Side-by-side comparison of two perpetual futures exchanges — updated in real time.
dYdX and ApeX are both Ethereum-adjacent orderbook DEXes with live tokens, but dYdX has evolved to its own sovereign chain while ApeX remains on StarkEx.
dYdX V4 operates on its Cosmos-based sovereign L1 with 188 markets, 25x leverage, maker rebates of 0.011%, and a 0.03% taker fee. ApeX uses StarkEx ZK-rollup technology on Ethereum L2 with 40 markets, 30x leverage, 0.02% maker / 0.05% taker fees. dYdX lists nearly 5x more markets and offers significantly lower taker fees. ApeX offers slightly more leverage (30x vs 25x). dYdX's move to its own chain represents a major decentralization milestone, while ApeX benefits from StarkEx's proven ZK-rollup security shared with other major protocols. ApeX accepts USDC and USDT; dYdX takes only USDC. Both use different funding intervals: dYdX uses 1-hour, ApeX uses 8-hour. dYdX's MegaVault (~20% APR) and monthly $1.5M trading rewards provide attractive yield opportunities. ApeX's trade-to-earn program distributes APEX tokens through ongoing XP campaigns. The DYDX token (50% community) is more established than APEX (23% community).
Choose dYdX for far more markets, lower fees, maker rebates, and MegaVault passive yield. Choose ApeX for USDT collateral support, slightly higher leverage, and StarkEx's proven ZK-rollup infrastructure.
