Lighter vs HTX

Lighter or HTX: which to use

Lighter vs HTX 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. HTX holds your funds in an account, charges 2 bp maker and 6 bp taker, and offers up to 200x. An HTX account opened since 2026-03-30 without ID is limited to 5x futures and no API trading. HTX lists more markets and more stocks and commodities. Custody, ID and the leverage you need decide it for most traders.

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.

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.

The cost table above shows what trading through each book costs at several sizes. The difference is custody. On Lighter your funds stay in your wallet until you deposit them to trade. On HTX they sit in an account at the company from the moment you deposit.

Fees and what they mean

Lighter's base tier is 0 bp maker and 0 bp taker, per Lighter's fee page. That is the default Standard account, whose taker orders wait 300 ms. A Premium account has a 140 ms wait and pays 0.4 bp maker and 2.8 bp taker. HTX's base tier is 2 bp maker and 6 bp taker, per HTX's fee page.

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

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. Every exchange's trading cost is compared on one page.

Markets and leverage

As of 1 October 2026 Lighter lists 194 active perps, 75 of them stocks, commodities, FX or other real-world assets. HTX lists 370, 251 of them real-world assets. If you want perps on stocks, gold and FX next to your crypto, HTX has more of them on one exchange.

Lighter allows up to 50x and HTX up to 200x on their highest-leverage markets. Most markets allow less on both. Lighter pays funding every hour on every market. HTX pays every 1 hour, 4 hours or 8 hours depending on the market. An hourly market settles 24 times a day and an 8-hour market three times, so check a market's interval before you hold a position. 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

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.

HTX has limited access without ID. Trading starts without ID, 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 bots against an API, that gate matters.

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, 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". HTX's token is $HTX.

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. Funding intervals differ, so read a funding rate together with its interval before you compare two markets.

HTX has 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.

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 can accept the 300 ms taker wait on a Standard account: 0 bp taker against 6 bp on HTX.
• Pick Lighter if you want every market on an hourly funding schedule, or a vault with no lock to deposit USDC in.
• Pick HTX if you prefer an exchange account and accept identity verification.
• Pick HTX if you want more stocks, commodities and other real-world asset perps on the same exchange as your crypto.
• Pick HTX if you need more than 50x, up to 200x, or API trading, and are ready to pass level-2 KYC.