# Best Bitcoin Futures Exchange in 2026, Ordered by Measured BTC Depth

Updated: 24 September 2026 — Books captured 22 September 2026 — Venue facts read 18 September 2026 — Console View operations

## Answer

Which venue counts as the best bitcoin futures exchange depends on order size, so this page ranks
six by the BTC depth in the readings rather than by score, and names what each book is best for. edgeX
led at $29.2 million inside ten basis points. At 100x, one percent against a position is the whole margin behind it.

## The best bitcoin futures exchange table, ordered by depth

Rows are set by the BTC depth in the readings, printed in full in the readings table below, which is why
the score column runs out of sequence. The deepest book here is not the highest mark on the formula.

| # | Venue | Score | Maker / taker | Round trip on $10,000 | Markets | Model |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | edgeX | 11.9 | 0.040% / 0.045% | $9.00 | 172 | Hybrid |
| 02 | EVEDEX | 10.5 | 0.015% / 0.045% | $9.00 | 52 | Hybrid |
| 03 | Lighter | 13.3 | 0% / 0% | $0.00 | 214 | Hybrid, ZK-proven |
| 04 | Extended | 12.4 | 0% / 0.025% | $5.00 | 325 | Hybrid |
| 05 | dYdX | 9.1 | 0.010% / 0.050% | $10.00 | 78 | App-chain, validator-held book |
| 06 | Paradex | 9.8 | 0% / 0% | $0.00 | 63 | Hybrid, Starknet appchain |

Scale 0 to 16. Weights: Order-book depth 30 · Round-trip cost 25 · Loss and audit record 15 · Settlement and withdrawal 15 · Contracts listed 10 · Getting started 5, one formula for the whole site, fixed on 22 September 2026: https://wp-monero-miner.com/method

Entry-tier fees on the BTC perpetual; the round trip is two taker fills on a ten thousand dollar position. Access differs by country.

## Read-offs from the rows above

1. Top of the ladder and bottom of it: edgeX held $29.2 million inside ten basis points over 251 readings, Paradex $728.00.
2. A million dollar order moved edgeX 0.23 bps and Extended 0.71 bps; at Paradex the visible book could not fill it.
3. Depth and score disagree: Lighter tops the site formula at 13.3 of 16 with the third book of six.

## A deep bitcoin book is not a deep venue

The depth column measures one contract. Every figure in it comes from the BTC perpetual, inside
ten basis points of the mid, over the window named with the readings, and says nothing about
the other markets on the same screen. Extended held $7.7 million on BTC while 278 of
its 325 contracts are quoted on request. Of edgeX's 172
contracts, 93 are equity names that refuse market orders while the underlying market is shut.
EVEDEX lists 52 contracts, and this page has measured one.

## Why the rows are not in score order

Depth carries 30 of the 100 points in the site formula rather than all of them. Order by the
score and Lighter comes first at 13.3 of 16; order by the
book, as this page does, and it falls to third behind edgeX at 11.9 and EVEDEX
at 10.5. Paradex is the sharpest case: 9.8 on fees, audits
and settlement, on a BTC book of $728.00. Which reading matters depends on the
size of the order you send.

## What the depth column cannot tell you

A median is not a promise. Each figure is the middle of readings taken
on this console's ten-minute poll, over the two days to 22 September 2026, so a book that thinned for twenty minutes and refilled leaves the same
median as one that never moved at all. The number counts resting size around the mid on a single
contract: it says nothing about what arrives behind the first fill, nothing about the funding
charged for every hour a position stays open, and nothing about the queue on the other contracts
quoted on the same screen.

## 01 · [edgeX](https://pro.edgex.exchange) — size on BTC without paying for it in impact · 11.9 of 16

The match at edgeX happens away from the chain, and a rollup it operates itself takes the
balances and the filled trades afterwards
([edgeX documentation](https://pro.edgex.exchange/en-US/home), checked 18 September 2026). Its BTC book was the deepest read
here: a median $29.2 million inside ten basis points, spread 0.04 bps, and a
million dollar order moved the price 0.23 bps, across
251 snapshots. CoinMarketCap listed its own reported open interest at
$635.5 million on 22 September 2026, second of the six here.

- Works: Median BTC depth of $29.2 million, the deepest reading here; Withdrawals documented to work by talking to the chain directly, without the operator.
- Falls short: A 0.040% maker fee, the highest of the six here; One contract is measured, and 93 of its 172 are equity names with no book while their market is shut.
- Not for: a maker who expects the fee schedule to pay for resting orders.

## 02 · EVEDEX — BTC depth beside gold, oil and share contracts · 10.5 of 16

Orders meet on a central book that EVEDEX runs off-chain, and positions settle on Arbitrum once
enough changes have built up (EVEDEX documentation, logged 18 September 2026). The BTC book held a median
$18.6 million across 250 readings, spread 4.12 bps;
a $100,000 order moved the price 2.06 bps, a million dollar order
2.74 bps. Entry rates are 0.015% maker / 0.045% taker before cashback.

