Bybit vs OKX: fees, EU futures and which to choose

Bybit vs OKX is one of the closer contests among crypto exchanges for EU readers, because both are licensed. On 23 October 2026 Bybit EU GmbH holds a MiCA authorisation from Austria’s FMA, and OKX Europe Limited holds one from Malta’s MFSA. Both passport their licences across the EEA, so most EU residents can open either exchange account.

The key differences are fees, futures and coin range. OKX is cheaper if you open its X-Perps derivatives account, offers MiFID-regulated futures and lists more coins. Bybit EU charges one flat 0.25% fee with no strings attached. Below we compare both with euro examples, using each exchange’s official pages as checked on 23 October 2026. Crypto-assets are volatile and can lose all their value.

Bybit vs OKX: the short answer

For active traders in the EU, OKX wins on cost and products, provided you accept an account tied to derivatives. For new users who only want basic spot trading, Bybit EU’s single fee is simpler.

• Choose OKX if you trade often, want spot and futures in one licensed account, and don’t mind opening X-Perps for the lowest fees.
• Choose Bybit EU if you want one flat 0.25% fee, card or Apple Pay top-ups and no derivatives account.
• Look elsewhere if a clean record matters most: Bybit lost about $1.5bn in a 2025 hack, and OKX’s global operator pleaded guilty in the US in 2025.

Read our full Bybit review and OKX review for each cryptocurrency exchange on its own.

Bybit vs OKX: key differences

The facts table above lists everything side by side. These are the differences that change the decision in this Bybit vs OKX comparison.

• Spot fees: Bybit EU charges 0.25% flat. OKX charges 0.08% maker and 0.10% taker with an X-Perps account, or 0.20% and 0.35% without one.
• Futures: OKX offers MiFID-regulated X-Perps up to 10x leverage. Bybit EU offers no derivatives we could confirm.
• Euro transfers: OKX’s SEPA deposits and withdrawals are free. Bybit EU charges no deposit fee and shows its withdrawal fee after login.
• Coins: about 270 for OKX’s EEA users, about 108 on Bybit EU.
• Track record: both carry serious incidents, of different kinds.

Can EU residents use both Bybit and OKX?

Yes. Since 1 July 2026 only MiCA-authorised firms may provide crypto services in the EU, and both exchanges have a licensed legal entity for EEA residents. The one exception is Malta, which Bybit EU excludes.

Bybit EU: authorised in Austria

Austria’s FMA authorised Bybit EU GmbH on 28 May 2025 for custody, exchange of crypto for funds or other crypto, placing and transfer services. The licence is passported to the EEA, including the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and Ireland, but not Malta. Bybit EU doesn’t accept nationals of the US, Malta, Russia and several other countries. In August 2026 the FMA also licensed Bybit Payments GmbH as an electronic money institution.

OKX Europe: authorised in Malta

Malta’s MFSA authorised OKX Europe Limited on 27 January 2025 for custody, operating a trading platform, exchange, order execution, placing and reception and transmission of orders. Its licence is passported to the other EEA states. OKX runs its EU derivatives through a separate Maltese MiFID II investment firm it bought in March 2025. Dutch users were moved to OKX Europe after a DNB fine for earlier unregistered service.

Outside the EU: global presence and regional platforms

Both groups run global platforms with different rules. Bybit is based in Dubai, holds a licence from the UAE’s Securities and Commodities Authority and reports more than 80 million users worldwide. It excludes US persons. OKX serves US users through a separate OKX US platform launched in April 2025, and UK users get a limited offer. Check which legal entity would hold your own account before you deposit, and never use a VPN or false residence details to sign up.

Bybit vs OKX fees

OKX fees are lower than Bybit EU’s if you open an X-Perps account; without one, Bybit EU is cheaper for market orders. Both are competitive fees next to app-first exchanges, but the X-Perps condition decides the winner.

Spot trading fees and fee tiers

Since 5 October 2026 Bybit EU charges one rate for maker fees and taker fees alike: 0.25% below 100,000 USDC of 30-day trading volume. High volume traders drop to 0.15% as non-VIPs and to 0.045% at the top Supreme VIP fee tier.

