Aster vs Lighter
Same lines, side by side: fees, leverage, markets, KYC, custody and referral perks, from official pages and DefiLlama.
| Line | Aster | Lighter |
|---|---|---|
| 30-day volume | #P02 · $64,919.0MEdge | #P03 · $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. | 0% maker · 0% takerStandard accounts, the default, pay no maker or taker fee on perps or spot, at the cost of slower matching (300ms taker latency). Premium accounts are opt-in and get faster matching: 0.0040% maker and 0.0280% taker with no LIT staked, reduced by staking LIT.Edge |
| 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 | One week of Premium for free: the fees paid during that week are rebated |
| Max leverage | up to 1001×Edge | up to 50× |
| Perp markets | 610Edge | 210 |
| Identity check | 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 | 9 of 10Edge | 7 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 | Not documented |
| 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.
asterdex.com
Pick Lighter if
Fees are your main cost and you accept slightly slower fills to keep them at zero.
Trading is 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.
app.lighter.xyz
