What else can we choose besides CEX? A comprehensive review of the top DEXs in the crypto market

Author: Opeyemi Sule Compiled by: Cointime.com 237
Binance has been one of the world’s leading centralized exchanges for many years. According to CoinGecko data, it is the largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume. However, like other centralized exchanges, Binance has its own limitations, such as bankruptcy risk, strict regulation, and asset custody.
As the cryptocurrency world continues to evolve, the importance of decentralized exchanges (DEX) is becoming more and more apparent. Unlike centralized exchanges, DEXs allow for direct cryptocurrency trading without the need for an intermediary. They provide a secure and more transparent way to trade in the cryptocurrency market.
Additionally, decentralized exchanges offer a wide range of advantages, including lower fees, enhanced privacy, greater control over funds, and more. Whether you are an experienced trader or a beginner, considering these Binance alternatives can help you diversify your trading strategies and improve your decision-making process.
In this article, we will explore the world of decentralized finance, focusing on the top decentralized exchanges on the market.
1.GMX
With a total value locked (TVL) of over $600 million, GMX is one of the largest protocols in the decentralized finance market.
It is a decentralized spot perpetual exchange built on two chains; namely Arbitrum and Avalanche. GMX aims to enhance users’ trading experience by allowing low fees (0.1% fixed fee) and zero price impact trading.
GMX enables users to trade cryptocurrencies such as BTC, ETH, and other famous tokens on-chain directly from their wallets. Unlike centralized exchanges like Binance, users can keep their assets safe via crypto wallets.
All trades are executed through GMX’s native multi-asset pool GLP, which also provides incentives to liquidity providers.
Additionally, GMX allows traders to open leveraged positions through a simple interface, similar to most trading platforms. According to the exchange’s website, GMX’s total trading volume currently exceeds $138 billion. The platform has two tokens including GMX (utility and governance token) and GLP (liquidity provider token).
2. dYdX
Next on our list of top decentralized trading platforms is dYdX. It is a decentralized exchange based on the Ethereum second-layer system StarkWare.
dYdX utilizes ZK-Rollups to increase the protocol’s processing speed and reduce transaction costs.
DYdX allows users to trade perpetual contracts, which are financial instruments that derive value from an underlying asset. Perpetual gives traders the opportunity to speculate on the future value of an asset. Unlike most DEXs that run on automated market makers (AMMs), dYdX facilitates trading through a traditional order book and matching model.
Despite this, dYdX remains one of the most popular decentralized exchanges on the market, with a TVL of approximately $350 million. Traders will need a DeFi wallet like MetaMask or Coinbase, or even a cold wallet like Ledger or Trezor. Additionally, you will need some ETH to pay for the gas fee of the transaction.
3. MUX protocol
The MUX Protocol is a decentralized exchange native to four different chains, including Binance Smart Chain (BSC), Optimism, Avalanche, and Fantom. The platform allows users to trade cryptocurrencies with zero price impact directly from their Web3 wallet. The MUX protocol provides interfaces to 7 different cryptocurrency markets such as ETH, BTC, AVAX, BNB, and more.
The MUX protocol aggregates liquidity from third-party protocols to provide a more consistent and affordable trading experience. The decentralized platform offers up to 100x leverage for trading various crypto assets. The MUX protocol charges a fixed trading fee of 0.1%.
With a TVL of $54.18 million, MUX Protocol is another top platform in the decentralized finance space. You can earn rewards by providing liquidity to the protocol. The MUX protocol uses 4 different tokens, including MCB (utility token), MUX (reward token), veMUX (governance token), and MUXLP (liquidity provider token).
4. Gains Network
Gains Network is another top protocol in the DeFi market, with a total value locked on two chains (Arbitrum and Polygon) of $52.6 million. It is the protocol behind the decentralized leverage trading platform gTrade. In addition to well-known cryptocurrencies, the platform also supports trading on major currency pairs.
The gTrade platform offers plenty of leverage on a variety of assets. It offers 150x leverage on crypto assets and up to 1000x leverage on currency pairs. gTrade DEX operates a synthetic asset system that utilizes the stablecoin DAI and Gains Network’s native token GNS.
The trading platform offers a range of good trading features such as clearing or limit orders.
5.ApolloX Finance
ApolloX Finance is another top decentralized trading protocol based on three chains; namely BSC, Ethereum and Arbitrum. This derivatives DEX adopts the "off-chain transaction matching + on-chain fund settlement and custody" model. ApolloX provides a seamless trading experience with high trading performance, fast response times, and top-notch user security.
To trade on ApolloX, all you need to do is connect your wallet. As with other DEXs, traders can retain custody of their funds. At the same time, the protocol provides solutions in the ApolloX DEX Engine for businesses looking to launch their own decentralized exchange for derivatives.
ApolloX is one of the fastest growing DEXs on the market today, with a total value locked in its protocol of $41.25 million.
 6.Bybit’s ApeX
ApeX is a permissionless trading platform designed for trading in decentralized derivatives markets. The protocol is built on the Ethereum and Arbitrum chains.
ApeX was founded in 2022 by Bybit, a centralized exchange with over 4 million users.
On ApeX, traders can buy and sell more than a dozen crypto-assets with low fees (maker/taker fees of 0.02/0.05% respectively). The platform offers up to 15x or 30x leverage for derivatives trading, depending on the asset. Through the Trade-to-Earn program, users can earn BANA tokens (ApeX’s bonus token) on every trade.
In addition to BANA, the APEX token also supports ApeX. APEX is the protocol’s governance token, which gives users control over protocol parameters and allows them to participate in staking.
7. Perpetual Protocol
The last one on this list of top decentralized exchange platforms is Perpetual Protocol. It is an open source project built on the xDAI chain in 2019, with a TVL of nearly $19 million. Like other DEXs, Perpetual Protocol enables users to trade directly from a wallet (preferably MetaMask).
Perpetual Protocol’s decentralized perpetual contracts run on virtual automated market makers. These virtual AMMs are built to be fully collateralized and market neutral. That said, the Perpetual Protocol platform offers up to 10x leverage.
Perpetual Protocol supports on-chain transactions of multiple tokens, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Polkadot, Maker, etc. Notably, the platform allows users to use USDC when trading perpetual contracts.​
in conclusion
As mentioned earlier, decentralized exchanges are set to play a larger role in the cryptocurrency space, especially as mainstream adoption grows exponentially.
With their unique and attractive features such as anonymity, low fees, privacy and multi-network support, these projects provide users with a different and more exciting experience than centralized exchanges such as Binance.
But it must be noted that DEX is not without risks. The lack of a regulatory framework leaves the platform vulnerable to fraud and robbery. Therefore, users are advised to conduct proper research and take all necessary precautions before engaging in any protocol.