- Perp DEX volume tops $1.8 trillion this quarter.
- Hyperliquid is the biggest perp DEX.
- Newer rivals are gaining market share.
Decentralised exchanges offering perpetual trading for cryptocurrencies, such as Hyperliquid and Aster, are taking the industry by storm.
The sector has become the centrepiece of crypto’s latest mania, accumulating $1.8 trillion in trading volume this quarter alone, according to DefiLlama data.
That’s more than the niche’s entire trading volume recorded in 2024.
Perp DEXs are decentralised exchanges for trading perpetual futures.
These platforms allow traders to speculate on crypto price moves without expiry dates and with massive leverage as high as 1,000 times their capital.
And they’re as popular as ever.
What’s driving volume?
Behind the surge is a confluence of factors, including maturing infrastructure and shrewd tokenomics.
Perp DEXs now offer a smoother user experience, with faster execution and an easy-to-understand visual interface, comparable to centralised exchanges like Binance.
Many perp DEXs also feature incentive structures that reward traders with airdrops – native tokens dished out for simply using a DeFi protocol – while also using buybacks as a growth engine to boost the value of their tokens.
The momentum breeds intense competition. Though Hyperliquid has dominated the sector this year, Aster, a new contender, has found traction and is carving a significant market share.
Several others are also gaining ground.
Here are the four major perp DEXs leading the burgeoning sector.
Hyperliquid
Hyperliquid launched last November with an airdrop that distributed HYPE tokens currently worth $13.6 billion to more than 90,000 users.
It’s built as a layer 1 blockchain for trading perpetual futures and has accumulated more than $2.7 trillion in trading volume since inception.
Hyperliquid uses the bulk of its trading fee revenue to buy back its native HYPE token.
Aster
Aster isn’t a perp DEX blockchain. It runs on the BNB Chain, and that’s not the only tie it has with Binance.
YZi Labs, formerly Binance Labs, a family office run by Binance co-founders Changpenz Zhao and Yi He, is also a major backer of Aster.
Zhao has also promoted the project on X, which has helped to catapult it to prominence within the crypto market.
Aster has overtaken Hyperliquid in daily trading volume, and its native token is up 2,000% in the last week.
It has also overtaken stablecoin giant Circle to become the second-largest revenue-generating DeFi protocol.
EdgeX
EdgeX is much older than Aster and Hyperliquid; it was launched in 2014 and it’s still one of the biggest revenue-earning DeFi protocols.
It has accumulated $161 billion in trading volume.
Crypto liquidity provider Amber Group is one of the protocol’s major backers.
Lighter
Lighter has been in a limited closed beta launch since January.
The protocol’s daily volume has topped $6 billion as users flock to register activity on Lighter in the hopes of securing a future airdrop.
Lighter hasn’t publicly announced any airdrop.
Andreessen Horowitz and Lightspeed Ventures are among the protocol’s major investors.
Osato Avan-Nomayo is our Nigeria-based DeFi correspondent. He covers DeFi and tech. Got a tip? Please contact him at osato@dlnews.com.
