Disclosure: CoinCodeCap earns a referral reward when you sign up to Derive through links on this page. Derive pays us in protocol points that convert to staked DRV, not cash, so our upside here is a token claim, not a cut of your fees. That doesn’t change what we publish. The fee sums below come from what each venue posts itself, and they don’t flatter Derive.
How we reviewed Derive. We pulled the fee schedule, margin rules and terms of use from Derive’s own help centre and legal pages rather than from review aggregators, then rebuilt the cost comparison against Deribit’s published schedule as arithmetic we could check. Every number below carries its source. We flag the restricted-country list first because for most of our readers it settles the question before anything else does.
TL;DR. Derive is an onchain options and perps exchange running on its own Ethereum rollup, where you hold your own keys and margin is priced across your whole book. On its own posted fees it’s cheaper than Deribit on perps and dearer on options, which is backwards for a protocol built as an options venue. A $0.50 flat charge on every options taker order makes small trades expensive. It’s also closed to residents of the United States, Canada and Australia.
Check This First: 4 Countries That Can’t Use Derive
The terms of use shut out anyone who lives in, is a citizen of, or pays tax in the United States, Canada (Ontario is named on its own), Australia or Panama. That’s before the sanctions list, which adds Iran, North Korea, Russia, Syria, Cuba, Libya, Mali, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Zimbabwe, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk.
Reading from the US, Canada or Australia? The rest of this is background only. You’d be looking at regulated futures desks instead, and since Coinbase closed its Deribit purchase in August 2025, a US-accessible options product from that side is the thing to watch.
India, the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Indonesia, Turkey, Nigeria and Pakistan are all clear. Derive has also put out a MiCA paper, which matters if you’re in the EU.
What Derive Actually Is
Derive started life as Lyra Finance. LYRA balances converted 1:1 into DRV when the rebrand landed, and the new token launched on 15 January 2025.
The exchange runs on its own optimistic rollup that settles to Ethereum. Order matching happens off-chain through a Rust orderbook, and settlement happens on-chain. That’s the standard trade-off for this design. You get speed that feels like a exchange that holds your coins, and you keep the ability to withdraw without asking permission. That last part is what the team calls an escape hatch, and it’s what separates this from a venue that holds your coins.
You can trade options, perps and spot, plus a set of automated vaults. You can post USDC, WETH and WBTC as backing, plus staked and restaked ETH and BTC. So you can sell a BTC call backed by WBTC, or hold an ETH perp backed by staked ETH that’s still earning.
The exchange’s own dashboard reports $37.5 billion in lifetime volume, $10.1 million in protocol revenue and 4.9 million trades. Those are the exchange’s figures, not independently audited ones, so read them as a scale indicator rather than a proof.
The Fee Finding: Derive Is a Better Perps Venue Than an Options Venue
Neither exchange publishes this comparison, so we ran it from both fee pages.
Options takers pay $0.50 plus 0.04% of notional here, and makers pay 0.03%. Deribit charges 0.03% of the underlying index price to both sides. Both cap option fees at 12.5% of what the option is worth, so deep out-of-the-money bets are protected either way.
Do the sums and the taker fee on options here is never cheaper than on Deribit. Not at any size.
| Notional traded | Derive options taker | Deribit options (either side) | What Derive costs you |
|---|---|---|---|
| $1,000 | $0.90 | $0.30 | 3.0x more |
| $10,000 | $4.50 | $3.00 | 1.5x more |
| $100,000 | $40.50 | $30.00 | 1.35x more |
| $1,000,000 | $400.50 | $300.00 | 1.33x more |
| Trade size decides this one, not loyalty. check Derive’s live fee schedule | |||
That flat $0.50 is what does the damage. On a $1,000 options trade it’s most of your cost. Scale up and it stops mattering, but you’re still paying 0.04% against 0.03%, so the gap settles at roughly a third more, forever.
| Perps, per notional | Derive | Deribit | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maker fee | 0.005% | 0.015% | Derive, by 3x |
| Taker fee | $0.10 + 0.03% | 0.035% | Derive above $2,000 |
| Taker on $10,000 | $3.10 | $3.50 | Derive |
| Maker on $100,000 | $5.00 | $15.00 | Derive |
| Wipeout penalty | 10% of your book | 1% of the trade | Deribit, heavily |
Perps reverse the result. A maker on Derive pays a third of what the same trade costs on Deribit, at every size. Takers cross over around $2,000 of notional, with Deribit’s flat percentage winning below that line and Derive winning above it.
So if you came to Derive because it’s an options protocol, the fees argue you should be using it for perps. That’s a strange thing for us to write about a venue we earn from, but the numbers say it.
The Wipeout Penalty Deserves Its Own Warning
⚠️ Derive takes 10% of your whole book at mark price when it closes you out. Deribit takes 1% of the single trade it closes. the penalty here applies to your whole book, while on Deribit it applies to the trade that failed, and the rate is ten times higher. On an account margined this way holding several trades, one wipeout can reach balances that weren’t the problem.
Pricing margin across the whole book is why Derive can be capital-efficient, and it’s why being liquidated there hurts more than it does elsewhere. Size trades with that in mind, and hold more buffer than you would on a venue that closes you out one position at a time.
Margin, Collateral and Who It Suits
There are two margin modes. Standard mode treats every asset balance in a subaccount as backing across your trades. The second mode prices the worst case across your whole book and charges margin against that, which frees up a lot of capital when your positions offset each other.
