Perpetual DEX trading volume collapsed 34% year-over-year while open interest held steady, signaling thinner markets with fewer active traders despite persistent positioning.
DeFi & Yields ·
Average daily volume across perpetual DEXs fell from $32.4B to $21.4B over two consecutive six-month periods, a 34% decline, while open interest dropped only marginally from $16.4B to $14.8B, causing capital turnover to compress from 1.98x to 1.45x daily. The contraction reflects thinned trading activity despite persistent positioning, with six protocols that previously averaged over $1B daily all falling below that threshold, though GRVT bucked the trend by growing 166% to $1.32B daily. Hyperliquid's dominance shrank substantially, declining from 89% open interest market share in July 2025 to 49% by February 2026, while six smaller protocols—Extended, GRVT, ApeX Omni, edgeX, Ostium, and Aster—each grew their open interest above prior levels.