Aster vs KuCoin

Aster or KuCoin: which to use

Aster vs KuCoin is a decentralized exchange against a centralized one. On Aster you trade from a self-custody wallet on BNB Chain without ID, at 0 bp maker and 4 bp taker, with up to 300x. KuCoin requires ID and a face check, holds your funds in an account, and charges 2 bp maker and 6 bp taker, with up to 125x. KuCoin lists more perp markets, 686 against 588. Custody, ID and the fee on market orders decide it for most traders: pick Aster for a wallet and no ID, KuCoin for an 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.

KuCoin 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 exchanges match on a central limit order book, so the matching style does not separate them. Custody does. With Aster you sign from your own wallet. With KuCoin you log in to an account and the company holds the balance.

What the fees mean for your orders

Aster's base tier is 0 bp maker and 4 bp taker, per Aster's fee page. KuCoin's base tier is 2 bp maker and 6 bp taker, per KuCoin's fee announcement. A basis point (bp) is 0.01% of the position.

A market order pays the taker fee to open and again to close. That is 8 bp per round trip on Aster and 12 bp on KuCoin. A limit order that rests on the book pays the maker fee instead: 0 bp on Aster and 2 bp on KuCoin.

The fee is only part of a trade's cost. Slippage is the price you move by eating through the order book, and it grows with size. The cost table above adds the taker fee twice and the measured slippage at each size from $1k to $5M. You can also compare trading cost on every exchange on one page.

Markets, leverage and funding

As of 1 October 2026 Aster lists 588 active perpetual markets, 133 of them stocks, commodities, FX or other real-world assets. KuCoin lists 686, 159 of them real-world assets. The real-world asset perps page covers that category across exchanges.

Aster offers up to 300x on its highest-leverage market and KuCoin up to 125x. Most markets on both allow less, so check the cap of the market you plan to trade.

Both exchanges pay funding every 1 hour, 4 hours or 8 hours depending on the market. Funding is the periodic payment between longs and shorts, and a positive rate means longs pay shorts. An hourly market settles 24 times a day and an 8-hour market three times. A position held across many settlements feels the difference, so check a market's interval before you hold it. The list further down this page shows the markets both exchanges have, with each one's funding rate and the spread between them.

Who can use them

Aster asks for no ID to trade. Its terms keep a right to limited checks, and it is closed to the US, Canada, the UK, China, Russia, Ukraine and sanctioned countries.

KuCoin requires standard KYC, an ID and face check, for any product. It has applied this since August 2023.

Vaults, tokens and points

Aster runs ALP (Aster Liquidity Pool), a vault operated by the exchange. It takes the other side of traders' positions, so 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%. The vaults page lists the vaults that perp DEXs run, with TVL, returns and lock.

Aster's token is $ASTER. As of 19 September 2026 its points program was at "Stage 5", and airdrops tracks programs like it. KuCoin's token is $KCS.

Reading the numbers on this page

Both exchanges publish open interest as one side of open positions. The open interest row and chart above are therefore a like-for-like comparison of size. That is not the case for every pair on arb.sh.

KuCoin publishes no TVL, as is usual for a centralized exchange. The TVL row and chart show Aster alone, as DefiLlama's figure for the deposits its bridge holds.

Volume, depth and the cost table refresh every minute. Read them live rather than from any figure in this article.

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: 4 bp taker against 6 bp.
• Pick Aster if you place limit orders and want a 0 bp maker fee.
• Pick Aster if you want up to 300x, with the caveat that most markets allow less.
• Pick KuCoin if you prefer an exchange account and accept the ID and face check.
• Pick KuCoin if you want the longer market list: 686 perps, 159 of them real-world assets.