AvaTrade vs dYdX: Fees, Security, Features & Which to Choose (2025)

Trying to choose between AvaTrade and dYdX This side-by-side comparison reveals total cost (fees + spreads), security & licenses, coins/derivatives, deposits/withdrawals, and app quality. In 2 minutes you’ll see who wins for beginners, active traders, and long-term holders. Clear pros/cons, a quick verdict, and safe links to get started.

Last updated on September 5, 2025

AvaTrade

dYdX

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Available Countries

United States

Europe

Yes

Latin America

Yes

India

Yes

China

Yes

Canada

United Kingdom

Yes

United States

Yes

Europe

Yes

Latin America

Yes

India

China

Canada

United Kingdom

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AvaTrade is ideal if:

Offers a diverse suite of trading tools—including MetaTrader 4/5, AvaOptions, autocopy/social platforms, and risk-protection features tailored to different strategies.
Supports both manual and automated trading across multiple asset types with robust regulatory coverage for enhanced confidence.
Includes a rich, beginner-friendly education and demo ecosystem—webinars, guides, academy materials, and risk-free practice to develop your skills.

dYdX is ideal if:

You thrive on decentralized control: If you value true self-custody and want to trade without intermediaries, dYdX delivers that fully trustless experience through its app-chain model.
You demand professional-grade derivatives: Ideal for experienced traders seeking advanced tools (perpetuals, deep liquidity, order books) wrapped in a sleek, CEX-like interface.
You prioritize scalability and speed: Built on its own Cosmos-based Layer 1 chain, dYdX offers lightning-fast execution and high throughput—perfect for active or algorithmic trading.

AvaTrade isn’t ideal if:

Might not suit traders seeking low-cost entry or maximum transparency, as some terms and fees require account registration to view and account minimums are moderate.
Could be limiting if you prioritize real cryptocurrency ownership or staking, since AvaTrade offers only CFDs rather than holding actual digital assets.
May frustrate users needing advanced order types or ultra-sleek interface, due to occasional technical sluggishness and limited risk-control tools.

dYdX isn’t ideal if:

You want a huge crypto selection: If you prefer platforms with hundreds or thousands of assets, dYdX’s limited range (focused on derivatives and select tokens) might feel restrictive.
You’re new to DeFi or prefer full KYC onboarding: If you expect a traditional, identity-verified trading experience, dYdX’s wallet-only, non-custodial flow may seem unfamiliar or cumbersome.
You need fiat deposits or simple spot-only trades: If your strategy relies on using bank transfers or just spot trading with fiat, dYdX’s focus on crypto leverage/perpetuals may not suit your needs.

Fees & Total Costs

Spot Maker/Take

AvaTrade does not use a maker/taker pricing model for spot trading. Instead, fees are embedded into fixed spreads that apply uniformly, regardless of trade volume or order type.

dYdX employs a tiered maker/taker fee model—starting at around 0.02% for makers and 0.05% for takers for lower trading volumes, and reducing significantly (even resulting in rebates for makers) as your 30-day volume and market share increase; no explicit discount is tied to holding the native token anymore.

Futures/Derivatives

AvaTrade offers derivatives primarily via CFDs and options rather than traditional futures. There’s no separate maker/taker structure; funding or overnight costs are included as swap or rollover rates applied per position, varying by asset and holding period.

Perpetual futures follow a similar tiered structure, with maker fees beginning around 0.01% and taker around 0.05%, and both shrinking as volume grows; funding rates are variable and pair-specific, aligning positions’ pricing periodically without fixed values.

Average Spreads on Liquid Pairs

AvaTrade incorporates trading costs into fixed spreads and, while precise cryptocurrency pair spreads like BTC/USDT or ETH/USDT aren’t publicly listed, expect competitive layering similar to their forex instruments—though exact values require checking the live instrument specifications.

dYdX operates with tight spreads for highly traded perpetual pairs like BTC/USDT and ETH/USDT thanks to deep liquidity on its order book structure—typically narrower than what’s common on many centralized platforms.

Fiat Deposits & Withdrawals

AvaTrade supports credit/debit cards, bank transfers, and e-wallets depending on region, with no direct platform fees for deposits or withdrawals. Processing ranges from instant for cards to one or two business days for withdrawals, with bank transfer timings varying by method and location.

