GMX.io

2021

Founded

Last Updated Feb 15, 2023 | Affiliate Disclosure

Review

Overview

GMX is currently the largest decentralized exchange on the Arbitrum and Avalanche network. It offers perpetual trading with up to 50x leverage.
It has six trading pairs so far: ETH/USD, BTC/USD, LINK/USD, AVAX/USD, UNI/USD, and WBTC/USD; making it limited compared to other DEXs that offer a larger selection of trading pairs.
The GMX trading fee is 0.1% of the position size + 0.2-0.8% of the collateral size for leverage trading. Trades also incur network gas fees on their respective networks.

What Is GMX?

GMX is a decentralized spot and futures crypto exchange that offers perks such as 50x leverage trading, multiple trading pairs, high liquidity, and fee profit sharing. The platform is available on Arbitrum and Avalanche.

It offers identical trading features to a centralized exchange, but it's fully trustless and decentralized. All you need is a wallet to start trading as there are no KYC or sign up requirements. GMX was initially launched in September 2021 and has since generated more than $90 billion in trading volume. The platform has 200,000 active users and an open trade interest exceeding $150 million.

Why Is GMX Getting Popular?

GMX is blowing up for many reasons including its profit-sharing program, high leverage support (up to 50x), multi-chain support (Arbitrum/Avalanche), large liquidity backing, and the possibility for an Arbitrum token airdrop. Decentralized exchanges are also growing as a whole after millions of investors have lost trust in centralized platforms like FTX.

GMX represents nearly 50% of the total TVL of Arbitrum and it supports Avalanche as welll. It's catering to two growing DeFi communities and a liquidity base of hundreds of millions of dollars that is spread across these networks. Additionally, profit-sharing makes it stand out as very few platforms actually share revenue with their users. GMX accumulates millions of dollars in trading fees each week and distributes the vast majority to stakers.

Key Features

GMX is the most active trading platform on Arbitrum

Spot & Leverage Trading Up To 50x: GMX has 6 trading pairs currently along with deep liquidity and deposits as little as $10.
Decentralized Trading: GMX is permissionless so anyone in the world with crypto wallet can start trading. No KYC or sign up process is required and it's non-custodial meaning you control your funds at all times.
Profit-Sharing & Staking: GMX is one of the few DEXs that distributes fees back to users. It accumulates millions of dollars in trading fees each week and distributes the vast majority to stakers. By staking GMX and GLP (liquidity) tokens you can get up to 12% APY and up to 20% APY, respectively.
GMX DAO: Users can vote on proposals in the GMX DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization).

Other Features

Price feeds provided by Chainlink, a decentralized oracle network. Prices are based on the underlying market and not the orderbook.
Stablecoin withdrawal options with USDC, USDT, DAI, and FRAX.
Multi-chain Support: GMX supports Arbitrum and Avalanche (layer 2's) which have lower fees than Ethereum.

GMX vs. APEX vs. DYDX

Many perpetual DEXs are popping up such as dYdX, ApeX, Mux, and more. GMX is the only platform to support profit sharing by distributing fees to stakers. It also provides a 50x leverage limit compared to 20x on both ApeX and dYdX. On the downside, GMX has the highest trading fees on this table.

Header	GMX	APEX	DYDX
Blockchain	Arbitrum, Avalanche	Ethereum, BSC, Polygon, Arbitrum	Starkware (own L2 solution for Ethereum)
Token	$GMX	$APEX	$DYDX
Leverage Limit	50x	20x	20x
Trading Fee	0.10%	0.02%-0.05% maker/taker	Free under $100K then 0.02%-0.05%
Profit Sharing	Yes	No	No
Trading Pairs	6	5	37
Price Feeds	Chainlink	AMM	Orderbook
Platforms	Desktop	Desktop + program + iOS/Android	Desktop + iOS/Android
Website	Learn More	Learn More	Learn More

The GMX Token

GMX is the official governance and fee-sharing rewards token for the GMX ecosystem. GMX was launched in September 2021 on Arbitrum One and is also available on the Avalanche C-Chain.

Network: Arbitrum/Avalanche C-Chain
Utility: DAO governance/rewards
Circulating Supply: 8.3 million
Maximum Supply: 13.25 million

The circulating supply is 8.3 million out of a maximum 13.25 million tokens. Minting above the maximum supply could only occur with a majority vote on the DAO. Using GMX Earn, users can stake their GMX tokens to earn an APY up to 12% or provide liquidity in the form of GLP tokens for up to 20% APY. Staked tokens are escrowed for 1 year before rewards are paid out.

Where Do You Buy GMX?

GMX created an official “Buy” directory that you can check out. The GMX token can be purchases on centralized exchanges like:

It's also available on decentralized exchanges:

Uniswap (Arbitrum Contract: 0xfc5A1A6EB076a2C7aD06eD22C90d7E710E35ad0a)
Trader Joe’s (C-Chain Contract: 0x62edc0692BD897D2295872a9FFCac5425011c661)

This videos walks you through how to safely buy the GMX token in different ways (for educational purposes):

How To Use GMX Exchange?

