lower fees (0% vs 0.06%). Choose GMX for higher leverage, and Lighter for lower fees.

What are the fees on GMX vs Lighter?

GMX charges 0.06% taker / 0.04% maker. Lighter charges 0% taker / 0% maker for perpetuals.