Lighter
Order-book perpetuals on an Ethereum zk-rollup. The default account pays no trading fee.
Lighter charges no trading fee on its default Standard account, and the zero is real: no maker fee, no taker fee, on perpetuals and spot. What you give up is speed. Standard orders wait a fraction of a second before they reach the book, and the Premium account that removes the delay pays fees again, so decide which account you would actually trade on before comparing Lighter with anything else. The exchange runs as its own zk-rollup on Ethereum: deposits and secure withdrawals settle on mainnet, and every match and liquidation is proven rather than trusted. There is no KYC. The country list is published, enforced by IP, and long. It starts with the US, Canada, and the UK.
Lighter open interest and volume
From DefiLlama and CoinGecko, refreshed every 4 hours.
Daily open interest, 12 months
One side. DefiLlama,Show the data
| Date | Open interest |
|---|---|
| $823M | |
| $818M | |
| $837M | |
| $862M | |
| $848M | |
| $824M | |
| $836M | |
| $837M | |
| $844M | |
| $836M | |
| $825M | |
| $826M | |
| $825M | |
| $784M | |
| $751M | |
| $719M | |
| $744M | |
| $724M | |
| $718M | |
| $709M | |
| $717M | |
| $731M | |
| $728M | |
| $714M | |
| $710M | |
| $689M | |
| $684M | |
| $677M | |
| $631M | |
| $611M | |
| $650M | |
| $615M | |
| $615M | |
| $590M | |
| $617M | |
| $569M | |
| $555M | |
| $572M | |
| $554M | |
| $517M | |
| $540M | |
| $536M | |
| $504M | |
| $473M | |
| $473M | |
| $451M | |
| $446M | |
| $447M | |
| $440M | |
| $441M | |
| $440M | |
| $438M | |
| $428M | |
| $429M | |
| $430M | |
| $429M | |
| $433M | |
| $433M | |
| $432M | |
| $428M | |
| $429M | |
| $438M | |
| $452M | |
| $436M | |
| $436M | |
| $417M | |
| $455M | |
| $446M | |
| $431M | |
| $429M | |
| $442M | |
| $469M | |
| $437M | |
| $436M | |
| $437M | |
| $421M | |
| $427M | |
| $430M | |
| $433M | |
| $424M | |
| $443M | |
| $433M | |
| $423M | |
| $418M | |
| $403M | |
| $396M | |
| $415M | |
| $409M | |
| $411M | |
| $406M | |
| $390M | |
| $380M | |
| $394M | |
| $384M | |
| $356M | |
| $366M | |
| $364M | |
| $360M | |
| $361M | |
| $392M | |
| $406M | |
| $410M | |
| $407M | |
| $400M | |
| $392M | |
| $387M | |
| $397M | |
| $387M | |
| $371M | |
| $372M | |
| $363M | |
| $361M | |
| $332M | |
| $341M | |
| $334M | |
| $347M | |
| $322M | |
| $322M | |
| $351M | |
| $408M | |
| $407M | |
| $404M | |
| $409M | |
| $404M | |
| $387M | |
| $394M | |
| $397M | |
| $405M | |
| $398M | |
| $414M | |
| $399M | |
| $385M | |
| $395M | |
| $395M | |
| $383M | |
| $383M | |
| $364M | |
| $364M | |
| $371M | |
| $397M | |
| $377M | |
| $398M | |
| $404M | |
| $397M | |
| $395M | |
| $390M | |
| $376M | |
| $392M | |
| $398M | |
| $377M | |
| $356M | |
| $354M | |
| $359M | |
| $347M | |
| $350M | |
| $343M | |
| $350M | |
| $366M | |
| $359M | |
| $355M | |
| $361M | |
| $369M | |
| $357M | |
| $359M | |
| $364M | |
| $381M | |
| $406M | |
| $346M | |
