# Top Decentralized Exchanges by Measured Book Depth

Rev. 24 September 2026. Kept by Chain Sheet editors.

## Abstract

The top decentralized exchanges by resting depth on 24 September 2026 are led by
edgeX, which showed a median $29.1 million inside 10 basis points of mid on its
BTC book, ahead of EVEDEX at $18.7 million and Lighter at
$16.5 million. Depth decides slippage, and a leveraged position can be liquidated by it.

Weights: Settlement and custody 30 · Measured book depth 25 · Round-trip taker cost 18 · Audit and incident record 15 · Markets and asset classes 12, fixed 22 September 2026, scored out of 12. Method: https://echoblock.org/how-we-score

## Top decentralized exchanges by resting BTC depth

Arranged by measured depth rather than by the overall score, which stays in the table and settles
equal readings.

| Rank | Venue | Score of 12 | Maker / taker | Perp markets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | edgeX | 9.5 | 0.040% / 0.045% | 172 |
| 2 | EVEDEX | 7.6 | 0.015% / 0.045% | 52 |
| 3 | Lighter | 10.3 | 0% / 0% | 214 |
| 4 | Aster | 9.2 | 0% / 0.040% | 578 |
| 5 | Hyperliquid | 8.3 | 0.015% / 0.045% | 324 |
| 6 | Extended | 9.3 | 0% / 0.025% | 325 |
| 7 | ApeX Omni | 8.6 | 0.020% / 0.050% | 125 |

Fee columns are the entry tier on the BTC perpetual, before volume, staking or referral discounts; market counts are the vendor's own. Equal totals share a rank. Access is decided by each venue's own terms and does not enter the score. Facts read 18 September 2026 in each venue's own documentation, interface and terms. Depth is ours
and is set out in full below. Admission is a matter between a venue and its own terms and is not
ranked here: read the ones that cover you before any deposit.

## Order-book readings

Four of these columns are the house's own work, read from 20 September 2026 into 21 September 2026, a reading every ten minutes: what rests inside 10
basis points of mid, bid and ask together, and what a taker of $10,000, $100,000 and $1 million
would have walked through before the fill was complete. The two on the right belong to the venues
themselves and were printed by CoinMarketCap on 22 September 2026.

| Venue | Median spread | Resting within 10 bps | Impact, $10,000 | Impact, $100,000 | Impact, $1 million | Reported 24-hour volume | Reported open interest |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| edgeX | 0.04 bps | $29.1 million | 0.02 bps | 0.02 bps | 0.23 bps | $2.5 billion | $635.5 million |
| EVEDEX | 4.12 bps | $18.7 million | 2.06 bps | 2.06 bps | 2.72 bps | $700.5 million | $704.9 million |
| Lighter | 0.02 bps | $16.5 million | 0.37 bps | 0.59 bps | 1.42 bps | $2.0 billion | $585.4 million |
| Hyperliquid | 0.12 bps | $8.7 million | 0.06 bps | 0.06 bps | 0.65 bps | $13.4 billion | $8.7 billion |
| Aster | 0.01 bps | $14.4 million | 0.06 bps | 0.35 bps | 0.98 bps | $3.2 billion | $1.4 billion |
| Extended | 0.12 bps | $7.6 million | 0.06 bps | 0.06 bps | 0.67 bps | $612.8 million | $84.0 million |
| ApeX Omni | 0.73 bps | $1.7 million | 0.38 bps | 0.44 bps | 4.01 bps | $449.5 million | $160.2 million |
| Paradex | 3.06 bps | $32,552 | 3.71 bps | 137.18 bps | not filled | $21.8 million | $23.7 million |

Snapshot counts run from 46 to 125 and sit beside
every row. The last row was read but not seated on this sheet: no $1 million order filled against
Paradex, and Aevo, also read, took about 79% of one.

## 01 · [edgeX](https://pro.edgex.exchange) — the deepest book in the window

Score 9.5 of 12.

edgeX keeps its matching engine private and settles by batch, rolling state changes into
contracts on its own EDGE chain; the custody page describes a withdrawal that works around the
operator [1]. Its book was the deepest we read, $29.1 million resting within 10 basis
points of mid. It lists 172 contracts, 93 of them shares and funds.

- For: $29.1 million within 10 basis points, the deepest here; A $1 million order pays 0.23 bps, the lowest impact.
- Against: A maker fee of 0.040% on every order that rests, where three venues here charge nothing; Share contracts reject market orders while the underlying market is shut.
- Not for: a maker who wants the fee side of the book to pay.

## 02 · EVEDEX — depth across six asset classes

Score 7.6 of 12.

