Bybit scores 3.8 out of 5 on our six-dimension scorecard as of September 2026, leading on derivatives with a Unified Trading Account, an options market and deep books on majors, and held at 3.5 on security by a February 2025 theft of roughly $1.46 billion that was covered within 72 hours with no user losses; it suits perpetuals and options traders outside the United States, Canada and Japan, and it is the wrong pick for makers who want 0% from the first trade, for UK retail traders who need derivatives, and for anyone who weighs a recent incident above product depth.
Key Takeaways
Bybit scores 3.8 out of 5 overall, with a 5.0 on derivatives and a 3.5 on fees, asset coverage, security and custody and deposits and withdrawals.
Spot fees are 0.1000% maker and 0.1000% taker at VIP 0, or 0.0750% paid in MNT, and perpetuals are 0.0200% maker and 0.0550% taker on USDT, USDC and inverse contracts, with one schedule for web and API orders.
On $500,000 of monthly BTC perpetual taker volume Bybit costs $3,300 a year against $1,200 at MEXC's 0.020% Special Rate, and on the same volume of resting spot orders it costs $6,000 against $0; a bot through an API pays $3,300 on Bybit and $4,800 on MEXC.
On 21 February 2025 an attacker gained control of a Bybit cold wallet during a routine transfer, reported losses were roughly $1.4 to $1.5 billion, reserves were reassembled within 72 hours, withdrawals stayed open and no user losses were reported.
Bybit EU holds a MiCA authorisation from Austria's FMA with spot and margin but no perpetuals, the UK relaunch of December 2025 covers spot and P2P only, and Bybit exited Japan and Malaysia.
Third-party trackers attribute roughly 740 perpetual contracts to Bybit against more than 1,040 on MEXC's fee page, and Bybit's curated listing policy is a strength on majors and a constraint on the long tail.
Bybit is the derivatives-first exchange most active traders outside the United States already know, and the people comparing it in 2026 are doing one of three things: spreading counterparty risk after the February 2025 theft, reacting to a change in what Bybit can legally offer in their region, or looking for contracts and pricing that a curated venue does not provide.
The first is a custody question with a documented answer, which the security section sets out as a neutral timeline.
The second has changed twice in a year: the UK relaunch of December 2025 restored spot and P2P but not derivatives, and the Japan wind-down closed accounts in stages through July 2026.
The third has a measurable answer, because a perpetual taker fee is charged on leveraged notional on every entry and every exit, and a fee that looks trivial per trade is paid hundreds of times a year.
The rest of this review scores the platform dimension by dimension and dates every number.
This review scores Bybit from 0 to 5 on six equally weighted dimensions: fees and costs, asset coverage, derivatives, security and custody, deposits and withdrawals, and customer support.
Every figure comes from Bybit's own fee structure, help centre, proof-of-reserves pages or terms, from a regulator, from CoinGecko or another third-party tracker, or from an established news organisation, and each carries a retrieval date.
Regional availability and regulatory standing are disclosed but never scored, because a platform is either usable where you live or it is not.
MEXC operates a competing exchange, and the full scoring rules, source hierarchy and conflict-of-interest policy are published in our exchange review methodology. The support score is based on published channels only; our timed-ticket test for this platform is scheduled for the next review cycle.
Bybit earns 3.8 out of 5 overall, with a 5.0 on derivatives, 4.0 on customer support, and 3.5 on fees and costs, asset coverage, security and custody and deposits and withdrawals, a profile built for hedged and options-led derivatives traders rather than for makers or new-listing hunters.
