Compare the Best Crypto Futures Exchanges
1. Bybit
Bybit ranks first for traders outside the US, UK and European Economic Area (EEA) seeking a large perpetual market at fair prices. Our Bybit futures review records 894 perpetual contracts and 43 dated contracts. Non-VIP accounts pay 0.02% maker and 0.055% taker fees. Maker orders wait in the order book, whereas taker orders immediately match existing orders.
The contract range includes futures margined in USDT or USDC stablecoins and inverse contracts settled in the coin itself. TradFi perpetuals cover stocks, commodities and currency pairs, with trading every day of the week. Standard BTCUSDT leverage reaches 100x at the lowest risk tier, then falls as positions grow. Smart Leverage is a separate structured product offering up to 200x leverage with a fixed settlement date.
No major derivatives regulator licenses Bybit's global futures platform. Bybit EU holds a MiCA licence for crypto service providers from Austria's Financial Market Authority, but this covers spot services only. In September 2025, sister company Bybit X applied for a MiFID II licence, which is required to offer derivatives in the EU. EEA residents cannot trade Bybit futures until that application is approved.
Attackers stole about $1.5 billion in ether from a Bybit cold wallet in February 2025. The FBI attributed the theft to North Korea, and Bybit covered client losses from its own funds. Its Dubai licence, granted in October 2026, also covers only spot trading. According to the Bybit restricted countries list, UK users are limited to spot trading, while US and Canadian residents are blocked.
Pros
- One of the largest perpetual catalogues, with 894 contracts
- Low base fees of 0.02% maker and 0.055% taker
- Stock, commodity and forex perpetuals that trade every day
- Unified account that uses several assets as collateral
Cons
- No futures for US, UK or EEA residents
- Global derivatives platform lacks a major derivatives licence
- Suffered a $1.5 billion hack in February 2025
2. OKX
OKX combines a large global futures market with a full EU derivatives licence held within the group. Around 481 perpetual pairs are listed on the global platform, where BTC-USDT leverage reaches 125x. Regular users pay 0.02% maker and 0.05% taker fees, as detailed in our OKX futures review. CoinGecko puts its share of perpetual volume among major venues at about 15% from January to April 2026, second only to Binance.
A separate entity, OKX Europe Markets Ltd, serves European traders under a MiFID II licence from the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA). It launched X-Perps on April 15, 2026. These futures have a five-year expiry and a funding rate, a regular payment between buyers and sellers that keeps the contract price close to spot. Clients across all 30 EEA countries can trade them with up to 10x leverage, and the lineup now includes major US stocks, gold and oil.
OKX US offers spot trading only to US residents. In February 2025, affiliate Aux Cayes FinTech pleaded guilty and paid more than $504 million for operating an unlicensed money transmitting business that served US customers between 2018 and early 2024. Monthly proof-of-reserves reports compare customer balances with the assets OKX holds.
Pros
- MiFID II-regulated futures across all 30 EEA countries
- Second-largest centralised perpetual market by volume
- Unified account with multi-asset collateral
- Monthly proof of reserves
Cons
- EEA leverage capped at 10x, and USDT is not available to EU users
- No derivatives for US residents
- 2025 guilty plea over serving US customers without a licence
3. Kraken
Kraken has the widest regulated futures coverage in this ranking. It offers perpetuals under the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), under MiFID II in the EU, and under the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA) in most other countries. Futures fees start at 0.02% maker and 0.05% taker, per the Kraken fee schedule.
Kraken launched US perpetual futures for eligible clients on June 15, 2026. The contracts trade on Bitnomial, a designated contract market (DCM), which is a US futures exchange registered with the CFTC. Kraken's parent company Payward bought Bitnomial in 2026, and accounts sit with Kraken Derivatives US, a futures commission merchant (FCM). An FCM is a CFTC-registered broker that must hold client margin, the collateral behind each position, apart from its own money. Kraken listed nine coins when the product went live.
EU clients trade through Payward Europe Digital Solutions, a Cyprus investment firm supervised by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC). It has offered perpetual and fixed-maturity contracts since May 2025, with up to 10x leverage for retail clients. Outside the US and EU, Kraken raised maximum leverage to 100x on its BTC and ETH perpetuals. Region-by-region detail is in our Kraken review.
Kraken's parent company, Payward, filed confidentially for a US stock market listing in November 2025 but paused its plans in March 2026 as crypto prices and trading volumes fell. Reports in September said the listing may not happen before the second quarter of 2027. Until it lists, Kraken remains a private company and publishes less financial detail than Coinbase, although it does release regular proof of reserves.