Fiat on-ramps are not provided directly—users must bring crypto in via bridges (e.g., Skip Go Fast, IBC or via Coinbase for USDC); there are no platform fees, but third-party or network fees may apply, and processing can range from seconds to a few minutes depending on method.

On-chain Withdrawals

AvaTrade does not support withdrawals of actual cryptocurrencies on-chain. As crypto is traded via CFDs, you cannot request blockchain withdrawal and thus no related network fee structure applies.

Crypto withdrawals incur only network or bridge fees—fees vary dynamically by network (e.g., Ethereum, Cosmos, Solana)—and are not fixed; the platform itself doesn’t add extra charges beyond those required for settlement.

Hidden Costs

Additional costs may include currency conversion fees (typically around 0.5%) when transactions involve non-base currencies, and inactivity charges—around some amount per quarter after inactivity, escalating to a larger annual administration fee after a year. There are no explicit express-KYC surcharges noted.

There are essentially no hidden fees—there’s no inactivity charge, no extra cost for expedited KYC (since KYC is minimal), and currency conversions occur only through normal network swaps without opaque surcharges.

Real-World Cost Example: “€500 BTC

If you bought €500 of BTC via AvaTrade, the cost would be embedded in the spread applied at execution. No separate commission is charged, but a conversion fee applies if your account base differs from EUR. Since crypto can’t be withdrawn, there’s no blockchain withdrawal cost—but fully withdrawing fiat proceeds later would follow standard withdrawal rules and method-dependent timing.

For a €500 BTC purchase, your cost comprises a small taker fee (around 0.05%), a tight spread inherent to the order book, and then if you withdraw, only the network fee on the chain—there’s no layered fee structure or hidden markup adding to the total.

Crypto Offering & Trading Features

Number of Coins & Pairs

AvaTrade offers approximately 18 cryptocurrency CFDs, covering major assets like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin, Solana, Dogecoin, EOS, NEO, and others—though exact top-20-by-volume specifics aren’t detailed on its site, the selection spans the most traded digital assets.

dYdX offers over 200 perpetual markets on its Chain, spanning the most traded assets (like BTC-USD, ETH-USD, SOL-USD) as well as emerging tokens; the top 20 by volume include the largest-cap cryptocurrencies and most liquid pairs across derivatives.

Product Range

AvaTrade specializes in CFD-based crypto trading with leveraged exposure; it lacks true spot, perpetual, crypto ETFs, staking, or lending—but does include vanilla options (via AvaOptions), copy trading capabilities (AvaSocial, DupliTrade), and automated strategy support through third-party integrations.

dYdX currently offers perpetual derivatives and margin trading, with no spot, options, ETFs, staking/earn, loans, copy trading, grid bots, or automated DCA — though future versions (v4+) are preparing to expand back into spot and other synthetic offerings.

Liquidity

While AvaTrade doesn’t publish direct 24-hour volume or order book depth metrics, being a regulated CFD broker, liquidity is internally managed and generally sufficient for execution across its platforms, though real-time depth and volume transparency is limited.

The platform maintains strong 24-hour trading volume often exceeding several hundred million dollars, with deep order books for BTC-USD and ETH-USD delivering consistent market depth and low slippage.

Tools

AvaTrade supports limit, stop, and OCO order types within platforms like MT4/MT5 and WebTrader, includes alert capabilities and advanced charting via MetaTrader environments; while there’s no native TradingView, API access and third-party automation tools (via platforms like DupliTrade and Capitalise.ai) offer programmable trading workflows.

Traders benefit from advanced order options (limit, market, stop-loss/take-profit), real-time charting with native TradingView support, API and WebSocket access for automation, though there’s no built-in alerts panel yet.

Geographic Restrictions by Product

Certain products—like crypto CFDs and options—are unavailable to users in select jurisdictions due to regulatory constraints, such as the U.S. and Canada, where CFD offerings are restricted or prohibited, limiting full product access depending on your location.

Product availability varies by region — for example, derivatives may be restricted or disabled in certain jurisdictions like the U.S., while other global areas generally have full access to perpetual trading on dYdX Chain.

