Lighter vs Aster
Lighter runs an order book with a 0% base taker fee on the Standard account. Aster runs an order book with a 0.04% base taker fee. Lighter requires no KYC, while Aster may ask for identity checks. Both bar the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and 8 more.
Our take: Both exclude the US, Canada, and the UK. Lighter's default account pays no fee and its matching is proven on Ethereum. Aster pays 0.04% to take, hides orders, lists more markets, and may ask for identity verification. Match the account type and market group before comparing costs.
Order-book perpetuals on an Ethereum zk-rollup. The default account pays no trading fee.
Order-book perpetuals with hidden orders on its own chain. The fee depends on the market group.
| Criterion | Lighter | Aster |
|---|---|---|
| Fee model | Order book | Order book |
| Base fee | 0% taker, 0% maker (Standard account) | 0.04% taker, 0% maker |
| KYC | No KYC | Checks may apply |
| Restricted countries | United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and 11 more | United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and 8 more |
| Leverage | 3x to 50x by market | Set per market, up to 1001x |
| Markets | 160+ perpetual markets, plus spot | 580+ perpetual markets, plus spot |
| Open interest | $823MOne side. DefiLlama, | $1.42BOne side. DefiLlama, |
| 24h volume | $2.28BCoinGecko, | $1.85BCoinGecko, |
| TVL | $668MTotal value locked. DefiLlama, | $513MTotal value locked. DefiLlama, |
Should you use Lighter or Aster?
Our assessment from the published documentation.
When Lighter may fit
Trading cost on a Standard account is your priority and its deliberate order delay is acceptable. You want no identity check under any terms, matching that is proven with zero-knowledge proofs and settled on Ethereum, and a market list that already reaches stocks, FX, and commodities.
When Aster may fit
You want hidden orders, a market Lighter does not list, or Aster's very high leverage modes, and you would rather pay 0.04% to take than wait on Lighter's Standard delay. You are fine with a Terms clause that lets Aster request identity verification and limit service if you decline.
The difference that matters
Their exclusion lists overlap heavily, and connecting a wallet does not make you eligible on either. On cost, Lighter's Standard account pays nothing to make or take, while Aster pays nothing to make and 0.04% to take at VIP 1, so the comparison hinges on whether you would use Lighter's Premium account, which pays fees again to remove the delay. Both list stocks, indexes, and commodities, and Aster lists more markets. On trust, Lighter's matching is proven on Ethereum with published audits and an escape hatch, whereas Aster Chain's core contracts are closed source, its validators are its own for now, and its volume figures were disputed by DefiLlama in October 2025.
Our conclusion
If you are in an excluded country, neither is an option. Otherwise pick the account type on Lighter and the market group on Aster, then compare the fees at those settings. Take Lighter if the zero fee and the proven settlement matter most, and Aster if you need hidden orders, a market Lighter lacks, or leverage beyond Lighter's caps.
How Lighter and Aster compare
Every fact links to the page it comes from.
| Criterion | Lighter | Aster |
|---|---|---|
| Fees | 0%Taker fee, 0% maker. Standard account, perpetuals and spot A Standard account, the default, pays no maker or taker fee on perpetuals or spot. The trade-off is speed: Standard orders wait 300 ms before they reach the book, and the Premium account that removes most of that delay pays 0.028% taker and 0.004% maker before staking discounts. Plus accounts pay 0.005% for higher API rate limits. Advanced order types cost 0.01% on a Standard account. | 0.04%Taker fee, 0% maker. Crypto General perpetuals at VIP 1 Those are the Crypto General rates at VIP 1, where a new account starts. Maker orders have been free on every order-book market since February 2026. The taker rate falls with VIP tier, and a tier needs both 14-day volume and an average ASTER balance, so volume alone does not lower your fee. Group B pairs pay more, stock and commodity perpetuals pay a flat 0.0125%, and the 1001x and Shield modes have their own fee models. |