Pros
- CFTC-regulated perpetuals for eligible US traders
- MiFID II-regulated futures for EU traders
- Spot, margin, CME futures and perpetuals in one US account
- Base futures fees of 0.02% maker and 0.05% taker
Cons
- US contract list is short, with nine coins at launch
- EU leverage capped at 10x
- Eligibility checks add steps before the first trade
4. Hyperliquid
Hyperliquid is the leading onchain perpetuals exchange. Trades match and settle on its own blockchain, and users keep USDC collateral in a wallet they control. Base fees are 0.015% maker and 0.045% taker, among the lowest standard rates in this ranking, and our Hyperliquid fees guide explains the volume tiers. Funding is paid every hour, and leverage reaches 40x on bitcoin.
Open interest, the total value of open positions, reached $14.3 billion on September 8, close to its level before the October 2025 crash. HIP-3 lets outside developers launch their own perpetual markets by staking 500,000 HYPE, Hyperliquid's native token. Stock, index and commodity markets built this way passed $4.44 billion in open interest in August.
No regulator supervises Hyperliquid. Its terms bar US persons from the official interface, a rule our guide on Hyperliquid access in the USA sets out in full. EU and UK investor protections do not apply. Its thinly traded markets have faced repeated price-manipulation attacks, including a POPCAT attack in November 2025 that cost the platform's liquidity vault about $4.9 million.
Its share of onchain perpetuals trading is the largest, at about 31.9% of perp DEX volume over a recent 30-day period, according to our Hyperliquid statistics. About 99% of its trading fees go to the Assistance Fund, which buys HYPE on the open market every day. Traders who stake HYPE receive discounts on the base fee rates.
Pros
- Low base fees of 0.015% maker and 0.045% taker
- Funds stay under the user's own wallet keys
- Every trade and forced closure is visible onchain
- Stock and commodity perpetuals through HIP-3
Cons
- No licence and no investor compensation scheme
- Repeated manipulation attacks on small markets
- USDC is the only main collateral asset
5. Binance
Binance remains the largest futures market. It accounted for about 33% of perpetual volume among major venues in early 2026, according to CoinGecko, and lists 799 perpetual contracts. Small BTCUSDT positions qualify for up to 125x leverage. Base fees are 0.02% maker and 0.05% taker, reduced by 10% when paid in BNB. Each contract type is covered in our Binance futures review.
Since January 2026, Binance's global platform has operated under the Abu Dhabi Global Market Financial Services Regulatory Authority (ADGM FSRA). The exchange entity holds approval as a recognised investment exchange for both spot and derivatives trading. Binance.com excludes US residents, and Binance.US offers no perpetuals. UK retail clients cannot trade futures, while EEA services ended on July 1, 2026. These restrictions appear on the Binance restricted countries page.
Attackers moved about $6.3 billion from Binance wallets across ten blockchains in roughly 20 minutes on October 29, 2026. About $3 billion was frozen. Binance paused deposits and withdrawals during its investigation, then reopened withdrawals on November 1. By November 2, it said it had covered about 95% of the loss.
Binance replaced stolen assets using its user protection fund, corporate treasury and part of its futures insurance fund. The insurance fund covers shortfalls when a losing position is forcibly closed and the exchange cannot recover the full amount. Reducing that fund increases the chance of auto-deleveraging, which forcibly reduces profitable positions to cover those losses.
Pros
- Largest perpetual market by trading volume
- 799 perpetual contracts, including many stock and metal perpetuals
- Global platform authorised by ADGM FSRA
- 10% fee discount when paying in BNB
Cons
- $6.3 billion hack on October 29, 2026, with a three-day withdrawal pause
- Part of the futures insurance fund was used to cover the hack
- Not available in the US, EEA or to UK retail traders
6. Coinbase
Coinbase is the simplest regulated starting point for US traders. Coinbase Financial Markets began offering CFTC-regulated perpetual-style futures on bitcoin and ether in July 2025 through its US futures exchange, Coinbase Derivatives. With fees from 0.02% and leverage up to 10x, these contracts use funding rates but expire after five years. Nano contracts represent small amounts of each coin, such as 0.01 BTC. Nano XRP and SOL contracts followed in August 2025.
CFTC staff cleared Coinbase Financial Markets on May 29, 2026, to connect US clients to perpetuals on Deribit. Coinbase bought the Dubai-based derivatives exchange in 2025, and the CFTC treats its contracts as foreign futures. Access went first to institutional clients. No date has been given for retail access.
In Europe, clients use Coinbase Financial Services Europe, a MiFID II firm licensed by CySEC. It launched futures in 26 European countries on March 9, 2026, including perpetual-style contracts with hourly funding and up to 10x leverage.
