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Editorial policyGMX is a decentralised perpetual futures exchange on Arbitrum and Avalanche. Traders open leveraged long or short positions against the GLP (GMX Liquidity Provider) pool — a multi-asset index of BTC, ETH, USDC, and other tokens. GLP holders earn trading fees and bear trader PnL. GMX V2 (launched 2023) improved capital efficiency with isolated markets. GMX remains a top perp DEX on Ethereum L2s despite Hyperliquid's volume dominance.
GMX is a decentralised perpetual futures exchange on Arbitrum and Avalanche using the GLP liquidity pool model — one of the longest-running perp DEXes, predating Hyperliquid's order-book approach.
Market context
DeFiLlamaSkip this What is GMX? Perpetual DEX on Arbitrum and Avalanche Explained explainer if you wanted a first wallet setup or a CEX account. It covers how the protocol works and who it is not for. How-tos and comparisons are linked where they exist.
Related comparisons
GMX launched in 2021 on Arbitrum and Avalanche, pioneering the 'liquidity pool perp DEX' model: instead of an order book, traders bet against a shared pool (GLP) of assets. When traders lose, GLP holders profit; when traders win, GLP absorbs the loss. This model removes the need for external market makers but concentrates risk in the pool.
GMX V2 (2023) introduced isolated markets with separate liquidity pools per asset pair, improving capital efficiency and reducing cross-asset contagion risk. GMX remains among the top perpetual DEXes by TVL on Arbitrum, though Hyperliquid has overtaken it in trading volume with its custom L1 order-book architecture.
FAQ
GMX is a decentralised perpetual futures exchange on Arbitrum and Avalanche. Traders open leveraged positions against the GLP liquidity pool.
GLP (GMX Liquidity Provider token) was GMX V1's multi-asset index pool. It was phased out after the July 2025 V1 exploit and can now only be redeemed; GMX V2 uses GM and GLV pools, whose holders earn trading fees but absorb trader profits as a counterparty.
GMX charges swap fees, borrowing fees, and price impact fees on trades. 70% of fees go to GLP holders; 30% to GMX stakers.
Not exploit-free: on 9 July 2025 attackers drained about $42M from GMX V1 on Arbitrum through a reentrancy bug that inflated GLP pricing (most funds were returned for a bounty), after which GLP was phased out. Risks include GLP drawdown during trader winning streaks, oracle manipulation, and smart contract bugs.
Hyperliquid dominates volume with a custom L1 order book. GMX offers pool-based perps on Arbitrum with longer L2 track record and GLP yield.
GMX V1 and V2 operate on Arbitrum and Avalanche. GMX V2 is the current primary deployment with isolated markets.
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