| $352M | |
| $357M | |
| $384M | |
| $351M | |
| $362M | |
| $366M | |
| $350M | |
| $348M | |
| $358M | |
| $330M | |
| $338M | |
| $319M | |
| $314M | |
| $322M | |
| $335M | |
| $337M | |
| $318M | |
| $326M | |
| $332M | |
| $332M | |
| $347M | |
| $345M | |
| $356M | |
| $329M | |
| $336M | |
| $327M | |
| $333M | |
| $361M | |
| $379M | |
| $400M | |
| $396M | |
| $354M | |
| $349M | |
| $356M | |
| $368M | |
| $338M | |
| $323M | |
| $321M | |
| $318M | |
| $332M | |
| $328M | |
| $348M | |
| $374M | |
| $333M | |
| $356M | |
| $362M | |
| $358M | |
| $347M | |
| $356M | |
| $389M | |
| $357M | |
| $414M | |
| $371M | |
| $370M | |
| $360M | |
| $389M | |
| $404M | |
| $403M | |
| $360M | |
| $356M | |
| $393M | |
| $385M | |
| $363M | |
| $361M | |
| $354M | |
| $368M | |
| $359M | |
| $360M | |
| $408M | |
| $424M | |
| $521M | |
| $526M | |
| $564M | |
| $563M | |
| $577M | |
| $600M | |
| $648M | |
| $678M | |
| $636M | |
| $608M | |
| $628M | |
| $620M | |
| $604M | |
| $621M | |
| $635M | |
| $609M | |
| $667M | |
| $662M | |
| $713M | |
| $712M | |
| $707M | |
| $750M | |
| $731M | |
| $689M | |
| $690M | |
| $676M | |
| $687M | |
| $709M | |
| $765M | |
| $815M | |
| $720M | |
| $702M | |
| $699M | |
| $655M | |
| $681M | |
| $702M | |
| $699M | |
| $749M | |
| $746M | |
| $750M | |
| $792M | |
| $758M | |
| $776M | |
| $781M | |
| $801M | |
| $825M | |
| $858M | |
| $840M | |
| $837M | |
| $826M | |
| $837M | |
| $861M | |
| $871M | |
| $894M | |
| $889M | |
| $921M | |
| $895M | |
| $867M | |
| $870M | |
| $827M | |
| $858M | |
| $851M | |
| $915M | |
| $912M | |
| $874M | |
| $807M | |
| $820M | |
| $863M | |
| $868M | |
| $892M | |
| $869M | |
| $868M | |
| $857M | |
| $817M | |
| $833M | |
| $848M | |
| $873M | |
| $868M | |
| $845M | |
| $862M | |
| $890M | |
| $854M | |
| $767M | |
| $781M | |
| $810M | |
| $811M | |
| $859M | |
| $837M | |
| $795M | |
| $854M | |
| $836M | |
| $791M | |
| $760M | |
| $777M | |
| $831M | |
| $831M | |
| $808M | |
| $823M | |
| $883M | |
| $834M | |
| $871M | |
| $847M | |
| $857M | |
| $809M | |
| $760M | |
| $731M | |
| $701M | |
| $740M | |
| $687M | |
| $665M | |
| $625M | |
| $676M | |
| $682M | |
| $708M | |
| $764M | |
| $727M | |
| $579M | |
| $676M | |
| $1.11B | |
| $1.12B | |
| $1.04B | |
| $1.09B | |
| $1.03B | |
| $969M | |
| $897M | |
| $813M | |
| $714M |
Daily volume, 12 months
Excludes Robinhood Chain. CoinGecko,Show the data
| Date | Volume |
|---|---|
| $1.62B | |
| $1.76B | |
| $827M | |
| $640M | |
| $1.48B | |
| $1.76B | |
| $1.98B | |
| $1.55B | |
| $2.21B | |
| $1.11B | |
| $985M | |
| $2.11B | |
| $1.26B | |
| $1.73B | |
| $1.79B | |
| $2.05B | |
| $887M | |
| $543M | |
| $1.92B | |
| $1.38B | |
| $1.49B | |
| $1.2B | |
| $916M | |
| $881M | |
| $644M | |
| $1.43B | |
| $1.72B | |
| $1.18B | |
| $1.8B | |
| $1.52B | |
| $1.29B | |
| $749M | |
| $1.47B | |
| $1.54B | |
| $1.33B | |
| $3.06B | |
| $2.08B | |
| $1.41B | |
| $1.56B | |
