Perpetual Trading Volumes Reach $70 Billion on Decentralized Exchanges

On Thursday, perpetual trading volumes on decentralized exchanges (DEXs) soared to an unprecedented level of $70 billion, fueled by Aster, a new derivatives platform on the BNB Chain.

Record Activity in Decentralized Perpetuals

Perpetual DEXs have achieved record trading volumes for three consecutive days as the activity surrounding decentralized perpetuals intensified. On Tuesday, the total volume for perp DEXs reached $52 billion, followed by $67 billion on Wednesday.

The volume peaked at $70 billion on Thursday, indicating a resurgence of momentum in the decentralized finance (DeFi) derivatives markets.

Aster led the way with nearly $36 billion in 24-hour trading volume, which accounted for over 50% of the total perp DEX activity that day. The platform outperformed competitors like Hyperliquid and Lighter, both of which surpassed $10 billion in trading volume.

Aster’s impressive performance on Thursday came after the platform demonstrated increasing dominance in decentralized derivatives. On Wednesday, Aster overtook its rivals with $24.7 billion in 24-hour volume, more than double that of Hyperliquid’s volume for that day.

While trading volume serves as an important indicator of interest and market confidence in a platform, Aster’s rise was also fueled by attractive incentives for users. Trading, minting, and holding assets on Aster’s DEX earn users points, qualifying them for an Aster airdrop.

As a result, community members cautioned that the spike in volume might have adverse effects for retail traders. One individual mentioned that while high volumes can appear appealing, they may not reflect genuine market conviction once the rewards diminish.

Another community member likened the volume surge to the exchange fee-mining era of 2018 and the DeFi summer of 2021, suggesting that such trends typically do not end favorably for retail traders. “Cash out even a small amount, unless you know what you’re doing. It is very easy to lose money at this stage of the market,” the user advised.

Since its inception, Aster has excelled in key DeFi metrics. On Friday, the platform reported a trading volume exceeding $400 million and doubled its total value locked (TVL). The growth continued, with Aster achieving a TVL of over $2 billion on Thursday.

Additionally, Aster’s open interest, which tracks the total number of outstanding contracts that have yet to be settled, rose to $1.25 billion on Wednesday.