EtherDelta and ForkDelta Crypto Exchange Review: Legacy DEX with Limited Use Today

What Was EtherDelta, and Why Does ForkDelta Still Exist?

Back in 2017, if you wanted to trade a new ERC-20 token right after its ICO, there was one place most people turned to: EtherDelta. It wasn’t the fastest, it wasn’t the prettiest, but it was one of the first decentralized exchanges that let you trade tokens without handing over your keys. That mattered. At the time, centralized exchanges like Binance and Poloniex were getting hacked left and right. EtherDelta promised safety by keeping your funds in your own wallet - all trades happened on-chain through a smart contract. But by early 2019, the site stopped updating. Orders froze. New tokens weren’t added. It was dead.

That’s where ForkDelta came in. Not as a company, not as a team - as a community. When EtherDelta’s website got hacked in December 2017 and users lost over 300 ETH to a phishing scam, people didn’t just walk away. They copied the smart contract, built a new frontend, and kept trading. ForkDelta didn’t fix the original flaws. It didn’t add mobile apps or better UI. It just kept the core working. And today, in December 2025, it still does.

How EtherDelta and ForkDelta Actually Work

Here’s the simple version: you don’t deposit money into EtherDelta or ForkDelta. You deposit it into a smart contract on the Ethereum blockchain. That contract holds your ETH or tokens while you place buy or sell orders. When someone matches your order, the contract automatically swaps the assets. No middleman. No account. No KYC.

You need an Ethereum wallet - MetaMask, Parity, or a hardware wallet like Trezor or Ledger. You connect it to the website, approve the contract access, then send ETH or tokens into the contract. Only after that can you start trading. That’s two separate transactions just to get started. And each one costs gas - Ethereum’s network fee. If the network is busy, you pay more. If you set the fee too low, your transaction hangs for hours or fails.

Trading itself is done through an order book, like old-school stock exchanges. You set a price for what you want to buy or sell. Someone else has to accept that price. That’s different from Uniswap or SushiSwap, which use automated market makers (AMMs). Those platforms let you swap tokens instantly, but with less control over price. ForkDelta gives you control - but only if someone’s willing to trade at your price.

Why ForkDelta Still Has Value (Even in 2025)

Let’s be clear: ForkDelta isn’t for most people. If you’re trading Bitcoin, Ethereum, or popular tokens like Chainlink or Polygon, you’re better off on Uniswap, PancakeSwap, or a centralized exchange. ForkDelta’s real niche is obscure, low-market-cap ERC-20 tokens - the kind that launch with no liquidity, no exchange listings, and no visibility.

According to Token Terminal’s 2025 report, ForkDelta is still the 3rd most popular platform for trading tokens under $1 million in market cap. Why? Because it’s one of the few places that still lists them. New projects often list on ForkDelta first - it’s free, it’s open, and it doesn’t require approval. Traders who hunt for early gems use it to get in before anyone else. One Reddit user reported making 37x returns on three different tokens in 2023 by buying right after their ICOs on ForkDelta.

It’s risky. Most of these tokens pump and dump. But for a small group of experienced traders, it’s the only game in town.

The Big Problems: Slow, Clunky, and Dangerous

Here’s the catch: using ForkDelta is not user-friendly. In a 2023 usability study by Coinpedia, 78% of new users took over 30 minutes to complete their first trade. That’s not because they’re dumb - it’s because the interface is outdated, confusing, and full of jargon.

First, you have to understand gas fees. If you’re not familiar with how Ethereum transaction costs work, you’ll get burned. A failed deposit can cost you $45 in wasted gas. Second, the order book looks like a spreadsheet from 2005. No color coding, no charts, no tooltips. Third, the website itself is vulnerable. The smart contract is secure - it hasn’t been hacked. But the website? It’s just a web page. In 2017, hackers took over EtherDelta’s DNS and redirected users to a fake site. The same thing could happen again. There’s no 2FA. No email verification. No security team. You’re trusting a single website that hasn’t been updated since 2021.

Dr. Sarah Chen from Trail of Bits put it bluntly: “The smart contract is safe. The website is not.” That’s the entire story of ForkDelta.

How It Compares to Modern DEXs

Uniswap V3 dominates because it’s faster, cheaper, and easier. You pick two tokens, click swap, and it’s done. No order book. No waiting. ForkDelta’s order book model requires liquidity to be placed manually - which means thinner markets and wider spreads. Dune Analytics found ForkDelta’s average order book depth is just 15 ETH. Uniswap V3’s top pairs hover around 85 ETH. That’s a huge difference in slippage and execution quality.

Who Should Use ForkDelta Today?

If you’re a beginner - don’t. You’ll waste time, gas, and possibly money.

If you’re an experienced trader hunting for micro-cap tokens that aren’t listed anywhere else - ForkDelta might still be useful. But only if you:

• Understand how Ethereum gas works
• Use a hardware wallet
• Verify the website URL every time (forkdelta.io is the only legitimate one)
• Never send funds without double-checking the contract address
• Accept that your trade might take 30 minutes to confirm

Most users today use ForkDelta for one thing: accessing tokens before they hit bigger exchanges. It’s not a trading platform anymore. It’s a launchpad.

Is ForkDelta Going Away?

It’s not shutting down - but it’s not growing either. The GitHub repo hasn’t been updated since September 2021. No new features. No mobile app. No security upgrades. It survives because the smart contract is immutable. It just works. But the web interface? It’s a relic.

Delphi Digital’s 2025 report predicts ForkDelta’s trading volume will drop below $500,000 per month by 2026. Its market share is already under 0.1% of all DEX volume. Uniswap, SushiSwap, and layer-2 solutions like Base and Arbitrum are where the future is.

Still, ForkDelta will likely stick around for years - not because it’s good, but because it’s the only place some tokens can be traded. It’s a historical artifact. A digital museum piece. And for a small group of traders, it’s still useful.

Final Verdict: A Tool for Specialists, Not Everyone

EtherDelta was a pioneer. ForkDelta is its ghost. It’s not a replacement for modern DEXs. It’s not a safe place for beginners. But if you’re chasing obscure tokens right after they launch, and you know exactly what you’re doing - it’s still there.

For everyone else: use Uniswap. Use PancakeSwap. Use a centralized exchange. Save yourself the headache. ForkDelta is not the future. But for now, it’s still the only option for a very specific kind of trade.