Matching at EVEDEX sits off the chain, and what Arbitrum takes is a position snapshot, written
at intervals and on withdrawal [2]. What the BTC book held was a median $18.7 million
inside 10 basis points, second on this sheet, drawn from a list of only
52 contracts: crypto, Tether Gold, silver, WTI crude, two currency pairs,
five US stocks, one index and two pre-listing names.

- For: $18.7 million within 10 basis points, second on this sheet; 2.72 bps on a $1 million order, six asset classes.
- Against: The shortest market list here, so depth outside BTC is untested; Position data reaches Arbitrum periodically rather than trade by trade.
- Not for: traders who need a long tail of small markets.

## 03 · [Lighter](https://lighter.xyz) — depth with no fee attached

Score 10.3 of 12.

Lighter's operator matches orders and proves every batch on Ethereum, where deposits sit [3].
Its book held $16.5 million within 10 basis points, and the standard account pays
0% maker / 0% taker, so a fill here costs the impact figure and almost nothing else.

- For: $16.5 million within 10 basis points at 0% maker / 0% taker; Priority exit queue and desert mode, both documented.
- Against: 300 milliseconds of added taker latency unless the account is upgraded; No public bug bounty, so outside researchers have no route.
- Not for: anyone who needs the fill in the same 300 milliseconds.

## 04 · [Aster](https://www.asterdex.com) — the tightest spread we measured

Score 9.2 of 12.

Aster matches and settles on Aster Chain, its own proof-of-stake-authority chain [6]. Its median
spread of 0.01 bps was the tightest in the window, with $14.4 million
resting within 10 basis points across 578 contracts.

- For: A median spread of 0.01 bps, the tightest in the window; 578 contracts with no maker fee at any volume tier.
- Against: The chain's core code is closed and has no outside validators in its first phase; The bridge is signed by the operator's validators, with no forced withdrawal described.
- Not for: traders who trade on a chain for its validator set.

## 05 · [Hyperliquid](https://hyperliquid.xyz) — reported size against measured size

Score 8.3 of 12.

Hyperliquid keeps the order book inside its own layer 1, so every order and fill is a chain
transaction [4]. CoinMarketCap put its open interest at $8.7 billion on
22 September 2026, more than six times the next venue here [5], while its resting depth measured
$8.7 million, fifth here. Open interest counts positions held; depth counts
orders waiting.

- For: $8.7 billion of open interest on 22 September 2026, the largest here; 0.65 bps on a $1 million order, second only to edgeX at that size.
- Against: Its own liquidity pool absorbed about $4.9 million of losses in November 2025, and about $4 million in March 2025; No forced withdrawal in the documentation we read.
- Not for: anyone reading open interest as a promise of a fill.

## 06 · [Extended](https://extended.exchange/) — many markets, one thin public book

Score 9.3 of 12.

Extended settles every transaction on Starknet with balances in self-custodial contracts [7].
Of its 325 markets, 278 are request-for-quote with no public book, and the
BTC book we could read held $7.6 million against $612.8 million of reported
volume [5]. Its bug bounty pays up to $500,000.

- For: 0% maker / 0.025% taker for every account, with no volume ladder; Bug bounty up to $500,000, two audits of the settlement contracts.
- Against: Most of the market list has no public book to read; No forced withdrawal in the documentation we read.
- Not for: traders who read a market count as a depth figure.

## 07 · [ApeX Omni](https://omni.apex.exchange/) — a documented exit on a thin book

Score 8.6 of 12.

ApeX Omni sends matched trades to the zkLink rollup, whose contracts hold deposits, and
documents a forced withdrawal to layer 1 [8]. Its book held $1.7 million, the
thinnest seated here, so a $1 million order paid 4.01 bps. It lists
125 markets, and an account opens with an email address.

- For: Forced withdrawal to layer 1 described in the documentation; Email sign-in, and closed only to sanctioned regions and one more.
- Against: $1.7 million within 10 basis points, the thinnest book here; The published audits cover the zkLink contracts, not ApeX's own engine.
- Not for: orders large enough to walk the book.

## What the reported columns are worth

The two most quoted columns here are the two we did not measure. Volume and open interest reach
CoinMarketCap from the venues themselves: volume counts trades a venue has printed, including
trades printed against its own accounts, and open interest counts positions it says are held.
Neither can be checked from outside. Resting depth can, which is why it sets the order here and
the reported figures sit beside it rather than above it. The last row shows the distance:
Paradex reported $21.8 million of volume on 22 September 2026 [5] while
holding $32,552 in its book. Our own reading covers one market over one short
window, which is what the snapshot count beside every row is there to qualify.

## Quoted from the sources

> "There is no public order book. The order book displayed on the trading screen is indicative only and does not represent resting orders from other traders." — Extended documentation, request-for-quote execution, 18 September 2026.