| KYC | No KYC You connect a wallet and sign, with no identity check in the official interface. The Terms say the interface logs IP addresses only to enforce the access restrictions and collects no other personal data. The app applies the country list by IP: from a restricted location it shows a restricted-jurisdiction notice and marks the session geo-blocked. | Checks may apply You sign in with a wallet (Rabby, MetaMask, Binance Wallet, or anything on WalletConnect) or with an email address, and neither flow includes an identity check. The Terms, last updated February 25, 2026, say Aster may run limited identity verification to comply with regulations and may refuse or limit service to anyone who does not comply, but they do not say what triggers a check. You also warrant that your stated location is accurate and agree not to use any means to get around the location restrictions. |
| Country restrictions | 14+ countries restricted The Terms, last updated December 29, 2025, name fourteen excluded countries: the US, Canada, the UK, China, North Korea, Russia, Ukraine, Cuba, Iran, Venezuela, Sudan, Belarus, Myanmar, and Syria, plus any jurisdiction under comprehensive sanctions and anyone on a sanctions list. The interface applies the list by IP address. The separate Lighter on Robinhood Chain deployment also excludes Singapore, Switzerland, the UAE, and South Sudan. | 11+ countries restricted The Terms, last updated February 25, 2026, name eleven prohibited jurisdictions: the US, Canada, the UK, China, North Korea, Russia, Ukraine, Cuba, Iran, Venezuela, and Syria, plus any territory under comprehensive sanctions or a terrorist-supporting designation and anyone on a US, EU, or UK sanctions list. The test is where you live, are located, or are incorporated. Aster's separate prediction market rejects orders from a longer list of 34 countries that adds Australia, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, Singapore, and others. |
| Leverage | 3x to 50x by market Maximum leverage is set per market: 50x for BTC and ETH, 25x for SOL, 20x for XRP, HYPE, and BNB, 15x for ARB and OP, 10x or less for most other coins, and 3x for the newest listings. Major FX pairs run up to 25x, gold 15x, silver 10x. You can lower the leverage on any market. Positions are cross-margined unless you set a market to isolated. Pre-launch markets are isolated only. With a Unified Trading Account, ETH and XAUT count as margin at a haircut. | Set per market, up to 1001x On the order book each market has its own cap, shown in the trading panel, and you can choose any lower level. The docs do not publish the full table, but stock perpetuals go to 50x, pre-IPO markets to 10x or 20x, and new community-listed markets start at 3x. Cross margin is the default and isolated is available, but Multi-Asset Mode is cross only. The separate 1001x mode offers up to 1001x on BTC, 250x on ETH, 75x on other coins, and 200x on forex, with every position isolated and no adding margin at 500x or above. Shield Mode runs from 20x to 1001x. |
| Markets | 160+ perpetual markets, plus spot The contract specifications list about 100 crypto perpetuals, and the RWA specifications add roughly 70 more that trade around the clock: gold, silver, copper, oil, gas, FX pairs, US and Asian stocks, ETFs and indexes, and pre-IPO names such as OpenAI and Anthropic. Pre-IPO and pre-launch markets are isolated-margin only, and pre-IPO prices come from Lighter's own pricing mechanism rather than a market feed. A small spot book trades ETH, LIT, and a few other tokens against USDC. Order types: market, limit, stop-loss and take-profit in market or limit form, TWAP, chase limit, atomic basket orders, and RFQ for size, with post-only, reduce-only, good-til-time, and immediate-or-cancel options. | 580+ perpetual markets, plus spot The public market list carried 584 live perpetuals on September 25, 2026: about 450 crypto pairs and about 130 real-world-asset markets, among them 115 US, Hong Kong, and Korean stocks, 14 ETFs and indexes, and 11 commodities such as gold, silver, and oil, plus pre-IPO markets for OpenAI, Anthropic, and SpaceX and a few pre-launch tokens. Most are quoted in USDT, and a handful settle in USD1. Shield Mode adds EUR and GBP forex, and there is a spot order book. Order types: market, limit, stop-limit, stop-market, trailing stop, TWAP, scaled, chase, and grid strategies, with post-only, reduce-only, hidden, and immediate-or-cancel options. |