Coinbase Advanced serves other regions through the BMA-regulated Coinbase International Exchange. Since March 20, 2026, that platform has offered stock perpetuals on the seven largest US technology companies and two index funds. Leverage reaches 10x on individual stocks and 20x on the funds.
The Nasdaq-listed company publishes audited financial statements. In May 2025, Coinbase disclosed that criminals had bribed overseas support agents to copy customer data on 69,461 people. No passwords, private keys or funds were exposed. Coinbase estimated costs of $180 million to $400 million, including refunds to scammed customers. Our Coinbase review compares fees and account types.
Pros
- CFTC-regulated futures for US retail traders
- MiFID II-regulated futures in 26 European countries
- Stock and index fund perpetuals for non-US traders
- Publicly listed company with audited accounts
Cons
- Shorter contract list and lower leverage than offshore venues
- US perpetual-style contracts carry a five-year expiry
- May 2025 insider breach exposed customer personal data
Who Regulates Crypto Futures in Each Region?
The regulator supervising the futures product determines your legal access and protections. An exchange's spot licence may sit alongside a separate derivatives licence, or no derivatives licence at all.
United States: CFTC
Before 2026, US traders were limited to dated crypto futures on venues such as CME, the largest US futures exchange, and Coinbase's five-year perpetual-style contracts introduced in July 2025. The CFTC approved Kalshi's BTCPERP contract on May 29, 2026, making it the first true perpetual listed on a US exchange. A policy statement that day required other perpetuals to undergo CFTC review case by case.
Coinbase received its CFTC staff letter on the same date, followed by Kraken's US perpetuals launch in June. Leverage remains far below offshore levels, at 10x on Coinbase and near 5.7x for Kalshi's bitcoin perpetual at launch.
CME Group sued the CFTC in June, arguing that perpetuals are swaps requiring stricter rules. On October 5, the CFTC opened consultation on a framework for leveraged retail crypto trading. The offshore exchanges in this ranking do not accept US residents.
European Union and EEA: MiFID II
MiCA, the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, licenses crypto-asset service providers for spot trading, custody and related services. Futures count as financial instruments and require an additional investment firm licence under MiFID II. The MiCA transition period ended on July 1, 2026, after which unlicensed exchanges must stop serving EU residents. Our list of MiCA-licensed exchanges identifies those that passed.
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) said on February 24, 2026, that products marketed as perpetual futures are likely contracts for difference (CFDs) under EU product rules. CFDs pay the difference in an asset's price without conferring ownership. Retail crypto CFDs are subject to a 2:1 leverage cap, along with negative balance protection and standard risk warnings.
Exchange-traded futures on licensed platforms currently offer up to 10x leverage. Kraken provides true perpetuals. OKX and Coinbase instead use five-year contracts with funding rates. Bybit EU remains limited to spot trading pending its MiFID II application, while Binance suspended EEA services on July 1, 2026.
United Kingdom: FCA
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has prohibited the sale of crypto derivatives to retail clients since January 2021. It opened retail access to crypto exchange-traded notes in October 2025 but confirmed that the derivatives ban remains in place. UK retail traders can access spot markets on licensed platforms. None of the exchanges ranked here may sell them perpetuals.
Asia and the Middle East
Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) published its framework for perpetual contracts on February 11, 2026, permitting licensed platforms to offer them only to professional investors.
In the UAE, ADGM FSRA authorises Binance's global derivatives platform. Dubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) requires separate permission for derivatives, which Bybit does not yet hold.
Offshore and Onchain Venues
Bybit and OKX operate their global derivatives platforms offshore. Traders rely on each exchange's reserves, insurance fund and published proof of reserves, with no national compensation scheme covering losses if the exchange fails.
Hyperliquid has no licensed operator. Its risks lie with the smart contracts, the programs that run the exchange, and the validators operating its blockchain.
What Are Crypto Perpetual Futures?
A perpetual future tracks an asset's price without an expiry date. Funding payments between opposing traders keep its price close to spot, usually at hourly or eight-hour intervals. When a perp trades above spot, longs pay shorts. Current levels appear on the crypto funding rates tracker, and our guide to perpetual and spot trading compares the two products.
The idea predates crypto. Economist Robert Shiller proposed perpetual claims in 1993, and BitMEX launched the first crypto perpetual in 2016. Ten years after creating the product, BitMEX closed on September 23, 2026.
Margin backs each position. If losses push that collateral below the maintenance level, the exchange liquidates the trade. Our crypto liquidations tracker shows live liquidation totals.
Crypto Futures Trends Shaping the Market
Changes in product range, security and market structure affect which contracts traders can access and the risks they carry.
