GMX: how it works, supply and reviews

In short

Type: Decentralised perpetual and spot exchange made of smart contracts, not a separate blockchain
Maximum supply: Forecast maximum of 13.25 million GMX; minting beyond needs a token-holder governance vote
Risks and caveats: Smart contract code can contain undetected vulnerabilities even after audits; GMX V1 suffered one in July 2025
Checked: 31 October 2026

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Key facts

Ticker: GMX
Official site: gmx.io

Key facts checked on 31 October 2026 against official sources.

What is GMX

GMX is a decentralised spot and perpetual exchange on Arbitrum, Avalanche and MegaETH, offering leveraged trades of up to 100x on crypto and some commodity and equity-index markets. Trades are filled against GM and GLV liquidity pools at Chainlink oracle prices rather than an order book. GMX is the protocol's governance and staking token.

Network and consensus

Network and consensus — GMX
Parameter	Details
Type	Decentralised perpetual and spot exchange made of smart contracts, not a separate blockchain
Pricing	Orders are routed against GM and GLV pools at the oracle index price, using Chainlink Data Streams
Markets	100+ markets including crypto, gold, silver, oil, natural gas and US equity indices, up to 100x leverage
Liquidity providers	LPs earn 63% of fees from trading, liquidations, borrowing and swaps on Arbitrum and Avalanche
V1	GMX V1 trading and the GLP pool were phased out in July 2025; existing GLP can only be redeemed

Supply and issuance

Supply and issuance — GMX
Parameter	Details
Maximum supply	Forecast maximum of 13.25 million GMX; minting beyond needs a token-holder governance vote
Initial distribution	6 million GMX for the XVIX and Gambit migration; 2 million each for Uniswap liquidity, esGMX vesting and treasury; 1 million for integrations
Buybacks	27% of protocol fees buy back GMX; distribution to stakers has been suspended since 4 March 2026 and buybacks accrue in the treasury
Unstaking	Unstaking GMX or esGMX on Arbitrum and Avalanche takes 180 days

What GMX is used for

Staking GMX earns a share of protocol-fee buybacks (distribution currently suspended)
GMX gives voting power in the GMX DAO on Tally
Escrowed GMX (esGMX) has been used as a staking and referral incentive

Who develops and governs GMX

Governance: GMX DAO: proposals (GIPs) go to an on-chain Tally vote with a 5-day voting window
Company: GMX Labs appointed its first CEO in May 2026, accountable to the DAO
Origin: Formed by a merger of the XVIX and Gambit communities
Open source: Code is in the gmx-io GitHub organisation; V2 audits are in the gmx-synthetics repository

History

History — GMX
Date	Event
30 August 2021	GMX published its launch plan for Arbitrum, with GLP initially made of ETH, WBTC and USDC
2 October 2023	GMX V2 went live on Arbitrum mainnet with Chainlink Data Streams
9 July 2025	A vulnerability in GMX V1 on Arbitrum let about $40 million of GLP liquidity be withdrawn; funds were returned and V1 was paused
4 March 2026	Staking rewards redirected to the treasury under the DAO's strategic plan
8 May 2026	GMX Labs appointed its first CEO

Security and audits

V2 audits: Guardian (8 engagements, October 2022 to September 2023, plus later updates), ABDK, Certora (November 2023), Dedaub and Sherlock
Bug bounty on Immunefi covering all gmx-io repositories
9 July 2025: a GMX V1 vulnerability on Arbitrum let about $40 million of GLP liquidity be withdrawn; the funds were returned after negotiation, a $5 million bounty was paid and V2 was unaffected

Security incidents

Security incidents — GMX
Date	What happened	Source
9 July 2025	Exploit: A live vulnerability in the GMX V1 deployment on Arbitrum allowed about $40 million of GLP liquidity to be withdrawn to an external wallet; GMX V2 was not affected. Funds returned: GMX says the funds were returned following its outreach and are held by the DAO awaiting distribution to Arbitrum GLP liquidity providers.	gmxio.substack.com

Further incidents are reported by third parties (press, incident databases) but are not confirmed in the company’s own channels, so they are not listed here.

Official GMX contracts

Official GMX contracts
Network	Contract address
Arbitrum	0xfc5A1A6EB076a2C7aD06eD22C90d7E710E35ad0a
Avalanche	0x62edc0692BD897D2295872a9FFCac5425011c661
Solana	9wX6Qz1Y5YQe71dfnFYFfZYXZhKqjYKQwdqfrRkmYUSX

GMX token addresses on Arbitrum, Avalanche and Solana, as listed in the GMX docs.

Risks and caveats

Smart contract code can contain undetected vulnerabilities even after audits; GMX V1 suffered one in July 2025
Leveraged positions can be liquidated
Staking reward distribution is suspended and unstaking takes 180 days

Official links

Website: gmx.io
Docs: docs.gmx.io
Source code: github.com/gmx-io
Blog: gmxio.substack.com

Questions and answers

What is GMX?

A decentralised perpetual and spot exchange on Arbitrum, Avalanche and MegaETH, with up to 100x leverage and trades filled against liquidity pools at oracle prices.

What is the maximum supply of GMX?

The forecast maximum is 13.25 million GMX; minting more requires a token-holder vote.

Was GMX hacked?

On 9 July 2025 a vulnerability in the old GMX V1 on Arbitrum let about $40 million of GLP liquidity be withdrawn; the funds were returned and V2 was not affected.

Is GMX V1 still available?

No. V1 trading and GLP were phased out in July 2025; existing GLP can only be redeemed.

Is GMX audited?

GMX V2 was audited by Guardian, ABDK, Certora, Dedaub and Sherlock, and a bug bounty runs on Immunefi.

Sources

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Page updated: 2026-10-31