Hyperliquid vs Aster vs Lighter: perp DEXs compared

Hyperliquid, Aster and Lighter are three of the most-used on-chain order-book exchanges for perpetual futures. All three are non-custodial: your margin sits in an account that only your wallet can withdraw from. They differ in what you settle in (USDC or USDT), how often funding is paid, what a taker order costs, and how an app or bot gets permission to trade for you. This guide puts those differences side by side, with numbers taken from each venue's documentation as of October 2026.

There is no single "best" venue. The cheapest venue for a given trade depends on the order type, the coin and the size, and the cheapest venue today may not be the deepest one. The sections below show what to compare.

The short version

Fees and intervals change. Each row links back to a source in Sources at the end, and the date at the top of this page says when we last checked.

Fees: what a trade actually costs

Every venue charges a taker fee when your order fills immediately (a market order, or a limit order that crosses the book) and a maker fee when your order rests on the book and someone else fills it. Base-tier rates for perps:

On a $10,000 position, one side of the trade costs:

A round trip (open and close) costs twice that. A few things change the picture:

• Volume tiers and staking. Hyperliquid lowers fees with 14-day volume and with staked HYPE (from 5% to 40% off). Aster has a VIP program. Big traders pay less than the table.
• Aster has several fee schedules. The 0% maker / 0.04% taker rate is for its main USDT crypto perps. Some smaller pairs ("Group B") pay a 0.1% taker fee, and real-world-asset perps (stocks and the like) pay 0.0125%.
• Lighter's zero fee has a trade-off. Standard accounts pay nothing but get slower order processing than Premium accounts, which pay fees. For a manual trader that latency rarely matters. For a market maker it does.
• App fees come on top. An interface can add its own fee. On Hyperliquid this is a "builder fee", capped by the venue at 0.1% on perps, and you approve it with a signature first. See Hyperliquid builder fees.

The fee is a share of the position's value, not of your margin, so leverage does not reduce it. At 10x, a 0.045% taker fee costs 0.45% of the margin you put in.

Funding: hourly versus every 8 hours

Perpetual futures never expire, so the venues use funding payments between longs and shorts to keep the contract price near the spot price. When the rate is positive, longs pay shorts. When it is negative, shorts pay longs. The venue keeps none of it.

• Hyperliquid pays every hour, at one eighth of an 8-hour rate. The rate is capped at 4% per hour.
• Aster uses 8 hours by default and moves some markets to 4 hours or 1 hour. The formula is scaled to the interval, so a 4-hour market pays half of the 8-hour rate each time.
• Lighter pays every hour.

Because the intervals differ, compare rates per hour, not per payment. An Aster rate of 0.01% per 8 hours is 0.00125% per hour, the same as Hyperliquid's baseline. Prow shows every venue's funding per hour for this reason, and so does the live funding rates table. The funding rates guide explains the formula and how to turn a rate into a yearly figure.

Settlement asset: USDC or USDT

Hyperliquid and Lighter margin and settle in USDC. Aster's main perps use USDT. This matters in three places:

1. Prices differ slightly. BTC priced in USDT is not exactly BTC priced in USDC, because the two stablecoins trade a little apart. A small, steady price difference between Hyperliquid and Aster is mostly this, not an arbitrage.
2. Moving money between venues means converting or bridging, with its own costs and delay.
3. Hedging across venues (a long on one, a short on the other) leaves you exposed to the USDC/USDT rate on top of the two positions. See Funding rate arbitrage.

Order types and protection

All three support market, limit, stop market and stop limit orders, post-only and reduce-only. Details that trip people up:

On Lighter, TP/SL orders are sent together with the opening order as one group and follow the size that fills, and there is no trailing stop.

Mark price is a fair price built from external exchanges and the venue's own book, so one large trade does not trigger your stop or liquidate you on its own. For how close you are to liquidation and how each venue liquidates, see Liquidation price on Hyperliquid and Aster.

Trading keys: how apps and bots get access

None of the three venues makes you hand over your wallet's private key to trade through an app. Each has a separate trading key that your wallet approves:

• Hyperliquid calls it an API wallet or agent. It can place and cancel orders and change leverage. It cannot withdraw or transfer. Your main wallet signs the approval once, with no network fee.
• Aster has API wallets too. An app can approve one with Withdraw: false in the signed message, and you can see that flag before you sign.
• Lighter gives each account numbered API key slots. A key in a slot can trade but cannot withdraw or transfer.

The agent wallet guide covers what such a key can do if it leaks and how to revoke one.

Which one should you use?

Some practical rules of thumb, not recommendations:

• You trade with limit orders. Aster's 0% maker fee and Lighter's zero-fee Standard account are hard to beat. On Hyperliquid, maker orders still pay 0.015%.
• You trade large size with market orders. Fee rate matters less than depth. Check the average fill for your size on each venue: a thin book costs more in slippage than any fee difference.
• You want hourly funding everywhere. Hyperliquid and Lighter pay hourly. On Aster, check each market's interval.
• You hold more than one venue. Most coins trade on more than one venue, and the same coin can have different funding and prices on each.

Prow lists Hyperliquid, Aster and Lighter in one ticket and shows, for each coin, the venues that list it with their mark price, fees, funding per hour, max leverage and open interest. Its Best fill label marks the venue with the best average price for a $1,000 order right now. See Venues and Best fill and Connect Lighter.

Frequently asked questions

Which perp DEX has the lowest fees?

On base-tier rates, Lighter's Standard account charges 0% maker and 0% taker. Aster charges 0% maker and 0.04% taker on its main USDT perps. Hyperliquid charges 0.015% maker and 0.045% taker. Volume tiers, staking and VIP programs lower these, and slippage on a thin book can cost more than the fee.

Is funding paid hourly on Aster like on Hyperliquid?

Not always. Hyperliquid and Lighter pay every hour. Aster's default interval is 8 hours, with some markets on 4 hours or 1 hour. Compare rates per hour to see which venue really costs more.

Why is the BTC price different on Hyperliquid and Aster?

Hyperliquid prices in USDC and Aster's main perps in USDT, and the two stablecoins trade slightly apart. Each venue's order book also moves on its own. Most of the steady difference is the stablecoin rate, not a gap you can trade.

Can an app withdraw my funds on these venues?

Not with a trading key. Hyperliquid API wallets, Aster API wallets approved with withdraw off and Lighter API keys can trade but cannot withdraw. Withdrawals need the wallet that owns the account.

Sources

Checked October 5, 2026:

• Hyperliquid docs: Fees, Funding, Builder codes
• Aster docs: Fees, Funding rate, Liquidations
• Lighter docs: Account types
• Prow docs: Fees, Order types, How trading keys work
• Prow data: Perp DEX fees compared, Perp markets by venue