Innovation

AvaTrade does not offer launchpad or launchpool features, nor any staking or flexible/locked “earn” programs. Its innovative edge instead lies in blending social copy-trading, options, and multi-platform automation for speculative CFD strategies rather than token incubation or yield services.

dYdX’s ‘Launchable’ and MegaVault systems allow community-driven, instant market creation and liquidity pooling, while staking rewards and other incentives are dynamically distributed, without fixed earn or lock-up schemes.

Security, Regulation & Custody

Operating Entity & Jurisdiction

AvaTrade operates under multiple legal entities across the globe, with its European arm (Ava Trade EU Ltd) based in Dublin, Ireland, alongside subsidiaries in Australia, Japan, South Africa, the UAE, Israel, and the British Virgin Islands—each covering regional operations and oversight.

dYdX is operated by dYdX Operations Services Ltd., a Cayman Islands-based company managing the front end and indexing services, and governance itself is transitioning to a Cayman Islands Foundation Company for stronger legal structure and decentralization.

Licenses/Registration

The broker holds licenses or registrations such as MiFID compliance in the EU, ASIC in Australia, FSA in Japan, FSCA in South Africa, FSRA in ADGM (UAE), ISA in Israel, and FSC in BVI, ensuring they meet regional regulatory requirements for transparent and safe operations.

The platform doesn’t hold traditional financial licenses like VASP but has voluntarily released a MiCA-aligned whitepaper detailing its token governance, risk frameworks, and legal positioning under the EU regulatory regime.

Custody

Client funds are held in segregated accounts separate from company capital, primarily via trusted financial institutions; there’s no public proof-of-reserves audit or explicit cold-reserve percentage disclosed.

Users retain full custody due to the non-custodial, smart-contract model; funds are verifiable on-chain in real time (transparent Proof of Reserves), and the protocol publishes open-source audits—there’s no centralized cold-reserve custody by dYdX itself.

Insurance & Protection Funds

There’s no direct mention of an insurance program or protection fund for custody events; client protection instead relies on fund segregation and adherence to local investor protection frameworks where applicable.

dYdX does not maintain insurance or protection funds like centralized platforms—liquid funds rely on cryptographic guarantees and community governance rather than third-party insurance.

Incident History

AvaTrade has faced regulatory notices and penalties, such as fines in Israel and Belgium for compliance issues, but no major public hacks or fund losses have been reported; operational continuity has generally remained stable.

Since its launch, dYdX has not experienced any major hacks, freezes, or regulatory penalties—its decentralized chain operations and open-source design have helped avoid such incidents.

Risk Controls

Security measures include two-factor authentication across platforms, negative balance protection, innovative tools like AvaProtect to refund losses on selected trades, although granular API permissions or IP whitelisting are not highlighted.

As a non-custodial DeFi platform, security hinges on your wallet; dYdX’s interface supports API and WebSocket connectivity but does not offer traditional controls like 2FA or sub-account whitelists because private key and wallet security remain user-managed.

Transparency

AvaTrade publishes downloadable legal and disclosure documents, including regulatory and risk materials, but does not offer real-time wallet audits, monthly reserve reports, or explicit service-level agreements (SLAs) in public view.

The protocol maintains high transparency—open-source code, public chain data, on-chain governance/fund flows, and MiCA-aligned documentation provide clear accountability, though there’s no direct monthly performance report format or formal SLA.

Deposits, Withdrawals, KYC & Support

Fiat Deposit Methods

AvaTrade accepts deposits via bank wire, credit/debit cards (Visa, Mastercard), and e-wallets like Skrill, Neteller, and WebMoney depending on location, with a typical minimum of $100 (higher by wire in some regions); card deposits are instant (first one may take a day for verification), e-wallets clear within 24 hours, and wire transfers take around 3–10 business days.

dYdX does not support direct fiat deposits; instead, users bridge in crypto via Skip Go Fast, Skip Go regular, or Coinbase/Noble, with instant to few-minute settlement depending on method.

Supported Fiat Currencies & Conversion

dYdX does not support direct fiat deposits; instead, users bridge in crypto via Skip Go Fast, Skip Go regular, or Coinbase/Noble, with instant to few-minute settlement depending on method.

KYC (Verification Levels)

Users can start with a demo account needing no ID, but to deposit and trade with real funds full KYC—including ID and proof of address—is required; there’s effectively no tiered limit structure, as full verification is mandatory for funding and withdrawals.

dYdX is fully non-custodial and does not require any KYC levels—there is no basic or advanced KYC, and therefore no user limits tied to identity verification.