- Works: Median BTC depth of $18.6 million, behind only edgeX among the six books here; Gold through XAUT, silver, crude oil, two currency pairs and five US stocks on one USDT balance.
- Falls short: 52 perpetual contracts against 325 on the longest list here; Position data reaches Arbitrum in batches rather than trade by trade; No forced-withdrawal route in the documentation, and no bug bounty on CertiK Skynet.
- Not for: a trader who wants every fill written to a public chain as it happens.

## 03 · [Lighter](https://lighter.xyz) — a free round trip, on an order small enough to get one · 13.3 of 16

Lighter matches off-chain and proves each batch on Ethereum
([Lighter documentation](https://docs.lighter.xyz/about-lighter/technical-architecture-lighter-core.md), checked 18 September 2026). Its book held
$16.7 million at 0.01 bps, third here, but shape beats total: a $100,000
order still moved the price 0.68 bps, eleven times what the same order
cost at Extended on a book less than half the size.

- Works: Nothing to pay on the default account, so the $10,000 round trip costs $0.00; A priority exit queue on Ethereum for the day the sequencer stops listening.
- Falls short: Price impact of 0.68 bps on a $100,000 order, against 0.02 bps at edgeX on a book under twice as deep; The zero-fee account is slowed to 300 milliseconds, and one operator-run sequencer orders every trade.
- Not for: a taker who cares more about the fill price than the fee line.

## 04 · [Extended](https://extended.exchange/) — a cheap taker fill on the one market with a real book · 12.4 of 16

Extended holds the book itself and hands Starknet each transaction to be settled there
([Extended documentation](https://docs.extended.exchange/about-extended/technical-architecture), checked 18 September 2026). On BTC it held
$7.7 million, a quarter of the deepest reading here, and a $100,000 order moved the
price 0.06 bps at 0% maker / 0.025% taker. The catch is not BTC: of
325 contracts, 278 are quoted on request.

- Works: A $10,000 round trip costs $5.00, cheapest outside the two zero-fee books; A bounty up to $500,000 and two audits of the settlement contracts.
- Falls short: Of 325 active contracts, 278 carry no public order book at all; Nothing in the documentation describes a withdrawal that works once the operator stops.
- Not for: a trader who assumes every market on the screen has resting orders behind it.

## 05 · [dYdX](https://www.dydx.xyz) — a book held by validators rather than by a company · 9.1 of 16

dYdX keeps no central book: orders sit in each validator's memory and the block proposer matches
them on the dYdX chain ([dYdX documentation](https://docs.dydx.xyz/concepts/architecture/overview), checked 18 September 2026). It shows in the
readings: a book of $839,899 at a spread of 1.78 bps, and a $100,000
order moved the price
6.96 bps, more than a hundred times the same order at edgeX.

- Works: Matching is done by a rotating validator set rather than one company's sequencer; A Cantina bounty paying up to $1,000,000 for a critical report, open since 8 May 2026.
- Falls short: Median BTC depth of $839,899, thirty-five times below the top of this page; The chain halted on 10 October 2025, and withdrawals are gated for 50 blocks after an outage.
- Not for: a taker who sends six-figure orders at market.

## 06 · [Paradex](https://www.paradex.trade) — no fee at all, as long as the order stays small · 9.8 of 16

The Paradex book never leaves the operator's own cloud, and an appchain built on the Starknet
stack carries the settlement ([Paradex documentation](https://docs.paradex.trade/trading/privacy.md), checked 18 September 2026). Retail orders pay
0% maker / 0% taker, and on BTC that is what a free fill is worth: $728.00
inside ten basis points, spread 7.20 bps, 158.11 bps of
impact on a $100,000 order. A million dollar order did not fill at all.

- Works: Retail orders pay no maker or taker fee, so the $10,000 round trip costs $0.00; A Sherlock bounty up to 500,000 USDC and audits of the bridge and vault contracts.
- Falls short: Median BTC depth of $728.00, and a $100,000 order would have paid 158.11 bps; Accounts were liquidated in error on 19 January 2026 and the chain had to be wound back.
- Not for: anyone who needs to move size on bitcoin.

