Deribit vs Phemex

Deribit or Phemex: which to use

Deribit vs Phemex is two centralized exchanges with different fee shapes and different reach. Deribit charges 1.5 bp maker and 3.5 bp taker, up to 50x, with funding every hour on every market. Phemex charges 1 bp maker and 6 bp taker, up to 150x, with 67 real-world asset markets against Deribit's 34. Fees, leverage and market mix decide it for most traders. Pick Deribit for lower taker fees and hourly funding. Pick Phemex for lower maker fees, higher leverage and more stock, commodity and FX perps.

How each exchange is built

Deribit is a centralized exchange (CEX): you open an account with the company, and the account holds your funds. Phemex is built the same way. Both match orders on a central limit order book, so on each you trade against resting orders from other traders.

Fees and what they mean

Deribit's base tier is 1.5 bp maker and 3.5 bp taker, read from Deribit's API; it has no fee page to link. Phemex's base tier is 1 bp maker and 6 bp taker, per Phemex's fee page.

The taker fee is paid when an order takes liquidity, such as a market order. A market order pays it to open and again to close: 7 bp per round trip on Deribit and 12 bp on Phemex. The maker fee is paid when an order rests on the book and is filled later, so a limit order pays 1.5 bp on Deribit and 1 bp on Phemex.

Fees are only part of a trade's cost. Slippage, the price you move by eating through the order book, grows with size. The cost table above adds both at each size from $1k to $5M, and every exchange's trading cost is compared on one page.

Markets and leverage

As of 1 October 2026 Deribit lists 134 active perps, 34 of them stocks, commodities, FX or other real-world assets. Phemex lists 132, 67 of them real-world assets. The market counts are close, but Phemex has about twice as many non-crypto perps.

Phemex allows up to 150x and Deribit up to 50x on their highest-leverage markets; most markets allow less. Deribit pays funding every hour on every market. Phemex pays every 4 hours or 8 hours depending on the market, so check a market's interval before you hold it. An hourly market settles 24 times a day, an 8-hour market three times. A positive rate means longs pay shorts, so a short interval means smaller, more frequent payments and a faster response when the rate changes. The list further down this page shows the markets both exchanges have and each one's funding rate.

Who can use them

Both require KYC. Deribit asks for ID, proof of address and a financial profile before any deposit, and it is closed to the US, Canada, Japan and retail UK clients. Phemex uses KYC to unlock spot and futures trading, and an unverified account cannot withdraw at all.

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. Neither exchange publishes TVL, as is usual for a centralized exchange, so the TVL row and chart have nothing to show for either one.

Because Deribit settles funding hourly and Phemex every 4 or 8 hours, the funding arbitrage page ranks every exchange pair by funding spread, including the Net 7d figure after a round trip on both.

Which one fits you

• Pick Deribit if you trade crypto perps with market orders: 3.5 bp taker against 6 bp.
• Pick Deribit if you want every market on an hourly funding schedule.
• Pick Phemex if you place resting limit orders: 1 bp maker against 1.5 bp.
• Pick Phemex if you need more than 50x: it offers up to 150x on its highest-leverage markets.
• Pick Phemex if you want more stocks, commodities and FX on the same exchange: 67 real-world asset markets against 34.