> "HyperCore includes fully onchain perpetual futures and spot order books. Every order, cancel, trade, and liquidation happens transparently with one-block finality inherited from HyperBFT." — Hyperliquid documentation, HyperCore, 18 September 2026.

> "An off-chain order book (Matcher) system manages buy and sell orders outside the blockchain." — EVEDEX documentation, off-chain order book, 18 September 2026.

## How this sheet was compiled

The documentary columns — rate card, contract list, leverage ladder, custody mechanics, audit
reports — come off each venue's own pages as they stood on 18 September 2026. The book column
is ours, read from 20 September 2026 into 21 September 2026, a reading every ten minutes; no account opened, no order sent. The weights behind
all 7 marks were fixed on 22 September 2026: [how we rate](/how-we-score).

A document is not behaviour: settlement, forced withdrawals and audit history are entered as the
venue states them. The cost column is the published entry-tier rate, crediting no volume tier,
staking discount or referral deal. One market stands behind depth — the BTC perpetual.

## Sources

1. edgeX documentation, self-custody. https://edgex-1.gitbook.io/edgeX-documentation/edgex-v2/self-custody (18 September 2026)
2. EVEDEX documentation and trading terms, named in text, not linked. (18 September 2026)
3. Lighter documentation, trading fees. https://docs.lighter.xyz/trading/trading-fees (18 September 2026)
4. Hyperliquid documentation, on-chain book. https://hyperliquid.gitbook.io/hyperliquid-docs/trading/fees (18 September 2026)
5. CoinMarketCap, decentralized derivatives ranking. https://coinmarketcap.com/rankings/exchanges/dex/?type=derivatives (22 September 2026)
6. Aster documentation, fees. https://docs.asterdex.com/trading/perpetuals/fees-and-specs/fees (18 September 2026)
7. Extended documentation, Starknet settlement. https://docs.extended.exchange/ (18 September 2026)
8. ApeX Omni documentation, force withdrawal. https://apex-pro.gitbook.io/apex-pro/apex-omni/force-withdrawal (18 September 2026)

## FAQ

### Which decentralized exchange has the deepest order book?

In our window, edgeX, with a median $29.1 million resting within 10 basis
points of the mid price on BTC. EVEDEX followed at $18.7 million and
Lighter at $16.5 million, each a median of repeated readings rather than
one observation.

### Is order book depth the same as trading volume?

No. Volume counts trades that already happened, reported by the venue itself. Depth counts orders
waiting in a public book, which anyone can read and hit. Extended reported
$612.8 million of volume on 22 September 2026 and held $7.6 million resting.

### How much slippage will I pay on a large perp order?

Between 0.23 bps and 4.01 bps on these books for a
$1 million market order at the moment we read them. That range is wider than the gap between any
two fee schedules here, which is why depth matters more than the rate for size.

### What does depth within 10 basis points mean?

It is the dollar value of buy and sell orders resting within one tenth of one percent of the mid
price, which answers a practical question: how much can leave the book before your price starts
moving. Among the seven seated here it runs from $1.7 million up.

### Why does one venue have fewer snapshots than the others?

Because its public endpoint answered less often across our window. Lighter
contributed 46 readings and Extended
47, against 125 at edgeX, so those two medians rest
on less evidence. The count sits beside the row so a reader can weigh it accordingly.

### Do tighter spreads mean a deeper book?

Not reliably. Aster showed the tightest spread here at 0.01 bps while
ranking fourth on depth, and edgeX led on depth with 0.04 bps. A tight
spread describes the first cent of an order; depth describes all the rest of it.

### Which perp DEX is best for large orders?

By price impact at $1 million, edgeX at 0.23 bps and
Hyperliquid at 0.65 bps, with Extended next at
0.67 bps. All three are BTC readings; a large order in a smaller market
meets a thinner book on every venue here.

### Does high open interest mean I can get filled?

No, and the figure is the venue's own. Open interest counts contracts held, not orders waiting.
Hyperliquid reported $8.7 billion on 22 September 2026 and still ranked fifth here on
depth. Fills come out of the book, so the book is what we read.

### Can a DEX fake its order book depth?

Orders can be placed and pulled, so a book can look deeper than it behaves. Repeated readings
make that harder to sustain than a volume figure, which is why this sheet reports the median of
every successful reading rather than one observation.

### what happens if a dex cant fill my order

It walks the book until the book runs out, and the rest goes unfilled or waits. Against
Paradex no $1 million market order filled in 124 snapshots,
and Aevo's book took about 79% of one. That is what a thin book means in practice.

## Corrections

Chain Sheet editors, 24 September 2026. Corrections: sheet@echoblock.org.

Publication of this sheet is bought.