5 Excellent DEX Platforms You Probably Don’t Know About
Most cryptocurrency traders still use centralized exchanges such as Binance and Bitfinex as their primary platforms for swapping tokens, but knowledge of the risky nature of such platforms is spreading rapidly.
There’s barely a soul in the cryptocurrency world that wasn’t aware of the stunning collapse of the FTX exchange in late 2022, leading to thousands of the platform’s users being unable to withdraw their digital assets. Some users reported losing tens of thousands of dollars worth of assets, and the ugly episode led to a wave of people embracing decentralized exchanges, which are a much safer alternative.
Although they’re still less popular, DEXs hold a significant advantage over their CEX rivals. Because they’re decentralized, users get to maintain custody of their funds at all times, meaning losses on the scale of what happened at FTX simply aren’t possible. With a CEX, users must first deposit their funds into a company-controlled wallet before they can start trading, meaning their assets are held by someone else, who can restrict access at any time. On the contrary, DEX platforms don’t do this. Instead, users simply connect their crypto wallet to the exchange and trade directly with other users. When they want to swap one asset for another, they send funds to a smart contract which automatically swaps them for another asset. There’s no middleman involved, and no KYC, meaning greater safety and privacy for everyone.
With DEXs, trading is quick, secure and private, and there’s no need to go through the tedious process of creating an account. Simply connect your wallet and trade away. Without further ado, here’s five interesting DEX platforms you have probably never heard of.
dYdX
Although it’s not usually mentioned in top five or top 10 lists of DEX platforms, dYdX is actually one of the biggest decentralized exchange platforms around. It’s also one of the few that allows gasless deposits for new users, when they deposit above a specified amount.
The dYdX platform has collaborated with StarkWare to integrate a Layer-2 scalability engine that reduced its gas fees and trading fees to an absolute minimum. dYdX is based on Ethereum, and its smart contracts enable users to invest in the crypto market’s equivalent of futures and other derivatives.
Perhaps its most interesting feature is perpetual trading, which is a type of contract that has no end date and enables traders to buy or sell a cryptocurrency at any time in the future at a specific price. Perpetuals are designed to mimic as closely as possible the spot value of the base token, and when the user decides to close the contract, settlement takes place in the predetermined cryptocurrency. With dYdX, perpetual markets are offered via StarkWare’s Layer-2 with up to 25x leverage on synthetic assets.
Sitting in a somewhat unique position within Ethereum’s decentralized finance ecosystem, dYdX has slowly but surely grown its user base and is gaining on better-known platforms like Uniswap.
StormGain DEX
Having only launched in March 2023, StormGain DEX is the newest platform on our list and attempts to bring the advantages of centralized exchanges to the world of DEX trading. Readers may recognize the name StormGain, as it’s one of the most popular centralized crypto trading platforms in Europe, known for both its cloud mining services and its solid user ratings.
StormGain DEX offers features including impressive leverage of up to 500x and there is no requirement for the user to deposit funds first, meaning users retain full control of their funds. Users have access to perpetuals, futures and spot trading through the app, which is available on Web, iOS and Android. They can also access features such as staking and cloud mining, with their potential rewards rising the greater their trading volume.
The key advantage of StormGain DEX is that, unlike other decentralized platforms, traders are able to tap the liquidity of the centralized StormGain platform when conducting trades. So, even though their crypto is sent directly to the smart contract each time, the trade itself is opened through StormGain CEX’s liquidity, ensuring minimal slippage and time to execution. It’s a compelling illustration of the benefits of CeDeFi, an emerging field that aims to blend the best parts of traditional finance with DeFi.
Leverj.io
A relatively unknown but exciting DEX platform that supports futures and perpetual contracts, Leverj.io was launched back in 2018. Its main focus is on trading crypto derivatives, and it was created by a team of former Wall Street traders.
Leverj.io offers a maximum leverage of 50x, making it an appealing platform for big money traders. However, the most interesting thing about Leverj.io is its fee structure. It allows users to operate freely on Ethereum without paying any gas fees, which is an extremely rare feature for DEX platforms. In addition, the trading fees are among the lowest we have found, with zero charges on spot trading and futures trading fees at just 0.02% for makers and 0.004% for takers, respectively.
Leverj.io may lack some of the more obscure trading pairs, but it still offers a lot of choice, with its biggest including BTC/DAI, BTC/USDT, DEFI/USDT, ETH/DAI, ETH/USDT and LINK/USDT.
EtherDelta
EtherDelta stands out among the crowded DeFi space on Ethereum for a couple of things. First, it only lists Ethereum and Ethereum-derived assets, so you won’t find any wrapped tokens on here. It relies on smart contracts to facilitate trades directly between makers and takers, making it one of the best examples of directly trading via the blockchain. Users simply connect a wallet to get started, with no verification or account creation required.
The second interesting aspect of EtherDelta is that it’s usually one of the first platforms for newly launched ERC-20 compliant tokens, with many assets listing here long before they appear on other platforms. As such, it’s a must-have for investors who might have missed out on a token’s ICO or IDO, but still want to get in early.
The main disadvantage of EtherDelta is its clunky interface, which makes it a bit tricky to use. For anyone who is new to DEX trading, it can be a bit of a steep learning curve. So newbies might be advised to learn the ropes elsewhere before attempting to use it.
ApolloX
Another platform that operates both a CEX and a DEX, ApolloX specializes in perpetual Ethereum and Bitcoin futures and offers centralized and decentralized access to those markets.
ApolloX DEX is fully decentralized, performing transactions with no intermediary, allowing users to retain full custody of their assets, and one of its advantages is its extremely low gas fees, with zero charges on certain trading pairs. With perpetual futures, ApolloX users can speculate on the price of an asset for as long as they like, with no settlement date.
The unique feature that sets ApolloX apart from the competition is its Hedge Mode, which provides an alternative to the traditional one-way mode of trading. It allows users to hold opposing open positions, be they long or short. Unlike one-way mode, where two different orders cannot work simultaneously unless one is closed, ApolloX’s Hedge Mode allows traders to perform complicated trades such as opening long and short orders through one contract, simultaneously, without closing one over the other.
DEXs Are The Future
The number of new DEXs is growing rapidly, underscoring how they’re rapidly gaining popularity as a safer and more private alternative for crypto traders who want to avoid the risks and scrutiny associated with centralized platforms. DEXs provide other benefits, including lower trading costs and a greater selection of trading pairs too.
Just about every blockchain Layer-1 offers solid DEX platforms for trading crypto, and the teams behind these protocols are constantly updating them with new features, functionality and support for additional blockchains. When it comes to choosing a DEX to trade on, you’ll want to consider things like token availability, trading conditions and fees, leverage and other features that might help you to avoid making mistakes.
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