Withdrawals

Withdrawals must follow the method used for deposit (first repay deposit via same method), with no set minimum; card and e-wallet withdrawals take 24–48 hours post-approval, while wire transfers can take up to 10 business days; crypto network options like TRC20/ERC20 aren’t offered since crypto isn’t withdrawable on-chain.

Withdrawals are subject to network-specific rules—USDC via Noble has default rate limits (e.g., up to 1% of TVL per hour), supported chain options vary and times range from seconds to minutes depending on the route.

Customer Support

AvaTrade provides support via live chat, email, and a robust online help center; while not always explicitly labeled, withdrawal and deposit FAQs indicate responses typically come within hours to a business day, backed by extensive documentation and guides.

dYdX provides in-app live chat powered by ACX, documentation-rich help center and community forums, aiming response times of 1–2 hours via opening help tickets and growing self-service tools continuously.

Languages & Localization

The platform and support are localized for multiple languages—including native Spanish users—with account interfaces showing balances in €, and region-specific legal entities ensuring compliance with local regulators and jurisdictional requirements.

The platform primarily supports English and Turkish for now, with localization and additional languages planned later; fiat values are not directly displayed in euros since there’s no native fiat handling built in.

App Quality & Stability

AvaTradeGo (mobile app) is designed for stability and regular platform updates, delivering a smooth trading experience with few reported crashes; while precise crash-rate figures aren’t published, user feedback and update logs reflect consistent performance improvements.

The interface is robust and designed to feel like a centralized exchange in performance and UX—recent updates and seamless deposit/withdrawal UX suggest solid stability with minimal crashes reported.

Experience, Performance & Ecosystem

UX/UI

AvaTrade provides a smooth onboarding experience—its WebTrader offers a clean, intuitive interface that’s ideal for beginners, while API-integrated platforms like MT4/MT5 and AvaFutures cater to more experienced users seeking richer functionality.

dYdX offers a dual-mode interface—Default Mode provides a simplified, intuitive layout ideal for newcomers exploring perpetuals, while Pro Mode unlocks advanced UI features and full functionality akin to the web platform, allowing users to grow into the system at their own pace.

Performance

Trading execution is generally fast thanks to robust global infrastructure, though during extreme volatility some slippage or requotes may occur; KYC processing remains steady, with no notable delays even during high demand periods.

Built on its own low-latency Cosmos-based chain, dYdX delivers fast order execution and handles high trade throughput smoothly; while past infrastructure bottlenecks during extreme volatility prompted upgrades, there’s no user-facing KYC queuing since KYC isn’t part of the flow.

Education

Ava Academy offers tiered educational material spanning video lessons, webinars, and articles for all skill levels, accompanied by an unlimited-time demo account—many educational resources are fully available in Spanish.

dYdX has launched a user-friendly trading guide through its Learning Hub to help onboard new traders—from wallet connection to placing orders—and while there’s no fully featured simulator or Spanish-specific academy yet, the guides are simple and approachable.

Community

While AvaTrade supports social trading through platforms like AvaSocial and DupliTrade, it does not maintain official public forums or Discord/Telegram channels for general community engagement; referral incentives exist, though details vary by region.

dYdX fosters a vibrant ecosystem with active community forums, Discord channels, and a structured referral/affiliate system offering trading incentives and rewards for community engagement learners and contributors.

Integrations

AvaTrade does not offer native TradingView integration, but it connects with external automation tools (e.g., DupliTrade, Capitalise.ai); there’s no explicit support for tax/portfolio tracking or accounting integrations within the platform.

The platform features seamless TradingView-powered charting, open APIs for external bot and automation support, and compatibility with data tools via community resources, though no built-in tax or accounting modules exist.

Who Each One Is Best For

AvaTrade suits beginners and mid-level traders who value educational depth, regulated environments, and flexible platform options; it’s less ideal for algo specialists seeking ultra-low latency connectivity or traders who demand built-in community forums or tax management features.

dYdX is perfect for traders comfortable with DeFi and eager for fast, non-custodial perpetual trading, while those unfamiliar with blockchain UI or preferring guided spot experiences might find the learning curve and interface options less suitable.