Hey Edge readers,

If you’ve been following the latest crypto meta, you’ve probably noticed that perpetual futures (or “perps”) are becoming the new front line of competition among decentralized exchanges. Platforms like Hyperliquid, Aster, Lighter, and Apex are surging in trading activity thanks to deep liquidity, potential for airdrops and CEX-style interfaces.

This week, we break down what the broader perps meta could mean for the next phase of onchain trading.

Stay sharp. 🫡

-The Exponential team

Inside the Perp DEX boom

Disclaimer: This content should not be taken as financial advice. Always do your own research before making any investment decisions.

Perpetual DEXs have become the new heartbeat of crypto trading. In September 2025 alone, onchain perpetual futures volume brushed up against $1 trillion, reflecting a massive migration from centralized exchanges (CEXs) to decentralized platforms. Hyperliquid sits at the center of this boom as the industry benchmark for speed and liquidity, but a new wave of challengers are shaking up the perp landscape.

What are Perp DEXs?

Perpetual decentralized exchanges (Perp DEXs) are onchain platforms for trading derivatives that don’t expire. Traders can long or short crypto, commodities, or even real-world assets (RWAs) with leverage of up to 50x or more, all without giving up custody of their funds.

They combine the transparency of DeFi with the speed and precision of CEX-style trading. By Q3 2025, perp DEXs had reached $1.8-2 trillion in total volume, rivaling traditional markets.

Hyperliquid: Still the King

Launched in 2023 on its own custom Layer-1 (HyperBFT), Hyperliquid set the standard for onchain order book trading with sub-second finality, zero gas fees, and 50x leverage across more than 130 assets.

Through community governance, Hyperliquid has evolved from a trading venue into a full-blown infrastructure layer with its integrated own EVM layer (HyperEVM). While challengers have chipped away at Hyperliquid’s once-dominant lead, it remains the technological leader in the perp DEX arena. Even as its market share has dropped from over 70% to roughly half of total DEX volume today, Hyperliquid still sustains double-digit billions in daily volume with organic usage. Its open interest (the total of outstanding positions) remains far higher than any rival, indicating that the majority of serious traders still call Hyperliquid home.

Despite Hyperliquid’s head start, a new wave of competitors has rapidly gained traction in recent weeks, each bringing a unique playbook. These challengers are aggressively courting traders with incentives, novel features, and niche focuses. Below we outline the competitive landscape of the most prominent perp DEXs.

New challengers arrive

Aster

Aster is a multichain perp DEX that exploded onto the scene in September with a marketing and airdrop blitzkrieg. Backed by Binance-linked YZI Labs and openly endorsed by Binance founder CZ, Aster leveraged the “growth-first” strategy to remarkable effect. It launched across multiple chains (BNB Chain, Arbitrum, Ethereum, Solana) to tap into existing liquidity everywhere at once , and even offered a headline-grabbing 1001x leverage mode to generate buzz.

Aster’s feature set combines CEX-style tools with DeFi twists. It implemented hidden orders to prevent front-running and zk-proof private trading, adding a layer of privacy for big traders. It also innovated with yield-bearing collateral, letting users margin trade with staked assets (like asBNB) that earn yield even while posted as collateral.

The growth numbers Aster posted were eye-popping. In its first week, the ASTER token surged over 2,000%, and the platform onboarded 330,000 new wallets in a single day during its massive Stage 2 airdrop of 704 million tokens. At its peak, Aster processed $85 billion in daily volume, briefly eclipsing the entire DEX sector’s combined volume and seizing a majority of the perp market share. This overnight dominance was fueled by aggressive incentives with over half the token supply allocated to community rewards, creating a frenzy of airdrop farming. Notably, CZ’s public backing lent Aster instant credibility and virality that money can’t easily buy.

However, Aster’s rise has also raised questions. Onchain analysts observed signs of wash trading and inorganic volume as Aster’s volume/TVL ratio soared above 70:1, far beyond normal levels. Additionally, Aster’s token distribution was highly centralized (a few wallets held an outsize share), and large token unlocks were scheduled that threaten significant sell pressure. These factors suggest Aster’s dominance may be fragile if the incentive engine ever slows down. Even so, Aster proved that with enough firepower and the right timing, a newcomer can temporarily take the reins of the perp DEX meta.

Lighter

Lighter distinguishes itself by a completely different philosophy: security, fairness, and first-principles technology. Founded by former Citadel engineers and backed by top VCs like a16z, Lighter built a custom zkRollup on Ethereum (settling on L2 Arbitrum) to create a verifiably fair, high-performance perp DEX. Every order match, trade, and liquidation on Lighter is proven with zero-knowledge proofs, meaning the exchange can mathematically guarantee that execution is honest and cannot be tampered with. This level of on-chain assurance is unmatched. No other CEX or DEX offers provable correctness of matching engine operations as Lighter does.

