GMX vs Backpack Exchange
Same lines, side by side: fees, leverage, markets, KYC, custody and referral perks, from official pages and DefiLlama.
See the 15 differences
| Line | GMX | Backpack Exchange |
|---|---|---|
| 30-day volume | Edge#07 · $22,518.0M | #13 · Not tracked |
| Trading fees | Edge0.04% to 0.06% per open or closeThere is no maker/taker split: the position fee is 0.04% when your trade reduces the imbalance between long and short open interest and 0.06% when it increases it, charged on open, close, increase and decrease. TradFi markets have their own rates (GOLD, SILVER and oil trade at 0.01%/0.02% during on-hours). Price impact, hourly borrow fees and swaps are billed on top. | 0.05% taker · 0.02% makerBackpack documents one tier table covering spot and perpetual futures, sorted by 30-day volume, with tiers recalculated every hour and the effective tier driven by whichever is highest between BP staking, volume and pre-TGE Mad Lad NFT holdings. The base tier is 0.02% maker and 0.05% taker on futures, higher tiers are cheaper according to the published table, which the support site now gives as text; the USDT/USDC pair is charged 0% and does not count toward tiers. |
| New-user perk | 5% or 10% off opening and closing fees depending on the tier of the code you use | Fee rebates on referred accounts |
| Max leverage | Edgeup to 100× | up to 75× |
| Perp markets | Edge132 | 103 |
| Identity check (KYC) | EdgeNo KYC | KYC required |
| Custody | Non-custodial, wallet only | Custodial: your balances sit on the exchange, wallet is a separate product |
| Settles on | Arbitrum (GMX V2 contracts) | Backpack Exchange (centralised matching) |
| Collateral | USDC, USDT, WETH | USDC, USDT |
| Where it runs | Web | Web, iOS, Android |
| Chains | EVMArbitrum, Avalanche, MegaETH, Ethereum, Base, BNB Chain | EdgeSolana · EVM · Bitcoin · SuiSolana, Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base, Polygon, Avalanche, Bitcoin, Sui |
| Documented features | 4 of 10 | Edge8 of 10 |
| Order book | No | Yes |
| Cross margin | Not documented | Yes |
| Spot trading | Yes | Yes |
| Vaults / copy vaults | Yes | Yes |
| Copy trading | Not documented | Not documented |
| Stocks, gold or forex | Yes | Yes |
| Points program | No | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile app | Not documented | Yes |
| Telegram bot | Not documented | Not documented |
Which one should you pick?
Pick GMX if
You want oracle pricing with no spread hunting, on Arbitrum, and you trade the lighter side of the market.
GMX prices trades against pooled liquidity and Chainlink oracles rather than a book, so its cost structure looks like a swap: an open/close fee that varies with the balance of open interest, plus borrow and price impact. It is the cheapest venue in the series for a trader who systematically takes the lighter side.
Read the GMX reviewSign up through this link: 5% or 10% off opening and closing fees depending on the tier of the code you use.
Affiliate link
Pick Backpack Exchange if
You want a CEX-style experience with unified portfolio margin, stocks next to perps, and a referral that pays in cash.
One of the two centralised venues of the series, with Bybit, so you give up custody: accounts are KYC-verified, balances sit on the exchange and the 10% referral rebate is paid on trading fees rather than points. Backpack also lists US stocks and ETFs next to 103 perpetual markets.
Read the Backpack Exchange reviewbackpack.exchange
