Trading volumes on perpetual DEX have dropped over 50% since October 2025, with Hyperliquid leading the market despite overall declines.
Trading volumes on perpetual decentralized exchanges (perp-DEX) have experienced a significant decline since October 2025, plummeting from $1.36 trillion to $699 billion by March 2026, as reported by DefiLlama.
This downward trend has been consistent, with volumes decreasing month over month, particularly in November and December, and continuing into early 2026.
Daily trading activity has also diminished, with perpetual futures trading hitting a low of $8.4 billion on April 4, the weakest figure since July of the previous year. Before this, volumes had not dipped below $10 billion since September.
Market Dynamics: Hyperliquid Dominates
Hyperliquid remains the top player in the perp-DEX market, accounting for $185.5 billion in trading volume over the last month, which represents 34% of the total volume across the leading ten perp-DEX platforms. Its success is attributed to the growing interest in derivatives linked to traditional commodities such as oil and gold.
March saw Hyperliquid achieve a record daily trading volume of $5.4 billion. Alongside Bitcoin and Ethereum, contracts for WTI and Brent crude oil are among the most favored.
In the competitive landscape, the Binance-backed exchange Aster has moved ahead of edgeX, with $73 billion in trading volume compared to edgeX's $68 billion. Lighter, once a top contender, has fallen to fifth place with $50 billion in volume.
Smaller exchanges like ApeX Protocol, Variational, and StandX have reported trading volumes between $16 billion and $33 billion. Most of the on-chain activity for perpetual futures is now concentrated on the major platforms.
Notably, in early April, a sharp increase in oil prices led to the liquidation of a $17 million position held by a Hyperliquid trader.
