GMX vs Drift Protocol
A detailed head-to-head comparison of GMX and Drift Protocol — pricing, features, and which one wins for different use cases.
GMX
The leading on-chain perpetuals exchange on Arbitrum and Avalanche with real yield for liquidity providers
GMX is the most battle-tested decentralized perpetuals exchange, having processed over $200 billion in cumulative trading volume since its launch on Arbitrum in 2021. It pioneered the GLP liquidity mo…
Full review →Drift Protocol
Solana-native perpetuals exchange with spot trading, lending, and borrow markets in one protocol
Drift Protocol is the leading decentralized perpetuals exchange on Solana, combining perpetual futures, spot trading, and a borrow/lend market into a single integrated DeFi protocol. Built to exploit …
Full review →Feature Comparison
| Feature | GMX | Drift Protocol |
|---|---|---|
| Max Leverage | 100x | 10x |
| Settlement Model | On-chain AMM | vAMM + DLOB hybrid |
| Oracle Type | Chainlink + fast price feeds | Pyth Network |
| Funding Rates | ✓ | ✓ |
| Cross Margin | ✗ | ✓ |
| Isolated Margin | ✓ | ✗ |
| Liquidity Provider Yield | ✓ | ✓ |
| Governance Token | ✓ | ✓ |
| Multi Chain | ✓ | ✗ |
| Self Custody | ✓ | ✓ |
GMX Pricing
GMX
Free (fee per trade)
Free
- ✓Up to 100x leverage
- ✓BTC, ETH, and majors
- ✓Real yield for LPs
- ✓Self-custody
- ✓Arbitrum + Avalanche
Drift Protocol Pricing
Drift Protocol
Free (fee per trade)
Free
- ✓30+ perp markets
- ✓Up to 10x leverage
- ✓Spot trading
- ✓Borrow/lend
- ✓Solana-native
- ✓Cross-margin
Verdict: Which Should You Choose?
GMX is the better pick if you need real yield for lps in eth/avax — not inflationary token emissions. Drift Protocol wins when integrated perps + spot + borrow/lend in one protocol — best capital efficiency on solana. Both are production-ready — the right choice depends on your team's workflow and budget.