Onchain perpetual futures trading has cooled for five consecutive months after peaking in October 2025. Perpetual (perp) volume on decentralized exchanges dropped to $699 billion in March 2026 from October’s $1.36 trillion, according to DefiLlama data.
The decline was steady: volumes eased through November and December and continued to fall during the first quarter of 2026. Daily activity also weakened — on April 4 perp DEX volume fell to $8.4 billion, the first time it dipped below $10 billion since Sept. 6, 2025, and the lowest daily total since July 5, 2025, per DefiLlama. The trend indicates a sustained cooldown in onchain perpetual futures trading following the 2025 surge; perp volumes are a proxy for speculative demand and leveraged positioning in crypto markets.
DefiLlama shows trading remains concentrated among a few leading platforms. Over the past 30 days Hyperliquid reported roughly $185.5 billion in volume, about 34% of the top 10’s total. That places it well ahead of rivals such as edgeX ($73 billion) and Aster ($68 billion). Other platforms recorded lower 30-day volumes: Lighter around $50 billion, Grvt nearly $40 billion, and smaller venues like ApeX Protocol, Variational and StandX each between roughly $16 billion and $33 billion. The data underline that much of onchain perpetual futures activity is concentrated in a small number of dominant venues even as overall volumes have cooled from late‑2025 highs.
The slowdown follows a period of rapid expansion in onchain derivatives. In 2025 perp DEXs nearly tripled cumulative volume to $12.09 trillion, with about $7.9 trillion — roughly 65% — generated in 2025 alone. This growth was driven in part by monthly activity averaging close to $1 trillion in the fourth quarter. Perpetual futures exchanges have become a key battleground across crypto ecosystems, with blockchains competing to launch or host perp DEXs to capture trading flows, though liquidity has historically consolidated around a handful of leading platforms.
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