Dimension | Score (out of 5) | What we measured | Verified against |
Fees and costs | 3.5 | 0.1000% maker and 0.1000% taker on spot at VIP 0, 0.0750% paid in MNT, 0.0200% maker and 0.0550% taker on perpetuals with a 10% MNT discount that excludes API trades, 0.0200% and 0.0300% on options, 0.2000% on Adventure Zone and xStocks pairs, VIP 1 at about $250,000 in assets or $10 million of 30-day futures volume | Published fee structure and help centre |
Asset coverage | 3.5 | Roughly 740 perpetual contracts attributed by third-party trackers, a curated spot list with an Adventure Zone for newer tokens, seven days of delisting notice and a withdrawal window of about three months in our listing disclosure index | Third-party trackers, our listing disclosure index |
Derivatives | 5 | Unified Trading Account pooling collateral across spot, margin, perpetuals and options, USDC-settled options at 0.0200% maker and 0.0300% taker, pre-market perpetuals, copy trading with per-master parameters, deep books on major contracts | Fee structure and product documentation |
Security and custody | 3.5 | February 2025 cold-wallet theft of roughly $1.4 to $1.5 billion, reserves reassembled within 72 hours, withdrawals open throughout, no user losses reported, Merkle-tree proof of reserves with third-party wallet verification audited monthly by Hacken since June 2024, an insurance fund for derivatives | Mainstream reporting, Hacken, proof-of-reserves pages |
Deposits and withdrawals | 3.5 | Crypto rails with standard KYC, spot and P2P rails in the UK since December 2025, limits set per verification level, fiat routes that vary by entity and were not measured on an open page in this review | Help centre and terms |
Customer support | 4 | Help centre and live chat channels; timed ticket test not yet run | Platform support pages |
Overall | 3.8 | Average of the six dimensions | Methodology page |
Fees and costs: 3.5 out of 5.
Bybit charges 0.1000% maker and 0.1000% taker on spot at VIP 0, falling to 0.0675% and 0.0800% at VIP 1 and to 0.0750% when fees are paid in MNT, 0.0200% maker and 0.0550% taker on every USDT, USDC and inverse perpetual with a 10% MNT discount that excludes API trades, and 0.0200% maker and 0.0300% taker on options, with the same derivatives schedule applying to web and API orders.
VIP 1 requires roughly $250,000 in assets or $10 million of 30-day futures volume, so most accounts stay on the standard rate for as long as they trade.
Newer tokens in the Adventure Zone and xStocks tokenized equities carry their own schedule of 0.2000% on both sides at VIP 0, double the main spot rate.
Our methodology prices the same monthly volume on every platform, so the table below runs three spot volumes for a full year and adds the perpetual and API lines where the order of the comparison changes.
Scenario | Bybit at VIP 0 | MEXC at the standard tier |
$1,000 of monthly spot taker volume | $12 a year at 0.1000%; $9 paid in MNT | $6 a year at 0.05%; $4.80 with the MX deduction |
$50,000 of monthly spot taker volume | $600 a year; $450 paid in MNT | $300 a year; $240 with the MX deduction |
$500,000 of monthly spot maker volume | $6,000 a year at 0.1000% | $0 at the published maker rate |
$500,000 of monthly BTC perpetual taker volume, web or app | $3,300 a year at 0.0550%; $2,970 paid in MNT | $1,200 a year at the 0.020% BTCUSDT Special Rate; $960 with the MX deduction |
$500,000 of monthly perpetual taker volume through an API | $3,300 a year at 0.0550% | $4,800 a year at 0.080% on MEXC's API futures schedule |
Calculated from each platform's published standard tier, verified as of 2 September 2026; Bybit's MNT discount is 25% on spot and 10% on futures and excludes API trades; MEXC's Special Rate applies to selected contracts and its API futures schedule overrides its discounts; spreads, funding and network fees are excluded.
Funding settles every eight hours on both platforms and no exchange discounts it, so fee choice decides the cost if you scalp and funding decides it if you hold.
The score is 3.5 rather than 3.0 because the perpetual schedule sits in the competitive band, the options rate is low and the API schedule is the same as the web, and rather than 4.0 because 0.1000% on both sides of spot is the market norm rather than below it and the 0.2000% Adventure Zone rate is the highest spot tier among the offshore venues in this series.
Asset coverage: 3.5 out of 5.
