Compare
DY dYdX VS KU KuCoin
These two exchanges don't share an obvious product overlap. Differences below come from our individual reviews of dYdX and KuCoin.
| dYdX | KuCoin | |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2017 (dYdX Chain v4 launched October 2023) | 2017 |
| Regions | Blocked for US, Canadian, UK, and sanctioned-territory persons at the protocol's terms-of-use level on the main front end; open-source front ends and direct chain access mean geographic enforcement is a terms-of-use matter rather than a technical one: read the restrictions before connecting a wallet. | Available in most regions outside the United States. A 2025 guilty plea to unlicensed money transmission and a March 2026 CFTC consent order permanently bar KuCoin's operator from allowing US-based traders onto its platform. Also restricted in mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and a handful of other jurisdictions: verify local availability before signing up. |
| Products | Perpetual futures (primary product), Spot (newer, limited rollout) | Spot, Margin, Perpetual futures, Trading bots |
| Maker fee | Not yet verified | Verify current tier: KuCoin uses a volume-based maker/taker schedule, with roughly a 20% discount for paying fees in its native KCS token |
| Taker fee | Not yet verified | Verify current tier: KuCoin uses a volume-based maker/taker schedule, with roughly a 20% discount for paying fees in its native KCS token |
dYdX pros
- Fully non-custodial: funds sit in your own wallet and on-chain margin account, never in a company-controlled hot or cold wallet
- Fully open source, including the validator software, indexer, and web/iOS/Android front ends, so no single company operates the exchange once it's running
- Deep specialization in perpetual futures with an order book and matching engine built specifically for that product, rather than derivatives bolted onto a spot exchange
- Governance and fee schedule are transparent and on-chain, set by DYDX token-holder votes rather than a private company's internal decisions
KuCoin pros
- One of the widest altcoin listings among major exchanges, useful for traders looking for assets that haven't reached Binance or Coinbase yet
- A mature, free built-in trading-bot suite (grid and DCA bots) that many competitors charge for or don't offer at all
- Fully recovered from its 2020 hack, with no comparable incident since and a published monthly proof-of-reserves report
This table is generated from the same data behind our individual exchange reviews. See methodology for how it's put together. Fee figures marked "not yet verified" need confirming against live terms before this page is treated as launch-ready.