In line with knowledge from DefiLlama, perpetual DEXs processed greater than $1 trillion in buying and selling quantity final month, marking the third consecutive month since October 2025 with a buying and selling quantity of greater than $1 trillion. October noticed the very best buying and selling quantity throughout all perpetual DEXs, at roughly $1.4 trillion.
The second half of 2025 noticed a buying and selling quantity of over $5 trillion, in comparison with round $2.1 trillion within the first half. Primarily based on on-chain knowledge, the very best transaction quantity occurred in October, accounting for about $1.4 trillion, adopted by November and December, each of which recorded transaction volumes of over $1 trillion.
Buying and selling quantity within the second half of the yr accounted for about 73% of the annual buying and selling quantity of your entire perpetual market.
On-chain knowledge reveals persistent quantity exercise will triple in 2025
Perpetual Protocol (PERP) and dYdX are among the many early DEXs for perpetual futures buying and selling, launched round 2021. After that, the market buying and selling quantity elevated, particularly after 2023 when Hyperliquid decentralized blockchain entered the market. In line with DefiLlama, buying and selling quantity in 2025 elevated by greater than 3 times in comparison with 2024 knowledge.
PERP buying and selling quantity will greater than triple in 2025
The sector has moved from a near-monopoly dominated by hyperliquids to a extremely aggressive one.
Primarily pushed by liquidity rotation from meme cash, PERPS buying and selling quantity reached $1.8 trillion in October and returned to $864 million on the shut. … pic.twitter.com/jl4t3x0xby
— CryptoRank.io (@CryptoRank_io) January 8, 2026
Primarily based on on-chain knowledge, cumulative perpetual transaction quantity will attain roughly $8 trillion in 2025, surpassing the roughly $2.4 trillion recorded in 2024.
Hyperliquid DEX dominated the perpetual futures market, with consecutive month-to-month buying and selling volumes exceeding $100 billion all year long. DEX platforms together with Aster, Lighter, and EdgeX emerged in late 2025 to problem Hyperliquid’s dominance. As aggressive markets emerged, the general narrative of the market modified, evolving right into a scenario the place it was now not dominated by a single platform, however as an alternative dominated by a number of venues.
Hyperliquid captured roughly 71% of the perpetual contract market in 2025. Community shares plummeted in November, with Lighter, Aster, and EdgeX rising with round 27.7%, 19.3%, and 14.6%, respectively.
Hyperliquid’s 2026 buying and selling quantity peaked at about $45 billion, in comparison with Lighter’s $33 billion, EdgeX’s $25 billion, and Aster’s $43 billion. Concerning charges, Aster generated Annual charges are $358 million and Hyperliquid’s is $749 million.
Lighter surpassed Hyperliquid in buying and selling quantity in December, with roughly $200 billion in buying and selling quantity in comparison with Hyperliquid’s roughly $169 billion in buying and selling quantity throughout the identical interval. Month-to-month author quantity elevated from a low of $1.1 billion in February to a peak of $292 billion recorded in November.
To this point, Lighter ranks third by way of buying and selling quantity, behind Aster and Hyper Liquid.
Hyperliquid’s design structure helps community excellence
Perpetual DEX buying and selling patterns primarily enable merchants to leverage their positions, somewhat than performing as a supplementary different to centralized exchanges, giving them important leverage to broaden their publicity far past their preliminary capital. The general maturity of the sector reveals that liquidity and execution capabilities are growing and assembly the necessities {of professional} and institutional merchants.
Hyperliquid’s community is an L1 blockchain designed for derivatives buying and selling utilizing the HyperBFT consensus mechanism. This mechanism helps sub-second order affirmation and 200,000 TPS, which is greater than many CEXs.
HyperLiquid’s present open curiosity, which represents the whole quantity of open perpetual contracts, stands at $8.95 billion. Defilama knowledge It reveals that Aster’s OI is $2.62 billion and Leiter’s OI is $1.415 billion. Launched in September, Aster grew almost 2,800% in its first week, buying and selling from a low of $0.08 to $2.42. Buying and selling quantity reached $70 billion at its peak. At one level, it dominated your entire DEX perpetual contract market.
On the time of publication, Aster was buying and selling at $0.7, down 1.3% on the day by day chart. Hyperliquid token HYPE fell 2.7%is buying and selling at $25.50with a market capitalization of $8.66 billion. The HYPE token has elevated by 4.4% for the reason that starting of 2026, bringing network-wide PERP quantity to roughly $43 billion previously week.
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