Trading volume on the Lighter exchange has dropped significantly post-airdrop, with Hyperliquid regaining market leadership.
The decentralized exchange Lighter has experienced a dramatic decline in trading activity following its recent airdrop. Analysts from CryptoRank report that Hyperliquid has taken the lead in the perpetual contracts market.
Following the distribution of LIT tokens, Lighter's weekly trading volume has dropped to $25.3 billion, down from a peak of $74.9 billion in mid-November. This represents a nearly threefold decrease, indicating a significant shift in trader engagement.
Hyperliquid now ranks first in terms of trading volume and open interest, with a reported weekly volume of $40.7 billion. Meanwhile, competitor Aster has also shown strong performance, recording $31.7 billion in volume.
The airdrop at the end of December, valued at $675 million, was among the largest asset distributions in the crypto sector, according to CoinGecko. In addition to the airdrop, Lighter has made operational changes, including mandatory staking for liquidity pool participation and adjustments to fees for market makers and high-frequency traders.
Despite the overall trading volume in decentralized derivatives for January reaching $549 billion, it remains significantly below the record of $1.3 trillion set in October. Hyperliquid's dominance is further evidenced by its open interest, which hit $9.57 billion, surpassing the combined open interest of other major platforms like Aster and Lighter, which totals around $7.34 billion.
Former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes had previously predicted a shift towards perpetual DEXs, suggesting that by the end of 2026, major U.S. stock pricing might transition from traditional exchanges to on-chain platforms, with traders focusing more on perpetual contract charts than on the Nasdaq.