| Depositing | USDC from Ethereum, Arbitrum, Solana, Base, and more Collateral is USDC. The direct route is a deposit from Ethereum mainnet into the exchange contract, minimum 1 USDC. Lighter's bridge, run with Fun.xyz, an independent provider, gives you a deposit address that accepts USDC, USDT, ETH, and other tokens from Arbitrum, Base, Optimism, Polygon, BNB Chain, Solana, HyperEVM, Monad, Tron, and Bitcoin and credits USDC, with a $5 minimum for a new account ($3 from EVM chains and Solana afterwards, $10 from Bitcoin). The app's deposit notice also lists card and Coinbase deposits. ETH and XAUT can be deposited to the spot balance and, with a Unified Trading Account, posted as margin at a haircut. | USDT and more from BNB Chain, Ethereum, Arbitrum, Solana Connect a wallet on BNB Chain, Ethereum, Arbitrum, or Solana and deposit into the trading account through Aster's own bridge contracts, which are published along with a Sui address. USDT is the settlement asset and works from every chain. With Multi-Asset Mode on, USDC on Ethereum, Arbitrum, and Solana, SOL and JLP on Solana, and BTC, ETH, BNB, USD1, USDF, asBNB, and ASTER on BNB Chain also count as margin at a haircut. A BNB Chain wallet needs at least 0.001 BNB. Email sign-in accepts only USDT on Arbitrum. Deposits carry no Aster fee and usually land in one to five minutes. The docs do not publish minimums. |
| Withdrawing | Ethereum, or fast USDC to Arbitrum Two routes. A secure withdrawal is proven to Ethereum and then claimable there. Lighter says it usually claims on your behalf unless gas is high, and the minimum is 1 USDC. A fast withdrawal sends USDC to Arbitrum with a 4 USDC minimum. The docs do not publish the fee for either route, but the withdrawal screen shows it before you confirm. | Gas-based fee, from 1 USDT Choose the network, token, and amount. The destination chain's gas is deducted from the withdrawal, and Aster says the minimum fee can be as low as 1 USDT, and the withdrawal screen shows the exact amount. Withdrawals from Aster Chain are batched, need two of three validators to sign, and take about 30 seconds, longer to Ethereum. Any negative balance must be settled first with Rebalance. Profits older than 24 hours can be withdrawn in full, while same-day profits are capped by a daily limit the docs do not state. |
| Referral program | One week of Premium fees rebated Joining through a referral link rebates the Premium trading fees you pay in your first week, on up to $10M of volume, paid out weekly. A Standard account pays no trading fee, so the benefit only matters if you opt into Premium. Referrers earn 10% to 30% of their referred users' fees. Rebates are discretionary, and the code cannot be changed after sign-up. No ChainScouter code is active. | Up to 10% of fees back, set by the referrer The referrer earns 10% of a referred user's perpetual trading fees and chooses how much of that to pass back as a discount, from nothing to the full 10%. Only new sign-ups qualify, the relationship lasts 365 days by default, liquidation fees and zero-fee volume do not count, and rebates are paid in the asset the fee was paid in. No ChainScouter code is active. |
| Platform | Web, iOS, and Android apps The web app at app.lighter.xyz is the main interface. Lighter also publishes its own Lighter Mobile app for iOS and Android, linked from the official site. Unified Trading Accounts can only be enabled on the web for now. | Web, Android app, iOS beta The web app at asterdex.com is the main interface, with Pro, Shield, 1001x, and Spot as separate views. Aster Mobile is on Google Play under the Aster DEX developer account. The iOS build is distributed through TestFlight, and the docs still call the mobile app a beta. There is also a trading API with up to 30 keys per account. |
Rates apply to the accounts and markets in each scope, before discounts. Funding, execution, and transfer costs are separate. A country missing from a restriction list is not confirmed eligible.
Questions about Lighter and Aster
Is Lighter or Aster cheaper?
Lighter has the lower published base taker fee, 0% against 0.04%. Funding, execution, and transfer costs are separate.
Lighter: Base perpetual fees are 0% taker and 0% maker. A Standard account, the default, pays no maker or taker fee on perpetuals or spot. The trade-off is speed: Standard orders wait 300 ms before they reach the book, and the Premium account that removes most of that delay pays 0.028% taker and 0.004% maker before staking discounts. Plus accounts pay 0.005% for higher API rate limits. Advanced order types cost 0.01% on a Standard account.
Aster: Base perpetual fees are 0.04% taker and 0% maker. Those are the Crypto General rates at VIP 1, where a new account starts. Maker orders have been free on every order-book market since February 2026. The taker rate falls with VIP tier, and a tier needs both 14-day volume and an average ASTER balance, so volume alone does not lower your fee. Group B pairs pay more, stock and commodity perpetuals pay a flat 0.0125%, and the 1001x and Shield modes have their own fee models.
Do Lighter and Aster require KYC?
