There are 150 decentralized exchanges (DEXs) on the BNB Smart Chain (BSC), and choosing the best ones can be tough. So, I decided to do the dirty work for you by filtering out the noise and presenting you with the overall Top 5 decentralized exchanges on BSC.
Top 5 DEXs on BSC
Here’re the 5 most popular DEXs on BSC.
This list is not in any particular order, but each DEX was carefully selected based on a range of objective criteria, including:
- total value locked (TVL),
- trading volume,
- user base,
- availability of unique features or products,
- user interface and experience,
- fees
…etc.
So, the DEX with the highest TVL, volume and user base is listed first, followed by the others in no particular order.
This selection process ensures that each DEX on the list is of high quality and offers you unique value.
Top 5 DEXs on BSC
1. PancakeSwap
PancakeSwap is the largest DEX on BSC in terms of trading volume, TVL, market cap, user base, and everything else.
It commands more than 50% of the TVL on BSC, far ahead of other DEXs on the network.
The platform features trading (swaps, limit orders, perpetual futures), liquidity mining, yield farming, an NFT marketplace, a lottery system, IFO (Initial Farm Offering), etc.
Check out my PancakeSwap (CAKE) fundamental analysis and price prediction for 2021-2025
The exchange was audited by Certik in October 2020 and has never suffered any security breach so far.
PancakeSwap was launched in September 2020 via a fork of the SushiSwap code by a team of anonymous developers.
As of today, March 11, 2023, there are 3236 tokens listed on PancakeSwap with 3622 trading pairs, according to data from CoinGecko.
Thus giving you a wide range of trading opportunities, even though we can both agree that most of those tokens are shitcoins.
Chances are, if a token was created on BSC, you will find it on the PancakeSwap DEX.
Furthermore, PancakeSwap allows you to farm other tokens of new and rising projects on BSC through its Syrup pools by staking CAKE.
This has allowed the top BSC DEX to attract a large and loyal community of users and CAKE holders.
PancakeSwap fees
PancakeSwap offers 3 different trading products:
- Swaps
- Perpetual futures
- Grid futures
Below is the fee structure for each of the above trading instruments on PancakeSwap.
For swaps, the exchange charges 0.25% on trade volume, of which 0.17% is used to reward liquidity providers, 0.03% is allocated to the Treasury, and 0.05% is used to finance the CAKE buyback and burn program.
In the perpetual future, PancakeSwap charges a Taker and Maker fee of 0.0700%0.0665% and 0.0200%0.0190% respectively.
And if you choose to pay the fees using CAKE, you get a 5% discount.
In the Grid futures market, PancakeSwap charges a 0.22% fee on your trading profits and 0.31% of the total trade volume.
2. Biswap
Biswap is a leading DEX on BSC with the lowest trading fees and the first to introduce a 3-type referral system.
The exchange was launched on May 25, 2021, and has quickly risen to become the top 2 DEX on BSC.
Biswap was also, unsurprisingly, one of the top 10 winners of the Binance Most Valuable Builder II (MVBII) program, announced on July 29, 2021.
Aside from its traditional Swap product, other features of the Biswap DEX include:
- Liquidity mining. Supply liquidity to a pool on Biswap and earn a share of all trading fees from that pool.
- Yield farming (earn more BSW by staking your LP tokens).
- Launchpools where you can stake BSW to earn BSW and other tokens; or stake other tokens to earn BSW.
- Fixed staking. Allows you to stake different popular coins like BNB, DOT, ADA, etc, for fixed periods and earn juicy APY.
- Referral program, where you earn up to 20% from your friends’ swap fees on Biswap, and 5% from their earnings on Farms & Launchpools.
- IDO (initial DEX offering) Launchpad where you can buy the tokens of new projects launching on BSC using BSW.
- NFT launchpad, NFT marketplace, and NFT staking.
- Lottery program.
- GameFi, which introduces the first Play to Earn NFT Game on BSC with multi-crypto rewards.
- Multi-Reward pool which allows you to stake BSW, trade selected pairs, and earn multiple tokens as rewards.
Currently, only 122 tokens and 168 trading pairs are listed on Biswap as per data on CoinGecko.
Biswap fees
Biswap offers the lowest trading fee on BSC. The exchange charges a 0.1% trading fee on stablecoin pairs and a 0.2% fee on other pairs which is distributed as follows.
- 0.15% goes to liquidity providers,
- 0.01% goes towards BSW token burn,
- 0.02% is allocated to the funding of the Biswap Earn programs (Multi-reward pool, Double Launchpools, etc), and
- 0.02% goes to the Biswap team.
Furthermore, every time you make a swap on Biswap, a portion (up to 50%) of the trading fee you paid will be returned to you in BSW tokens.
Thus, the actual trading fee you pay on Biswap is considerably lower than the stated 0.2% as you’re getting some of it back in BSWA.
Biswap referral program
Biswap runs a referral program that rewards you with 5% of what the people you refer to the platform earn from the Farms and Launchpools.
Furthermore, you can earn up to 20% of all your referrals’ trading fees on Biswap.
And no, the referral reward is not taken from the earnings of the people you refer.
Rather, 4.3% of the BSW block reward is allocated to the referral program and that’s where the referral commissions are paid from.
Because I am feeling generous right now, I will share 50% of my Biswap referral commission with you when you connect to Biswap with this referral link.
3. Thena
Thena is one of the latest cool DEXs on BSC launched on January 5, 2023. The exchange claims to be the “native liquidity layer on BSC” powered by its native token (THE).
It allows project developers to list their tokens on the DEX and use THE locking and voting system to incentivise users to provide liquidity and earn rewards.
