ApeX Pro - The Best Features Of DEX And CEX In One
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Cryptocurrency trading is heavily dominated by centralized exchanges (CEXs), with more modest volumes contributed by decentralized exchange (DEX) protocols. These main crypto trading platforms have their own unique pros and cons. However, the industry has now moved to new frontiers with the introduction of ApeX Pro, a unique platform that elegantly combines the advantages of both CEX and DEX trading modes.
The platform’s decentralized nature, coupled with the order book model familiar to the majority of traders, have moved decentralized finance (DeFi) closer to mainstream adoption by the trading community.
What Is ApeX Pro?
ApeX Pro is a DEX product built on the ApeX Protocol, a permissionless platform launched on Arbitrum in early 2022, that uses an order book trading model. ApeX Pro is designed for derivatives crypto trades, specifically perpetual futures contracts. The platform allows you to carry out your perpetual futures trading while enjoying unique benefits such as zero gas fees, access to significant leverage and minimal slippage, thanks to the use of the order book model.
ApeX Pro offers you a completely private platform without Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements. At the same time, it provides enhanced security of trading, thanks to StarkEx, a Layer 2 secure scalability engine from StarkWare. StarkEx helps ApeX Pro securely verify the validity of transactions. In the largely “Wild West” world of DeFi protocols, very few platforms give you such security benefits.
In addition, ApeX Pro’s order book system provides a familiar setup for many traders — even those with virtually no crypto trading experience under their belt.
Source: pro.apex.exchange
How ApeX Pro Works
The StarkEx engine that powers ApeX Pro uses cryptographic proofs to validate transactions. These are then further processed using Validium, another cutting-edge technology that helps ApeX Pro achieve faster verification times and scalability without sacrificing security.
Using this secure and highly scalable environment, you can carry out quick and low-fee perpetual futures trading.
Multi-Chain Support
A key advantage of ApeX Pro is its multi-chain nature. At the moment, support for deposits and withdrawals is available on four popular blockchain platforms — Arbitrum, Ethereum (ETH), Binance Chain (BNB), and Polygon (MATIC). In theory, the platform is capable of supporting other Ethereum virtual machine (EVM) compatible chains as well. As such, we might expect more chains to be added in the future.
High Performance
ApeX Pro is capable of processing ten trades per second, and 1,000 order placements and cancellations per second. The platform is therefore scaled at a magnitude that hardly any other DEX platform can match. StarkEx helps the platform achieve stellar processing speeds as a high-speed Layer 2 solution for the Ethereum blockchain. Transacting directly on Ethereum is significantly slower (a transaction finality time of between 10 and 30 seconds), and for that matter, more expensive, than routing transactions via StarkEX.
Maximum Security & Privacy
The ZK-proofs generated by StarkEx ensure that most of the transaction data is private and well-protected from any security breaches. Only balance charges are eventually made visible on Ethereum, where the final transaction data is stored.
This helps securely protect your transaction activity and conceal it from the prying eyes of those who shouldn’t be privy to your trading activities. Couple this with no KYC requirements, and you have a fully private decentralized trading experience.
As such, ApeX Pro is a platform that privacy-focused perpetual contracts traders will certainly appreciate.
Benefits of ApeX Pro
ApeX Pro’s highly scalable and secure architecture, underpinned by StarkEx technology, isn’t its only advantage. Perpetuals traders — both experienced and novice — will also appreciate the platform’s distinct transaction benefits.
Order Book Model
The use of the order book model is among ApeX Pro’s key advantages. While the alternative automated market maker (AMM) model has grown very popular in the crypto industry, it’s been known to suffer from some significant disadvantages, such as high slippage and the risk of impermanent loss, and is inarguably unfamiliar to less experienced crypto and traditional finance traders.
While AMM environments can be confusing to traders without deep expertise in cryptocurrency trading and liquidity mining, the order book model is a well-recognized system for any current or aspiring trader. By using this highly familiar trading model, ApeX Pro opens the doors of crypto derivatives trading to diverse segments of users. If you thought that your traditional stock market experience may not be suitable for trading crypto perpetual contracts, try ApeX Pro for a U-turn on that belief.
