Lighter vs Bitget

Lighter or Bitget: which to use

Lighter vs Bitget is a decentralized exchange against a centralized one. On Lighter you trade from a self-custody wallet without ID, at 0 bp maker and 0 bp taker on the default Standard account, with up to 50x. Bitget requires KYC, holds your funds in an account, and charges 2 bp maker and 6 bp taker, with up to 150x. Bitget lists far more markets, including more stocks and commodities. Custody, ID and fees decide it for most traders: Lighter suits those who want no ID and no base fees, Bitget those who want breadth and higher leverage.

How each exchange is built

Lighter is a decentralized exchange (DEX) that runs on zkLighter. You trade from a self-custody wallet. It matches orders on a central limit order book, so you trade against a public book of resting orders.

Bitget 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.

For the trader, the difference is custody. On Lighter you trade from a wallet you hold yourself. On Bitget your funds sit in an account with the company.

Fees and what they mean

Lighter's default Standard account pays 0 bp maker and 0 bp taker, per Lighter's fee page. The condition is speed: taker orders on a Standard account wait 300 ms. A Premium account has a 140 ms delay and pays 0.4 bp maker and 2.8 bp taker.

Bitget's base tier is 2 bp maker and 6 bp taker, per Bitget's fee page.

A market order pays the taker fee to open and again to close. That is 0 bp per round trip on a Lighter Standard account, 5.6 bp on Premium and 12 bp on Bitget. A limit order that rests on the book pays the maker fee instead: 0, 0.4 bp or 2 bp.

Fees are only part of the cost. Slippage, the price you move by eating through the order book, grows with size. The round trip in the cost table above includes both, so a zero fee does not mean a zero-cost trade. Every exchange's trading cost is compared on one page.

Markets and leverage

As of 1 October 2026 Bitget lists 862 active perps, 345 of them stocks, commodities, FX or other real-world assets. Lighter lists 194, of which 75 are real-world assets.

Bitget allows up to 150x on its highest-leverage markets and Lighter up to 50x. Most markets on both allow less.

Lighter pays funding every hour on every market. Bitget pays every 1 hour, 4 hours or 8 hours depending on the market. An hourly market settles 24 times a day, an 8-hour market three times, so check a market's interval before you hold a position through funding. The list further down this page shows the markets both exchanges have and each one's funding rate.

Who can use them

Lighter asks for no ID. The card deposit on-ramp is optional. Lighter is closed to the US, Canada, the UK, China, Russia, Ukraine and sanctioned countries.

Bitget requires KYC. It has been mandatory since September 2023, and unverified accounts can only withdraw and close positions.

Vaults, tokens and points

Lighter runs LLP (Lighter Liquidity Provider), a vault that makes markets and takes liquidations, so its depositors carry the traders' profit and loss. It takes USDC deposits, has no lock and charges no operator fee. Lighter's token is $LIT, and as of 19 September 2026 its points program was in Season 3.

Bitget's token is $BGB.

Reading the numbers on this page

Both exchanges publish open interest as one side of open positions, so the open interest row and chart above compare like with like.

Bitget publishes no TVL, as is usual for a centralized exchange. The TVL row and chart show Lighter alone, as DefiLlama's figure for the deposits its bridge holds. Both exchanges use an order book, so the depth row in the Head to head table is read from a public book on each side.

Which one fits you

• Pick Lighter if you want to keep funds in your own wallet and trade without ID.
• Pick Lighter if you trade with market orders and accept the 300 ms taker delay: 0 bp taker on the Standard account against 6 bp.
• Pick Lighter if you want every market on an hourly funding schedule, or a Lighter vault with no lock to deposit in.
• Pick Bitget if you prefer an exchange account and accept KYC.
• Pick Bitget if you want a wider list of markets, including more stocks and commodities, on one exchange.
• Pick Bitget if you need more than 50x leverage, up to 150x on its highest-leverage markets.