Lighter vs GMX
Same lines, side by side: fees, leverage, markets, KYC, custody and referral perks, from official pages and DefiLlama.
| Line | Lighter | GMX |
|---|---|---|
| 30-day volume | #P03 · $52,570.0MEdge | #P07 · $22,518.0M |
| Trading fees | 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 | 0.04% 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. |
| New-user perk | One week of Premium for free: the fees paid during that week are rebated | 5% or 10% off opening and closing fees depending on the tier of the code you use |
| Max leverage | up to 50× | up to 100×Edge |
| Perp markets | 210Edge | 132 |
| Identity check | No KYC | No KYC |
| Custody | Non-custodial: Ethereum contracts hold the state root, escape hatch available | Non-custodial, wallet only |
| Settles on | Lighter Core (ZK rollup anchored on Ethereum) | Arbitrum (GMX V2 contracts) |
| Collateral | USDC | USDC, USDT, WETH |
| Where it runs | Web | Web |
| Chains | EVMEthereum | EVMArbitrum, Avalanche, MegaETH, Ethereum, Base, BNB ChainEdge |
| Documented features | 7 of 10Edge | 4 of 10 |
| Order book | Yes | No |
| Cross margin | Yes | Not documented |
| Spot trading | Yes | Yes |
| Vaults / copy vaults | Yes | Yes |
| Copy trading | Not documented | Not documented |
| Stocks, gold or forex | Yes | Yes |
| Points program | Yes | No |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile app | Not documented | Not documented |
| Telegram bot | No | Not documented |
Which one should you pick?
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
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.
app.gmx.io
