# Deribit vs KuCoin

> Deribit scores 59 (C) to KuCoin's 53.9 (D) for exchange derivatives. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deribit-vs-kucoin
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deribit-vs-kucoin.md (~4,800 tokens)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (the key docs and every listing in one file, at most 16 MB, about 4 million tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key)
- DNS: dig +short TXT <slug>.grade.anchorterminal.com (the grade as a DNS TXT record, for a sandbox with no HTTP where names still resolve; also top., best.<category>. and <a>.vs.<b>. under the zone, and the same under grade.letme.dev)
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)
- Updated: 2026-11-04

Deribit scores 59 (C) on agent readiness against KuCoin's 53.9 (D), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. KuCoin leads on payments & pricing, maintenance & community and transparency & trust. Both do exchange derivatives.

- Deribit: grade C, 59/100, rank #646 of 1349. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/deribit.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/deribit.json
- KuCoin: grade D, 53.9/100, rank #824 of 1349. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/kucoin.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/kucoin.json
- Best crypto exchange APIs and MCP servers for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/crypto-exchanges/index.md
- All 210 exchanges comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crypto-exchanges/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Deribit (C)

Good 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:
- Schema & documentation, 88 against 60
- Agent ergonomics, 74 against 62
- Security & auth, 62 against 55

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

### KuCoin (D)

Good for: An agent trading spot, margin and futures in a person's KuCoin account outside the restricted list, with no sandbox and no MCP server, so through the SDK or raw REST.

Ahead on:
- Payments & pricing, 35 against 25
- Maintenance & community, 73 against 65
- Transparency & trust, 54 against 46

Watch for: No official MCP server; the registry's `kucoin` entry is a third party's keyless market-data package


## Why the edge

### Schema & documentation: Deribit +28

- 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.
- KuCoin (60): No OpenAPI or other machine-readable contract was found; the docs link a Postman workspace and the universal SDK is generated from an internal spec (8 of 25). No llms.txt; the skills hub ships Markdown SKILL.md files with endpoint tables for seven product areas, read-only (6 of 10). One docs page per endpoint with a description, permission and weight, but no when-to-use guidance (12 of 20). Typed parameter tables with enums for type and side and required flags (11 of 15). Request and response examples per endpoint and a unified six-digit error code scheme introduced with V2 (10 of 15). Dated changelog with V1 to V2 versioning (13 of 15). 60.

### Agent ergonomics: Deribit +12

- 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.
- KuCoin (62): Read for the API alone, since there is no MCP server. Responses take limit and cursor parameters on list endpoints and the order book depth is a parameter (14 of 25). Pagination and symbol filters on orders, fills and ledgers (15 of 20). Codes and messages per response, with the V2 scheme claimed to be clearer; the rate-limit page's own examples contradict its table, which costs an agent a turn (12 of 20). clientOid on orders makes retries safe; no MCP annotations to read (10 of 20). Three required fields on a spot order, official SDKs in five languages (11 of 15). 62.

### Payments & pricing: KuCoin +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.
- KuCoin (35): No machine payment protocol (0). The spot base fee is stated in support articles without login, the futures base rate and the full tier table sit in images or behind script (15 of 20). Market data needs no key, no card is asked for at sign-up (20). A person registers, verifies identity and mints the key in a browser (0). 35.

### Maintenance & community: KuCoin +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.
- KuCoin (73): Read as a closed hosted service. The changelog's newest past entry is 2 November 2026 and the universal SDK was pushed 15 September (30). Nine dated changelog entries since 5 August 2026 (20). A Telegram API group (t.me/KuCoin_API) and api@kucoin.com for limit requests, no public issue tracker for the API; the SDK repository's issues were not checked (10 of 25). Official SDKs current in five languages, no MCP registry presence (13 of 15). No package health signal checked (0 of 10). 73.

### Transparency & trust: KuCoin +8

- 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.
- KuCoin (54): The editorial half. A closed hosted service with terms that are clear on use, liability and law but name no company (12 of 30). The privacy policy gives retention periods by purpose and provider (2 years after closure, 14 months for Firebase, 3 years for Jumio, 5 years for Sumsub) and names 41 services, with no data centre locations (22 of 30). Endpoints are removed and fields deprecated in dated changelog entries with no notice period or policy (8 of 20). Third parties named by service, locations not stated beyond transfers around the globe (10 of 20). 52.

### Security & auth: Deribit +7

- 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.
- KuCoin (55): API key with a user-set passphrase, HMAC-SHA256 signing, nine permission groups, IP allow-lists required for Withdrawal and FlexTransfers, trading keys without an IP disabled after 30 days of inactivity, revocation on the management page; no OAuth and no expiry on General keys (24 of 30). A General-only key is a true read-only mode and withdrawals are a separate permission; no confirmation step for writes beyond the key scope (12 of 20). Tools return the exchange's own data (10). The API key info endpoint shows permissions and IP lists; no per-call audit log was found (5 of 15). No security.txt, no disclosure policy or bounty on a page we could read, a whistleblower notice on the legal page (4 of 20). 55.

