Backpack Exchange Review

Backpack Exchange Review: Fees, US Availability, Reserves and Who It Suits

In our view, Backpack Exchange suits active traders who want spot, perpetual futures and lending in one cross-margin account. This offering comes with low trading fees and a public reserve page. We think it is a weaker fit for beginners, and its reach is limited. It is not accessible in Canada, Japan, or New Zealand, and US residents can only access it in a minority of states. In the US, Backpack operates via Trek Labs, Inc., with 24 jurisdictions marked as available and 28, including New York, listed as coming soon.

Backpack at a glance

• US operator: Trek Labs, Inc., NMLS 2665675
• Exchange founded: 2023
• Markets: 88 spot and 103 perpetual futures markets
• Spot fees, entry tier: 0.08% maker, 0.10% taker
• Futures fees, entry tier: 0.02% maker, 0.05% taker
• Bitcoin withdrawal fee: 0.000026 BTC
• Proof of reserves: public reserve page, 100.31% on our visit
• EU: CASP license from Latvijas Banka
• US availability: 24 jurisdictions available, 28 coming soon

What Backpack is

Backpack Exchange was created in March 2023, after initially launching the Backpack wallet. It reports trading volumes surpassing $476B. Presently, it includes spot trading, perpetual futures, margin, lending, prediction markets, trading bots, and offers real US stocks through Backpack Securities outside the US. Its native token, BP, made its debut in March 2026.

A central idea is the single cross-margin account: cash, collateral and open profits can all earn yield from lending while you trade. Backpack advertises up to 6.8% on USD balances. In our view that yield comes from lending, so it carries the risk of borrowers and of the platform itself, and it is not a savings account.

Getting started

You open an account with identity verification, which Backpack says improves account security and unlocks higher limits. You then fund it with crypto or a wire transfer from a bank account in your own name. In our view the lack of card payments is the biggest hurdle for new users, and it is one reason we see Backpack as a platform for people who already hold crypto.

In our view it helps that, once funded, the web and mobile apps show spot, futures and lending side by side. We would start with spot trades and leave futures and lending switched off until you understand how the shared margin works.

Fees

At the entry level, spot trades charge 0.08% for makers and 0.10% for takers, while perpetual futures incur 0.02% for makers and 0.05% for takers. These fees decrease with 30-day trading volume. At the highest VIP level, spot makers pay 0.00% and takers 0.025%. The USDT/USDC pair trades without a fee.

In our view these are low fees for an exchange that also offers a simple app, and they are well below the spreads of broker apps. Futures also carry funding payments between longs and shorts, which on most pairs settle every hour.

VIP program and the Backpack Wallet

Achieving Backpack's VIP levels is possible by holding at least $250K on the exchange, staking BP, or through trading volume. VIP1 lowers the spot taker fee to 0.045% and the futures taker fee to 0.026%. Connecting the self-custody Backpack Wallet to your exchange account offers a swap fee of 0.64% at VIP1 and 0% from VIP4. In our view, the VIP thresholds serve high-volume traders, meaning most users will incur entry-tier fees.

How the fees compare

Backpack's entry-tier spot taker fee of 0.10% compares with 0.80% at Kraken's entry tier. Bybit also charges 0.1% for spot takers at its entry level. In our view that puts Backpack among the lower-cost venues, though fees are only one part of the choice next to regulation and coverage.

A worked example

A $1,000 spot purchase at the entry tier costs $1.00 as a taker order, or $0.80 if you place a limit order that rests on the book as a maker. In our view, for most readers that difference is small, but active traders will notice it over many trades.

Deposits and withdrawals

Fiat deposits work by wire transfer, and Backpack only accepts transfers from accounts in your own name. Withdrawing bitcoin on the Bitcoin network costs 0.000026 BTC, according to Backpack's public asset list. We found no card purchase option, so in our view Backpack is easier to use if you already hold crypto or can send a wire. Before a large withdrawal we would check the asset list for the network you plan to use, since fees and minimums differ by chain.

Products for traders

Backpack lists 88 spot markets and 103 perpetual futures markets. Traders also get margin, grid trading bots and a unified portfolio that includes prediction markets. We think the cross-margin design is the main reason to choose Backpack: one balance backs spot, futures and loans, so you do not have to move funds between sub-accounts.