Third-party trackers attribute roughly 740 perpetual contracts to Bybit, its spot list is curated with an Adventure Zone for newer tokens at a higher fee, and our listing disclosure index records seven days of delisting notice and a withdrawal window of about three months, so the catalogue is deep on majors, thinner on the long tail, and orderly on the way out. We do not score platforms on self-reported coin totals, and the tracked contract count is the figure we cite.
Bybit is not slow when it decides to move: it ran TRUMP pre-market perpetuals from 18 January 2025, and its pre-market product gives early exposure to selected launches.
The difference is what happens on the hundreds of launches that never get a same-day decision at a curated venue, and that is the reader for whom a 740-contract list is a limitation rather than a filter.
Faster listing elsewhere means less vetting, and plenty of tokens that list within days of launch bleed out after the opening move, so Bybit's slower process is a filter as much as a delay.
Derivatives: 5.0 out of 5.
Bybit runs a Unified Trading Account that pools collateral across spot, margin, perpetuals and options, prices perpetuals at 0.0200% maker and 0.0550% taker, runs a USDC-settled options market at 0.0200% maker and 0.0300% taker that very few centralised exchanges match, lists pre-market perpetuals ahead of selected launches, and documents copy trading with per-master parameters and multi-master following, which is the most complete derivatives stack in this series alongside OKX.
Depth is the other half of the case: Bybit's books on major contracts hold up under size in a way the long-tail venues' books do not.
The options market is a fork in the road rather than a comparison, because most offshore competitors, MEXC included, do not offer one.
A leverage number without its position band is marketing rather than a specification, so we do not quote a single maximum figure for Bybit, and the risk-limit tiers on any contract are the thing to read before sizing a position.
The one place Bybit gives ground is contract count, roughly 740 against more than 1,040 on MEXC's fee page, which matters to a trader whose edge is in small-cap perpetuals and not to one running spreads on majors.
Security and custody: 3.5 out of 5.
On 21 February 2025 an attacker gained control of a Bybit Ethereum cold wallet during a routine transfer to a warm wallet, reported losses were roughly $1.4 to $1.5 billion in ether and related tokens, the largest recorded exchange theft at the time, and within 72 hours Bybit had reassembled its reserves through emergency loans and deposits, kept withdrawals open throughout and reported no user losses, which is the strongest crisis record in this series and still an incident inside the last two years.
Bybit publishes Merkle-tree proof of reserves with third-party verification of wallet ownership, audited monthly by Hacken since June 2024, and runs an insurance fund covering derivatives liquidations.
Our rule for this dimension is consistent across the series: an incident inside the last two years, fully covered, on a platform with monthly attested reserves, scores 3.5, and the score rises to 4.0 once the incident passes the two-year mark with no repeat, which for Bybit is February 2027.
The compromised signing process on a cold wallet is the custody warning that the recovery does not erase, and a reader who holds idle balances on any exchange should read it that way.
Two-factor authentication, withdrawal whitelisting, anti-phishing codes and device management are all available and should all be switched on before an account holds a balance.
Deposits and withdrawals: 3.5 out of 5.
Bybit runs standard KYC before funding, crypto rails across the networks a global exchange is expected to cover, a spot and P2P venue in the UK since December 2025 under a financial promotions arrangement approved by Archax, and fiat routes that vary by entity in ways we could not measure on an open page in this review, which is why the score sits at 3.5 rather than at the level its rails may deserve.
Our methodology scores what can be read on a published page, and where a platform's fiat menu differs by entity or is shown only after sign-in, the score reflects the disclosure rather than the rail.
Withdrawal limits are set per verification level and shown inside the account, and a small test withdrawal before moving size is the rule on every platform in this series.
The next review cycle will measure Bybit's fiat routes directly, and the score will move if they can be read on an open page.
Customer support: 4.0 out of 5.
Bybit publishes a help centre and a live chat channel, and we have capped the score at 4.0 until our own timed ticket test runs, because a published channel is a promise and a timed reply is a measurement.
Our rule is one non-urgent ticket per platform per review cycle, timed from submission to a reply that answers the question, and Bybit's test is scheduled for the next cycle.