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Deribit | KuCoin | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 45 | 45 | even |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 88 | 60 | Deribit +28 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 74 | 62 | Deribit +12 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 62 | 55 | Deribit +7 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 25 | 35 | KuCoin +10 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 65 | 73 | KuCoin +8 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 46 | 54 | KuCoin +8 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **59 · C** | **53.9 · D** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Deribit | KuCoin |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Deribit FZE | KuCoin |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  |  |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Pay per use |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary hosted exchange. The API is documented under the Deribit docs with an OpenAPI 3.0 file; no official client library is published | none |
| Tools exposed | 0 | none |
| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| Last release | 2026-10-13 | 2026-11-02 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-08-13 | no date given |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | no date given |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | yes |
| Popularity | none | 55 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.

**KuCoin.** KuCoin publishes pooled rate limits with remaining and reset headers, scoped keys where withdrawals and transfers need an IP allow-list, an official SDK in five languages and read-only agent skills. It runs no MCP server, has no sandbox, status page or OpenAPI file, and its terms name no legal entity.

## 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

### KuCoin

1. Mint a key with General only for research; add Spot or Futures only with an IP allow-list, since unbound trading keys are disabled after 30 days of inactivity
2. Send a UUID clientOid on every order and keep it for the retry, and read the order back by clientOid before placing again
3. Budget requests by weight against gw-ratelimit-remaining and sleep for gw-ratelimit-reset milliseconds on 429000; sub-accounts share the pool
4. There is no sandbox, so rehearse with the smallest order size on a dedicated sub-account
5. Use the UTA V2 endpoints and hosts; the Classic API loses endpoints without notice, as the margin credit endpoints did on 21 October 2026

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Deribit or KuCoin?

Deribit scores 59 (C) on agent readiness against KuCoin's 53.9 (D), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. KuCoin leads on payments & pricing, maintenance & community and transparency & trust.

### Do Deribit and KuCoin need an API key?

Both need an API key.

### Can an agent call Deribit and KuCoin without installing anything?

No hosted endpoint is listed for Deribit. No hosted endpoint is listed for KuCoin.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deribit-vs-kucoin.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deribit-vs-kucoin.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "deribit", "b": "kucoin"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare deribit kucoin`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/deribit.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/kucoin.json

## Other comparisons with Deribit or KuCoin

- [Bitfinex API vs Deribit](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitfinex-vs-deribit.md)
- [Bitfinex API vs KuCoin](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitfinex-vs-kucoin.md)
- [Bitget vs Deribit](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitget-vs-deribit.md)
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- [Bithumb Open API vs Deribit](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bithumb-vs-deribit.md)
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- [Bitstamp API vs Deribit](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitstamp-vs-deribit.md)
- [Bitstamp API vs KuCoin](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitstamp-vs-kucoin.md)
- [Bybit vs Deribit](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bybit-vs-deribit.md)
- [Bybit vs KuCoin](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bybit-vs-kucoin.md)
- [Crypto.com Exchange API vs Deribit](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crypto-com-exchange-vs-deribit.md)
- [Crypto.com Exchange API vs KuCoin](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crypto-com-exchange-vs-kucoin.md)
- [Deribit vs Upbit Open API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deribit-vs-upbit.md)
- [Gate vs KuCoin](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gate-io-vs-kucoin.md)
- [Gemini Exchange API vs KuCoin](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-exchange-vs-kucoin.md)
- [HTX trading API vs KuCoin](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/htx-vs-kucoin.md)
- [KuCoin vs MEXC API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kucoin-vs-mexc.md)
- [KuCoin vs OKX API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kucoin-vs-okx.md)
- [KuCoin vs Uniswap Trading API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kucoin-vs-uniswap.md)
- [KuCoin vs Upbit Open API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kucoin-vs-upbit.md)
- [Binance API vs Deribit](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/binance-vs-deribit.md)
- [Binance API vs KuCoin](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/binance-vs-kucoin.md)
- [Coinbase Advanced Trade API vs Deribit](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/coinbase-advanced-trade-vs-deribit.md)
- [Coinbase Advanced Trade API vs KuCoin](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/coinbase-advanced-trade-vs-kucoin.md)
- [Coinbase MCP server (Coinbase for Agents) vs Deribit](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/coinbase-mcp-vs-deribit.md)
- [Coinbase MCP server (Coinbase for Agents) vs KuCoin](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/coinbase-mcp-vs-kucoin.md)
- [Deribit vs Uniswap Trading API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deribit-vs-uniswap.md)
- [Kraken API vs KuCoin](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kraken-vs-kucoin.md)
- [Deribit vs dYdX](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deribit-vs-dydx.md)
- [Deribit vs Gate](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deribit-vs-gate-io.md)
- [Deribit vs Gemini Exchange API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deribit-vs-gemini-exchange.md)
- [Deribit vs HTX trading API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deribit-vs-htx.md)
- [Deribit vs Hyperliquid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deribit-vs-hyperliquid.md)
- [Deribit vs Kraken API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deribit-vs-kraken.md)
- [Deribit vs MEXC API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deribit-vs-mexc.md)
- [Deribit vs OKX API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deribit-vs-okx.md)
- [dYdX vs KuCoin](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/dydx-vs-kucoin.md)
- [Hyperliquid vs KuCoin](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hyperliquid-vs-kucoin.md)

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Query this catalogue directly over MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (Streamable HTTP, no key). How: https://www.anchorterminal.com/agents/#mcp