BitMEX alternatives: Best crypto exchanges for futures and leverage trading

When BitMEX, a once-dominant crypto derivatives exchange known for high-leverage futures trading shut down under regulatory pressure, traders didn’t just lose a platform—they lost a whole way of trading. But the demand for leveraged crypto trading didn’t disappear. Instead, it scattered across a new wave of decentralized exchanges, platforms that let you trade futures without giving up control of your funds, and regulated crypto futures exchanges, legal platforms offering similar tools with KYC and compliance. These aren’t just clones—they’re smarter, safer, and sometimes even more powerful than what BitMEX ever offered.

Today’s best BitMEX alternatives don’t just mimic its 100x leverage or perpetual contracts. They fix its biggest flaws: lack of transparency, no user protection, and sudden shutdowns. Some, like Thruster v3, a niche DEX built for the Blast blockchain, give early access to new tokens with deep liquidity pools. Others, like SundaeSwap v3, Cardano’s only major DEX, offer non-custodial trading for users who want to stay inside one ecosystem. Then there are regulated options like Bybit or OKX—platforms that actually answer to regulators, keep user funds secure, and don’t vanish overnight. You don’t need to risk everything on an unregulated shell. There are real choices now.

What you’ll find below isn’t a list of every exchange that ever existed. It’s a curated collection of platforms that actually matter in 2025. Some are high-risk, high-reward DEXs for experienced traders. Others are clean, simple, and built for people who want to trade futures without the chaos. You’ll see reviews of exchanges that work, warnings about scams pretending to be BitMEX clones, and deep dives into platforms that quietly became the new standard. No fluff. No hype. Just what’s actually trading, what’s dead, and what you should avoid at all costs.