Third-party review sites describe template replies and slow responses during withdrawal reviews, and our methodology does not count aggregate star ratings, so those reports are noted here rather than scored.
Bybit does not serve the United States or Canada, offers spot and P2P only in the United Kingdom since December 2025, offers spot and margin but no perpetuals in the EEA through Bybit EU under a MiCA authorisation, has exited Japan and Malaysia, and MEXC does not onboard residents of the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, the EEA, Singapore or Hong Kong, so readers in those markets should use a locally licensed venue for perpetuals.
Bybit
Bybit announced in December 2025 that it would wind down services for Japanese residents in phases, moved to close-only from 23 March 2026, and began forced closure of remaining positions from 22 July 2026.
Singapore and Hong Kong are excluded, Kazakhstan is available, and standard KYC applies in most other markets.
MEXC
MEXC does not serve residents of the United States or the United Kingdom, and readers there should use a platform licensed by their local regulator.
MEXC appears on Japan's FSA list of unregistered operators and its apps are not distributed through Japanese app stores, so nothing on this page is a recommendation for Japan residents leaving Bybit to open a MEXC account instead.
MEXC's user agreement also prohibits Canada, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Kazakhstan and mainland China, and the full list is in our restricted countries guide.
Benefits
A Unified Trading Account and a USDC-settled options market at 0.0200% maker and 0.0300% taker, which very few centralised exchanges run.
One derivatives schedule for web and API orders, which makes Bybit the cheaper venue for bots by a wide margin.
A February 2025 record of reassembling reserves within 72 hours with withdrawals open and no user losses, and monthly Hacken-audited proof of reserves since June 2024.
A MiCA-authorised EU entity, a UK spot and P2P venue, and copy trading with per-master parameters.
Limitations
A spot rate of 0.1000% on both sides at VIP 0, a 0.2000% rate on Adventure Zone and xStocks pairs, and a VIP 1 threshold most accounts never reach.
A cold-wallet signing process that was compromised in February 2025, an incident still inside the two-year window our rules use.
Roughly 740 perpetual contracts against more than 1,040 at the broadest competitor, and no perpetuals for UK retail or EEA customers.
Exits from Japan and Malaysia, and fiat routes that vary by entity and could not be measured on an open page in this review.
Bybit is the right pick for traders outside the United States, Canada and Japan who run hedged books, trade options, or route strategies through an API, and it is the wrong pick for makers who want 0% from the first trade, for UK retail traders who need derivatives, and for anyone who weighs a recent custody incident above product depth.
Bybit is the right pick if:
Your positions are meant to offset one another and the Unified Trading Account saves you real capital.
You trade options or multi-leg structures, which most offshore venues do not offer.
You run bots through an API and want one schedule for every route.
Look elsewhere if:
You place resting orders on many pairs and a 0.1000% maker fee is a number you notice.
You want small-cap contracts that a curated list of roughly 740 does not reach.
You live in the United States, Canada or Japan, or you are a UK retail trader who needs perpetuals, where Bybit cannot serve you.
Running Bybit alongside a zero-maker venue is the common answer: execution cost from whichever venue prices your contracts best, and custody assurance from not leaving idle balances anywhere.
MEXC operates a competing exchange, and this section is where our own position is stated rather than implied.
Bybit beats MEXC on options, on the Unified Trading Account, on the API fee line, on regulatory footprint in the EU and the UK, and on a documented crisis record that is the strongest trust datapoint in this series, and a hedged, options-led or automated trader has a defensible reason to make Bybit the main account.
Where MEXC is the answer, for readers outside its restricted markets, is the manual perpetual line and the maker side.
A manual BTC perpetual taker moving $500,000 a month pays $3,300 a year at Bybit's 0.0550% and $1,200 at MEXC's 0.020% BTCUSDT Special Rate, or $960 with the MX deduction, an ETH perpetual taker pays $3,300 against $600 at 0.010%, and a spot maker at the same volume pays $6,000 at Bybit's 0.1000% and $0 at MEXC's published maker rate. A trader running twenty round trips a month on $12,500 positions pays that BTC fee 480 times a year, which is why a gap that looks trivial per trade becomes $2,100 a year.
