Arcus vs dYdX Chain (2026): Same Team, Different Exchanges

ArcusvsdYdX

The people who built dYdX now build Arcus. That sentence causes most of the confusion in this pair, so it helps to be exact. Arcus is built by dYdX Labs, the trade name of dYdX Trading Inc., in partnership with Robinhood Crypto. dYdX Chain is a separate blockchain that keeps running. The two exchanges share a history and a team lineage, and they run on different technology.

This guide covers how they differ on design, fees, markets, token and access, using each exchange's live API and DefiLlama data from October 2, 2026. For the corporate story in full, read Arcus and dYdX: how they are connected.

Source: dydx.trade, captured October 2, 2026, used under fair use for educational purposes

Who is who

Getting the entities right answers half the questions people ask about this pair.

So "dYdX launched Arcus" is wrong in a way that matters. A company that built dYdX's software launched Arcus. The chain and its community did not.

One detail adds to the confusion. The X account that used to be @dYdX now carries the @arcus_xyz handle with the same account ID, so older dYdX posts now display under Arcus's name. dYdX forum users noticed (dYdX forum). If you see "@dYdX" lookalike accounts pushing Arcus tokens or airdrops, treat them as scams; our scams guide lists the common ones.

Is dYdX Chain still running?

Yes. In "A New Arc" (June 30, 2026), Antonio Juliano wrote that "dYdX v4 will continue to be supported and your funds and positions will remain fully accessible on dYdX Chain" (dYdX blog). The same post explains why dYdX Labs' attention moved: decentralizing dYdX Chain meant "Performance and user experience suffered," with "competitors capturing market share."

dYdX Labs' main effort has moved to Arcus, while v4 stays supported, and the volume numbers since launch point the same way. DefiLlama's perps dashboard ranked dYdX #34 by 30-day volume on October 2, with $1.21B of volume (up 3% on the prior 30 days) and $270K of 30-day revenue. Arcus ranked #19 with $4.11B (up 112%) and $661K.

Architecture: hybrid vs fully on-chain

The two exchanges are built in different ways, and that drives most of the other differences.

Arcus is a hybrid exchange on Robinhood Chain. Per its architecture docs, an off-chain matching engine run by Arcus matches orders. A permissioned appchain re-verifies signatures, margin and fills and posts state roots. Custody and settlement live in contracts on Robinhood Chain (a Checkpoint Manager and a Bridge Vault), with an escape hatch if the operator stops. Arcus claims 100,000+ orders per second and about 20 ms confirmations. Its Help Center calls this "the same hybrid model dYdX v3 ran on StarkEx," so if you used dYdX v3, Arcus will feel closer to that than to v4.

dYdX Chain is a Cosmos appchain with its order book built into the chain, run by a community validator set. There is no single company operating its matching engine, which is the decentralization Juliano's post links to its performance problems.

What that means for you:

• Speed and UX. Arcus claims about 20 ms confirmations. dYdX's founder has said decentralization cost dYdX Chain performance.
• Trust. Arcus's docs say "the core exchange operates in a centralized manner" and that, if the escape hatch triggers, trades since the last committed state root "would be 'busted.'" dYdX Chain does not depend on one operator. Arcus's rootchain contracts were audited by Trail of Bits and OpenZeppelin.
• Code lineage. Arcus is not a dYdX v4 fork. Its API is its own /v1/* design, not the v4 indexer.

Fees: Arcus is cheaper, by more during beta

Sources: Arcus /v1/feetiers (October 2, 2026); Arcus Help Center; dYdX docs (on-chain 500 / 100 ppm).

During beta, Arcus charges less than half dYdX's taker rate and nothing for makers. After beta, Arcus's taker is still a little cheaper and its maker is a little dearer. DefiLlama's data puts dYdX's realized fees at 2.24 basis points of volume, below its 5.0 bps headline taker rate, since maker fills, volume tiers and any rebate programs pull the average down. Arcus shows the same pattern (1.74 bps realized against a 2.25 bps beta taker). Arcus also shows referred traders a 5% fee discount in its app. Full schedule and examples in the Arcus fees guide and the fee calculator.

Markets and liquidity

dYdX lists more markets. Its indexer showed 73 active perps on October 2, 2026 (the API also carries 223 markets in final settlement). Arcus's markets API showed 67 listed and 60 online: 25 crypto, 34 equities, 4 commodity ETFs and 4 index ETFs. Arcus's stock, index and commodity perps are the real difference here. Arcus also lists a DYDX-USD perp at up to 5x.

