Deribit review: why it scores 7.56

Deribit is an options and futures venue, and CoinPulse rates it in the crypto exchanges ranking alongside spot exchanges, on the same five criteria and weights: Scale of value trusted (28%), Track record (20%), Status transparency (18%), Security record (18%) and Latency (16%). Security audits, Multi-chain reach and Peg stability are not scored in this category. All five criteria were measured, so coverage is 100% and no weight was redistributed.

Each criterion score times its weight gives the total. Scale of value trusted contributes 2.52 points, Track record 2.00, Latency 1.60, Security record 1.08 and Status transparency 0.36, for 7.56. Of the 2.44 points Deribit misses, 1.44 are lost on Status transparency, 0.72 on Security record and 0.28 on Scale of value trusted. Deribit is above the category median on Latency (10 against 9), level with it on Scale of value trusted (9), Track record (10) and Status transparency (2), and below it on Security record (6 against 7). The full rubric is on the methodology page.

Our probe timed Deribit's public API time endpoint at a median 60 ms to first byte, against a category median of 268 ms. Among the five peers compared below only Bitfinex, at 34 ms, answered faster. It comes from one location and a small sample (two of three samples kept, the slowest discarded), compared only with other exchanges timed the same way. It measures how quickly the API answers from one place, not matching-engine speed, order execution or what a trader elsewhere will see.

Deribit has operated since its 2016 founding, 3,763 days at collection (counted from July 1, 2016, because the public record gives only the year), which is exactly the category median and past the point where this criterion tops out. The source is Deribit's own regulation and governance page. The score treats survival as signal because most failures happen young; it records that the venue has lasted through more than one market cycle, not that it will.

DefiLlama tracks $4,000,484,190 in value held by Deribit as of the October 19, 2026 collection, on its Deribit protocol page. On the log-scaled criterion that earns 9, level with the category median, and 2.52 of the 2.80 points available. The category median reserve figure is $5.43B, so Deribit sits a little under it in dollars but in the same scoring band.

The figure shows capital in wallets DefiLlama can see and attribute to Deribit. It is not an audit of customer liabilities and says nothing about whether open positions are fully collateralized; the criterion rewards verifiable scale, nothing more.

The collector found no public status page for Deribit at the documented or conventional host, on any of the three platforms it reads (statuspage, incident.io, instatus). The methodology scores that as 2, which is also the category median. At 18% of the weight it is the costliest result on the scorecard: 0.36 points where an exchange with a parseable incident archive collects 1.80.

The score measures whether Deribit's operational record can be checked from outside, not whether the service is reliable. A derivatives venue with no status feed may stay up through volatile sessions, but nobody outside can verify that, and this rating does not try to. Because there is no feed, the incident context shown on other exchange pages (incidents logged, median repair time) is absent here too.

DefiLlama's hack database, which held 1,307 incidents when checked on October 19, 2026, lists one entry against Deribit: November 1, 2022, recorded as a hot wallet key compromise with a reported amount of $28.0M. No returned amount is listed.

Under the rubric, a loss between $10M and $50M scores 4, and incidents older than three years weigh less, which lifts this one to 6. That is one point under the category median of 7 and costs Deribit 0.72 points. Incidents reported elsewhere but absent from DefiLlama's database are not scored, and whether Deribit covered the loss from its own funds is outside what this criterion records: it scores what the database lists as lost and returned.

The rating measures operational health from public data: reserves DefiLlama can see, years in operation, status transparency, API response time and hacks recorded in DefiLlama's database. It does not certify that Deribit is safe, solvent or compliant in any jurisdiction, and a 7.56 is not a guarantee that funds held there are protected.

What the evidence does show: $4.00B in trackable reserves, more than ten years of continuous operation and an API that answered our probe in 60 ms, well under the category median. What it also shows: one recorded $28.0M hot-wallet compromise in 2022 and no way for an outsider to check the venue's incident history, because no status feed exists. Nothing in the five criteria measures liquidation mechanics, margin rules, insurance funds or the risks specific to trading options and futures; those sit entirely outside this score.

Fees, spreads, account verification, customer support and app experience are not scored for any exchange, so the 7.56 says nothing about them. For what Deribit is and how it works, see About Deribit. How CoinPulse is paid for, and why that does not affect scores, is set out on how this site is funded.

Robinhood leads the table at 9.66, 2.10 points ahead. Its public status page (10 against 2) is worth 1.44 points, its lighter hack record (9 against 6, one $8,200 incident in 2023) 0.54 and its larger tracked reserves (10 against 9) 0.28; Deribit's faster latency score (10 against 9) wins back 0.16.

The two exchanges just above are close. Binance (#9, 7.90) is 0.34 points ahead: it has a status page that exists but publishes no parseable feed (5 against 2, worth 0.54) and larger reserves (10 against 9, worth 0.28), while Deribit's much faster probe result (10 against 7) wins back 0.48. Both carry a 6 on Security record. MEXC (#10, 7.80) is 0.24 ahead on a single difference: no hack on record (10 against 6, worth 0.72), offset by Deribit's latency advantage (10 against 7, worth 0.48).

Directly below, Bitfinex (#12, 7.48) trails by 0.08. Its two hot-wallet compromises score 4 against Deribit's 6 (worth 0.36 to Deribit), while its larger reserves score 10 against 9 (worth 0.28 to Bitfinex). Coinbase (#13, 7.34) shows the opposite profile: a public status page (10 against 2) and a milder hack record (7 against 6) together give it 1.62 points over Deribit, but with no reserves DefiLlama can track it scores 3 against 9 on the heaviest criterion, which with latency hands 1.84 back and leaves Deribit 0.22 ahead.

Deribit's 7.56 rests on what can be verified about its scale, age and responsiveness, and loses most of its missing points on the one thing an outsider cannot verify at all: its operational record, because no status feed exists. The 2022 hack is a secondary drag that will keep scoring 6 as long as it remains the only entry in DefiLlama's database. If the question is whether Deribit has demonstrable reserves and has lasted, the evidence says yes. If the question is how it behaves when markets move fast, or how it handles the risks particular to derivatives, this rating does not measure it. Fees, margin terms and support need separate checking.