MEXC's fee page carries more than 1,040 USDT-margined contracts against roughly 740 attributed to Bybit, and CoinGecko's 2026 perpetuals report counted 879 new perpetual contracts on MEXC between January 2025 and April 2026, the most of any major centralised exchange.
Two boundaries keep the fee claim honest.
The zero applies to spot maker orders and to web and app futures orders, not to API-routed futures, which MEXC prices at 0.060% maker and 0.080% taker, so a bot pays $4,800 a year on MEXC and $3,300 on Bybit on the same $500,000 of monthly volume, and the 0.020% figure is a Special Rate on BTCUSDT rather than MEXC's standard 0.040% taker.
And the saving is available only to readers outside the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, the EEA, Singapore and Hong Kong, and it is not an invitation to Japan residents leaving Bybit, because MEXC appears on the same FSA list.
MEXC has no options market and no unified margin account, its reserve documentation is thinner than Bybit's post-incident audit record, and its most common complaint in third-party reviews is risk-control reviews that delay withdrawals, so a test withdrawal comes before moving size.
Our review desk's verdict is that execution cost and custody assurance are two separate purchases, and many traders sensibly buy the first from MEXC and the second from Bybit while leaving idle balances on neither.
Is Bybit safe after the 2025 hack?
Bybit reassembled its reserves within 72 hours of the 21 February 2025 theft, kept withdrawals open and reported no user losses, and publishes monthly Hacken-audited proof of reserves.
It scores 3.5 out of 5 on security and custody because the incident is still inside the two-year window our rules use.
Was Bybit hacked?
Yes, on 21 February 2025 an attacker gained control of a cold wallet during a routine transfer, with reported losses of roughly $1.4 to $1.5 billion attributed to the Lazarus Group.
Reserves were replenished within 72 hours and no user losses were reported.
Is Bybit legit and regulated?
Bybit EU holds a MiCA authorisation from Austria's FMA, the UK entity runs spot and P2P under an approved financial promotions arrangement, and Bybit does not serve the United States or Canada.
Regulatory standing is disclosed in this review and not scored.
What are Bybit's fees?
Spot is 0.1000% maker and 0.1000% taker at VIP 0, or 0.0750% paid in MNT, and perpetuals are 0.0200% maker and 0.0550% taker with the same schedule for API orders.
Options are 0.0200% maker and 0.0300% taker, and Adventure Zone and xStocks pairs are 0.2000% on both sides.
Can I use Bybit in the US, the UK or Japan?
No in the United States, spot and P2P only in the United Kingdom since December 2025, and no in Japan, where accounts went close-only on 23 March 2026 and remaining positions were force-closed from 22 July 2026.
EEA customers get spot and margin through Bybit EU without perpetuals.
Does Bybit require KYC?
Yes, standard identity verification applies before funding, and withdrawal limits are set per verification level and shown inside the account.
Misrepresenting residency is grounds for account closure and liquidation of open positions.
How does Bybit compare with MEXC?
Bybit leads on options, the Unified Trading Account, the API fee line and its crisis record, while MEXC publishes 0% maker on spot and 0.020% taker on BTCUSDT and lists more than 1,040 perpetual contracts against roughly 740.
Trading cryptocurrencies involves substantial risk, and perpetual futures, options and leveraged products can produce losses greater than the amount deposited.
Funding payments accrue every eight hours regardless of whether a position is profitable.
Nothing on this page is financial, investment, legal or tax advice.
MEXC operates a competing exchange; no platform can buy a score or a ranking position on MEXC Learn.
MEXC is not available in every jurisdiction and is not authorised under the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation; readers in the European Union, the European Economic Area, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Singapore and Hong Kong should use a platform authorised by their local regulator, and readers in Japan should use a platform registered with the Financial Services Agency.
Always confirm current terms on a platform's own official pages before opening an account or placing a trade.