OKX’s EEA spot fees are 0.08% maker and 0.10% taker with an X-Perps account. Its VIP tiers start from €100,001 in total assets or by 30-day volume, some pairs such as USDC-EUR trade at zero fees, and the EEA fee table shows no OKB token discount. OKX Convert is advertised with zero trading fees, but its spread isn’t published, so check the quoted rate against the order book.

OKX’s X-Perps condition

OKX’s low fees come with a condition. Without an X-Perps account, EEA spot fees rise to 0.20% maker and 0.35% taker, so the taker fee is 3.5 times higher. You don’t have to trade futures to qualify, only to open the account, but read the X-Perps terms first. If you never want a derivatives account, Bybit EU’s flat fee is the competitive fee structure for market orders.

Worked example: €100 and €1,000 spot trades

Here is what each trade costs at entry rates, as trade size × fee rate.

With X-Perps, OKX saves you €1.50 on a €1,000 market order and €1.70 on a limit order. Without it, Bybit EU is €1.00 cheaper on the market order but €0.50 dearer on the limit order. Spread and slippage come on top on both, especially on smaller trading pairs.

Futures fees

Only OKX offers futures to EU users. X-Perps cost 0.02% maker and 0.05% taker on the regular tier, so opening and closing a €1,000 position with market orders costs €0.50 + €0.50 = €1.00. Bybit EU’s fee schedule is spot-only. We didn’t verify funding or margin interest costs on either exchange.

Deposits, withdrawals and euro payment methods

OKX is clearer on euros. SEPA deposits and SEPA withdrawals are free (your bank may charge), card purchases cost 1.99% via Visa or Mastercard, and euro bank transfers are limited to verified users who live in the EEA. Your first withdrawal needs proof that the bank account is in your own account name.

Bybit EU charges no fee on fiat deposits, though payment providers may, and accepts Visa, Mastercard, Apple Pay and Google Pay top-ups. Its SEPA withdrawal fee and crypto withdrawal fee appear only in the logged-in withdrawal window. OKX lists a bitcoin withdrawal fee from 0.000015 BTC on the Bitcoin network; the cost depends on which of the withdrawal networks you pick.

Futures trading, margin and advanced tools

OKX is the only one of the two that offers derivatives trading to EU users, and it does so under a MiFID licence. Both offer spot margin trading.

OKX X-Perps for EU traders

OKX launched X-Perps in April 2026: MiFID-regulated futures with a five-year expiry and up to 10x leverage, for retail and institutional clients in the EEA. They behave much like perpetual futures for most trading strategies, but check the product terms. For experienced traders who want spot and futures in one licensed account, that is the main reason to pick OKX over Bybit EU.

Spot margin on both exchanges

OKX launched spot margin for EEA customers in December 2025, with up to 10x leverage on BTC and ETH against USDC. Bybit EU also offers spot margin; its insurance fund is fed by a 2% liquidation fee. The perpetual contracts on Bybit’s global platform aren’t part of the bybit.eu offer, and we didn’t verify options trading for EU users on either exchange.

Copy trading and trading bots on Bybit vs OKX

Neither exchange gives EU users a verified copy trading product we could compare. OKX serves copy trading pages on its EEA site, but we didn’t verify their exact scope or terms. Bybit’s global help centre describes copy trading; Bybit EU’s help centre doesn’t.

We also couldn’t verify the trading bots offered to EU users on either platform, so we don’t rank them. If you do use copy trading or automated trading tools, treat them as high risk: copying a trader copies their losses too, past returns don’t predict future ones, and every trade still pays normal trading fees. Both exchanges offer an API; give API keys trade-only permissions and never enable withdrawals on them.

Coins, trading pairs and other products

OKX lists more supported assets for EU users. Its EEA list is about 270 coins, approximated from the 272 assets with EUR pairs in its public API; Bybit EU’s spot API showed 108 base coins on 23 October 2026. Both trade against EUR and PLN, and both cover the major digital assets such as bitcoin and ether.

