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A centralised exchange holds your coins and runs its own order book. The XRP Ledger’s exchange is part of the ledger: you trade from your own wallet and nobody holds anything for you. Each is better at something different.
Where the deeper XRP market is
XRP traded against a dollar token in the last 24 hours
Refreshed hourly. One exchange’s single XRP market against the ledger’s main dollar market: for turning a large amount of XRP into dollars, exchanges are deeper.
Side by side
XRP Ledger exchange
Centralised exchange
Who holds your coins
You, in your own wallet
The exchange, until you withdraw
Identity checks
None to trade
Yes, before you can deposit or withdraw
Cost of a trade
Network fee about $0.00002; no fee on the order book; the pool’s fee (0–1%) in an AMM; your app’s fee, if any (xrpl.to: 0.4% on swaps)
The exchange’s trading fee, plus a fee to withdraw
What you can trade
Every token issued on the XRP Ledger (2,215 traded in the last day), and nothing from other chains
What the exchange lists, from many chains
Order types
Limit, fill-or-kill, immediate-or-cancel; no stop orders
Usually stop, trailing and others too
If the operator fails
There is no operator: the exchange is part of the ledger
Deposits can be frozen or lost
What can be frozen
A token, by its issuer; never XRP
Your whole account, by the exchange
When each is the better choice
A centralised exchange to buy XRP with a card or bank transfer, to trade tokens from other chains, or to convert a large amount of XRP to dollars in its deeper market.
The XRP Ledger exchange for any token issued on the ledger, most of which no exchange lists; for limit orders that rest on-chain; and to keep your coins in your own hands.
Both, in that order, is the common path: buy XRP on an exchange, withdraw it to your wallet, trade on the ledger (how).
Questions
Is the XRP Ledger DEX safer than a centralised exchange?
It removes the risk of an exchange failing or freezing your account, because your coins stay in your own wallet. It adds the risk of losing your key, with nobody to recover it for you.
Is the XRP Ledger DEX cheaper than Binance?
Trading on the ledger’s order book carries no trading fee, only the network fee, but apps can add their own. For large XRP-to-dollar trades an exchange’s much deeper market often gives the better price.
Can I buy XRP with a card on the XRP Ledger DEX?
No. Cards and bank transfers go through an exchange or an on-ramp; the ledger only swaps one asset on it for another.
