Since October 2025, the monthly trading volume on perp-DEX has decreased from $1.36 trillion to $699 billion by March 2026, according to DefiLlama.
The decline has been steady: volumes decreased in November and December. The downward trend continued into early 2026.
Daily activity also shows signs of weakening. On April 4, perpetual futures trading volume reached $8.4 billion — the lowest level since July 5 of the previous year. The last time the metric fell below $10 billion was in September.
Hyperliquid Leads, but the Market Consolidates
The leading platform for trading “perps” remains Hyperliquid, with a volume of $185.5 billion over the past month — accounting for 34% of the total across all top-10 perp-DEX. The platform benefits from the popularity of derivatives tied to traditional assets like oil and gold.
In March, Hyperliquid’s daily turnover reached a record $5.4 billion. Besides Bitcoin and Ethereum, the most popular contracts continue to include futures on WTI and Brent crude oil:
In second place among perp-DEX, the Binance-supported exchange Aster was overtaken by edgeX — $73 billion compared to $68 billion. Once in the top three, Lighter has fallen to fifth place ($50 billion).
Smaller platforms like ApeX Protocol, Variational, and StandX recorded between $16 billion and $33 billion. Most on-chain activity for perpetual futures is concentrated on leading platforms.
Earlier in April, a surge in oil prices liquidated a $17 million position held by a Hyperliquid whale.