Head to head · Exchange market data · October 2026 research run

Bithumb Open API vs Deribit

Deribit scores 59 (C) on agent readiness against Bithumb Open API's 50.6 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Both do exchange market data.

Best crypto exchange APIs and MCP servers for AI agents · All 210 exchanges comparisons

Which one, for what

Bithumb Open API D

Best for KRW-market trading for agents acting for a verified Korean account, with a vendor-built MCP server, CLI and skills.

Also in its favour

  • Runs on your own machine

Watch for

No sandbox or testnet; every order uses real funds

Deribit C

Best for An agent trading crypto options, dated futures and perpetuals for an institutional or retail Deribit account, and anyone migrated from Coinbase International Exchange.

Ahead on

  • Reliability, 45 against 34
  • Schema & documentation, 88 against 64
  • Agent ergonomics, 74 against 67
  • Payments & pricing, 25 against 15

Watch for

No official MCP server, and the GitHub organisation has no public repositories, so no official SDK in any language

Why the edge

Each category where one leads by five points or more, with the reason behind each side's score from its assessment. The numbers are in the table below; this is what they stand for.

Schema & documentation Deribit +24

Bithumb Open API 64

No OpenAPI found; the reference is a readme.io site with Markdown twins, and the MCP tool schemas weren't read since the server's source isn't published (5 of 25). llms.txt on apidocs.bithumb.com (10). Reference pages state purpose and the skills say when to use each module and when not to (15 of 20). Typed parameters with enums for side, order type and time in force (10 of 15). Examples in several languages and an error-code page with names, statuses and meanings (12 of 15). Versions per endpoint (v1, v2, v2.1.5) and notices with effective dates (12 of 15). 5 + 10 + 15 + 10 + 12 + 12 = 64.

Deribit 88

OpenAPI 3.0.0 for the whole JSON-RPC surface (Deribit API 2.1.1, about 1.4 million characters) plus AsyncAPI files for the WebSocket side (25). llms.txt with production and upcoming indexes, and a Markdown twin of every page (10). Each operation has a description such as "Places a buy order for an instrument." with parameter notes, and the articles say when to use WebSocket subscriptions over polling, but the reference seldom says when not to use a method (13 of 20). Parameters are typed with enums (order type has eight values, time_in_force four) and required flags, with amount or contracts as a documented either-or (13 of 15). Every reference page carries an example request and response, and the errors page lists about 159 codes with retry guidance, though most operations document only a 200 response and the smaller error tables disagree with the full one on two codes (12 of 15). A versioned path (/api/v2), a production and an upcoming docs branch, and a dated changelog of 64 entries since 21 January 2020 (15). Total 88.

Reliability Deribit +11

Bithumb Open API 34

Read with the hosted lines. No status page found on apidocs.bithumb.com or in llms.txt; wallet-status and notices endpoints stand in (0). No readable incident history, though two notices record a public WebSocket interruption and a brief service break (5). Rate limits documented per category with numbers, updated 27 October 2026 (15). A breach is described only as a temporary restriction, with no status code, header or Retry-After, and no client order id or idempotency key is documented; 422 order_not_ready and 500 server_error say to retry later (4 of 15). No SLA found (0). The API is generally available; the MCP server and CLI are at 0.8.5 (10). 0 + 5 + 15 + 4 + 0 + 10 = 34.

Deribit 45

Read with the hosted lines on the JSON-RPC API. status.deribit.com did not resolve for our reader on 3 November 2026 and Coinbase's status page showed no Deribit component, so no status page is scored, with the unchecked line below (0). No readable history (5). Rate limits are documented with numbers, 50,000 credits per sub-account refilled at 10,000 a second, and matching-engine tiers of 5 to 30 requests a second by 7-day volume (15). Error 10028 ends the session and the errors page says to back off exponentially; 10040 means retry; the 6 May 2026 release added a nonce for idempotent orders (15). No SLA found (0). The API is generally available; only Starbase is limited to selected clients (10). 0 + 5 + 15 + 15 + 0 + 10 = 45.

Payments & pricing Deribit +10

Bithumb Open API 15

No machine payment protocol (0). The fee page timed out on every attempt, so no price is recorded (0 of 20, unchecked). Public market data needs no key, card or account; trading needs a verified Korean account. Judgement call (15 of 20). A person must sign up, pass identity checks and issue keys in the browser (0). 0 + 0 + 15 + 0 = 15.

Deribit 25

No machine payment protocol (0). The fee schedule is on support.deribit.com, which answered 403; Deribit's own posts give VIP4 to VIP7 taker fees and the 0 bps linear options maker fee, so partial prices are public but the lowest tier is unchecked (5 of 20). Public market data needs no key and the test environment is free, with no card anywhere (20). A person signs up in a browser with identity checks before any key exists (0). Total 25.

