Derivatives are an essential part of any market, be it a stock market, forex market, or cryptocurrency market. Traders can use various strategies to speculate or mitigate their losses through hedging.
In case you want to explore the derivatives market in crypto. You would need an exchange that provides such services. Some of the best cryptocurrency exchanges you already use support derivatives trading.
Bybit is the best and most trusted crypto futures exchange that offers 400+ trading pairs and up to 100x leverage. Their platform is licensed, regulated and has industry leading fees on futures and derivatives contracts.
We earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no additional cost to you.
Many of these derivative exchanges offer perpetual contracts, meaning your position never expires as long as you are not getting liquidated.
Derivates trading is not new to the crypto market, and many traders make life-changing money with derivative trading. So, CoinSutra searched for the most widely used and trusted ones and presented you with our Best Crypto Derivatives Exchanges list.
Let us understand the derivative products of these exchanges.
8 Best Derivatives exchanges for Crypto:
1. Bybit – #1 Perpetual Futures Trading
Bybit is a specialized platform that is dedicated to derivatives markets only. It has been in the market since 2018.
Derivatives products on Bybit are categorized as follows:
USD Margined Perpetual
These are perpetual contracts that are settled in USDT
Coin Margined Inverse Perpetual
These are perpetual contracts that are settled in cryptocurrencies such as BTC, ETH, etc.
Coin Margined Inverse Futures
These are delivery contracts that are settled in cryptocurrency, such as BTC, ETH, etc.
Bybit hasn’t been in the crypto market for long. What makes it a good platform is that its primary purpose is to cater for crypto derivatives trading.
The trading fee structure of Bybit is pocket-friendly. It charges 0.075% of the transaction from the market taker but rewards 0.025% of the trade to the market maker.
Bybit’s team claims the platform can process up to 100,000 transactions per second. This makes it powerful for both individual and institutional traders.
For user experience, Bybit is clean. It’s built to appeal to newcomers and veteran traders alike. There are a lot of essential educational resources for newbies to learn trading on the platform.
Traders can easily access Bybit on any browser or download its mobile app.
Read: Bybit review | ByBit Referral & Bonus
Newcomers on Bybit get a bonus of $90.
Join Bybit & Claim Up to $30000 Joining Bonus
2. Binance – #2 Derivative Crypto Exchange
Binance is the #1 exchange for derivatives trading and also the most economical. It has the most extensive customer base and trading volume in the global crypto markets.
Binance makes it easier to transfer funds between your spot market account and Derivative account and thus helps you take advantage of arbitrage when there is a price difference between the future market and spot market.
Derivatives products on Binance are categorized as follows:
USD-Margined Futures Contracts
These are perpetual as well as delivery contracts that are settled in USDT and BUSD.
Coin-Margined Futures Contracts
These are perpetual and delivery contracts that are settled in cryptocurrencies such as BTC, ETH, etc.
Binance Leveraged Tokens
Leveraged tokens allow a user to have increased exposure to a particular crypto asset.
Binance Options
These are European-style vanilla options that can be used either to maximize profits or to limit losses.
Binance has a very reasonable fee for derivatives trading. There is no fee for the deposit of funds on Binance. The trading fee varies from 0.01% to 0.05% of the transaction value. Further, a user can reduce this fee by holding the in-house token of Binance, i.e., BNB.
The exchange is pretty secure and has a two-factor authentication option for users. And customer support is also excellent.
Create Derivative Account on Binance
3. MEXC Global
MEXC Global is an exchange that brings many low-cap gems at their incubation stage. The exchange was established in 2018 in Seychelles, East Africa. The exchange has a presence in more than 200 countries and has served more than 6 million users.
The exchange supports 11 different languages. In derivatives markets, MEXC Global only deals with perpetual contracts. Users are also provided margin on these contracts up to 125x.
The exchange offers both USDT margined as well as Coin margined contracts. The trading fee for perpetual contracts on MEXC Global is 0.02% for makers and 0.06% for takers.
The exchange has a pretty decent user interface, and it also has a mobile application for iOS and Android versions. Please read our full review on MEXC Global.
Create Instant Account on MEXC Futures
4. Deribit
Deribit is another specialized exchange built only for trading crypto futures and options. It started in 2016 and has built a user-friendly platform for derivative traders.
Deribit is open to traders in over 100 countries. There is no fee for a deposit, and withdrawal is also free up to a certain limit.
Derivatives products on Deribit are categorized as follows:
Deribit Perpetual
These are perpetual contract which is settled in cryptocurrency.
Deribit Futures
These are delivery contracts that are settled in cryptocurrency.
Deribit Options
These are European-style vanilla options that can be used either to maximize profits or limit losses.
The platform only supports Bitcoin and Ethereum derivatives. Deribit’s interface appeals to a newcomer and serves as a powerful tool for veterans. You can trade via its web portal or download its mobile application in Android and iOS versions.
Some additional features of Deribit are as follows:
Deribit supports many trading bots and uses cold storage to keep your assets safe.
The trading fee charged by Deribit is variable and can be referred to here. Customer support is available 24/7.
Deribit supports English, Korean, Spanish, Russian, Japanese, Chinese, and Turkish.
It offers dashboards for trading history, recent trades, and order books.
It also has statistics for futures, indexes, volatility, and technical indicators.
To trade, you need to create an account, make a deposit, and choose either futures or options trading. Their blog has helpful content if you get stuck.
