Aster vs Hyperliquid (2026): Fees, Open Interest, Volume

Aster vs Hyperliquid: open interest, fees and volume

Data as of 11 Oct 2026, from DefiLlama.

Maker means a limit order resting on the book. Taker means an order that fills straight away.

Open interest is the total value of positions open right now, and it’s the quickest sign of depth. Hyperliquid has about 5.8 times more, which you’d expect to feel in your fills on anything beyond small size.

Hyperliquid’s perps also took about 16 times more in fees over 30 days. That’s what traders paid before the exchange splits it, so it isn’t revenue: DefiLlama counts $66.3M of Hyperliquid’s as the protocol’s own cut. People don’t pay $81M a month to trade somewhere with nobody on the other side.

Volume is the weakest guide to depth. Aster did about a quarter of Hyperliquid’s volume over the week, a much smaller gap than the fees show. Its 599 pairs flatter it too, since that counts both USDT and USD1 pairs.

One number surprised me. tradeXYZ, a HIP-3 exchange listing stock perps on Hyperliquid’s chain, took $5.48M in fees over the same 30 days. That’s more than all of Aster’s perps. (HIP-3 lets anyone who stakes 500,000 HYPE list their own perp markets.)

Is Aster’s trading volume real?

Divide fees by volume and the gap is obvious. Over the 7 days to 11 October, Hyperliquid’s traders paid about $370 in fees per $1M traded, and Aster’s about $87. If every Aster trade had a taker paying the posted 0.04%, the taker side alone would come to $400 per $1M.

A few things pull Aster’s figure down. Since 2 February 2026 its maker fee is 0% on every VIP tier, so resting orders add volume but pay nothing. Bigger traders get VIP taker discounts, and stock and RWA pairs charge only 0.0125%.

Campaigns push volume too. Aster’s Grid Trading 2.0 (28 September to 25 October 2026) pays up to 140,000 ASTER, split by each grid bot’s share of volume on selected USD1 pairs. It’s a normal promo, but it’s built to create turnover.

DefiLlama has pulled Aster’s numbers once. In October 2025 it delisted Aster’s perp volume after it tracked Binance’s almost one to one. It relisted it about two weeks later at Aster’s request, with DefiLlama’s founder saying the numbers still couldn’t be verified. It now also shows a “normalized” volume that strips out what it counts as wash or non-economic trading.

Headline volume is the easiest number to inflate with zero-fee orders and campaigns. Open interest and fees are much harder to move, so that’s what I look at.

Fees on a $10,000 trade

Hyperliquid’s full schedule is in its fee docs if you want to check your tier.

Shield Mode still shows its launch zero-fee event with no end date, so check in the app which pricing applies. Outside that event it charges either 15% to 20% of profit on winning trades (nothing on losing trades) or a flat 0.03% of notional to open and to close. If you expect to win big, the flat fee is usually cheaper.

That $1 taker saving is noise. One tick of extra spread or a bit of slippage on a thinner book costs more, so put the same order into both and compare live quotes. For limit orders, though, the 0% maker fee is a real saving.

Who can use Aster and Hyperliquid

Check this before you deposit anything. The two lists aren’t the same.

Aster: its terms and conditions bar anyone who lives in, is located in or is incorporated in the United States, Canada, China, Russia, Ukraine, Iran, North Korea and several other countries, plus anywhere under comprehensive sanctions. Check the full list there.

Hyperliquid: its terms bar anyone living in, located in or incorporated in the US or Ontario, Canada, anyone in a sanctioned jurisdiction, and citizens of restricted territories wherever they live.

Using a VPN to get round either set of terms breaks them and puts your funds at risk of being frozen. If you’re on a list, skip that venue.

What each exchange offers in 2026

HIP-4 is Hyperliquid’s take on prediction markets: yes-or-no outcome contracts on the same order book. They’re live but tiny, about $50,000 in fees over 30 days. If prediction markets are the draw, our Kalshi on Solana walkthrough covers a route that never leaves Solana.

If you used Aster’s old Simple mode, it’s gone. Trading now splits into Perpetuals, Shield Mode, 1001x, Spot and Predictions. And if you remember 50x on Hyperliquid, BTC tops out at 40x these days.

Leverage and liquidations: 1001x vs 40x

At 1001x your margin is about 0.1% of the position. A 0.1% move against you wipes it out, and liquidation comes before that. BTC moves 0.1% in seconds on a quiet day. At 1001x you’re basically buying a lottery ticket, and I wouldn’t go near it with money I cared about.

On Hyperliquid, BTC drops from 40x to 20x on positions over $150M. At 40x a 2.5% move takes your whole margin, which is still plenty of rope.

