Gate is the fourth-largest crypto perpetuals venue and one of the oldest exchanges still operating, founded in 2013 by Dr. Lin Han and serving more than 49 million users after its group-wide rebrand from Gate.io. The platform reported $3.8 trillion in 2024 trading volume, with contract trading contributing $2 trillion of it.

Its perpetuals platform spans 560+ pairs at up to 125x leverage in USDT and BTC-margined variants, backed by a unified account, portfolio margin, and a dual-price liquidation system keyed to external spot indexes. Gate also leads every centralized exchange in stock perpetuals open interest, holding nearly double Bybit's total as equity contracts become the market's fastest-growing segment.

Its regulatory map is wider than most offshore rivals can claim. A MiCA license from Malta's MFSA covers the EU alongside a full VARA license in Dubai, and licensed local entities serve Japan through the Coin Master acquisition and Australia under AUSTRAC registration.

MEXC is the highest-leverage major perpetuals venue, founded in 2018 and now serving more than 40 million users across 170+ countries from its Seychelles base. Its catalog of 3,000+ listed tokens is among the largest in the industry.

The futures platform runs 700+ perpetual pairs at up to 500x leverage with the lowest standard fee schedule of any major exchange, charging nothing on maker orders and 0.02% on takers before MX token discounts.

Its regulatory posture is the trade-off. MEXC holds no license from a major financial regulator and has drawn warnings from authorities including Germany's BaFin, the UK's FCA, and Hong Kong's SFC, so users trade without the consumer protections regulated venues carry.

Security rests on verifiable reserves rather than oversight. Monthly Hacken-audited Proof of Reserves shows major assets backed well above 100%, a $100 million Guardian Fund with public wallet addresses backstops users, and no exchange-level hack has been confirmed since founding.