GMX operates as a prominent decentralized exchange (DEX) focused on perpetual swap trading, offering leverage of up to 100X on major digital assets such as BTC and ETH. The service went live in September 2021 on Arbitrum, an Ethereum Layer-2 network. With more than $355B in cumulative trading volume and 758K total users, it stands out as one of the top multichain Perpetual DEXs. Currently, traders can access GMX on Arbitrum, Avalanche, Solana (where it functions as GMTrade), Ethereum Mainnet, Base, BNB Chain, Botanix, and MegaETH.

The individuals who established GMX remain unidentified. Nevertheless, it is probable that the primary developer is the Twitter user @xdev_10.

GMX functions as a permissionless platform for spot and perpetual trading, offering a smooth experience across various public blockchains. Rooted in DeFi values like transparency, self-custody, and permissionlessness, it allows traders to operate directly from their private wallets.

Rather than using the order book systems common to centralized exchanges (CEXs), GMX relies on permissionless liquidity pools. This approach innovates upon the automated market maker (AMM) model seen in DEXs such as Uniswap. GMX V1 employed a multi-asset pool known as GLP, whereas GMX V2 introduces isolated GM liquidity pools and GLV liquidity vaults constructed atop these pools. These structures are permissionless and create revenue for liquidity providers; anyone can deposit into GM or GLV to earn fees. Currently, over 45,000 users act as LPs on the widely used GMX platform.

The GLV serves as a multi-asset liquidity pool (LP) composed of 50% ETH or BTC paired with 50% USDC. It automatically redirects its liquidity toward the highest-performing GMX markets. This dynamic allocation strategy enhances capital efficiency and maximizes returns for liquidity providers.

Price data on GMX is supplied by low-latency Chainlink Data Streams. This pull-based oracle system gathers aggregated token price information from leading exchanges.

Currently, more than 10M GMX tokens are in circulation, with a projected maximum supply of 13.25M GMX.

The token distribution is structured as follows:

• 6M GMX for XVIX and Gambit migration
• 2M GMX paired with ETH to provide liquidity on Uniswap
• 2M GMX reserved for vesting from Escrowed GMX rewards
• 2M GMX allocated to the floor price fund
• 1M GMX for marketing, collaborations, and community developers
• 250K GMX distributed to the team linearly over a 2-year period

GMX operates on the Arbitrum, Solana, and Avalanche blockchains.

Arbitrum functions as a layer-2 solution that relies on the Ethereum network for its security. Ethereum ensures consensus and finality for transactions on Arbitrum, effectively guaranteeing the validity of the rollup’s off-chain computations and the availability of the underlying data.

On Avalanche, the consensus mechanism differs from proof-of-work or proof-of-stake models by not relying on a single leader to process transactions for validation by others. Instead, every node processes and validates transactions using a directed acyclic graph (DAG) protocol. This approach allows for simultaneous transaction processing, while random polling by validators confirms correctness with statistical certainty. Because this system does not use blocks, it enables immediate finalization and significantly boosts the blockchain’s speed.

Additionally, GMX contracts have undergone audits by multiple expert firms, and an active bug bounty of 5 million USD is available for GMX on Immunefi.

You can purchase GMX on various crypto trading platforms, such as Binance, KuCoin, and Kraken.