Lighter requires no KYC, while Aster may ask for identity checks.
Lighter: You connect a wallet and sign, with no identity check in the official interface. The Terms say the interface logs IP addresses only to enforce the access restrictions and collects no other personal data. The app applies the country list by IP: from a restricted location it shows a restricted-jurisdiction notice and marks the session geo-blocked.
Aster: You sign in with a wallet (Rabby, MetaMask, Binance Wallet, or anything on WalletConnect) or with an email address, and neither flow includes an identity check. The Terms, last updated February 25, 2026, say Aster may run limited identity verification to comply with regulations and may refuse or limit service to anyone who does not comply, but they do not say what triggers a check. You also warrant that your stated location is accurate and agree not to use any means to get around the location restrictions.
Can I use Lighter or Aster in the US?
No. Both name the US as restricted.
Lighter: The Terms, last updated December 29, 2025, name fourteen excluded countries: the US, Canada, the UK, China, North Korea, Russia, Ukraine, Cuba, Iran, Venezuela, Sudan, Belarus, Myanmar, and Syria, plus any jurisdiction under comprehensive sanctions and anyone on a sanctions list. The interface applies the list by IP address. The separate Lighter on Robinhood Chain deployment also excludes Singapore, Switzerland, the UAE, and South Sudan.
Aster: The Terms, last updated February 25, 2026, name eleven prohibited jurisdictions: the US, Canada, the UK, China, North Korea, Russia, Ukraine, Cuba, Iran, Venezuela, and Syria, plus any territory under comprehensive sanctions or a terrorist-supporting designation and anyone on a US, EU, or UK sanctions list. The test is where you live, are located, or are incorporated. Aster's separate prediction market rejects orders from a longer list of 34 countries that adds Australia, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, Singapore, and others.
What leverage do Lighter and Aster offer?
Lighter: Maximum leverage is set per market: 50x for BTC and ETH, 25x for SOL, 20x for XRP, HYPE, and BNB, 15x for ARB and OP, 10x or less for most other coins, and 3x for the newest listings. Major FX pairs run up to 25x, gold 15x, silver 10x. You can lower the leverage on any market. Positions are cross-margined unless you set a market to isolated. Pre-launch markets are isolated only. With a Unified Trading Account, ETH and XAUT count as margin at a haircut.
Aster: On the order book each market has its own cap, shown in the trading panel, and you can choose any lower level. The docs do not publish the full table, but stock perpetuals go to 50x, pre-IPO markets to 10x or 20x, and new community-listed markets start at 3x. Cross margin is the default and isolated is available, but Multi-Asset Mode is cross only. The separate 1001x mode offers up to 1001x on BTC, 250x on ETH, 75x on other coins, and 200x on forex, with every position isolated and no adding margin at 500x or above. Shield Mode runs from 20x to 1001x.
What can I trade on Lighter and Aster?
Lighter: The contract specifications list about 100 crypto perpetuals, and the RWA specifications add roughly 70 more that trade around the clock: gold, silver, copper, oil, gas, FX pairs, US and Asian stocks, ETFs and indexes, and pre-IPO names such as OpenAI and Anthropic. Pre-IPO and pre-launch markets are isolated-margin only, and pre-IPO prices come from Lighter's own pricing mechanism rather than a market feed. A small spot book trades ETH, LIT, and a few other tokens against USDC. Order types: market, limit, stop-loss and take-profit in market or limit form, TWAP, chase limit, atomic basket orders, and RFQ for size, with post-only, reduce-only, good-til-time, and immediate-or-cancel options.
Aster: The public market list carried 584 live perpetuals on September 25, 2026: about 450 crypto pairs and about 130 real-world-asset markets, among them 115 US, Hong Kong, and Korean stocks, 14 ETFs and indexes, and 11 commodities such as gold, silver, and oil, plus pre-IPO markets for OpenAI, Anthropic, and SpaceX and a few pre-launch tokens. Most are quoted in USDT, and a handful settle in USD1. Shield Mode adds EUR and GBP forex, and there is a spot order book. Order types: market, limit, stop-limit, stop-market, trailing stop, TWAP, scaled, chase, and grid strategies, with post-only, reduce-only, hidden, and immediate-or-cancel options.
Compare other pairs
Highlighted pairs are reviewed. The others show facts without a recommendation.