GMX works similar to a centralized exchange however, since it's decentralized, there is no registration process. You can start trading in seconds because all you need is a crypto wallet.

Connect Your Wallet to GMX

Once you have a wallet like MetaMask or Coinbase Wallet setup, go to GMX.io and click "connect wallet" in the top right corner.

Add Arbitrum or Avalanche Network

To use GMX, you will need to have either the Arbitrum or Avalanche Network added to your wallet. If you don't have it already, you can click the pop-up in the bottom right corner and GMX will automatically add it for you.

This will be followed by a notification from MetaMask or your wallet asking to approve it.

Transfer Tokens To Your Arbitrum Or Avalanche Wallet

If it's your first time using Arbitrum or Avalanche, you will need to add funds to your wallet.

If you use Arbitrum, you will need some ETH on Arbitrum for transaction fees. If you use Avalanche, you will need some AVAX for transaction fees. To get Ethereum or tokens from other chains you have two choices:

You can use the Arbitrum Bridge or Avalanche Bridge
You can withdraw crypto from KuCoin or a centralized exchange via these networks to your wallet

If you don't have a KuCoin account yet, you can sign up with this link to get 10% off plus up to a $500 welcome bonus. KuCoin is one of the largest crypto exchanges in the world based on trading volume and it's available in 200+ countries.

Start Trading

Now that your wallet is connected and funded, you can use GMX to swap tokens, long or short various cryptos with up to 50x leverage, and more.

Whether you're new to GMX or have already made trades, you can enter code "RankFi" on the referrals page to get a 5%-10% discount on your trading fees.

Enter Your Referral Code Here

What Does Reddit Think About GMX?

We headed to Reddit to see what users were saying about GMX's features and their experience with the DEX. Here are what some users commented:

"It's the only one I use. If devs continue to ship and deliver, the meme narrative of GMX becoming the decentralized FTX will come true."
"This is not your typical defi ponzi tokenomics, this is revenue from usage being sent back to governance holders just like defi should be. GMX token holders are the bank and this model will be copied by others in the future."
"Like a lot of people, I'm a big fan of GMX for a a multitude of reasons including it's organic growth and sustainable rewards/tokenomics model. But beyond it's yield offering, I've been particularly impressed with the ability to open/close perps trades on GMX with effectively zero price impact regardless of size."

What Does Twitter Think About GMX?

However, not all the comments online are positive. In a recent Twitter thread, user @ImNotTheWolf complained about the high fees on the platform when traders are at a small profit:

"Only on $GMX can you be +4.39% in profit, and still be in a -9.55% net loss due to outrageous fees."

User @CoinSurveyor stated that he chose the ApeX trading platform for (in his opinion) the better designed UI and the lower maker/taker fees.

The Bottom Line

GMX is becoming a popular DEX for leverage traders. It's the largest DEX on Arbitrum, has higher leverage than competitors (50x), and distributes its trading fee revenue to users. On the downside, it has 0.10% trading fees (higher than ApEX, dYdX, etc), limited trading pairs, and an anonymous team.

Pros & Cons

Spot & Leverage Trading: Trade up to 50x with deep liquidity, minimal collateral and deposits as little as $10.
Decentralized Trading: No sign up process. All you need is a Web3 wallet to trade and you will stay in control of your funds at all times.
Profit-Sharing & Staking: One of the few DEXs that distributes fees back to users.
Built on Arbitrum and Avalanche: You will get significantly lower gas fees than Ethereum.

Only 6 Trading Pairs Currently: (BTC, ETH, AVAX, UNI, LINK, WBTC) while other DEXs offer dozens of pairs.
High Trading Fees: You'll pay 0.1% of the total position size + 0.2% to 0.8% of collateral (for leverage trading) + network execution fees.
APY for GMX staking is escrowed to 1 year or users receive no rewards.
Arbitrum users have to wait 7 days to bridge earnings back to ETH mainnet using the Arbi bridge (unless third-party exchanges are used).

Visit GMX (discount code "RankFi")

FAQ

Who Is Behind GMX?

The team behind GMX is fully anonymous and not doxxed. Despite that, the token received the backing of the largest exchanges including Binance and passed audits. Official audits were published on GitHub.

How Does GMX Make Money?

GMX makes money from trading fees and token appreciation.

Is GMX On Arbitrum or Avalanche?

GMX offers services on both Arbitrum and Avalanche. Users can trade using Arbitrum ETH or AVAX on C-Chain.

Is GMX An Ethereum DAPP?

GMX is a multi-chain DAPP built on Arbitrum and Avalanche. Arbitrum stores Ethereum transactions off-chain and then merges them on-chain in large batches to save on gas fees. Avalanche trading works on C-Chain.

Will GMX Users Get The Arbitrum Airdrop?

If Arbitrum airdrops their token to users in the future, GMX users will likely be eligible for the airdrop as they have to deposit ETH through the Arbitrum Bridge and interact with the DAPP.