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

Trying to choose between dYdX and Upbit 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

Upbit

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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

China

Canada

yes

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.

Upbit is ideal if:

Great for beginner-friendly trading: Offers a clean, intuitive interface and strong security, making it ideal if you're new to crypto and value simplicity.
Strong Asian market presence: Deeply localized in South Korea and Southeast Asia, with excellent liquidity and fiat integration in those regions.
Not suited for advanced instruments: If you're looking for margin, derivatives, or broad global fiat support, Upbit’s limited financial features may not fit your needs.

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.

Upbit isn’t ideal if:

Limited product variety: Lacks margin, futures, copy-trading, loans, or crypto cards, restricting users seeking more advanced financial tools.
Geographically constrained: Primarily serves South Korea and select Asian markets; support and fiat options are limited for most global users.
Basic customer support: Relies mainly on ticket-based assistance with minimal tutorials or live help, which may not satisfy those wanting more hands-on guidance.

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.

Upbit applies a flat trading fee—typically around 0.20–0.25%—for both maker and taker spot orders across supported pairs, with no tiered discounts or native token rebates.

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.

Upbit does not offer futures or derivative instruments, so there are no maker, taker, or funding fees to consider.

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.

On major spot pairs like BTC/USDT or ETH/USDT, spreads are generally tight and reflective of high liquidity, though your precise rate depends on market depth at the time of execution.

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.

Upbit supports bank transfers for fiat, with deposit methods varying by region; fees and processing times vary according to local banking systems and verification levels.

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.

Upbit charges fixed network fees per asset (e.g. a fixed amount in BTC or ETH), which do not adjust dynamically based on network congestion.

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.

You might encounter costs such as currency conversion spreads, speedier KYC processing, or cross-border banking charges; these are not labeled as explicit fees but can subtly add to your overall cost.

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 in BTC, your total cost includes the platform’s flat trading fee plus the market spread; withdrawing that BTC would then incur the asset’s fixed network withdrawal 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.

Upbit lists approximately 260-263 cryptocurrencies (depending on the data source) and over 540 trading pairs overall, with the top 20 by volume dominated by KRW pairs like ETH/KRW, XRP/KRW, and BTC/KRW, reflecting its regional liquidity strength.

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.

Upbit focuses exclusively on spot markets and does not offer margin, perpetual futures, options, crypto ETFs, lending, copy trading, grid bots, or automated DCA; however, it does include staking/earn services for select assets.

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.

Upbit’s 24-hour trading volume typically ranges in the multi-billion-dollar bracket, and its order books for BTC and ETH pairs exhibit strong depth, especially for KRW-denominated pairs, ensuring tight spreads and reliable execution.

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.

The platform supports limit, market, and stop-limit order types, plus charting tools and dashboards, API and WebSocket access, but lacks native TradingView integration and any alerting capabilities.

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 advanced instruments are unavailable across the board, and even spot trading is restricted in regions like the United States, Japan, China, and Taiwan due to regulatory limitations.

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.

While Upbit does not host launchpads, launchpools, or flexible-vs-locked earn programs, it does offer staking options for select chains—but no advanced yield farming or investment pools.

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.

Upbit is operated by Dunamu Inc., a South Korean company founded in 2017, with its headquarters located in Seoul and expanding operations through entities such as Upbit Singapore.

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.

Upbit Singapore holds a fully licensed status as a Major Payment Institution under Singapore’s Payment Services Act, enabling regulated digital token services, while its Korean operations continue under the Virtual Asset Service Provider framework.

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.

Upbit maintains full custody of user assets, backed by recent audits confirming over-100 percent reserves for both digital assets and cash equivalents, alongside substantial cold-wallet holdings.

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.

The exchange has set aside dedicated user protection reserves, in the order of tens of millions USD, specifically to shield user assets in case of unexpected events.

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.

In late 2019, Upbit experienced a significant hack that resulted in the loss of roughly USD 48 million in Ethereum; since then, it’s reinforced internal controls and transparency protocols.

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.

Upbit employs robust safety measures such as two-factor authentication, internal self-trading restrictions, a proprietary market-monitoring system, and auditing to prevent insider trading, plus granular permission controls for API access.

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.

The exchange publishes periodic transparency reports including audit results and trading-behavior monitoring; while it doesn’t offer public wallet addresses or formal SLAs, it follows regulatory guidelines and discloses operational compliance measures.

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.

Upbit allows fiat deposits primarily via local bank transfers (e.g. KRW in Korea, SGD in Singapore) once you reach full verification; minimums vary, processing typically takes 1–3 business days.

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.

Upbit allows fiat deposits primarily via local bank transfers (e.g. KRW in Korea, SGD in Singapore) once you reach full verification; minimums vary, processing typically takes 1–3 business days.

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.

Upbit uses a four-level KYC system—ranging from basic identity checks to full verification with bank linkage—and higher levels unlock larger deposit and withdrawal capacities.

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.

Crypto withdrawals are permitted across major networks like ERC-20 and TRC-20, with daily limits scaling by KYC level and typical processing within hours.

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 available through email and a robust FAQ/help center; users in Korea generally experience faster responses, while international users may wait longer and have less localized documentation.

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 available in native English and Korean, displays balances in local currencies (KRW or SGD), and adheres to the relevant local regulatory framework for each region.

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.

The Upbit mobile app is known for its stability and smooth performance, with regular updates, low crash rates, and quick feature rollouts aimed at both beginners and experienced users.

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 Upbit interface strikes a smart balance between clarity and functionality—offering a simplified view for beginners while still providing comprehensive charts and real-time data for more experienced users, although it doesn’t explicitly label modes as “Lite” or “Pro.”

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.

Order latency remains low even during high volatility, and there are no widespread reports of system crashes; however, during market peaks, KYC verification queues may grow noticeably longer, affecting access for new users.

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.

While Upbit doesn’t offer demo accounts or a Spanish-language academy, it provides a detailed help center and tutorials that guide beginners through trading, deposits, and security.

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.

Official community channels such as forums or Telegram groups are limited; referral programs exist but are less central to the user experience compared to peer-driven groups and third-party platforms.

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.

Upbit supports Open API and WebSocket for developer access and trading automation, but lacks native TradingView integration, external bot marketplaces, or built-in tax/accounting tool integrations.

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.

Upbit is best suited for traders who prioritize a clean, stable interface with transparent spot trading, high liquidity, and a regional focus—especially those located in supported Asian markets looking for reliable, everyday trading rather than highly automated or global multi-tool ecosystems.