# Deribit vs MEXC API

> Deribit scores 59 (C) to MEXC's 56.3 (C) for exchange derivatives. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deribit-vs-mexc
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deribit-vs-mexc.md (~4,400 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: 2026-11-03

Deribit scores 59 (C) on agent readiness against MEXC API's 56.3 (C), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. MEXC API leads on payments & pricing, maintenance & community and transparency & trust. Both do exchange derivatives.

- Deribit: grade C, 59/100, rank #650 of 1349. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/deribit.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/deribit.json
- MEXC API: grade C, 56.3/100, rank #791 of 1349. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/mexc.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/mexc.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 64
- Agent ergonomics, 74 against 64

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

### MEXC API (C)

Good for: Spot and futures for agents in served countries that want a vendor-built MCP server with read-only and confirmation modes.

Ahead on:
- Payments & pricing, 31 against 25
- Maintenance & community, 75 against 65
- Transparency & trust, 58 against 46

Also in its favour:
- Runs on your own machine

Watch for: No sandbox or testnet; only an order-validation endpoint


## Why the edge

### Schema & documentation: Deribit +24

- 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.
- MEXC API (64): No OpenAPI found; a Postman collection and the CLI's 25 capability reference files are the nearest machine-readable contract (5 of 25). llms.txt on mexc.com, written for assistants and pointing at the API docs and legal pages (7 of 10). Per-endpoint pages with purpose, parameters and permissions, without when-not-to-use guidance (13 of 20). Typed parameters with enums for order types, statuses and intervals (11 of 15). Examples on each endpoint and a separate error-code page with numeric codes and messages (13 of 15). Versioned API (v3) with a dated changelog of 72 entries to 23 October 2026 (15). 5 + 7 + 13 + 11 + 13 + 15 = 64.

### Transparency & trust: MEXC API +12

- 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.
- MEXC API (58): The editorial half. A closed service with a dated user agreement naming MEXC (Comoros) Ltd; the CLI is UNLICENSED on npm (15 of 30). The privacy policy names no entity, states no retention periods and relies on standard contractual clauses for transfers (10 of 30). The changelog flags endpoints as "will be discontinued soon" without dates and the futures log records removals (8 of 20). Third parties are named by category only, with no subprocessor list or data locations (5 of 20). 15 + 10 + 8 + 5 = 38.

### Agent ergonomics: Deribit +10

- 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.
- MEXC API (64): Graded on the REST API with the CLI's MCP mode. Responses take limit parameters and the MCP read-only market subset is 22 tools, but a full spot MCP category lists 123 tools (15 of 25). startTime, endTime and limit on history, symbol filters on open orders (14 of 20). Numeric codes with messages, a 30035 order-limit code added 23 October 2026, 5xx guidance (14 of 20). newClientOrderId is optional with no idempotency guarantee; the CLI adds --dry-run and a confirmation step (10 of 20). Few required parameters; SDKs in five languages whose repository was last pushed in February 2024 (11 of 15). 15 + 14 + 14 + 10 + 11 = 64.

### Maintenance & community: MEXC API +10

- 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.
- MEXC API (75): Read as a closed service. Last dated change 23 October 2026 in both the spot and futures logs (30). Spot entries on 14 August, 24 August, 11 September and 23 October 2026, futures on 1 September, 11 September, 19 October and 23 October (20). An API support Telegram group, a ticket form and dated changelogs; GitHub issues not read (10 of 15). The official SDK repository was last pushed in February 2024 while the CLI is current (10 of 15). The CLI ships platform binaries with no dependencies and no public repository or CI; the SDK is stale (5 of 10). 30 + 20 + 10 + 10 + 5 = 75.

### Payments & pricing: MEXC API +6

- 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.
- MEXC API (31): No machine payment protocol (0). Fees published without login on MEXC's own fee guide (20 October 2026) and a 2024 announcement, with a separate API futures schedule; the fee page itself is drawn by script (16 of 20). Public market data needs no key or card; trading needs a verified and funded account. Judgement call (15 of 20). A person must sign up in a browser, and futures need identity verification (0). 0 + 16 + 15 + 0 = 31.

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Deribit | MEXC API | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 45 | 43 | Deribit +2 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 88 | 64 | Deribit +24 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 74 | 64 | Deribit +10 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 62 | 65 | MEXC API +3 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 25 | 31 | MEXC API +6 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 65 | 75 | MEXC API +10 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 46 | 58 | MEXC API +12 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **59 · C** | **56.3 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Deribit | MEXC API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Deribit FZE | MEXC (Comoros) Ltd |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  | stdio |
| 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 | 299 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-13 | 2026-10-23 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-08-13 | 2026-10-13 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | 2026-06-01 |
| 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 | 315 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.

**MEXC API.** MEXC publishes granular key permissions, per-pair key limits, weighted rate limits with Retry-After and a dated changelog, and its official CLI runs a read-only-capable MCP server with confirmation before any fund movement. There is no sandbox or status page, API futures orders pay a higher fee schedule, and the user agreement excludes the US, UK, EU members and others.

## 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

### MEXC API

1. Use a key limited to SPOT_ACCOUNT_READ and SPOT_DEAL_WRITE, the pairs you trade and your IP addresses; keys without a linked IP expire after 90 days
2. Start the MCP server as `mexc mcp spot --read-only` unless the task trades, and never pass `--yes`; orders and transfers wait for the person's confirmation
3. Call POST /api/v3/order/test before a live order, since there is no sandbox
4. On 429 or 418 wait for Retry-After; order placement and cancellation share 12 requests a second per UID, and repeated breaches ban the IP for up to 3 days
5. Treat a 5xx on an order as unknown, not failed, and query the order before retrying; set newClientOrderId so the order can be found

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Deribit or MEXC API?

Deribit scores 59 (C) on agent readiness against MEXC API's 56.3 (C), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. MEXC API leads on payments & pricing, maintenance & community and transparency & trust.

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

Both need an API key.

### Can an agent call Deribit and MEXC API without installing anything?

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


## For agents

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

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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