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

Trying to choose between dYdX and Hitbtc 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 9, 2025

dYdX

Hitbtc

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Available Countries

United States

Europe

Yes

Latin America

Yes

India

Yes

China

Canada

United Kingdom

United States

Yes

Europe

Yes

Latin America

Yes

India

Yes

China

Canada

United Kingdom

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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.

Hitbtc is ideal if:

Sophisticated API-driven tooling Perfect for algorithmic and pro traders leveraging fast REST, WebSocket, or FIX services and advanced order types like scaled or trailing entries
Extensive demo zone and broad pair availability Great for learning or testing strategies without risk, while enjoying access to hundreds of spot, margin, and futures pairs
Robust security and transparency systems Ideal if you value strong safeguards like cold storage, 2FA, session monitoring, and audit-friendly reporting

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.

Hitbtc isn’t ideal if:

Frustration-prone customer support Resolving urgent account or withdrawal issues may take days or longer, leaving critical calls pending
Opaque corporate governance Unclear headquarters, anonymous leadership, and regulation gaps can hinder your confidence and legal recourse
Inactivity-fee risks & asset access issues Long idle periods may lead to unexpected charges or frozen funds without clear notifications

Fees & Total Costs

Spot Maker/Take

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.

HitBTC applies a tiered fee system where initial maker/taker rates decrease with higher 30-day trading volumes, and the highest tiers may even reward maker activity—while holding the native HIT token can further reduce spot and margin trading costs.

Futures/Derivatives

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.

Futures (including perpetuals) follow fixed maker/taker pricing that can drop with volume tiers, and while there’s a funding or liquidation cost element applied per position, no dynamic funding fees like funding rate cycles are noted.

Average Spreads on Liquid Pairs

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.

Spreads on major liquid pairs remain competitive, typically tight due to deep order books and active liquidity, though exact spread sizes aren’t publicly fixed and fluctuate with market conditions.

Fiat Deposits & Withdrawals

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.

HitBTC doesn’t directly support fiat deposits or withdrawals through bank or wire; instead, you must use third-party providers (like credit/debit card services) to buy crypto, which incurs third-party fees and varies in speed depending on provider.

On-chain Withdrawals

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.

Withdrawal costs are adjusted dynamically based on each network’s conditions—this means fees adapt in real time depending on blockchain traffic rather than being a fixed flat fee.

Hidden Costs

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.

While no explicit fees for inactivity, KYC acceleration, or base currency conversion are listed, indirect costs may arise through third-party fiat services, prolonged KYC delays, or transaction spread during conversions.

Real-World Cost Example: “€500 BTC

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.

If you purchase €500 worth of BTC via a credit card provider, you’d incur that provider’s fee (often a few percent), face the execution spread on BTC, and then pay a dynamic network withdrawal cost when moving BTC off-platform—creating a bundled cost beyond a simple fee.

Crypto Offering & Trading Features

Number of Coins & Pairs

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.

HitBTC hosts between roughly 300 to over 500 cryptocurrencies and hundreds—likely between 500 to 2,300—trading pairs, while the top 20 by volume typically includes heavy-hitters like BTC/USDT, ETH/USDT, ADA/USDT, SOL/USDT and AAVE/USDT.

Product Range

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.

HitBTC supports spot, margin, and perpetual futures trading, along with staking functionality; it does not offer options, crypto ETFs, copy trading, or automatic DCA tools.

Liquidity

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.

The exchange processes substantial 24-hour trading volume—often several hundred million dollars—and offers solid book depth for liquid pairs like BTC/USDT and ETH/USDT, fostering efficient execution in large-size orders.

Tools

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.

HitBTC provides advanced trading tools, including limit, stop, and OCO order types, customizable price alerts, TradingView-integrated charting, and robust API access via REST, WebSocket, and FIX.

Geographic Restrictions by Product

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.

Derivatives and some advanced features are unavailable in jurisdictions such as the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and various sanctioned regions, even while spot trading remains globally accessible in most locales.