Arcus also has spot: Stock Tokens on Robinhood Chain, at 0% Arcus fee, 190+ by Arcus's count. dYdX offers spot on Solana. The 24/7 stock trading guide covers the Arcus side.

On liquidity, each wins a different band. From the October 2 snapshot at 04:14 UTC:

Arcus had about 3.4x dYdX's BTC depth within 0.10% of the mid, which is where most retail market orders fill. dYdX had far more resting liquidity further out, so very large orders could fare better there. Open interest was about level: $44.6M on Arcus and $43.8M on dYdX, per DefiLlama.

The Robinhood angle

This is the part dYdX Chain has no equivalent for. Robinhood Crypto has made a strategic investment in Arcus (amount not disclosed), Arcus runs exclusively on Robinhood's chain, and its Stock Tokens are issued by Bitstamp, which Robinhood owns. Since October 1, 2026, Robinhood Wallet routes Stock Token swaps through the Arcus API (Arcus). Arcus's Help Center says Robinhood does not own Arcus. For a trader, that means tokenized US stocks next to perps, reachable from a wallet many retail users already have.

Token: DYDX vs none

DYDX is live and is the staking token of dYdX Chain. Arcus has no token. Its Help Center says "Arcus does not currently have a token," and DYDX plays no role in the Arcus product beyond being one of its tradable perps.

There are two links between the communities, both from dYdX's side:

1. Juliano wrote that "an allocation of any future Arcus token will be reserved for the dYdX community." That describes a token that does not exist. No swap, migration, ratio or date has been announced.
2. Arcus prioritized waitlist access for people who had used dYdX, and counted dYdX v3 and v4 volume toward the perps waitlist (Arcus).

Arcus Points started on October 1, 2026. Arcus's Protocol Terms say points carry no right to any token or airdrop. Any "ARCUS" token trading today is not official. See Arcus points, token and airdrop.

Access

Arcus perps are in a gated beta: you need an invite code, earned at one per $1M of qualifying volume, or a waitlist slot. Arcus spot needs neither in eligible regions. A referral link gives a fee discount and does not unlock perps. Details in our invite code and waitlist guide.

dYdX Chain showed no invite gate on dydx.trade when I checked on October 2; in eligible regions you connect a wallet and trade.

Regions. Arcus restricts the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and sanctioned regions under its terms, and in practice blocks spot for US visitors as well; see Arcus not available in your country. dYdX bars US persons from perps, and has offered Solana spot to US users since December 2025 (dYdX). This is a summary of each platform's terms, not legal advice.

Moving from dYdX to Arcus

Nothing carries over automatically. Arcus is a different chain, a different collateral and a different account system, so a dYdX trader starting on Arcus is starting fresh.

• Wallet. Arcus accepts MetaMask, Rabby, Coinbase Wallet, Phantom and WalletConnect, or an email sign-in through an embedded Privy wallet (Help Center).
• Collateral. Arcus perps use USDG on Robinhood Chain. Deposits go through Fun, which accepts crypto from Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base, Solana, Bitcoin and other chains, plus card and Apple Pay or Google Pay on-ramps.
• Balances. Arcus keeps separate Spot and Perps balances in one wallet. Withdrawing from perps is two steps: Perps to Spot, then Spot out to another chain.
• Access. Your dYdX history counted toward the old Arcus waitlist. Since October 1, new perps access runs on invite codes, so if you have no code, start with spot.
• Practice. Arcus's testnet gives you about $1,000 of test USDG to try the interface first.

If you used dYdX v3, the hybrid model will feel familiar: an exchange-run matching engine, with custody and an escape hatch on chain.

Which should you use?

Arcus fits if:

• You want lower fees today and stock, index and commodity perps next to crypto.
• Your orders are retail-sized, where Arcus's book near the mid was deeper.
• You want Stock Tokens in your own wallet on Robinhood Chain.

dYdX Chain fits if:

• You value a community-run chain over an operator-run matching engine.
• You hold or stake DYDX.
• You need a market Arcus does not list, or you are a US user interested in dYdX's Solana spot.

You can hold positions on both; nothing about using Arcus affects your dYdX account. For how Arcus stacks up against the largest perp DEX, read Arcus vs Hyperliquid, and for its closest rival on Robinhood Chain, Arcus vs Lighter.