| $2.89B | |
| $2.04B | |
| $2.32B | |
| $935M | |
| $1.07B | |
| $450M | |
| $383M | |
| $908M | |
| $1.17B | |
| $1.16B | |
| $1.02B | |
| $1B | |
| $526M | |
| $373M | |
| $1.11B | |
| $945M | |
| $1.17B | |
| $1.11B | |
| $1.13B | |
| $728M | |
| $516M | |
| $1.3B | |
| $1.23B | |
| $1.73B | |
| $1.4B | |
| $1.5B | |
| $892M | |
| $845M | |
| $1.07B | |
| $1.18B | |
| $1.31B | |
| $1.23B | |
| $1.35B | |
| $707M | |
| $610M | |
| $1.27B | |
| $1.18B | |
| $1.04B | |
| $1.57B | |
| $1.2B | |
| $584M | |
| $564M | |
| $1.03B | |
| $996M | |
| $1.36B | |
| $1.31B | |
| $1.32B | |
| $752M | |
| $781M | |
| $1.01B | |
| $1.4B | |
| $1.69B | |
| $1.47B | |
| $1.52B | |
| $861M | |
| $702M | |
| $1.62B | |
| $1.91B | |
| $1.98B | |
| $1.28B | |
| $1.36B | |
| $778M | |
| $725M | |
| $1.06B | |
| $1.82B | |
| $2.12B | |
| $1.35B | |
| $1.34B | |
| $956M | |
| $683M | |
| $1.24B | |
| $1.47B | |
| $1.59B | |
| $1.62B | |
| $1.59B | |
| $1.7B | |
| $1.01B | |
| $2.86B | |
| $2.56B | |
| $2.01B | |
| $2.26B | |
| $1.72B | |
| $845M | |
| $716M | |
| $1.43B | |
| $1.62B | |
| $1.33B | |
| $1.37B | |
| $853M | |
| $872M | |
| $1.16B | |
| $1.33B | |
| $1.33B | |
| $1.31B | |
| $1.22B | |
| $1.61B | |
| $971M | |
| $779M | |
| $1.41B | |
| $1.63B | |
| $1.58B | |
| $1.3B | |
| $1.09B | |
| $918M | |
| $749M | |
| $1.28B | |
| $1.51B | |
| $1.78B | |
| $1.57B | |
| $1.89B | |
| $855M | |
| $668M | |
| $1.23B | |
| $1.02B | |
| $1.47B | |
| $1.22B | |
| $1.44B | |
| $801M | |
| $544M | |
| $1.11B | |
| $1.26B | |
| $1.46B | |
| $1.34B | |
| $1.39B | |
| $1.27B | |
| $771M | |
| $1.73B | |
| $1.48B | |
| $1.29B | |
| $1.49B | |
| $1.63B | |
| $884M | |
| $911M | |
| $1.2B | |
| $1.71B | |
| $1.51B | |
| $2.01B | |
| $1.62B | |
| $961M | |
| $560M | |
| $753M | |
| $1.85B | |
| $1.39B | |
| $2.04B | |
| $1.63B | |
| $945M | |
| $749M | |
| $1.64B | |
| $1.51B | |
| $1.74B | |
| $1.86B | |
| $2.26B | |
| $1.25B | |
| $822M | |
| $1.52B | |
| $1.74B | |
| $2.38B | |
| $1.71B | |
| $2.37B | |
| $1.16B | |
| $776M | |
| $2.67B | |
| $1.7B | |
| $1.76B | |
| $2.14B | |
| $2.06B | |
| $1.57B | |
| $1.07B | |
| $2.37B | |
| $2B | |
| $3.04B | |
| $2.27B | |
| $2.2B | |
| $2.49B | |
| $2.25B | |
| $2.12B | |
| $1.94B | |
| $3.68B | |
| $3.04B | |
| $2.73B | |
| $1.62B | |
| $1.25B | |
| $2.02B | |
| $1.45B | |
| $1.95B | |
| $2.39B | |
| $2.2B | |
| $2.04B | |
| $1.33B | |
| $1.86B | |
| $1.95B | |
| $2.2B | |
| $1.77B | |
| $2.12B | |
| $1.69B | |
| $2.39B | |
| $3.71B | |
| $7.44B | |
| $3.85B | |
| $4.29B | |
| $4.02B | |
| $3.9B | |
| $4.54B | |
| $4.46B | |
| $4.57B | |
| $3.73B | |
| $3.7B | |
| $4.05B | |
| $3.1B | |
| $1.14B | |
| $3.37B | |
| $3.71B | |
| $4.99B | |
| $4.87B | |
| $3.32B | |
| $2.22B | |
| $1.67B | |
| $3.29B | |
| $4.43B | |
| $4.69B | |
| $4.96B | |
| $4.13B | |
| $1.71B | |
| $1.56B | |
| $3.99B | |
| $4.62B | |
| $4.52B | |
| $5.32B | |
| $5.74B | |
| $3.31B | |
| $2.79B | |
| $4.67B | |
| $2.1B | |
| $3.09B | |
| $3.77B | |
