What happened?
Perp DEXs hit a record $1.226 trillion in 30-day trading volume, led by Aster and Hyperliquid. This was a roughly 48% jump from the previous month, with Aster alone doing about $493.6 billion — nearly half the market. The surge also translated into huge on-chain fee generation, with Aster and Hyperliquid pulling in tens to hundreds of millions in protocol fees.
Who does this affect?
Traders and liquidity providers benefit from deeper liquidity, non-custodial trading, and more round-the-clock options across chains. Centralized exchanges like Binance face mounting competition as perp DEXs siphon futures volume and fee revenue. Token holders, DeFi projects, and yield-seeking users are also impacted because shifts in volume and fees change token valuations and capital flows.
Why does this matter?
It changes the market structure by moving major derivatives activity on-chain, which can lower costs, boost transparency, and redirect revenues away from CEXs and stablecoin issuers. Bigger on-chain fee pools and rising token valuations for top perp DEXs could attract more capital to DeFi and reshape where traders and institutions execute futures. That trend also raises regulatory, interoperability, and liquidity-management questions as perp DEXs become a larger force in the crypto market.