Agent ergonomics Deribit +7

Bithumb Open API 67

Graded on the REST API with the MCP server. 41 tools in all, selectable by module, so 15 for 11 to 30 or more and 8 added back for the module switch (23 of 25). Candle counts, order paging and a 200-market cap on the ticker (13 of 20). Stable error.name values with retry guidance for order_not_ready and server_error (14 of 20). No client order id or idempotency key documented; the CLI's per-profile read-only flag, the MCP --read-only flag and the skills' read-only gate help, and readOnlyHint annotations weren't checked (9 of 20). Few required parameters, but no official SDK beyond the CLI and a CCXT guide (8 of 15). 23 + 13 + 14 + 9 + 8 = 67.

Deribit 74

An API, read for response sizing. public/get_order_book takes depth, get_instruments filters by currency and kind, and history methods take count and offset, though get_instruments returns every instrument for a currency and costs 10,000 credits (18 of 25). Count and offset pagination, time ranges on trade and transaction logs, and WebSocket channels with interval and depth options (16 of 20). Numeric error codes with short names, a wait value on some errors, and sample code that branches on them (18 of 20). A nonce on orders since May 2026 returns the existing order on retry, a label lets an agent find its own orders, and 10040 marks the calls safe to retry; no MCP annotations apply (16 of 20). Few required parameters and sensible defaults (limit and good_til_cancelled), but no official SDK in any language, so every caller signs and frames JSON-RPC itself (6 of 15). Total 74.

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runBithumb Open APIDeribitEdge
Reliability16%203445Deribit +11
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.26488Deribit +24
Agent ergonomics13%16.26774Deribit +7
Security & auth14%17.56062Deribit +2
Payments & pricing10%12.51525Deribit +10
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.86965Bithumb Open API +4
Transparency & trust7%8.84746Bithumb Open API +1
Negative events≤1500
TotalD 50.6/100C 59/100

Facts side by side

FactBithumb Open APIDeribit
KindHTTP APIHTTP API
VendorBithumb Co., Ltd.Deribit FZE
Hosted endpointno (local only)no (local only)
Transportsstdio
AuthAPI keyAPI key
PricingPay per usePay per use
x402nono
LicencenoneProprietary hosted exchange. The API is documented under the Deribit docs with an OpenAPI 3.0 file; no official client library is published
Tools exposed410
Read-only variant documentedyesno
llms.txtyesyes
Last release2026-10-132026-10-13
Terms last updatedcouldn't be read2026-08-13
Privacy policy last updatedno document linkedno document linked
Customer content may train modelscouldn't be readnot found in the text
Terms restrict automated accesscouldn't be readyes
Terms restrict benchmarkingcouldn't be readnot found in the text
Terms or service can change without noticecouldn't be readnot found in the text
Arbitration or class-action waivercouldn't be readnot found in the text
Popularity6 starsnone

Verdicts

Bithumb Open API

Bithumb runs an official local MCP server with 41 tools, module selection and a read-only flag, beside a CLI with per-profile read-only gating and six agent skills, over an API with scoped one-year keys and a mandatory IP list. There is no sandbox, no status page, no documented 429 behaviour, and the fees and terms couldn't be read.

Deribit

Deribit's JSON-RPC API has scoped keys with IP and expiry limits, asymmetric signing, an OpenAPI file, numeric rate limits and a 64-entry changelog. There is no official MCP server or client library, the fee schedule, terms and privacy policy sit on a support site that refused our reader, and the status page did not resolve.

Before you call either

Bithumb Open API

  1. Ask for a key with asset and order inquiry plus order placement only, never withdrawals, with your IP registered; keys expire after one year and a wrong IP answers 401 NotAllowIP
  2. Start the server with --modules market,account,trade --read-only for analysis and drop --read-only only when the person asks to trade; deposit and withdraw modules stay off
  3. Prefer the bithumb CLI for writes, as the skills do, and check bithumb config show --json for a read-only profile before any order
  4. Keep the ticker's markets parameter at 200 or fewer, batch orders at 30 and cancels at 30 per request, and stay under 140 private calls a second per category
  5. Retry 422 order_not_ready and 500 server_error after a pause; there is no sandbox, so start with the smallest order the market allows

Deribit

  1. Create the key with trade:read_write and wallet:none, an ip: limit and an expires value; keep account:read unless the task edits subaccounts
  2. Authenticate with client_signature or an Ed25519 key over WebSocket rather than client_credentials over HTTP, which puts the secret in the URL
  3. Watch the limits field of private/get_account_summary and back off on error 10028; a session that runs out of credits is closed and must reconnect
  4. Send a nonce with orders so a retry after a timeout does not place a second order, and treat order_not_found on cancel as a possible fill
  5. Develop against https://test.deribit.com/api/v2 first; production and test need separate accounts and keys

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, Bithumb Open API or Deribit?

Deribit scores 59 (C) on agent readiness against Bithumb Open API's 50.6 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories.

Do Bithumb Open API and Deribit need an API key?

Both need an API key.

Can an agent call Bithumb Open API and Deribit without installing anything?

Bithumb Open API runs on your own machine, with no hosted endpoint listed. No hosted endpoint is listed for Deribit.

Other comparisons with Bithumb Open API or Deribit

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