Cross-Margin Trading
ApeX Pro also supports cross-margin trading, which allows you to transfer margins between your different accounts to meet the minimum margin requirements. If you have a surplus margin in one account, moving it to another account that’s at risk of falling below its minimum will help avoid liquidation.
Low Fees and Greater Leverage
Traders on ApeX Pro have access to leverage of up to 20x. You can also enjoy zero gas fee transactions, with instant settlement. The actual trading fees are also among the lowest in the industry, with the standard maker fee of 0.02% and the taker fee at 0.05%.
Trading With Rewards
Source: apex-pro.gitbook.io
ApeX Pro offers a variety of crypto rewards for regular users. Its Trade-to-Earn program rewards users for trading and staking activity. Rewards under the program are paid in BANA tokens (covered further in this article), and are settled weekly. Meanwhile, the majority of other DEX platforms have payouts/settlements with significant multi-month or even year-long lockup periods.
ApeX Protocol Tokens
ApeX Pro uses two key tokens, APEX and BANA.
APEX Token
The APEX token’s two main functions are governance and user incentivization. Holders of the token may participate in governance polls to decide on changes or new features for the ApeX Protocol and its specific products. In this context, the protocol itself should be distinguished from products based on it.
For instance, ApeX Pro specifically refers to a DEX product hosted on the underlying ApeX decentralized protocol. Ownership of APEX doesn’t limit you to decisions on ApeX Pro only; the token’s governance functionality extends across the protocol. However, it should be noted that, at the moment, the protocol’s only complete product on the mainnet is the DEX itself, ApeX Pro.
Besides governance, APEX is also used to incentivize the platform’s user community for referrals and liquidity provision.
APEX is an ERC-20 token on Ethereum. It has a maximum and total supply of 1 billion. The token’s circulating supply currently stands at nearly 50 million APEX. With the token’s current price of $0.33 (as of December 1, 2022), its market cap is about $16.3 million.
BANA Token
Source: ApeX Pro Litepaper
BANA is used largely as a reward token. Earlier, we mentioned the platform’s innovative Trade-to-Earn rewards program, whose weekly payouts are made in BANA tokens. This token’s entire supply has been minted from 25 million APEX, specifically allocated for minting BANA. The BANA rewards may be swapped for USDC, a leading and highly liquid stablecoin, or used to add liquidity to the BANA-USDC pool for additional BANA rewards. Additionally, at the end of the Trade-to-Earn event, which is slated to last a full year, users will be able to turn their BANA rewards into APEX tokens.
During the year-long Trade-to-Earn event, $190,000 worth of BANA tokens will be distributed to participants every week. That amounts to a bounty of nearly $10 million over the course of the year — all for active crypto perpetual futures traders to grab. BANA’s value is maintained through a Buy & Burn Pool (BBP), whereby 50% of APEX transaction fees are used to buy back BANA tokens and burn them.
Is ApeX Pro Safe?
ApeX Pro is one of the safest products in the world of DEXs. It features both excellent transaction security features and complete privacy. The platform’s security is underpinned by StarkEx’s cryptographic protection mechanism, which ensures that only a minimal amount of information is disclosed on Ethereum’s public ledger system.
The platform’s overall architecture combines the privacy of a decentralized system with the efficiency and protection of a well-maintained CEX.
Moreover, ApeX Pro's contracts have been officially audited by Secure3, and StarkWare's contracts have also gone through rigorous audits. This demonstrates ApeX Pro’s commitment to being a perfectly safe DEX with which you can trust your funds.
Where to Buy APEX Token
As of November 30, 2022, the APEX token is available via Bybit and Uniswap. You can buy it on Bybit’s spot market for USDT and USDC.
Conclusion
ApeX Pro is a unique platform that combines the best features of DEXs and CEXs. It offers a privacy-preserving, permissionless and highly secure trading environment that features the order book model so familiar to many traders. Add its great scalability and zero gas transactions, and you’ll be hard-pressed to find a better decentralized platform for crypto perpetual contracts aficionados.
Source: ApeX Pro: A Simplified DEX for All Traders | Bybit Learn
