Aster vs Lighter
Same lines, side by side: fees, leverage, markets, KYC, custody and referral perks, from official pages and DefiLlama.
See the 13 differences
| Line | Aster | Lighter |
|---|---|---|
| 30-day volume | Edge#02 · $64,919.0M | #03 · $52,570.0M |
| Trading fees | 0.04% taker · 0% makerBase tier on the standard VIP schedule. Selected"Group B" crypto pairs are charged 0.1% taker, RWA pairs a flat 1.25 bps, and USD1-quoted pairs have their own schedule. Every maker fee is 0 bps. | Edge0% maker · 0% takerStandard accounts, the default, pay no maker or taker fee on regular perp and spot orders, at the cost of slower matching (300ms taker latency), but 1 bp (0.01%) on TWAP/advanced orders and RFQ. Premium/Advanced accounts are opt-in and get faster matching: 0.0040% maker and 0.0280% taker with no LIT staked, reduced by staking LIT. |
| New-user perk | You choose how the 10% default commission is split, so part of it can be returned to the referee as a fee discount | A 10% discount on the fees you pay, rebated every Monday |
| Max leverage | Edgeup to 1001× | up to 50× |
| Perp markets | Edge610 | 210 |
| Identity check (KYC) | Not documented | No KYC |
| Custody | Non-custodial, wallet or email login | Non-custodial: Ethereum contracts hold the state root, escape hatch available |
| Settles on | Aster Chain (own L1) | Lighter Core (ZK rollup anchored on Ethereum) |
| Collateral | USDC, USDT | USDC |
| Where it runs | Web, iOS, Android | Web |
| Chains | EVMBNB Chain | EVMEthereum |
| Documented features | Edge9 of 10 | 8 of 10 |
| Order book | Yes | Yes |
| Cross margin | Yes | Yes |
| Spot trading | Yes | Yes |
| Vaults / copy vaults | Yes | Yes |
| Copy trading | Yes | Not documented |
| Stocks, gold or forex | Yes | Yes |
| Points program | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile app | Yes | Yes |
| Telegram bot | Not documented | No |
Which one should you pick?
Pick Aster if
You trade from a phone and want a large book of crypto, stock and commodity perps.
Second-largest perp venue in the set and one of the cheapest for takers: 0.04% on the main book, 0% for makers. The trade-off is volume quality: DefiLlama's normalized figure is far below the reported one, and the points campaigns pay for activity.
Read the Aster reviewSign up through this link: You choose how the 10% default commission is split, so part of it can be returned to the referee as a fee discount.
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Pick Lighter if
Fees are your main cost and you accept slightly slower fills to keep them at zero.
Regular orders are free by default on Lighter, and the venue anchors its state root on Ethereum with a documented escape hatch. The catch is that free matching is slower, and the paid Premium tier exists above it.
Read the Lighter reviewSign up through this link: A 10% discount on the fees you pay, rebated every Monday.
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