Lighter vs dYdX
A side-by-side comparison of two perpetual DEXs using the same sources and capture time. Larger is not automatically better: check fees, markets, collateral and access rules for your own use.
- Lighter holds 20.8× the open interest of dYdX ($857.12M vs $41.20M).
- Over the last 30 days traders paid $5.39M in fees on Lighter and $279.83K on dYdX.
- Lighter’s average open interest moved +42.6% over 30 days.
- dYdX’s average open interest moved -13.0% over 30 days.
 Lighter |  dYdX | |
|---|---|---|
| Open interest | $857.12M | $41.20M |
| OI rank (of 50) | 4 | 20 |
| OI change · 30d | +42.6% | -13.0% |
| Volume · 24h | $3.19B | $44.83M |
| User fees · 30d | $5.39M | $279.83K |
| Fees change · 30d | +12.3% | +2.5% |
| Trend | Growing | Stable |
| Chains | Robinhood Chain, zkLighter | dYdX |
| Model | ZK-proven order book | Order book on its own chain |
| RWA markets | Yes | Yes |
| Token | LIT | DYDX |
| Base trading fees | Taker 0% · maker 0% ↗ | Taker 0.05% · maker 0.01% ↗ |
| Max leverage | 50× ↗ | 50× ↗ |
| Collateral | USDC; multi-asset margin also accepts ETH, XAUT (Robinhood Chain Lighter: USDG, SPY, USO) ↗ | USDC (Noble USDC) ↗ |
| KYC | Not required ↗ | Not verified |
| Referral program | Yes. Benefit for the referred trader: “Referees can activate one week of premium for free; fees paid during that week are rebated weekly (first $10M volume).” ↗ | Yes. Benefit for the referred trader: “referred users enjoy fee tier discounts, starting at fee tier 3, which allows them to save up to $550 on fees” ↗ |
Open interest over time
- Lighter $849.44M
- dYdX $41.87M
DefiLlama daily open interest. Missing days are left as gaps. The scale starts at zero.
Open interest and fees: DefiLlama, captured 08 Oct 2026 · 14:43 UTC. 24h volume: CoinGecko derivatives exchange data (rolling 24 hours, converted from BTC), captured 08 Oct 2026 · 14:43 UTC. Token prices and 30-day price change: CoinGecko, at the time shown on each venue page; a parent-project or chain token is labelled and is not evidence of a claim on exchange revenue. Changes compare the last 30 days with the previous 30 days (OI as a daily average, fees as a total) and need at least 95% daily coverage. A trend label needs the 30-day move to pass a threshold (OI ±25%, fees ±30%) on a minimum base (OI ≥ $5M, fees ≥ $100K per 30 days); with 90 days of history both horizons must agree. Venue-reported volume is not audited; ⚑ marks volume above 25× open interest. “—” means unavailable, never zero. Full method ↗