Innovation

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.

The platform does not currently support launchpads or launchpools, and while it offers staking, it appears geared toward flexible-use models rather than fixed-term or locked reward schemes.

Security, Regulation & Custody

Operating Entity & Jurisdiction

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.

Htechno Business LTD (and operators such as Ullus Corporations/Hit Solutions Limited) runs the platform, having launched around 2013 with ties to both Saint Vincent & the Grenadines and Hong Kong, plus branch operations in Chile.

Licenses/Registration

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.

The exchange does not hold explicit financial licenses (e.g., VASP or MiCA-based EU registration), and while it conducts KYC and AML compliance, its regulatory standing remains relatively informal and varies by user region.

Custody

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.

HitBTC retains a high percentage of assets in cold storage (roughly 80–90 %), conducts external wallet-balance proofs, and states it’s never been breached or lost custody of user funds—though full audit reports are not publicly published.

Insurance & Protection Funds

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.

There appears to be no formal insurance coverage or dedicated protection fund for user assets, meaning that gamblers with large holdings are not shielded against operational or platform risks.

Incident History

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.

The platform claims zero successful hacks or asset losses since inception; however, users have occasionally reported account freezes or withdrawal delays, though there’s no record of formal penalties or regulatory sanctions.

Risk Controls

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.

Security tools include mandatory two-factor authentication (via app or YubiKey), withdrawal whitelists, phishing safeguards, session kill-switches, and granular API access, plus identity recovery protocols for lost 2FA.

Transparency

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.

HitBTC supports transparency through public wallet-address disclosures for proof-of-reserves, but does not regularly publish monthly audit reports or uptime SLAs, and further formal documentation remains limited.

Deposits, Withdrawals, KYC & Support

Fiat Deposit Methods

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.

HitBTC does not support direct fiat deposits via bank transfer or e-wallets; any fiat funding goes through third-party providers such as card processors, which bring their own limits and variable processing times.

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)

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.

HitBTC offers tiered account statuses—unverified “starter”, “verified”, and “qualified”—each unlocking progressively higher crypto withdrawal and (insider-access to) fiat limits, with basic trading accessible even without KYC.

Withdrawals

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.

limits, timing & networks

Customer Support

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.

Support is primarily via ticket or email (not live chat), with a knowledge base available, and response times can slow during busy periods despite claims of 24/7 availability.

Languages & Localization

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.

The platform is natively in English, shows prices in USD or EUR, but does not tailor regulatory disclosures or fees for local jurisdictions—geospecific clarity is limited.

App Quality & Stability

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.

HitBTC’s mobile app is actively maintained and used for trading on the go, though it may lack some features from the web interface; official crash-rate data isn’t published, but periodic updates continue to improve stability and UX.

Experience, Performance & Ecosystem

UX/UI

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.

The platform balances usability for beginners with depth for pros; while there’s no “Lite/Pro” toggle, the demo mode offers a simplified environment, and the main interface supports both intuitive order entry and advanced API-driven workflows.

Performance

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.

HitBTC generally delivers low-latency order execution, though market surges can spike system load; its real-time system monitor dashboard reveals live queues and statuses of deposits, withdrawals, and trading availability.

Education

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.

The exchange offers a fully functional demo/simulator with virtual funds to practice strategies across spot, margin, and futures markets, supplemented by support articles and multilingual content; while resources exist, dedicated Spanish-language materials are limited.

Community

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.

HitBTC supports community engagement via its blog, Reddit, and Telegram channels, and runs a referral program, though standalone forums or Discord-based discussions appear minimal.

Integrations

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.

The platform integrates with TradingView-style charts natively, supports robust external bots through REST, WebSocket, and FIX APIs, and while it doesn’t offer tax tools, traders can export trade reports for accounting tasks.

Who Each One Is Best For

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.

HitBTC suits algorithmic and experienced traders seeking deep asset coverage and programmatic access, while demo tools lower the entry barrier—but newcomers without comfort in API or report-driven accounting may find it less straightforward.