That second mode is the genuine draw. If you run spreads or hedged trades, the capital saving is real, and pairing it with staked coins means your margin isn’t sitting idle. If you’re buying a single call and waiting, none of it helps you and you’re just paying the higher options fee.
DRV, Staking and the Referral Points
DRV is the protocol token, used for voting and staking. There are trading reward schemes for both retail and big accounts, and points build up from exchange deposits and vault deposits on a dollar-hours basis.
The referral scheme pays about 10% of referred trading fees, settled in points that convert to staked DRV. Value it carefully. A fee rebate is worth what it says; points that convert to a governance token are worth whatever DRV is worth when you sell. That makes referral earnings a bet on Derive rather than income from it.
Derive vs Deribit at a Glance
| Feature | Derive | Deribit |
|---|---|---|
| Who holds the coins | You do, with an escape hatch | Deribit does |
| Owner | Runs itself | Coinbase (closed August 2025) |
| Options taker fee | $0.50 + 0.04% | 0.03% |
| Perps maker fee | 0.005% | 0.015% |
| Wipeout penalty | 10% of your book | 1% of the trade |
| Margin across the book | Yes, scenario-based | Yes |
| Backing that earns | Staked and restaked ETH and BTC | Limited |
| US, Canada, Aus | Blocked | Blocked for retail |
| Options book depth | Growing | Largest in crypto |
| Trade Perps on Derive → | ||
Depth is the honest caveat on all of this. Deribit is the biggest crypto options venue by volume and open interest, and a cheap fee on a thin book can cost you more in spread than you saved. For size, check the book before you route.
Pros and Cons
- ✅ Perpetuals maker fees run a third of Deribit’s, at every size
- ✅ You hold your own keys, and can always withdraw
- ✅ Margin priced across your whole book, backed by staked coins that keep earning
- ✅ Option fees capped at 12.5% of what the option is worth, so cheap ones stay cheap
- ✅ MiCA paper filed, which helps EU readers
- ❌ Options takers pay 1.33× to 3× what Deribit charges
- ❌ The $0.50 flat options fee punishes small trades hard
- ❌ Gets closed out at 10% of your book, against 1% of the trade on Deribit
- ❌ Shut to the US, Canada and Australia
- ❌ Referral and rewards pay in points and DRV, not cash
Expert tip. If you’re going to use Derive, post your options orders as maker rather than taker. the maker fee here matches the 0.03% on Deribit exactly, so a resting order wipes out the entire cost disadvantage and the $0.50 charge with it. On perps, a maker order costs you a third of what Deribit charges. The whole fee argument on this exchange turns on which side of the book you sit.
7 Frequently Asked Questions About Derive
Is Derive available in the US?
No. Derive’s terms of use shut out residents, citizens and tax payers of the United States, along with Canada, Australia and Panama. There’s no workaround that keeps you inside the terms you agreed to.
Is Derive the same as Lyra Finance?
Yes. Derive is the rebranded Lyra Finance. LYRA token balances migrated 1:1 to DRV, which launched on 15 January 2025.
Is Derive cheaper than Deribit?
It depends entirely on the product. On perps Derive is cheaper, with maker fees at a third of Deribit’s. On options Derive is dearer for takers at every trade size, between 1.33× and 3× depending on notional. Maker fees on options are identical at 0.03%.
Does Derive require KYC?
Derive is a self-custodial protocol accessed through a wallet rather than a funded custodial account. You still have to be outside the restricted jurisdictions to use it within the terms, and geographic access controls apply.
What happens if I get closed out on Derive?
Derive takes 10% of your whole book at mark price. That’s ten times the 1% on Deribit, and it applies at portfolio level rather than position level, so one event can reach trades that were never in trouble.
What can I use as collateral on Derive?
USDC, WETH and WBTC, plus staked and restaked ETH and BTC. Yield-bearing collateral keeps earning while it backs your trades, which is one of the real advantages over a custodial venue.
How does the Derive referral scheme pay?
Roughly 10% of referred trading fees, paid in protocol points that convert to staked DRV. It’s a token claim, not a cash rebate, so its value moves with the DRV price.
Bottom line. Derive is a well-built exchange with a pricing model that points the opposite way from its branding. The perps fees are genuinely good, you really do hold your own keys, and portfolio margin with yield-bearing collateral is a mix that venues holding your coins can’t match. But options takers pay more here than on Deribit at every size, the liquidation penalty is ten times steeper, and three of the biggest English-speaking markets can’t open an account. Use it for perps, post maker orders, and keep a wider margin buffer than instinct suggests.
Fee figures come from what Derive and Deribit each post and the table is those rates with the sums done, not an estimate. Exchanges change fees. Check both fee pages before you route size. Nothing here is investment advice.
Related Reading
Derivatives venues
- Best derivatives trading exchanges (regulated and offshore venues compared)
- Perpetual contract exchanges (where to trade perps, centralised and onchain)
- Best options trading platforms (the wider options field beyond crypto-native venues)
Onchain alternatives
- Hyperliquid review (the largest onchain perps venue)
- Aster alternatives for perpetual trading (low-fee onchain perp venues)
- Arcus review (24/7 stock-token perps from the dYdX team)
- GMX review (onchain perps with a pooled liquidity model)
The Coinbase and Deribit story
- Coinbase closes the Deribit deal (the acquisition that reshaped crypto options)
- Coinbase in talks to acquire Deribit (how the deal came together)
- Coinbase review (the parent company, for US readers)
Getting set up
- Best crypto exchanges (spot venues to fund a derivatives account from)
- Best perp DEX airdrops (points programmes worth farming alongside DRV)
- Crypto lending (what else staked coins can do)