| $4.17B | |
| $2.5B | |
| $2.09B | |
| $4.07B | |
| $4.6B | |
| $4.27B | |
| $5.41B | |
| $5.22B | |
| $4.03B | |
| $2.93B | |
| $5.19B | |
| $6.78B | |
| $6.53B | |
| $6.78B | |
| $7.2B | |
| $4.7B | |
| $4.29B | |
| $7.17B | |
| $7.34B | |
| $6.42B | |
| $7.81B | |
| $7.56B | |
| $7.97B | |
| $5.52B | |
| $9.48B | |
| $8.33B | |
| $9.9B | |
| $10.2B | |
| $11.1B | |
| $8.17B | |
| $6.7B | |
| $9.08B | |
| $8.58B | |
| $8.02B | |
| $8.25B | |
| $8.42B | |
| $7.13B | |
| $6.6B | |
| $11.3B | |
| $9.45B | |
| $9.22B | |
| $9.83B | |
| $8.64B | |
| $7.67B | |
| $7.01B | |
| $11.9B | |
| $12B | |
| $11.3B | |
| $10.4B | |
| $9.93B | |
| $8.75B | |
| $7.06B | |
| $10.6B | |
| $8.98B | |
| $8.39B | |
| $14.6B | |
| $12.5B | |
| $9.57B | |
| $6.57B | |
| $9.15B | |
| $10.7B | |
| $10.9B | |
| $11.4B | |
| $11.8B | |
| $8.58B | |
| $6.17B | |
| $9.96B | |
| $10B | |
| $10.3B | |
| $12.3B | |
| $10.1B | |
| $7.77B | |
| $5.76B | |
| $7.13B | |
| $6.99B | |
| $7.33B | |
| $7.52B | |
| $6.92B | |
| $6.44B | |
| $5B | |
| $11.9B | |
| $9.34B | |
| $8.14B | |
| $9.5B | |
| $8.98B | |
| $9.91B | |
| $6.41B | |
| $8.16B | |
| $6.85B | |
| $6.91B | |
| $7.64B |
Top markets by 24h volume
CoinGecko,| Market | 24h volume |
|---|---|
| BTC | |
| ETH | |
| BTCRobinhood Chain | |
| SPYRobinhood Chain | |
| QQQRobinhood Chain |
Our assessment of Lighter
Strengths
- No trading fee on the default account, with the whole account-type schedule on one page, so you can see exactly what Premium and Plus cost before switching.
- No KYC. Connect a wallet, deposit USDC from Ethereum or through the bridge from Arbitrum, Solana, Base, and other chains, and trade.
- Verifiable matching. Order matching and liquidations are proven with zero-knowledge proofs and posted to Ethereum, the contracts and circuits have published audits, and an escape hatch lets you withdraw from Ethereum if the operator stops processing requests.
- A wide market list for a DEX: crypto, gold and oil, FX, US and Asian stocks, indexes, and pre-IPO names, on the web or in Lighter's own mobile app.
Watch for
- Zero fee is not zero cost. Funding is paid hourly between longs and shorts, a liquidation can charge a fee to the insurance pool, and advanced order types such as TWAP and RFQ carry a small fee on a Standard account. Spread and slippage apply as on any order book.
- Speed costs money. Standard accounts sit behind a deliberate delay on taker orders and cancels. If you scalp or run bots, price the Premium schedule, not the zero.
- One company runs the sequencer. The contracts are upgradable with no exit window, and the escape hatch opens only after forced requests go unprocessed for 14 days (L2BEAT). Ten days after the public mainnet launch, on October 10, 2025, the sequencer's database failed and the exchange was down for four and a half hours. Lighter took responsibility, published a post-mortem, and compensated affected traders in points (Lighter's thread, The Crypto Times).