In less than 3 months of launch, Thena has quickly grown to become the 3rd largest DEX on BSC based on TVL.
Below are some of the features and products the exchange offers:
- Swap: Thena enables you to swap BEP-20 tokens at the lowest fees and tight slippage.
- Liquidity Mining: You can mine THE while also earning trading fees by providing liquidity to any pool on Thena.
- Lock and earn: Thena allows you to lock THE token to get veTHE. You can then use veTHE to vote for any pool to earn bribes and trading fees.
- Guages: Any whitelisted project can create a “Guage” on Thena where their users can provide liquidity and lock their LP token to earn THE rewards.
- Bribes: Anyone can create a bribe for all everyone who votes or stakes in a specific Guage and earn the bribe token. The bribe token can be any token you choose to distribute.
- theNFT: Thenian NFTs or theNFT are a limited collection of 1,734. Each one grants you access to multiple revenue streams, exclusive delta-neutral strategies, and a dedicated role within the community.
Thena trading fees
Thena charges a 0.01% trading fee on stablecoin pairs and 0.20% on other (volatile) pairs.
20% of the fees go to theNFT stakers while 80% to the veTHE voters overall.
Thena referral program
Thena offers an on-chain referral program that allows you to generate a unique link to share with others and earn a 5 to 12% share of their trading fees.
Your referral rate depends on the trading volume tier you’ve reached — the more volume you generate, the higher your tier.
Also, your referrals will earn lottery tickets (tranches based on volume) that will give them access to a weekly lottery.
If you want to support me, you can use my referral link to connect to Thena.
4. Mdex
Mdex is the first decentralised exchange built on the Huobi Eco Chain (Heco) but is also available on BSC and Ethereum.
The exchange became operational in January 2021 but was only launched on BSC in April of the same year.
Within a short time, Mdex has grown to become one of the top 5 DEXs on BSC according to data from DefiLlama.
Some features of MDEX include:
- Token swaps. Allows you to swap BSC, Heco, and Ethereum tokens for another seamlessly.
- Liquidity mining. Allows you to provide liquidity into any of the pools on Mdex and earn a share of all trading fees from the pool.
- Yield farming. Allows you to stake your LP tokens to earn MDX and other tokens.
- IMO (initial Mdex offering) where you can invest in new projects launching on supported chains (BSC, Heco, Ethereum) by staking your MDX token.
- Futures trading. Provides you with a decentralised perpetual futures trading instrument on BSC.
…etc.
As of today, only 87 tokens are listed on Mdex with 124 trading pairs, as per data on CoinGecko.
Mdex trading fees
Mdex charges a 0.3% fee on all swaps on the DEX, of which:
- 0.2% is used to reward liquidity providers,
- 0.07% is used to finance the MDX repurchase and burn program, and
- 0.03 is added to the reward pool of the Mdex boardroom.
For futures trading, the exchange charges a 0.02% Maker fee and a 0.07% Taker fee.
In addition, similar to Biswap, Mdex incentivizes trading through its transaction fee or trading mining program.
Mdex returns up to 100% of your trading fees to you in the form of MDX tokens. So in some cases, you actually pay nothing to trade on the exchange.
Mdex referral program
Mdex offers a basic referral rate of 7% to 10% depending on how many MDX you hold.
0-20,000 MDX will give you a 7% referral reward. 20,000-60,000 gives you 8%, while 60,000+ gives you 10%.
Security:
The
5. ApeSwap
ApeSwap is one of the top DEXs on BSC with a full suite of DeFi tools to take advantage of and grow your crypto portfolio.
The exchange was originally a fork of PancakeSwap but has been fully customized and now features the following services and tools.
- Token Swap. Swap between different tokens on BSC.
- Liquidity Mining. Add liquidity to any of the available liquidity pools and earn a share of all trading fees from the pool.
- Staking. Stake BANANA or GNANA in Staking Pools to earn tokens of other projects.
- Yield farming. Stake LP tokens in Yield Farms to earn BANANA.
- Money Market. Lend and borrow crypto assets with the ApeSwap Lending Network.
- IAO (Initial Ape Offering). Invest in new projects launching on BSC via the ApeSwap launchpad (IAO) program.
- Margin Trading. Margin trade with crypto assets using ApeSwap leveraged trading platform.
As of the time of writing this article, there are a total of 207 tokens listed on Apeswap with 453 trading pairs according to CoinGecko.
ApeSwap trading fees
There’s a 0.2% trading fee on every token swap on ApeSwap, of which 0.05% goes to the ApeSwap Treasury, and the remaining 0.15% is distributed proportionally to the liquidity providers (LPs).
Therefore, if you hold BANANA or GNANA, every trade on the ApeSwap DEX benefits your position, since a portion of the Treasury funds is used to buy back and burn BANANA.
Conclusion
Choosing the right DEX on BSC can be a difficult task, but there are several objective criteria that can be used to filter out the best ones.
Based on factors such as total value locked (TVL), trading volume, user base, unique features, and fees, this article has presented the top five DEXs on BSC.
The list includes PancakeSwap, Biswap, Thena, Mdex, and ApeSwap, with PancakeSwap being the largest and most popular DEX on BSC.
You’ll notice that these DEXs have a few important things in common, which include:
- An active and fast-growing user base.
- Unique and innovative products and features. Not just clones and copy-pasted codes.
- Backed by proveably experienced, competent and committed teams that have something to offer and want to make a difference.
- Effective tokenomics with a long-term focus.
- Lucrative investment opportunities.
- A focus on security, the safety of users’ funds, and community participation.
However, while these DEXs are all good, it’s important you do your own research and pick the one that best meets your unique trading and investment needs.
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