Hyperliquid vs HTX

Hyperliquid or HTX: which to use

Hyperliquid vs HTX is a decentralized exchange against a centralized one. On Hyperliquid you trade from your own wallet without ID, at 1.5 bp maker and 4.5 bp taker, with up to 40x. HTX holds your funds in an account, charges 2 bp maker and 6 bp taker, and offers up to 200x. HTX lists more perps, and most of them are real-world assets. Most of Hyperliquid's stock and commodity perps sit on HIP-3 exchanges. Custody, ID and the leverage ceiling decide it for most traders.

How each exchange is built

Hyperliquid is a decentralized exchange (DEX) that runs on its own chain, Hyperliquid L1. You trade from a self-custody wallet. Any EVM wallet or an email login works. It matches orders on a central limit order book.

Other teams deploy their own perp exchanges on Hyperliquid's chain under HIP-3. You trade them from the same Hyperliquid account and wallet. Live ones include tradeXYZ (110 markets), Paragon (29 markets), Entropy (8 markets) and Markets by Kinetiq (5 markets). Most stock and commodity perps on Hyperliquid are on these HIP-3 exchanges.

HTX 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 venues match on a central limit order book, so the difference for you is custody: your wallet on one, an account at a company on the other.

Fees and what they mean

Hyperliquid's base tier is 1.5 bp maker and 4.5 bp taker, per Hyperliquid's fee page. HTX's base tier is 2 bp maker and 6 bp taker, per HTX's fee page. One basis point is 0.01% of the position.

A market order pays the taker fee on entry and again on exit: 9 bp per round trip on Hyperliquid and 12 bp on HTX. A limit order that rests on the book and fills later pays the maker fee instead, 1.5 bp on Hyperliquid and 2 bp on HTX.

The fee is only part of the 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. Trading cost on every exchange is also compared on one page.

Markets and leverage

As of 1 October 2026 HTX lists 370 active perps, and 251 of them are stocks, commodities, FX or other real-world assets. Hyperliquid's own book lists 178, all crypto. Its stocks, commodities and FX are on the HIP-3 exchanges above, traded from the same account.

HTX allows up to 200x and Hyperliquid up to 40x on their highest-leverage markets. Most markets on both allow less. Hyperliquid pays funding every hour on every market. HTX pays every 1 hour, 4 hours or 8 hours depending on the market, so check a market's interval before you hold a position. An hourly market settles 24 times a day and an 8-hour market three times. Funding is the periodic payment between longs and shorts, and a positive rate means longs pay shorts. The list further down this page shows the markets both exchanges have and each one's funding rate.

Who can use them

Hyperliquid asks for no ID. The app is closed to the US, Ontario and sanctioned countries.

HTX has limited access without ID: trading starts without it, inside limits that verification lifts. An account opened since 2026-03-30 without ID gets futures up to 5x and no API trading. More leverage and the API need level-2 KYC. If you run an API-based strategy on HTX, plan for that verification step.

Vaults, tokens and points

Hyperliquid runs HLP (Hyperliquidity Provider), a vault that makes markets and takes liquidations, so depositors carry the traders' profit and loss. It takes USDC, locks each deposit for 4 days and charges no fee. The exchange runs it.

Hyperliquid's token is $HYPE, and as of 19 September 2026 its points program was in "Season 2". HTX's token is $HTX.

Reading the numbers on this page

Hyperliquid publishes open interest as longs plus shorts, both sides of every position. HTX publishes one side of open positions. For the same positions, Hyperliquid's figure reads about twice as large, so the open interest row and chart above do not compare size like for like.

HTX has no TVL, as is usual for a centralized exchange, so the TVL row and chart show Hyperliquid alone. That figure is DefiLlama's number for the deposits its bridge holds.

Which one fits you

• Pick Hyperliquid if you want to keep funds in your own wallet and trade without ID.
• Pick Hyperliquid if you trade crypto perps with market orders: 4.5 bp taker against 6 bp.
• Pick Hyperliquid if you want hourly funding on every market, or a vault to deposit USDC in.
• Pick HTX if you prefer an account at a company and accept identity checks for higher limits.
• Pick HTX if you want stocks, commodities and FX perps on the same exchange as your crypto, 251 of its 370 markets.
• Pick HTX if you need more than 40x, up to 200x, and can complete level-2 KYC for it and for API trading.