Despite the heavy tech underpinnings, Lighter also appeals to users’ wallets as it launched with a zero-fee trading model for retail traders. This bold move immediately attracted flow. By mid-September, Lighter was averaging ~$3B in daily volume, and by early October (still in invite-only beta) it exceeded $7 billion/day, even without any token incentives. The platform compensates market makers and liquidity providers via its Lighter Liquidity Pool (LLP), a community market-making vault that has reportedly earned around 60% APY for contributors since early 2025. Users can deposit assets into Lighter’s LLP to help fill the order book and in return receive a share of trading fees (and liquidity rewards), aligning community incentives with the exchange’s success.

Apex

Apex (ApeX Protocol) is the contender with the most direct centralized exchange DNA. Incubated and backed by Bybit (one of the largest CEXs), Apex’s goal is to bring CEX-grade performance and products into a self-custodial DEX. It launched in late 2022 and gained momentum in 2023-2024, but really surged in 2025 as perp DEX interest grew. Apex operates on a custom Layer-2 (leveraging StarkWare’s tech initially) and emphasizes an “Omni” product line that unifies spot and derivatives. Traders on Apex benefit from deep liquidity partnerships (courtesy of Bybit’s market maker network) and features like cross-collateral, advanced order types, and up to 500x leverage on certain instruments.

Where Apex stands out is its aggressive token value accrual policy. In mid-2025, the team introduced a revenue buyback program: initially, 50% of all trading fees on Apex were used to buy and burn APEX tokens from the open market, later increasing to 90% of daily revenue committed to buybacks. This is an unusually high kickback of fees to token holders, far above the typical 10-30% seen on other platforms. The effect was to make APEX token’s value tightly linked to trading volume. As volumes spiked across perp DEXs in Q3 2025, APEX token’s price rocketed (at one point +600% in a month ). At peak hype, Apex was handling around $500 million in daily volume, though modest compared to Aster or Hyperliquid, but still a strong showing for a DEX that had until then lagged behind in mindshare. Bybit CEO Ben Zhou’s open promotion of Apex (and integration of Apex Pro into Bybit’s interface) also lent credibility, signaling to traders that this platform has heavyweight support .

Conclusion

The rise of these perp DEXs illustrates that the competitive landscape is wide open. No single model has claimed total dominance, and each platform is carving out its own niche based on different trader preferences. What’s clear is that perp DEXs are on track to rival the volumes of CEXs in the global derivatives trade. Even after topping $1 trillion in monthly volume (roughly 10% of CEX futures volume), the sector’s upside is enormous if more traders continue to migrate onchain. The battle between these platforms is driving rapid innovation (lower fees, better execution, new asset classes, and creative tokenomics are all being pushed to extremes) to the benefit of end users.

In the end, traders are the ultimate winners of this “perp DEX wars” meta. Competition is forcing exchanges to become faster, fairer, and more diverse in their offerings than ever before. It’s a market defined by constant churn in leadership – we’ve seen that incentive programs can catapult a newcomer to #1 virtually overnight (as Aster did), while sustainable tech and user loyalty determine who stays on top in the long run (as Hyperliquid has). The boom in perp DEXs is just the beginning, and the race is on to see which platform (or platforms) will capture the lion’s share of a potentially multi-trillion-dollar onchain derivatives market.

TL;DR

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🔗 Check out the full article.

In the news 🗞️

• Bitcoin sets new all-time high amid inflows. Bitcoin surged past $126,000, setting a new all-time high as over $3.55 billion in inflows poured into crypto markets last week. Analysts point to growing institutional demand, driven by ETF inflows and macro uncertainty that’s boosting Bitcoin’s appeal as a hedge. Ethereum and Solana also saw strong capital rotation, with onchain activity climbing as traders chase momentum across major ecosystems. Hyperliquid holds firm as top perp DEX despite Aster’s rise. Hyperliquid remains the most investable decentralized perpetuals exchange even as its market share dropped in recent weeks. Scott cites Hyperliquid’s 62% dominance in open interest, strong revenue, and ecosystem growth, including HyperEVM, USDH stablecoin, and HIP-3, as key strengths. Rivals are gaining traction, but Hyperliquid’s liquidity and fundamentals give it staying power.

• Zcash leads gains among privacy coins. Privacy-focused tokens staged a major comeback this week, led by Zcash (ZEC), which surged more than 140% amid renewed interest in digital privacy and decentralized identity. The rally followed growing discussion around onchain surveillance and upcoming regulatory proposals targeting anonymous transactions.

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