Save 10% on Deribit Forever
5. Bitmex
Bitmex is a popular crypto exchange where you can trade derivatives. It’s been in the game since 2014 and has grown as a good platform for many traders. It is another specialized derivatives exchange.
Derivatives products on Bitmex are categorized as follows:
Perpetual Contracts
These are perpetual contracts that are settled in Bitcoin.
Futures Contracts
These are futures contracts that are settled in Bitcoin.
Further, Bitmex also offers a margin of upto 100x on these contracts. Bitmex offers derivatives products on various tokens such as BTC, ADA, BNB, DOT, DOGE, EOS, ETH, etc.
The point worth noting is that all these contracts are settled in BTC. Thus, withdrawals, deposits, and transaction fees are all done in BTC.
In total, the platform offers 17 perpetual and 84 futures contracts.
Market takers pay 0.075% per trade, and makers get a 0.025% rebate. This is a refund given to makers for providing liquidity for the platform.
Read: Bitmex review
Some additional features of Bitmex are as follows:
There is a 24/7 customer support
For safekeeping, Bitmex stores some of your cryptos on a cold storage
The platform has a feature of two-factor authentication to prevent malicious parties from accessing your account
Bitmex-supported languages are English, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and Russian.
Create Free Account on Bitmex
6. Gate.io
Gate.io is an excellent crypto exchange that has gained popularity because of its unique product offerings. It stands tall in the list of best crypto exchanges, and its derivative products are also not short of anything.
The various derivatives products offered by Gate.io are categorized as follows:
Perpetual Contracts
These are perpetual derivative contracts that are settled either in USDT or in BTC.
Futures Contracts
These are delivery contracts that have a fixed expiry date.
Warrants
These are options that can be used either to maximize profits or to limit losses.
The trading fee on Gate.io is as follows:
Type of Contracts
Maker fee
Taker fee
Perpetual Contracts
-0.025% (Rebate)
0.075%
Futures Contracts
NIL
0.04%
Options
0.02%
0.05%
In addition to the above, Gate.io charges a settlement commission of 0.015% on Futures contracts. The platform offers 149 perpetual contracts and various futures contracts.
Create Free Account on Gate.io
7. HTX
HTX is one of the leading crypto exchanges that have huge liquidity. In addition to this, the exchange is good on all security parameters. In addition to essential services such as spot and margin trading, HTX has a substantial trading volume in the derivatives market.
HTX offers 168 perpetual contracts and 56 futures contracts.
The derivatives products offered by HTX can be categorized as follows:
Futures
These are delivery contracts that are settled on a specific date.
Coin Margined Swaps
These are perpetual contracts that are settled in cryptocurrency, such as ETH, BTC, etc.
USDT Margined Swaps
These are perpetual contracts that are settled in USDT.
Options
These are options that can be used either to maximize profits or to limit losses.
The trading fee charged by HTX for derivatives trading is as follows:
Type of Contracts
Maker fee
Taker fee
USDT Margined Swaps
0.02%
0.04%
Coin Margined Swaps
0.02%
0.05%
Futures Contracts
0.02%
0.04%
Options
Variable
Variable
Create Free Account on HTX
8. OKX
You’ve either used it, heard of it, or seen a different trader use it. OKX is a big name in crypto with support for many assets. It is one of the top exchanges for derivatives trading, according to CoinGecko.
Derivatives products on OKX are categorized as follows:
Perpetual Contracts
These are perpetual contracts that can either be USD margined or Coin Margined. This means that they can either be settled in USD or cryptocurrency.
Futures Contracts
These are futures contracts that can either be USD margined or Coin Margined. This means that they can either be settled in USD or cryptocurrency.
Options
These are European-style vanilla options that can be used either to maximize profits or to limit losses.
OKX exchange offers 139 perpetual and 1336 futures contracts. This huge variety of derivative products makes OKX viable for traders who want to trade in Altcoin derivative products. Further, OKX is one of the most liquid exchanges for derivatives trading.
There is also a beginner knowledge quiz for newcomers going into futures and perpetual swaps. The test is simple, so don’t skip it. OKX wants traders to come into their derivatives market with a little knowledge of how things work. The quiz lets you learn margin calls, swaps, futures, funding, and withdrawal schedules on OKX.
The base trading fee on OKX is as follows:
Type of Contracts
Maker fee
Taker fee
Perpetual Contracts
0.02%
0.05%
Futures Contracts
0.02%
0.05%
Options
0.02%
0.05%
This fee can be reduced once a user attains VIP status.
Another cool part about OKX is that it allows its Customer to pair derivatives trade with fiat currencies. This allows you to make a trade in a currency of your choice. And you won’t have to suffer exchanging from one currency to the other when withdrawing your funds.
In general, OKX is a great place to trade crypto assets.
Create Free Account on OKX
Which crypto derivative exchange should you be using?
There are a number of factors that should be considered while deciding the best derivative exchange for you. If you are looking for something simple and powerful, pick Binance or Bybit.
The platform is friendly for beginners and offers paper trading for you to practice derivative trading.
For high liquidity, Bybit is an excellent choice. Although its derivative trading fees are on the higher side, it is one of the oldest in the market and offers high liquidity.
For those looking to trade in more coins, Binance Futures, and MEXC Global are the ideal choices. Unfortunately, all these exchanges are not available for users from the USA, and you can use them only through a VPN.
Over to you:
Let me know which crypto derivative exchange are you using and why? If we like your recommendation, we will include this in our list of top exchanges for crypto derivatives trading.
