Hyperliquid vs dYdX vs GMX: 2026 Comparison With EVEDEX
Last Updated: September 15, 2026
Hyperliquid vs dYdX vs GMX is a choice between three designs. As of September 15, 2026, Hyperliquid's on-chain order book holds $14.18 billion in open interest, dYdX Chain's validator order book $44.2 million, and GMX V2 on Arbitrum $31.8 million in oracle-priced pools. EVEDEX, a hybrid exchange, holds $678.6 million across 52 pairs.
These three venues shaped decentralized perpetual futures. dYdX proved that an order book could run without a company holding customer funds, GMX showed that a liquidity pool could replace market makers, and Hyperliquid built a chain dedicated to matching and now dominates on-chain open interest. They differ in how orders fill, what fees look like, who can change the rules and which risks have already materialized. This comparison adds EVEDEX as a fourth reference point for traders who also want stocks, commodities and FX as perpetuals. It covers size, fees, leverage, governance and documented drawbacks, then maps each venue to a trading style. If the contract type is new to you, start with our guide to crypto perpetual futures contracts; a leverage trading calculator helps size positions on any of these venues.
Hyperliquid vs dYdX vs GMX Compared With EVEDEX
The first row, EVEDEX, runs a hybrid model: orders are matched off-chain in an order book and positions settle on Arbitrum L2. For the model in more detail, read how a perp DEX works.
| Exchange | Execution and settlement | Size and markets | Base fees and leverage | Drawbacks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EVEDEX | Hybrid: order book matched off-chain, positions settled on-chain on Arbitrum L2 with USDT margin | $678.6M open interest and $647.6M 24-hour volume across 52 pairs, including stocks, gold, oil and FX | 0.015% maker and 0.045% taker; 200x on BTC-USD, ETH-USD and SOL-USD up to $50,000 notional | No spot or options, only 52 pairs |
| Hyperliquid | Fully on-chain order book in HyperCore on Hyperliquid L1, with USDC margin and gas-free trading | $14.18B open interest and $9.54B 24-hour volume across 404 perpetual pairs | 0.015% maker and 0.045% taker at tier 0; 40x on BTC, 25x on ETH, 3x to 10x on most small markets | Validators delisted the JELLY market in March 2025 |
| dYdX | Order book run by validators on dYdX Chain, a Cosmos SDK blockchain, with USDC margin | $44.2M open interest and $34.2M 24-hour volume across 119 perpetual pairs | 1.0 bps maker and 5.0 bps taker below $1M monthly volume; 50x on BTC and ETH, 5x to 10x on most others | Open interest is about 0.3% of Hyperliquid's |
| GMX | Trades filled against GM pools and GLV vaults at Chainlink oracle prices on Arbitrum, Avalanche and MegaETH | GMX V2 on Arbitrum: $31.8M open interest, $21.9M 24-hour volume, 15 markets; $206M protocol TVL | 0.04% or 0.06% to open and close, plus borrow and funding fees; up to 100x, varying by market | Borrow fees near 45–55% a year at optimal pool use, and its V1 GLP pool was exploited for about $42M in July 2025 |
Data as of September 15, 2026. Open interest, volume and pairs: CoinGecko derivatives; GMX TVL: DefiLlama. Leverage caps: Hyperliquid and dYdX market data, EVEDEX trading terms and GMX docs. Fees: Hyperliquid, dYdX, GMX and EVEDEX documentation. GMX V1 incident: GMX update.
Which Venue Fits Your Trading Style
Size and fees only matter in the context of how you trade. Five common profiles line up with these venues differently.
The active limit-order trader. If you quote both sides of the book or enter with limit orders, maker fees decide your costs. dYdX charges 1.0 basis point to makers at the base tier, Hyperliquid and EVEDEX 0.015%. GMX has no maker discount at all, because every position pays the same 0.04% or 0.06% position fee regardless of order type, so it suits this profile least.
