Perpetual futures trading volumes on DEXs exploded to $12.08 trillion by the end of 2025. The annual transactions totaled $7.9 trillion, and approximately 65% of this was generated in the latter half of the year.
Hyperliquid dominated early, and was later on challenged by Lighter, Aster, and EdgeX. Various market stress events, including the October 2025 flash crash that triggered $19.35 billion worth of liquidations, revealed weaker perpetual futures DEX designs while proving infrastructure resilience.
Traders expect tight spreads, instant execution, and predictable liquidations. Liquidity providers demand capital efficiency and controlled downside. And founders who discover it too late usually are not able to take their perpetual futures DEXs past V1.
It’s the model level where most perpetual futures crypto exchange fail, not features, tokenomics, or UI.