Head to head · Exchange derivatives · October 2026 research run

Deribit vs HTX trading API

Deribit scores 59 (C) on agent readiness against HTX trading API's 43.3 (E), and leads in every scored category. Both do exchange derivatives.

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

Which one, for what

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 38
  • Schema & documentation, 88 against 40
  • Agent ergonomics, 74 against 69
  • Security & auth, 62 against 51
  • Payments & pricing, 25 against 15
  • Maintenance & community, 65 against 57
  • Transparency & trust, 46 against 25

Watch for

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

HTX trading API E

Best for Spot and USDT-margined derivatives for agents that can hold an HTX key, with no MCP server and no testnet.

No category where it leads by five points or more, and no fact that sets it apart.

Watch for

No official MCP server; the only one in the MCP registry is a third party's read-only ticker server

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 +48

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.

HTX trading API 40

No OpenAPI or other machine-readable contract found in the docs or the GitHub accounts (0). No llms.txt on htx.com, and the readable reference is a static page (0). Each endpoint states its purpose and parameters, without when-to-use guidance (12 of 20). Parameter tables carry types, required flags and enums for order types and states (10 of 15). Request and response examples throughout and error-code tables with messages (11 of 15). Versions v1 and v2 are mixed in one reference whose last changelog entry is 24 June 2022, while HTX's newer docs on htx.com couldn't be read (7 of 15). 0 + 0 + 12 + 10 + 11 + 7 = 40.

Transparency & trust Deribit +21

Deribit 46

The editorial half. A closed service whose terms (Deribit FZE membership terms and DRB Panama Inc. terms) sit on a support site that answered 403, with the entity confirmed on VARA's register (12 of 30). The privacy policy was not read, and nothing in the docs states retention (0 of 30). The changelog marks deprecations and the upcoming docs branch previews the next release, but removals such as public/get_index on 25 November 2025 carry no notice period (10 of 20). No subprocessor or data-location statement found (0 of 20). Total 22.

HTX trading API 25

The editorial half. A closed service whose user agreement exists but couldn't be read (script-drawn pages), so the licence clarity is unknown rather than unclear (10 of 30). The privacy policy was not read (0 of 30, unchecked). The testnet shutdown and the 2022 changelog entries are dated, with no deprecation policy (5 of 20). No subprocessor or data-location statement read (0 of 20). 10 + 0 + 5 + 0 = 15.

Security & auth Deribit +11

Deribit 62

Keys carry five scopes at read, read_write or none, ip:ADDR and expires limits, can be disabled, reset and removed by API, and self-generated Ed25519 or RSA keys keep the private half off Deribit. The HTTP client_credentials example passes client_secret in the query string, a documented option, so 10 off (20 of 30). trade:read and wallet:none give read-only and no-withdrawal keys and the 5 August 2025 release stopped account:read keys reading other keys' secrets; no per-order confirmation and the address allow-list article was unreadable (16 of 20). The API returns no untrusted content (10). private/list_api_keys, the transaction log and order history let an operator see what a key did, but no per-key call log was found (8 of 15). A HackerOne bug bounty per the support article title and HackerOne's customer story, neither page read first-hand (insights.deribit.com/bug-bounty answered 403), a VARA licence, and no security.txt on www.deribit.com (8 of 20). Total 62.

HTX trading API 51

HMAC-signed keys with Read, Trade and Withdraw permissions, sub-user keys without Withdraw, up to 20 bound IPs, revocation in the account and a 90-day expiry without IP binding. The AccessKeyId and the HMAC signature travel as query parameters; the secret does not, so no deduction for a secret in the URL (24 of 30). Read-only keys and withdraw-free keys exist; no server-side confirmation for orders or withdrawals (14 of 20). The API returns the exchange's own data, no untrusted content (10). No per-call log or key-use history found for the operator (3 of 15). No security.txt, disclosure policy or certification found on the pages that loaded (0 of 20). 24 + 14 + 10 + 3 + 0 = 51.

Payments & pricing Deribit +10

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.

HTX trading API 15

No machine payment protocol (0). The fee schedule at htx.com/fee is drawn by script and answered no text, so no price is recorded first-hand (0 of 20, unchecked). Public market data needs no key, card or account; trading needs a verified and funded account. Judgement call (15 of 20). A person must sign up in a browser and pass identity checks (0). 0 + 0 + 15 + 0 = 15.

