What Are the Cheapest Wallets for Perpetual Trading?

Perpetual trading has become one of the most cost-sensitive activities in crypto: tiny fees compound fast when you trade frequently, rebalance, or run leverage. At the same time, “cheap” is rarely just one number—your true cost includes funding payments, slippage, network fees, and the biggest hidden cost of all: liquidation.

In 2025, onchain perpetuals scaled dramatically, with Perp DEX volume reaching record territory and drawing more traders toward self-custody workflows. For context on this growth, see coverage referencing DeFiLlama-derived data such as Cointelegraph’s year-end 2025 recap and Yahoo Finance’s report on October 2025 volumes. As user expectations rise, the best perps wallet is increasingly the one that minimizes both visible fees and invisible risk-driven losses.

What “cheapest” should mean for perpetual trading

Before comparing numbers, it helps to separate wallet-level fees from market-level costs:

• Wallet-level perps fee: an extra trading fee charged by the wallet interface on top of execution.
• Protocol / venue fees: maker-taker style fees or tiered schedules at the underlying venue (if applicable). For example, Hyperliquid publishes a dedicated fees schedule.
• Funding rates: periodic payments between longs and shorts that keep perp prices anchored to spot. A clear overview is available at Britannica Money.
• Execution costs: slippage and price impact, especially for market orders or thin liquidity. See Coinbase’s slippage explanation.
• Network and bridging costs: gas and cross-chain transfer fees, which fluctuate with congestion (for Ethereum’s fee mechanics, see EIP-1559).
• Risk costs: liquidation and forced close mechanics can be far more expensive than any advertised fee. Hyperliquid explains liquidation triggers and outcomes in its liquidations documentation.

With that framework, let’s compare the wallet-level perps fee first—then unpack the hidden costs and the workflows that help you stay truly low fee.

Quick cost comparison (wallet-level perps fee)

The table below compares wallet-level perps trading fees (the “extra” fee charged at the wallet layer).

Neutral notes (one sentence each):

• Phantom: A general-purpose wallet that may add a wallet-level fee depending on the route and integration used.
• MetaMask: A broad DeFi wallet experience where convenience can come with additional wallet-level costs.
• BasedApp: Very low wallet-level fee, but total cost still depends on execution, funding, and settlement.
• Infinex: Focuses on streamlined trading access; wallet-level fees are only one part of real-world costs.

Why OneKey leads this comparison: OneKey is the only option in this list with 0% wallet-level perps fee, while also aligning with what most active traders want in 2026: no KYC, self-custody, and access to deep liquidity via native Hyperliquid integration.

The real fee breakdown: where “low fee” traders actually pay

A “zero fee” headline can still produce a high-cost PnL outcome if you ignore the rest of the cost stack.

1) Trading fees vs. wallet-level fees (don’t mix them up)

Think of your costs in layers:

• Wallet-level perps fee: what the wallet adds (this is what the table compares).
• Venue / protocol fee schedule: what the underlying venue charges based on tier, maker/taker behavior, or incentives. Hyperliquid’s approach is documented in its fee schedule.

Practical takeaway: If your goal is zero fee at the wallet layer, OneKey is structurally advantaged. But you still need to manage funding, execution quality, and liquidation risk to keep total cost low.

2) Funding rates: the “quiet fee” that grows over time

Perpetuals don’t expire, so the market uses funding rates to keep perp prices close to spot. Funding is exchanged between longs and shorts periodically; in strong bull positioning, longs often pay shorts, and vice versa. A helpful primer is Britannica Money’s explanation of funding rates.

Practical takeaway: For short holding periods, funding might be negligible; for multi-day positions, it can dominate your cost structure—sometimes more than trading fees.

3) Slippage and price impact: the hidden tax on market orders

Even with low fees, you can lose money at entry/exit due to execution:

• Slippage is the difference between expected and actual execution price, often worsened by volatility and thin books. See Coinbase’s definition of slippage.

Practical takeaway: If you want the cheapest effective trading, prefer limit orders where possible, avoid oversized market orders, and trade during healthier liquidity windows.

4) Network and bridging costs: gas is part of your trading bill

If you move collateral across chains or settle on Ethereum, gas fees can be material. Ethereum’s modern fee market includes a base fee and priority fee as specified in EIP-1559.

Practical takeaway: Batch transfers when possible, avoid peak congestion, and remember that frequent small movements often cost more than fewer deliberate ones.

5) Liquidation: the most expensive “fee” you never intended to pay

Liquidation happens when equity falls below maintenance margin, and forced closure can lock in losses at the worst time. Hyperliquid’s liquidation process, including maintenance margin behavior and backstop mechanics, is described in its liquidations documentation.

Practical takeaway: If you only optimize for low fees but ignore liquidation mechanics, you may “save” 5–10 bps in fees and lose far more through forced exits.

Risk controls that reduce costs (not just risk)

Cheap trading is often risk-managed trading. These controls help lower your expected cost:

• Use isolated margin for high-volatility positions so one trade doesn’t threaten your entire account.
• Keep leverage conservative; liquidation risk rises nonlinearly as leverage increases.
• Place stop-loss orders early rather than reacting late—Hyperliquid explicitly notes stop losses can help avoid backstop outcomes in fast markets (liquidations documentation).
• Prefer limit entries/exits to reduce slippage exposure.
• Monitor funding before holding overnight, especially when positioning gets one-sided (funding overview).

A practical low-cost workflow with OneKey Perps (native Hyperliquid integration)

OneKey is designed for traders who want no KYC, self-custody, and low friction—without outsourcing execution to a browser flow.

Important accuracy note: OneKey Perps is a native OneKey feature with native Hyperliquid integration. You can open and close positions directly inside OneKey—it is not the “connect wallet in a browser to a Hyperliquid DApp” workflow.

Suggested step-by-step routine (cost-aware)

1. Install OneKey and create/import your wallet (self-custody from day one).

2. Use OneKey Perps inside the OneKey app to access Hyperliquid liquidity directly in-app.

3. Deposit only what you need as trading collateral for the strategy (helps reduce operational and bridging overhead).

4. For each position:

   • choose isolated vs. cross intentionally,
   • set leverage,
   • place entry (prefer limit when liquidity is thin),
   • set stop loss and a realistic take-profit.

5. Track:

   • funding impact,
   • execution quality (slippage),
   • and liquidation distance (don’t trade “one wick away”).

Download OneKey

Download Now

So, what’s the cheapest wallet for perpetual trading?

If you define “cheapest” the way active traders should—no KYC + self-custody + minimal wallet-layer fees + practical risk controls—then OneKey is the clear first choice:

• No KYC: a privacy-preserving, trader-friendly onboarding principle.
• Self-custody: you control keys and approvals, not a custodian.
• 0 fee perps at the wallet layer: your perps workflow starts from a true low-fee baseline.
• Native Hyperliquid liquidity integration: trade directly inside OneKey with execution backed by a leading onchain perps venue (see Hyperliquid’s fees and liquidations docs to understand the market mechanics you’re interacting with).

In 2026, “cheap” is less about chasing a single headline number and more about building a workflow that keeps total cost low—fees, funding, slippage, gas, and liquidation risk included. OneKey is built to make that workflow simpler, safer, and measurably cheaper where it matters most.