TradFi Perpetuals Become a Core Product
Perpetuals now cover stocks and indexes as well as gold, silver, oil and currency pairs. Monthly TradFi perpetual volume climbed from $52 billion in January 2026 to $268 billion in June. According to TokenInsight data, these contracts exceeded 15% of total derivatives volume on several peak days. Weekend stock market closures create a risk of price jumps when trading resumes on Monday.
Exchange Security Is Now a Futures Risk
Futures venues suffered the two largest hacks of 2026. Bitget lost about $388 million on September 24, which CertiK ranked as the third quarter's largest incident. The $6.3 billion Binance theft five weeks later became the largest crypto hack on record. Both exchanges covered losses, but clients could not withdraw funds during the pauses.
Onchain Venues Hold a Larger Share
Decentralised perpetual exchange volume rose from 3% of centralised perpetual volume in January 2025 to 13% that December, according to the same CoinGecko report. By April 2026, the ratio had fallen to 10%, although onchain venues held 13.5% of open interest. The main platforms are compared in our perp DEX ranking.
Lessons From the October 10 Crash
About $19 billion in leveraged positions were liquidated on October 10, 2025, the largest single-day liquidation event in crypto history. Many exchanges closed profitable positions through auto-deleveraging. Some collateral tokens also traded far below fair value on individual venues. Our October 10 crash analysis examines the rule changes that followed.
How to Choose a Crypto Futures Exchange
Before depositing margin, check the platform's legal coverage, costs and risk controls.
- Check the regulator for the futures product: Identify the entity serving your country and confirm which regulator supervises its derivatives.
- Compare leverage tiers: Read the risk tier table for your chosen contract. Maximum leverage is available only on the smallest positions.
- Calculate the full cost: Include maker and taker fees, funding payments and any liquidation fee. Our guide to maker and taker fees explains how order type affects the price.
- Read the liquidation and auto-deleveraging rules: Review the insurance fund balance and the exchange's method for ranking positions for auto-deleveraging. A large, published fund reduces the chance of a profitable position being closed early.
- Check the collateral currency: Licensed platforms do not offer USDT to EU users, who usually post USDC or euros instead. Our analysis of the safest stablecoin compares the main options.
- Keep only active margin on the exchange: Withdraw money that is not needed for open positions. Withdrawals can remain paused for days even when an exchange covers losses.
USDT-Margined vs Coin-Margined Contracts
USDT-margined and USDC-margined contracts use stablecoins for margin and to settle profit and loss. Most traders prefer these linear contracts because their margin retains its dollar value as the underlying coin's price changes.
Inverse, or coin-margined, contracts use the coin itself as collateral and pay profit and loss in that coin. This lets bitcoin holders hedge without selling. The category is shrinking, but our ranking of inverse perpetual exchanges lists platforms that still offer it.
Final Thoughts
Where you live should determine your first choice of futures exchange. Traders outside the US, UK and EEA have the most options, with Bybit offering the best balance of contract range, fees and tools for that group. OKX and Binance provide deep global markets, though Binance's October hack gives traders a recent reason for caution.
Licensed options now available to US and EU traders did not exist a year ago. Kraken leads this group through its CFTC and MiFID II coverage, while OKX and Coinbase offer licensed EU futures with five-year expiries. Leverage on these licensed products is capped at 10x in the EU and on Coinbase in the US.
For self-custody trading, Hyperliquid remains the main choice thanks to low fees and full onchain records, but it has no regulator behind it. Keeping only active margin on any exchange in this ranking limits the damage a hack or withdrawal pause can cause.
Our Methodology
Between October and early November 2026, we examined each exchange's fee schedule and contract list, checked its licence records and reviewed its incident history. We scored the platforms against six criteria.
- Regulatory Cover: The regulator supervising futures in the US, EU and other regions, verified against official registers and company filings.
- Order Book Depth and Volume: Perpetual volume share and open interest, plus depth on the most traded contracts.
- Costs: Base maker and taker fees, funding intervals and native-token discounts.
- Risk Controls: Leverage tiers and liquidation rules, along with insurance fund disclosure and auto-deleveraging policies.
- Security Record: Hacks, withdrawal pauses and the way each exchange covered client losses.
- Product Range: Crypto, stock, commodity and inverse contracts, plus account tools such as multi-asset collateral.
Bitget was excluded after its $388 million hack in September 2026, and BitMEX was removed following its closure. We also reviewed MEXC and BloFin, but neither made the top six because neither holds a licence from a major derivatives regulator. Kalshi is included in the regulation section rather than the ranking because its perpetual lineup covers few coins at low leverage.
