HTX vs Phemex

HTX or Phemex: which to use

HTX vs Phemex is two centralized exchanges with the same build, so the choice rests on fees, markets, leverage and ID. HTX charges 2 bp maker and 6 bp taker, lists 370 perp markets and allows up to 200x. It lets you start trading without ID, inside limits. Phemex charges 1 bp maker and 6 bp taker, lists 132 markets and allows up to 150x. It requires KYC, and an unverified account cannot withdraw. Pick HTX for market count, leverage and access without ID. Pick Phemex for the lower maker fee.

How each exchange is built

HTX 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 either one you trade against a public book of resting orders.

What do the fees mean for your orders?

HTX's base tier is 2 bp maker and 6 bp taker, per HTX's fee page. Phemex's base tier is 1 bp maker and 6 bp taker, per Phemex's fee page.

The taker fee is the same on both, 6 bp. A market order pays it to open and again to close, so a round trip costs 12 bp in fees on either exchange. A limit order that rests on the book pays the maker fee instead: 2 bp on HTX and 1 bp on Phemex. If you mostly post limit orders, the maker difference is the one that matters.

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 the taker fee twice to the slippage read from each live book at every size from $1k to $5M. You can also compare trading cost on every exchange on one page.

How do markets, leverage and funding differ?

As of 1 October 2026 HTX lists 370 active perps, 251 of them stocks, commodities, FX or other real-world assets. Phemex lists 132, of which 67 are real-world assets. HTX has the larger count of both, and its real-world asset markets are most of its list.

HTX allows up to 200x on its highest-leverage market and Phemex up to 150x. Most markets on both allow less.

Funding is the periodic payment between longs and shorts, and a positive rate means longs pay shorts. HTX pays every 1 hour, 4 hours or 8 hours depending on the market. Phemex pays every 4 hours or 8 hours. 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. HTX is the only one of the two with hourly markets. The list further down this page shows the markets both exchanges have and each one's funding rate.

What does each exchange require to start?

HTX lets you start trading without ID, inside limits that verification lifts. For accounts opened since 2026-03-30 with no ID, futures are limited to 5x and API trading is off. More leverage and the API need level-2 KYC.

Phemex requires KYC. Verification unlocks spot and futures trading, and an unverified account cannot withdraw at all.

Tokens

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. Neither exchange publishes TVL, as is usual for a centralized exchange, so the TVL row and chart have no figures for this pair.

Volume, open interest and funding are live on the page and refresh every minute. The Head to head table above highlights the better figure in each row. For BTC, the BTC page lists every exchange that carries it.

Which one fits you

• Pick HTX if you want to start trading before verifying ID, inside the limits that verification lifts.
• Pick HTX if you want more markets: 370 against 132, with 251 real-world asset perps against 67.
• Pick HTX if you need leverage above 150x, up to 200x on its highest market.
• Pick HTX if you want hourly funding on some markets, an interval Phemex does not offer.
• Pick Phemex if you post limit orders and want the lower maker fee: 1 bp against 2 bp.
• Pick Phemex if you want funding on a 4 hour or 8 hour schedule only, with no hourly markets to track.