The same design also means a losing futures position can draw on collateral you thought of as savings, so we would keep long-term holdings in a separate wallet. Leverage can wipe out a position quickly, and in our view perpetual futures only suit people who already understand liquidation. We would also set a stop and size each position so that a single liquidation cannot drain the whole account.

Lending and borrowing

With auto-lend switched on, your idle balances, your collateral and even your open profits are lent out to other users and earn interest. We think this is attractive for traders who keep large balances on the exchange, but it adds risk: lent funds depend on borrowers repaying and on the platform's liquidation system working in a crash. In our view you should treat auto-lend income as payment for that risk rather than as a safe return, and we would switch it off for any balance you cannot afford to have tied up in a market shock.

Security, reserves and track record

Backpack publishes a reserve page with its wallets and proofs, which showed a reserve ratio of 100.31% on our visit. We rate that openness highly, because it lets anyone compare customer balances with the assets Backpack holds. We would look at the page from time to time rather than once, because a reserve ratio is a snapshot, and the useful signal is that it stays above full coverage for every major asset. A reserve page also cannot show liabilities that are not on the list, so in our view it complements an audit rather than replacing one.

Backpack's own timeline says it lost 88% of its corporate treasury on FTX in November 2022. It later acquired the former FTX EU business and says it returned funds to 110K former FTX EU clients in 2025. In our view the company has been unusually open about that loss, and the FTX EU repayments are a point in its favor.

Accounts require identity verification, which Backpack says is required by global anti-money-laundering rules. Assets held by Backpack are not FDIC insured or SIPC protected. We could not find a dedicated security page describing two-factor authentication or cold storage in Backpack's help center.

Regulation

In the US, Trek Labs, Inc. is registered with FinCEN as a money services business and possesses state licenses under NMLS ID 2665675. In the EU, "Trek Technologies" SIA, operating as Backpack EU, carries a CASP license from Latvijas Banka. In Dubai, Trek Labs Ltd FZE holds a VARA exchange license covering solely spot trading.

Availability

In the US, Backpack lists 24 jurisdictions as available, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, New Jersey, Virginia and D.C., while 28 others, among them New York, Texas and Florida, are marked as coming soon. Backpack Securities, the stock trading service, is not available in the US. Backpack's help pages do not say which of its futures, margin and lending products residents of the available states can use, so we would ask support before you fund an account. We would check the state list before you sign up, because it changes as new state licenses come through over time.

Outside the US, Backpack does not operate in North Korea, Iran, Cuba, and the occupied regions of Ukraine, nor can it currently serve Canada, Japan, or New Zealand.

App and support

On the US App Store, the Backpack app is rated 4.4 from 240 ratings. On Google Play it shows 500K+ downloads. For US users, Backpack lists support by email and by phone at (833) 623-5237. In our view the small number of App Store ratings reflects the limited US reach more than the app itself.

Who Backpack suits

We think Backpack suits three groups. In our view the first is the active spot trader who wants low fees and a clean interface without the clutter of the largest exchanges. We think the second is the futures trader who likes one shared margin account for spot, perpetuals and loans. We think the third is the user who values transparency and wants to check reserves on a public page. For all three, in our view, the deciding question is whether Backpack serves your country or state today.

Outside the US, Backpack also sells real US stocks through Backpack Securities, which in our view makes it unusual among crypto exchanges, while US residents cannot use that service.

Who should not use Backpack

If you are buying crypto for the first time, we think a simpler app with card payments is a better start. If you live in New York, Texas, Florida or another coming-soon state, we would wait until your state is listed as available. And if you do not want any exposure to leverage or lending, Backpack's design, which ties everything to one margin account, is in our view more than you need.

Alternatives

For beginners in the US, we think our Coinbase review and Kraken review are the better first reads, and the list for beginners has more options. For traders outside the US who want a larger derivatives venue, we would compare our Bybit review and OKX review, or read OKX vs Bybit. We would also compare fees on our list for derivatives and our list of exchanges with low fees.

Our verdict

In our view, Backpack is a capable, low-fee exchange for active traders, with a cross-margin account, a public reserve page and licenses in the US, the EU and Dubai. We think its patchy US coverage, the risks of auto-lending and leverage, and the lack of card payments make it a choice for experienced users rather than beginners.