Feature	AFP (Autonity Clearing)	Hyperliquid (L1 DEX)	dYdX v4 (Cosmos)	Lighter (zk Rollup)
Layer / Chain	Autonity L1 (EVM PoS)	HyperEVM L1 (PoS)	Cosmos Tendermint L1	Ethereum zk-rollup (Arbitrum)
Orderbook	Off-chain CLOB (AutEx)	On-chain CLOB	Off-chain (validators run book)	Off-chain CLOB (sequencer + ZK)
Settlement	On-chain clearing of futures	On-chain (perps)	On-chain (perps)	On-chain proofs (perps)
Collateral	ATN / USDC stablecoin	USDC (stablecoin)	USDC (stablecoin)	USDC, ETH, etc.
User Fees	Forecastathon is trading gasless	None (trading gasless)	None (no gas, pay trade fee)	None for retail UI (some API/HFT fees)
Contracts	Dated futures on macro/any data	Crypto perpetuals (no expiry)	Crypto perpetuals (no expiry)	Crypto perpetuals (no expiry)
Throughput	Fast BFT consensus (~sub-sec finality)	~200k TPS (claims)	High (validator network)	Thousands/sec with ZK batching
Unique Aspects	Cross-venue margining; any timeseries	High TPS CLOB; HLP liquidity vault	Cosmos-centered	ZK-verified matching; zero trading fees

This post will briefly compare and contrast the AFP with a few well-known perpetual DEXes.

What is the AFP?

As mentioned in the previous articles, Autonity is an Ethereum‐compatible (EVM) blockchain built specifically for decentralized derivatives clearing. Its Autonomous Futures Protocol (AFP) runs on Autonity as a clearing layer for futures contracts. In AFP, anyone can create a “Forecast Future” product based on any real‐world time series (like GDP, CPI, or jobless claims) and link it to an oracle price feed. During the current trading competition, traders deposit a stablecoin (USDz) into a margin account and then use a front-end exchange, AutEx (a non-custodial central limit order book) to place buy/sell orders. When an order is filled, the trade is sent on-chain to the AFP clearing system, which verifies and settles the trade.

AFP’s key features are decentralized clearing, cross-venue margining, and futures on any timeseries. “Cross-venue margining” means that all collateral sits in one on-chain account, so profits from one market (say an inflation future) automatically add to your balance for another market. This design separates trading from clearing: any trading interface (orderbook or AMM) can integrate with AFP. The current trading contest (“Forecastathon”) uses the AFP to trade macro futures – for example “U.S. CPI Oct 2025” futures settled on published CPI data.

In sum, AFP is a permissionless clearinghouse: it records every trade on Autonity’s chain and can settle dated futures on arbitrary data, without a central intermediary.

Hyperliquid

Hyperliquid is a perpetual futures exchange built on its own high-performance Layer-1 blockchain. Unlike AFP, Hyperliquid is self-contained: its blockchain (called HyperEVM) runs an on-chain matching engine. Users deposit crypto (e.g. USDC) into Hyperliquid and trade directly on its orderbook. Hyperliquid’s goal is CEX-like speed: it uses a special consensus (“HyperBFT”) with around 20 validators to achieve sub-second finality and ~200,000 transactions per second. Because of this throughput, Hyperliquid can run a full limit-order book on-chain and offer nearly gas-free trading. In practice, traders enjoy “1-click” buy/sell of perpetual futures with extremely low fees.

Hyperliquid combines features of both centralized and decentralized exchanges. It is permissionless (no central custody of user keys), but it feels like a CEX in speed and interface. Every order, trade, and cancellation is recorded on its blockchain, so all activity is transparent. Hyperliquid has its own native token (HYPE) and a “liquidity vault” mechanism (HLP) to support deep liquidity. In short, Hyperliquid is a high-speed L1 DEX with an on-chain CLOB, focused on crypto perpetuals.

dYdX (v4 on Cosmos)

dYdX is a long-standing decentralized exchange that has moved to a new architecture (v4). The dYdX team has built its own Cosmos-based blockchain (dYdX Chain) that runs a fully decentralized off-chain orderbook. In this system, every validator node keeps an in-memory copy of the orderbook. Traders submit orders (off-chain) and validators match them together; only the resulting trades (fills) are written to the chain each block.

Key points about dYdX v4:

• It is a standalone Tendermint/PoS chain (built with Cosmos SDK). This means it has its own token, validators, and is independent of Ethereum (it’s not an L2).
• The orderbook and matching are decentralized and off-chain. Because validators handle matching, dYdX can scale to very high throughput without central matchers.
• Traders do not pay gas fees on each order. Instead, they pay trading fees (like a CEX) that go to validators.
• The chain is open-source and permissionless; no component is controlled by dYdX affiliates.

In practice, dYdX supports perpetual futures on crypto assets. Its design shares similarities with AFP (on-chain settlement) and Hyperliquid (high-performance orderbook) but mixes them differently. All trades (deposits, withdrawals, fills) happen via transactions on the dYdX Chain, but actual matching happens off-chain by validators for speed.

