Lighter vs Pacifica
Same lines, side by side: fees, leverage, markets, KYC, custody and referral perks, from official pages and DefiLlama.
| Line | Lighter | Pacifica |
|---|---|---|
| 30-day volume | #P03 · $52,570.0MEdge | #P08 · $10,418.0M |
| 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 | 0.040% taker · 0.015% makerFees come from your rolling 30-day volume: 0.040% taker and 0.015% maker up to $5M, then 0.038%/0.012% above $5M and 0.036%/0.009% above $10M. From $100M of volume the maker fee is 0% and the taker fee bottoms out at 0.028%. Sub-account volume counts toward the master account and fees are settled on each fill. |
| New-user perk | One week of Premium for free: the fees paid during that week are rebated | 5% bonus on the points you earn |
| Max leverage | up to 50× | up to 50× |
| Perp markets | 210Edge | 78 |
| Identity check | No KYC | No KYC |
| Custody | Non-custodial: Ethereum contracts hold the state root, escape hatch available | Non-custodial, Solana wallet |
| Settles on | Lighter Core (ZK rollup anchored on Ethereum) | Solana |
| Collateral | USDC | USDC |
| Where it runs | Web | Web |
| Chains | EVMEthereum | SolanaSolana |
| Documented features | 7 of 10 | 7 of 10 |
| Order book | Yes | Yes |
| Cross margin | Yes | Yes |
| Spot trading | Yes | Yes |
| Vaults / copy vaults | Yes | Yes |
| Copy trading | Not documented | Not documented |
| Stocks, gold or forex | Yes | Yes |
| Points program | Yes | Yes |
| 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 Pacifica if
You trade on Solana and want published taker and maker fees without a points-first story.
The most readable fee ladder of the series, on a Solana book with unified spot and collateral margin. Keep in mind that $10.4B of 30-day volume is real but modest next to the top three venues, and that the points program is the main growth engine.
app.pacifica.fi
