OKX is the third-largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, founded in 2017 by Star Xu and processing roughly $40 billion in daily derivatives turnover across one of the deepest perpetuals order books in the market.

Perpetual swaps run up to 100x leverage in USDT, USDC, and coin-margined variants, backed by a unified account that margins spot, futures, and options from one collateral pool. OKX was also the first global exchange to list perpetuals priced on licensed ICE Brent and WTI oil benchmarks, extending its engine beyond crypto.

Its regulatory footprint is among the broadest in the industry. A MiCA license from Malta's MFSA passports across the EEA alongside a MiFID II derivatives venue, approvals include VARA, MAS, and AUSTRAC, and a compliant US entity relaunched from San Jose after settling with the Department of Justice.

Custody claims are verifiable rather than asserted. More than 40 consecutive monthly Proof of Reserves reports use zk-STARK cryptography to show over $20 billion in primary assets covered above a 1:1 ratio, and the main exchange has no major disclosed hack in its history.

Bitget is a top-five perpetuals exchange by open interest, founded in 2018, led by CEO Gracy Chen, and serving more than 100 million users across 150+ countries from its Seychelles base with a Vienna headquarters anchoring its European push.

Its derivatives platform runs USDT-margined, USDC-margined, and coin-margined perpetuals at up to 125x leverage, wrapped in the largest copy trading ecosystem in crypto, where any account can mirror elite traders position for position.

TradFi is the growth engine. Bitget cleared close to $70 billion in traditional-asset perpetuals volume in a single quarter, spanning stock perps that trade 24/7 on USDT margin alongside gold, silver, and forex markets.

Security rests on a Protection Fund pledged at $300 million, monthly Merkle-tree Proof of Reserves showing coverage well above 100%, ISO 27001 and 27701 certification, and a clean hack record since founding, though its EU access currently waits on a pending MiCA application.