Maintenance & community Deribit +8

Deribit 65

Read as a closed service. The JSON-RPC changelog's latest production entry is 13 October 2026 and an entry dated 5 November 2026 describes the next release; Deribit's posts of 14 October and 2 November 2026 change fees (30). Entries of 18 August, 15 September and 13 October 2026, three in 90 days (20). A public changelog and a support site; whether support answers wasn't tested and the support site refused our reader (10 of 15). No official SDK and no MCP registry entry (0). The OpenAPI and AsyncAPI files are maintained with the docs (5 of 10). Total 65.

HTX trading API 57

Read as a closed service. The readable changelog ends on 24 June 2022, but the official contract SDKs were pushed on 21 October 2026 and the spot SDKs in April and July 2026, so the API surface is still being maintained; judgement call (20 of 30). SDK pushes on 30 July, 23 August and 21 October 2026 are commits, not releases (10 of 20). A Telegram group for API support and a support centre, neither tested; GitHub issues not read (8 of 15). Official SDKs in five languages (15). No CI seen, dependencies not checked (4 of 10). 20 + 10 + 8 + 15 + 4 = 57.

Reliability Deribit +7

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.

HTX trading API 38

Read with the hosted lines. No status page found; status.htx.com does not resolve and nothing on htx.com was readable (0). No readable incident history (5). Rate limits documented per endpoint with numbers, 100 order calls per 2 seconds per UID and so on, with remaining-quota headers (15). No 429 or Retry-After behaviour is documented and the only limit error named is 1006 for conditional orders; a client-order-id unique within 8 hours and an idempotent withdrawal id give safe retries on writes (8 of 15). No SLA found (0). The spot and swap APIs are generally available (10). 0 + 5 + 15 + 8 + 0 + 10 = 38.

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runDeribitHTX trading APIEdge
Reliability16%204538Deribit +7
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.28840Deribit +48
Agent ergonomics13%16.27469Deribit +5
Security & auth14%17.56251Deribit +11
Payments & pricing10%12.52515Deribit +10
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.86557Deribit +8
Transparency & trust7%8.84625Deribit +21
Negative events≤1500
TotalC 59/100E 43.3/100

Facts side by side

FactDeribitHTX trading API
KindHTTP APIHTTP API
VendorDeribit FZEHTX
Hosted endpointno (local only)no (local only)
Transports
AuthAPI keyAPI key
PricingPay per usePay per use
x402nono
LicenceProprietary hosted exchange. The API is documented under the Deribit docs with an OpenAPI 3.0 file; no official client library is publishednone
Tools exposed00
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesno
Last release2026-10-132026-10-21
Terms last updated2026-08-13no date given
Privacy policy last updatedno document linkedno document linked
Customer content may train modelsnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms restrict automated accessyesnot found in the text
Terms restrict benchmarkingnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms or service can change without noticenot found in the textyes
Arbitration or class-action waivernot found in the textyes
Popularitynone684 stars

Verdicts

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.

HTX trading API

HTX's API has per-endpoint rate limits, read, trade and withdraw key permissions with IP binding, and SDKs in five languages. No official MCP server exists, the testnet is closed, the public reference is still Huobi's with a 2022 changelog, and the fee schedule, terms and restricted countries are on script-drawn pages we couldn't read.

Before you call either

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

HTX trading API

  1. Ask the operator for a key with Read and Trade only and bound to your IP addresses; a key without IP binding expires after 90 days
  2. Send a fresh client-order-id of up to 64 characters with every order and reuse it only on retry; a repeat within 8 hours answers invalid.client.order.id
  3. Watch X-HB-RateLimit-Requests-Remain and pace at under 100 order calls per 2 seconds per UID; limits are shared by every key on the account
  4. There is no testnet; try order logic with the smallest size the market allows
  5. Confirm the person's country is served before trading; the restricted list in the user agreement couldn't be read here

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, Deribit or HTX trading API?

Deribit scores 59 (C) on agent readiness against HTX trading API's 43.3 (E), and leads in every scored category.

Do Deribit and HTX trading API need an API key?

Both need an API key.

Can an agent call Deribit and HTX trading API without installing anything?

No hosted endpoint is listed for Deribit. No hosted endpoint is listed for HTX trading API.

Other comparisons with Deribit or HTX trading API

Machine-readable

For companies

Do agents find, use and choose your tools?

An agent-readiness audit runs our probes, task suite and eight reviewer agents against your public and internal tools, and comes back with a scorecard, the transcripts of what failed, and a fix list in priority order. From $2,500, re-run included. We never take payment to move a rank. We do help companies earn one.