Lighter

Lighter is a decentralized perpetuals exchange built as a zero-knowledge (zk) rollup on Ethereum. It operates on a custom ZK infrastructure (currently on Arbitrum) to run a CLOB-style DEX with cryptographic guarantees. Users keep their funds in Ethereum contracts, and a sequencer processes batches of orders with very high throughput.

Important features of Lighter:

• ZK-proofs for trades: Every order match, liquidation, and funding calculation is turned into a zk-SNARK proof that gets posted to Ethereum. This means the correctness of the exchange’s operations is publicly verifiable on Ethereum.
• High performance: Lighter claims to process “tens of thousands of orders per second” with millisecond latency. It achieves this by batching and proving off-chain.
• Fee structure: Lighter offers zero trading fees for retail users via the web UI; it only charges fees for API and high-frequency usage. (Gas fees on Ethereum are only paid when users deposit/withdraw.)
• Security: Because Lighter is a zk-rollup, security is ultimately based on Ethereum. If the sequencer stops, users can exit via proof or an emergency mode.

In summary, Lighter is an Ethereum layer-2 (zk-rollup) DEX for crypto perpetuals. It has a central sequencer (for speed) but uses ZK cryptography to guarantee trustlessness and fairness.

Similarities

• Decentralized futures trading: All four platforms let users trade futures/perpetual contracts without a central exchange holding custody. Trades are ultimately settled on blockchain, ensuring transparency.
• Leverage and margin: Each platform uses collateralized margin accounts so traders can use leverage. For example, AFP traders currently deposit USDz to open futures, and Hyperliquid/dYdX/Lighter traders deposit USDC or other tokens to margin positions.
• No per-trade gas for users: In practice, trades feel “gasless” to traders on all four. Hyperliquid’s chain subsidizes gas (zero fees for trades), dYdX’s Cosmos chain does the same, Lighter’s fees are waived for retail, and AFP’s trades via AutEx during the Forecastathon are gasless for users (the foundation temporarily covers clearing gas).
• High-speed focus: Each is designed for high throughput. Hyperliquid boasts 200k TPS, Lighter does thousands/sec with ZK batching, dYdX v4 can scale via distributed validators, and Autonity’s Tendermint consensus gives sub-second finality for AFP.
• Advanced orderbooks: They all use orderbook trading rather than simple AMMs. Hyperliquid and Lighter run full CLOBs, dYdX uses a high-end off-chain book, and AFP’s AutEx is also a non-custodial CLOB. This suits professional trading (tighter spreads, complex orders).
• Permissionless architecture: Each platform is permissionless/open-source. Anyone can set up a node or interface. AFP even lets any user create new futures products. All use oracle data for prices.
• Crypto settlement: except for AFP’s macro futures, all settle on crypto prices. Hyperliquid, dYdX, and Lighter focus on crypto (and sometimes tokenized equities), while AFP’s forecast futures settle on real-world data like inflation.

Differences

• Underlying technology: AFP runs on the Autonity L1 (Ethereum-based PoS chain) that is separate and independent from trading venues. Hyperliquid runs on its own HyperEVM L1 with built-in order matching. dYdX v4 is a Cosmos L1 where validators match orders off-chain. Lighter is a Layer-2 zk-rollup on Ethereum. In short: AFP = new EVM chain + separate exchange, Hyperliquid = bespoke L1 chain with DEX, dYdX = Cosmos chain + validator network, Lighter = Ethereum zk-rollup.
• Product type: AFP’s futures currently have set expiry dates and can be on any data series (e.g. U.S. GDP, energy demand). The others only offer perpetual contracts (no expiry) on assets like BTC, ETH, or stocks. This makes AFP unique in scope (macro data vs. crypto tokens).
• Order matching: Hyperliquid and Lighter handle matching on-chain (Hyperliquid via its own chain, Lighter via proofs on Ethereum). dYdX handles matching off-chain by validators. AFP (currently via AutEx) collects orders through an intents-based model and then every filled trade is cleared on-chain.
• Consensus and decentralization: Hyperliquid’s chain is “relatively centralized” (only ~16 validators) for speed. dYdX’s Cosmos chain will be fully decentralized (potentially hundreds of validators). Lighter uses Ethereum’s security but has one sequencer (with exit options). Autonity uses Tendermint BFT PoS (similar to Cosmos) for finality and more than 25 independent validators.
• Collateral/token: for the competition AFP currently uses USDz (a stablecoin) and its native gas token is ATN. Hyperliquid uses HYPE and stablecoins (USDC). dYdX v4 uses its DYDX token (with USDC collateral). Lighter uses stablecoins/ETH and recently launched a LIGHT token.
• Fees and economics: All four have no trading gas for users, but they differ in tokenomics. Hyperliquid funds trade fees into HYPE buybacks, Lighter waives fees for UI users, dYdX uses staking and trade fees to reward validators, and during the trading competition the foundation pays clearing gas on behalf of traders.
• Unique features: AFP’s standout feature is cross-venue cross-margining (one margin account for all trades). Hyperliquid’s is raw speed and a built-in vault (HLP) for liquidity. dYdX’s is Cosmos-centered. Lighter’s is zk-proof guarantees and zero-fee trading.

The next posts will look more closely at the Forecastathon and other elements of Autonity’s infrastructure.