Aster vs Bybit

Aster vs Bybit: which to use

Aster vs Bybit is a decentralized exchange against a centralized one. On Aster you trade from a self-custody wallet without ID, at 0 bp maker and 4 bp taker, with up to 300x. Bybit requires standard verification for every product, holds your funds in an account, and charges 2 bp maker and 5.5 bp taker, with up to 150x. Bybit lists 857 perp markets to Aster's 588. Custody, ID and the fee schedule decide it for most traders: Aster for a wallet and no ID, Bybit for an exchange account and a larger market list.

How each exchange is built

Aster is a decentralized exchange (DEX) on BNB Chain. You trade from a self-custody wallet. It matches orders on a central limit order book.

Bybit is a centralized exchange (CEX): you open an account with the company, and the account holds your funds. It also matches orders on a central limit order book.

Both use a central limit order book, so the matching model does not separate them. Custody does. On Aster the funds stay in your wallet. On Bybit they sit in your account at the company.

Fees and what they mean

Aster's base tier is 0 bp maker and 4 bp taker, per Aster's fee page. Bybit's is 2 bp maker and 5.5 bp taker, per Bybit's fee page.

A market order pays the taker fee to open and again to close: 8 bp per round trip on Aster, 11 bp on Bybit. A limit order that rests on the book pays the maker fee instead: 0 bp on Aster and 2 bp on Bybit.

The fee is only part of a trade's cost. The rest is slippage, the price you move by eating through the order book, which grows with size. The cost table above adds both at each size, and every exchange's trading cost is compared on one page.

Markets and leverage

As of 1 October 2026 Bybit lists 857 active perps, 237 of them stocks, commodities, FX or other real-world assets. Aster lists 588, 133 of them real-world assets.

Aster allows up to 300x and Bybit up to 150x on their highest-leverage markets; most markets allow less. Both pay funding every 1 hour, 4 hours or 8 hours depending on the market. Check a market's interval before you hold it: an hourly market settles 24 times a day, an 8-hour market three times. A position held through more settlements pays or receives funding more often, in smaller amounts each time. The list further down this page shows the markets both exchanges have and each one's funding rate.

Who can use them

Aster asks for no ID to trade, though its terms keep a right to limited checks. It is closed to the US, Canada, the UK, China, Russia, Ukraine and sanctioned countries. Bybit requires standard verification for every product.

Vaults, tokens and points

Aster runs ALP (Aster Liquidity Pool), a vault run by the exchange. It takes the other side of traders' positions, so its depositors carry the traders' profit and loss. Burning ALP locks the funds for 48 hours, and the mint and burn fee is 0.25% ± 0.05%. Aster's token is $ASTER, and as of 19 September 2026 its points program was in "Stage 5".

Reading the numbers on this page

Aster publishes open interest as one side of open positions. Bybit publishes longs plus shorts, both sides of every position. For the same positions Bybit's figure reads about twice as large, so the open interest row and chart above are not a like-for-like comparison of size.

Bybit has no TVL, as is usual for a centralized exchange, so that row and chart show Aster alone, as DefiLlama's figure for the deposits its bridge holds.

Which one fits you

• Pick Aster if you want to keep funds in your own wallet and trade without ID.
• Pick Aster if you trade with market orders or rest limit orders: 4 bp taker against 5.5 bp, and 0 bp maker against 2 bp.
• Pick Aster if you need more than 150x, up to 300x on the markets that allow it.
• Pick Bybit if you prefer an exchange account and accept standard verification.
• Pick Bybit if you want the longer market list: 857 perps against 588, with 237 real-world asset markets.
• Pick Bybit if you live in a region Aster closes, such as the US, Canada or the UK, and you can pass verification.