Earn, cards and wallet features

Both offer Earn or staking products, a card and a mobile app. OKX launched the OKX Card, a Mastercard, in Europe in January 2026; Bybit EU offers a card too. We didn’t verify the exact scope of either exchange’s Earn products for EU users, and we don’t cover dual investment, yield farming or NFT marketplace products here. Any yield product carries the risk of losing the crypto you lock up.

User interface and learning curve

Both platforms have a steep learning curve compared with app-first brokers, because both are built around order books and advanced trading tools. Bybit EU’s single fee makes its trading experience easier to predict for new traders. OKX’s two fee schedules and separate X-Perps account suit seasoned traders who already know what they want.

Security, proof of reserves and regulatory history

Both have serious records. Bybit’s is dominated by a $1.5bn hack in 2025; OKX’s by a 2025 US guilty plea and two EU fines. Both publish proof of reserves.

Bybit’s record

On 21 February 2025 about $1.5bn in ETH was stolen from Bybit’s wallets; the FBI attributed the theft to North Korea. In 2024 DNB fined Bybit Fintech €2.25m for serving Dutch clients without registration until September 2023, and Bybit settled the FTX estate’s lawsuit for about $228m. In 2025 India’s Financial Intelligence Unit fined Bybit Fintech ₹9.27 crore. Bybit publishes a Merkle-tree proof of reserves with wallet addresses, most recently for 23 September 2026.

OKX’s record

In February 2025 Aux Cayes FinTech, OKX’s global operator, pleaded guilty in the US to operating an unlicensed money transmitting business and agreed to pay about $504 million. Malta’s FIAU fined OKX’s European arm about €1.1 million in April 2025, and DNB fined Aux Cayes FinTech €2.25 million for serving Dutch customers without registration. OKX suspended crypto withdrawals from October to late November 2020 during a police investigation in China. In March 2025 it paused its DEX aggregator after detecting misuse by the Lazarus group linked to the Bybit hack.

OKX publishes monthly proof of reserves using a Merkle tree and zk-STARK proofs. Its 48th report, an October 2026 snapshot, showed $29.4 billion in primary assets and a BTC reserve ratio of 110%. OKX publishes no insurance fund figure. In March 2026 Intercontinental Exchange, the NYSE owner, took a stake in OKX.

Account security

A proof of reserves shows assets at one moment, not every liability, so it is one check among several for user assets. Good account security is the part you control: turn on two-factor authentication with an authenticator app, use a withdrawal-address allowlist if offered, and keep long-term holdings in a wallet you control.

Who should choose Bybit and who should choose OKX

Both are licensed, so choose by how you trade.

Choose OKX if

• you’re an active trader who wants spot, margin and futures in one MiCA- and MiFID-regulated setup;
• you’ll open an X-Perps account to get 0.08%/0.10% spot fees;
• you want free SEPA withdrawals and about 270 coins.

Choose Bybit EU if

• you only want spot trading and no derivatives account;
• you mostly place market orders, where 0.25% beats OKX’s 0.35% without X-Perps;
• you top up by card, Apple Pay or Google Pay.

Avoid both if

• you live in Malta and want Bybit EU, which excludes Malta;
• you’re new to crypto and tempted by leverage;
• a record without a major hack or guilty plea matters most to you.

Other crypto exchanges to compare

If neither fits, Kraken vs Bybit compares Bybit EU with a licensed exchange that offers futures through a CySEC-licensed firm, and Kraken vs OKX does the same for OKX. Readers moving off an unlicensed exchange can see why in Binance vs OKX.

How we built this Bybit vs OKX comparison

We’re an editorial team, and we didn’t open accounts or place trades for this comparison. On 23 October 2026 we checked both exchanges’ fee pages, public APIs, licence notices, proof-of-reserves pages and ESMA’s MiCA register. Our scoring follows our methodology. This isn’t financial or investment advice; do your own research and only invest what you can afford to lose.