This is where Aster’s privacy pitch matters. On Hyperliquid every position sits on-chain, so anyone can see where a big one gets liquidated. Aster’s launch announcement sells privacy as the default, but its docs treat Account Privacy as a switch. When it’s on, orders are encrypted and balances and positions are hidden, so nobody can map your liquidation price and push toward it. Check it’s on before you rely on it. The trade-off: you can’t see anyone else’s positions either, and plenty of Hyperliquid traders use that every day.

If extreme leverage on Hyperliquid prices is what you’re after, Papertrade settles 1000x positions against a house pool at Hyperliquid’s mid price, with its own catch on winnings.

Is Aster better than Hyperliquid? My pick by trader type

For most traders, no. Here’s how I’d split it:

• Bigger or frequent market orders: Hyperliquid. The depth gap shows up in your fills, and on any real size that matters more than a $1 fee saving.
• Limit-order traders watching fees: Aster’s 0% maker fee is a real edge if you’re allowed to use it. Stick to the main pairs, where the book is thickest.
• You want privacy or 1001x: Aster, through Shield Mode or 1001x mode. Size it like money you can lose in one candle.
• Stock perps: both have them. Hyperliquid’s run on HIP-3 markets like tradeXYZ; Aster’s stock and RWA pairs charge 0.0125% taker.
• Prediction markets: HIP-4 is tiny so far and Aster Predictions only launched in June, so I wouldn’t pick either venue for that alone.

How to deposit to Aster or Hyperliquid from Solana

Aster takes deposits from Solana directly, onto Aster Chain.

1. Open Aster, connect your Solana wallet and go to Deposit.
2. Pick Solana as the network. USDC is accepted from Solana, along with USDT, SOL, ETH and JLP, but USDC only counts as margin in Multi-Asset Mode. In Single-Asset Mode only USDT and USD1 count, so either switch Multi-Asset Mode on or swap USDC to USDT on Jupiter before you send.
3. Send a small test first. Deposits arrive in 1 to 5 minutes, with no deposit fee on Aster Chain.
4. Once it lands, send the rest.

That covers the main order book and Shield Mode. The separate 1001x mode needs funds on BNB Chain or Arbitrum.

Hyperliquid doesn’t take USDC from Solana. If you connect a wallet, the USDC option is USDC on Arbitrum. Email-login accounts get a deposit address that also takes USDC on Ethereum, Base or Polygon.

1. Move USDC from Solana to an EVM wallet you control on Arbitrum, and keep a little ETH there for gas. Backpack gives you an Arbitrum address next to your Solana one, or use MetaMask.
2. Connect that wallet in Hyperliquid’s app (check the address bar reads exactly app.hyperliquid.xyz) and deposit the USDC.
3. Keep every deposit above 5 USDC. Hyperliquid’s docs say amounts under 5 USDC sent to its Arbitrum bridge are never credited.
4. Test with a small amount, then send the rest.

Holding SOL instead? Hyperliquid’s deposit window takes SOL straight from Solana, then you sell it for USDC on its spot market, paying a spot fee and the spread. Send at least 0.12 SOL, because anything smaller is lost. Never send USDC to that Solana address: it won’t be credited.

HYPE and ASTER: where the fees go

Hyperliquid’s fees go to the HLP vault, the assistance fund and HIP-3 market deployers. The assistance fund turns fees into HYPE, which is burned.

Since 17 June 2026, 99% of Aster’s daily fees buy back ASTER for veASTER holders (people who stake ASTER), and the same amount is burned from reserve every two weeks until supply falls from 8 billion to 3 billion. 99% sounds huge, but 99% of a small pot is still a small pot.

Blocked from Aster or don’t want to bridge?

Jupiter Perps and Pacifica both run on Solana, so there’s no bridge and no extra chain to manage. Our Solana perp DEX comparison lines up their fees and depth, and our perps hub lists every venue we cover.

FAQ

What chain is Aster DEX on?

Aster Chain, its own privacy L1, which takes deposits straight from Solana, BNB Chain, Ethereum and Arbitrum. Hyperliquid runs its own L1.

Does Aster DEX require KYC?

Not as a standard step. Its terms say it may ask for limited identity verification to comply with regulations, and can refuse or limit service if you don’t provide it.

Is there an Aster airdrop claim coming up?

Yes, if you took part in Stage 6 and picked the fully vested option. That claim opens later in 2026 on the airdrop page at asterdex.com (type the address yourself), which shows the exact window. The 50% immediate claim closed on 4 June. Ignore any claim links sent by DM.