MEXC vs Phemex

MEXC vs Phemex: which to use

MEXC vs Phemex is a choice between two centralized exchanges with the same maker fee and different taker fees, market counts and leverage caps. Both charge 1 bp maker. MEXC charges 4 bp taker and Phemex 6 bp. MEXC lists 1202 perp markets with up to 1000x leverage. Phemex lists 132 with up to 150x, and 67 of them are real-world assets. Taker cost, market count and the leverage you need decide it for most traders. Both require KYC.

How each exchange is built

MEXC 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. For you this means an account login on both, no self-custody wallet, and an order book whose depth we sample ourselves.

What the fees mean for market and limit orders

MEXC's base tier is 1 bp maker and 4 bp taker. We read those rates from MEXC's API, and it has no fee page to link. Phemex's base tier is 1 bp maker and 6 bp taker, per Phemex's trading fee page.

A market order pays the taker fee on entry and again on exit. That is 8 bp per round trip on MEXC and 12 bp on Phemex. A limit order that rests on the book and fills later pays the maker fee instead, 1 bp on both. If you trade with limit orders, the fee gap disappears. If you trade with market orders, it shows up on every round trip.

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 fee twice to the measured slippage at $1k, $10k, $100k, $1M and $5M. Every exchange's trading cost is also compared on one page.

Markets, leverage and funding intervals

As of 1 October 2026, MEXC lists 1202 active perp markets and Phemex lists 132. Of those, 93 on MEXC and 67 on Phemex are stocks, commodities, FX or other real-world assets. MEXC has more markets in total and more real-world asset markets. Real-world assets are a larger share of Phemex's shorter list.

The highest leverage on any market is 1000x at MEXC and 150x at Phemex. Most markets on both allow less, so check the cap of the market you trade before you size a position.

Funding is the periodic payment between longs and shorts. A positive rate means longs pay shorts. MEXC pays funding every 1 hour, 4 hours, 8 hours or 24 hours depending on the market. Phemex pays every 4 hours or 8 hours. A market on a 1 hour interval settles 24 times a day, an 8 hour market three times, and a 24 hour market once. The interval changes how fast a funding payment accrues against your position and how often a funding trade can be rebalanced. The list further down this page shows the markets both exchanges have and each one's funding rate.

Who can trade and withdraw

Both exchanges require KYC. MEXC has required it before trading since February 2026, and an unverified MEXC account sees market data only. On Phemex, KYC is required for spot and futures trading, and an unverified account cannot withdraw at all. In both cases you should finish verification before you plan to move funds.

Token

MEXC's token is $MX.

Reading the numbers on this page

Both exchanges publish open interest as one side of open positions. The open interest row and chart above are therefore a like-for-like comparison of size, unlike pairs where one exchange counts longs plus shorts.

Neither exchange has a TVL row or chart on its page. Centralized exchanges publish no TVL, and arb.sh shows DefiLlama's figure only for decentralized exchanges. The Head to head table above still shows volume, open interest and funding for both, and the markets list below it shows the spread between them.

Market counts and the fee rates in this article are base tiers. The cost table above is the place to read what a round trip costs at your size today.

Which one fits you

• Pick MEXC if you trade with market orders: 4 bp taker against 6 bp, so 8 bp per round trip against 12 bp.
• Pick MEXC if you want the widest list of perps: 1202 markets, 93 of them real-world assets.
• Pick MEXC if you need leverage above 150x on a market that allows it: the cap goes up to 1000x.
• Pick MEXC if you want funding intervals of 1 hour or 24 hours as well as 4 and 8 hours.
• Pick Phemex if you want real-world assets to be a larger share of the list you scan: 67 of 132 markets.
• Pick Phemex if you want a funding schedule of 4 hours or 8 hours only, with no hourly markets to track.