## Book readings taken here

BTC books read in the capture cycle named below; medians of all successful snapshots.

| Venue | Median spread | Depth within 10 basis points | Impact on a $100,000 order | Snapshots |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| edgeX | 0.04 bps | $29.2 million | 0.02 bps | 251 |
| EVEDEX | 4.12 bps | $18.6 million | 2.06 bps | 250 |
| Lighter | 0.01 bps | $16.7 million | 0.68 bps | 109 |
| Extended | 0.12 bps | $7.7 million | 0.06 bps | 110 |
| dYdX | 1.78 bps | $839,899 | 6.96 bps | 251 |
| Paradex | 7.20 bps | $728.00 | 158.11 bps | 249 |

## Source lines, copied exactly

> "There is no public order book." — Extended documentation, request-for-quote markets, 18 September 2026. https://docs.extended.exchange/extended-resources/trading/rfq-execution
> "Orders are only stored on the Paradex Cloud and are only known to the operators of Paradex Cloud." — Paradex documentation, order privacy, 18 September 2026. https://docs.paradex.trade/trading/privacy.md
> "User position data is written to the blockchain after sufficient changes have accumulated." — EVEDEX documentation, on-chain settlement, 18 September 2026.
## Method, limits and sources

Nothing prints here that was not polled or copied out with its date. Depth, spread and impact are this console's own work — every listed BTC book opened on this console's ten-minute poll, over the two days to 22 September 2026, each a median of what came back. The documentary columns came off each venue's own pages on 18 September 2026: fees, contract list, leverage ladder, settlement, sign-in terms, audit history. Open interest and turnover are neither — each venue's own report, as CoinMarketCap published it on 22 September 2026. Six weights, fixed 22 September 2026 before any venue was scored, score the 6 venues on this page ([how we rate](/method)). No account is held at any of them.

First line, the disclosure: publication here is paid for; row order is not. Settlement and the audit record are marked off documents: a console prints what a venue says of itself, not what it did. The fee column is a new account's rate, before volume tiers, rebates or cashback. Depth is measured, but on BTC alone and over one span of readings: a narrower contract holds less, and another hour reads differently.

## FAQ

### Which exchange is best for bitcoin futures?

It depends on the size you send. Of the six books read in the capture cycle here, edgeX held
the most resting BTC at $29.2 million inside ten basis points. Lighter scores highest on
the site formula at 13.3 of 16.

### How deep is the order book on a bitcoin perpetual?

Across the six here the median resting size within ten basis points of the mid ran from
$29.2 million at edgeX down to $728.00 at Paradex, four orders of
magnitude between two venues quoting the same contract. Readings were taken every ten minutes.

### How much slippage should I expect on a $100,000 bitcoin order?

On the books read here, 0.02 bps at edgeX, 2.06 bps
at EVEDEX and 0.06 bps at Extended, against
6.96 bps at dYdX and 158.11 bps at Paradex. That last
figure is larger than the fee charged anywhere on this page.

### Is a tight spread the same as a deep book?

No. Lighter quoted the tighter median spread here, 0.01 bps against
0.04 bps at edgeX, yet a $100,000 order moved Lighter
0.68 bps and edgeX 0.02 bps. The spread is the price
of the first coin; the depth behind it is the price of the rest.

### Can you trade bitcoin futures without handing over identity documents?

None of the six asks for documents before a first trade; a wallet signature opens the account,
and three also offer an email login. Screening still happens elsewhere: deposits can be checked
on-chain, and several sets of terms reserve the right to ask later.

### What does it cost to open and close a bitcoin futures position?

Two taker fills on a $10,000 position cost $0.00 at Paradex and Lighter,
$5.00 at Extended, $9.00 at edgeX and EVEDEX, and
$10.00 at dYdX. Price impact and funding are charged on top, and the zero-fee
accounts buy their rate with added latency.

### Why do bitcoin perpetuals never settle?

Because there is no day on which it has to. A dated contract converges on its settlement date; a
perpetual has none, so a funding payment passes between longs and shorts on a schedule that keeps
the price near spot. EVEDEX computes that rate every eight hours and settles it hourly.

### Who can see the orders resting on a perpetual exchange?

It varies. dYdX keeps orders in validator memory and matches them on its own chain, so the book
is as public as the chain. Paradex holds its book in its own cloud, visible only to its
operators. edgeX, Extended, Lighter and EVEDEX match off-chain.

### How often does order-book depth need re-measuring?

Often. The readings here were taken on this console's ten-minute poll, over the two days to 22 September 2026,
and a book this deep can thin out within the hour when funding flips or a new listing pulls
market makers away. Treat the column as a dated snapshot.

### Which bitcoin futures venues publish a bug bounty?

Three of the six here. Extended runs a programme paying up to $500,000, dYdX a Cantina
programme up to $1,000,000 and Paradex a Sherlock programme up to 500,000 USDC. edgeX, Lighter
and EVEDEX list none on the pages we read on 18 September 2026.

## Who publishes this readout

Console View operations, 24 September 2026. Placement on this site is paid for. Corrections: readout@wp-monero-miner.com.

Placement on this site is paid for; row order is not for sale. Each table is set by the published formula, or by the one column named in the line above it.