- The liquidity pool is the counterparty. LLP quotes markets and absorbs liquidations, and its depositors lost about 5% in the October 2025 crash. Since February 2026 the pool is split into strategies so one thin market cannot drain the whole pool. In the first test, a squeeze on the ARC perpetual, the pool lost only its small allocation to that strategy (Lighter's thread, CryptoPotato). Depositing into LLP now requires staking LIT.
- The withdrawal fee is not in the docs. Secure withdrawals go to Ethereum and fast withdrawals of USDC go to Arbitrum. The withdrawal screen shows the fee before you confirm.
- The exclusion list is enforced. The Terms name the US, Canada, the UK, and more, the app checks your IP, and a VPN does not make you eligible under the Terms.
How to start
- Check the Terms' country list. The US, Canada, the UK, and the other named countries are excluded, and the app applies the list by IP.
- Open app.lighter.xyz or install Lighter Mobile, connect an EVM wallet, and sign in. There is no form to fill in.
- Deposit USDC. From Ethereum mainnet it goes straight into the exchange contract. From Arbitrum, Base, Solana, and other chains the deposit screen gives you a bridge address and converts what you send into USDC. Minimums are small but real, so check the deposit screen.
- Leave the account type on Standard unless you need speed. Pick a market, set leverage (each market has its own cap), choose cross or isolated margin, and read the fee line on the order ticket: plain market and limit orders show zero, advanced orders do not.
- To take funds out, choose a secure withdrawal to Ethereum or a fast USDC withdrawal to Arbitrum, and read the fee shown before you confirm.
Before you sign up for Lighter
Published conditions for fees, leverage, markets, identity, restricted countries, funding, referrals, and the interface, each linked to its source.
Fees
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.
| Account | Taker | Maker |
|---|---|---|
| Standard (default) | 0% | 0% |
| Premium, no LIT staked | 0.028% | 0.004% |
| Premium, 500,000 LIT staked | 0.0196% | 0.0028% |
| Plus | 0.005% | 0.005% |
- Advanced orders: TWAP and RFQ orders, and other advanced order types, cost 0.01% on a Standard account. Plain market and limit orders stay free.
- Staking LIT: Premium fees fall 2.5% at 1,000 LIT staked, in steps to 30% at 500,000 LIT. Fee credits bought with LIT count toward the same tiers.
- Latency: Standard taker orders and cancels wait 300 ms. Premium taker orders wait 140 ms, with no delay on cancels or post-only orders. Plus keeps the 300 ms taker delay and adds higher API rate limits.
Leverage and margin
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.
Markets and order types
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.
Country restrictions
14+ countries restrictedThe 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.
Identity checks
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.
Depositing
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.
Withdrawing
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.
Referral program
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.
Platform
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.
Lighter vs other perpetual DEXs
Side-by-side facts for any pair. Reviewed pairs add our analysis.
Questions about Lighter
What are Lighter's trading fees?
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.
Does Lighter require KYC?
No. 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.
Can I use Lighter in the US?
No. 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.
Which countries are restricted on 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.
What leverage does Lighter offer?
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.
How do I deposit to Lighter?
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.
What is the Lighter withdrawal fee?
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.
Is there a Lighter referral discount?
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.
Is there a Lighter mobile app?
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.
Is Lighter safe to use?
Funds sit in Ethereum contracts, every match and liquidation is proven with a zero-knowledge proof before the state updates, the code has published audits, and the escape hatch lets you withdraw from Ethereum if the operator stops processing requests. Against that: one company runs the sequencer, the contracts can be upgraded instantly with no exit window, the escape hatch opens only after a 14-day wait, and the exchange had a real outage in October 2025. Treat it as a well-engineered exchange run by one company, not as neutral infrastructure, and read the points under Watch for.
Why is Lighter free?
Standard accounts pay nothing. Premium and Plus accounts, advanced order types, liquidation fees, and the liquidity pool's own trading bring in the revenue, and Lighter says it uses trading fee revenue to buy back LIT.
Do I need LIT to trade on Lighter?
No. Trading on a Standard account needs no LIT. Staking LIT is required to deposit into the liquidity pool and reduces Premium fees, and fee credits bought with LIT can stand in for a stake.
How current is this Lighter profile?
Every fact on this page links to its source. The facts were checked Sep 25, 2026, and that date moves only when we recheck them. Updating the page does not re-verify a fact.