The large BTC or ETH trader. Depth dominates. Hyperliquid's open interest is roughly 20 times EVEDEX's and more than 300 times that of dYdX Chain or GMX V2 on Arbitrum, so large market orders are most likely to fill near the mid price there. Check the book on your actual size before trading.
The altcoin trader. Hyperliquid lists 404 pairs on CoinGecko and dYdX 119, while GMX V2 on Arbitrum lists 15 markets and EVEDEX 52. Leverage on small markets is modest everywhere: most Hyperliquid altcoins cap at 3x to 10x, and most dYdX markets at 5x or 10x.
The swing trader holding for days. On order books, holding cost is funding, which can be paid or received depending on market positioning. On GMX, the side with larger open interest also pays a borrow fee that the documentation puts at about 45–55% a year at optimal pool utilization, which quickly outweighs trading fees.
The multi-asset trader. On Hyperliquid, stock and commodity markets come from builder-deployed exchanges such as trade.xyz, which run their own margining. EVEDEX lists gold, silver, oil, two FX pairs and five US stocks in the same cross-margin account as its crypto pairs, all trading 24/7, though with far fewer crypto markets. Use a leverage trading calculator to size positions before comparing venues.
Tokens, Governance and Who Controls Each Venue
Each exchange concentrates control differently, and that shapes how it reacts in a crisis. Hyperliquid's HYPE token launched on November 29, 2024, with 31% of supply distributed to users. HYPE is staked by validators under HyperBFT consensus, pays gas on HyperEVM and cuts trading fees by up to 40% for large stakers. Validators also hold real power over markets: in March 2025, they voted to delist JELLY after a squeeze put the HLP vault at risk.
dYdX is governed by DYDX holders and secured by validators who stake the token. Governance sets fee tiers and, starting March 24, 2025, directed 25% of net protocol fees to monthly DYDX buybacks. GMX is governed through GMX token voting power, and its documentation states that liquidity providers receive 63% of fees from trading, liquidations, borrowing and swaps on Arbitrum and Avalanche. When GMX's older V1 GLP pool was exploited on July 9, 2025, the team paused the affected functions and negotiated the return of the funds under a bounty.
EVEDEX takes a more centralized path on matching: its operator runs the order book off-chain, while balances and settlement are recorded on Arbitrum. CertiK has completed two audits of EVEDEX smart contracts, the most recent delivered July 28, 2025, which cover the contracts rather than the entire exchange. For a primer on the contract type all four share, see our guide to crypto perpetual futures contracts.
What to Check Before You Deposit
- Access rules All three venues restrict some countries in their terms. Breaching terms can leave an account in close-only mode.
- Collateral Hyperliquid and dYdX use USDC, EVEDEX uses USDT, and GMX positions use the market's long or short token, such as ETH or USDC.
- Leverage on your pair Headline caps apply to majors only. Small markets allow far less on every venue.
- Liquidation mechanics Order books liquidate at mark price against the book; GMX uses oracle prices, which avoids momentary spread spikes but adds price impact on closing.
- Incident history Read how each venue handled its last stress event, from JELLY on Hyperliquid to the V1 exploit on GMX.
Trading Perpetuals on EVEDEX
EVEDEX is a hybrid exchange for perpetual futures: orders are matched off-chain in an order book, and positions settle on-chain on Arbitrum L2 with USDT margin and a minimum deposit of 6 USDT. It lists 52 pairs, including 39 crypto markets, TSLA, COIN, MSTR, CRCL and SPCX stock contracts, gold through Tether Gold, silver, WTI oil, EURUSD and USDJPY, all tradable 24/7. Fees are 0.015% maker and 0.045% taker before cashback of up to 35%. Leverage reaches 200x only on BTC-USD, ETH-USD and SOL-USD for positions up to $50,000 notional, and 100x on gold, silver, oil and XRP. Funding is calculated every eight hours and charged hourly, all positions use cross margin, and a $500,000 ADL Protection Reserve has run since July 18, 2026. For the model in more detail, read how a perp DEX works. Perpetual futures carry a high risk of loss.
