Ex-Wall Street founders, zero-maker-fee derivatives

Phemex was founded in 2019 by Jack Tao and a team of eight former Morgan Stanley executives, a background that shaped the exchange's focus on fast matching engine technology and institutional execution quality. The matching engine processes over 300,000 transactions per second, among the highest throughputs claimed by any retail crypto exchange. For HFT-style retail traders where execution latency matters at the milliseconds level, Phemex's architecture competes directly with Bybit's infrastructure.

The premium membership model ($9.99/month or payable in Phemex gold) waives all maker fees on spot trading, making the effective spot trading cost zero for limit orders. Standard accounts pay 0.10% maker / 0.10% taker. USDT-perpetual futures run 0.01% maker / 0.06% taker without premium, with premium membership dropping spot fees to zero but not perpetuals.

300+ trading pairs and product range

Phemex covers 300+ spot pairs, USDT-settled and inverse perpetual futures on BTC, ETH, and 200+ altcoins, up to 100x leverage on BTC perpetuals, and an earn product for passive yields on idle assets. A simulated trading environment with real market data is available for strategy testing without capital risk. Copy trading launched in 2022.

Proof of Reserves

Phemex publishes Proof of Reserves attestations using Merkle tree methodology, confirming BTC, ETH, USDT, and USDC reserves above 100% at the time of the most recent attestation.

Where it falls short

Phemex does not hold FCA, MiCA, NYDFS, or AUSTRAC regulatory licences; it operates under a Singapore-based entity without MAS licensing for exchange services. US residents are not served. The exchange is smaller by open interest than Bybit or OKX on most futures pairs.

Bottom line

Phemex suits active derivatives traders outside the US who value low-latency execution infrastructure and want to minimise spot trading costs via the zero-maker-fee premium membership. For maximum futures liquidity, Bybit or OKX carry deeper order books.