The perpetual futures decentralized change (perp DEX) sector has seen unprecedented progress previously few months, with month-to-month buying and selling volumes surpassing $1 trillion for the primary time in September 2025.
Aster has captured the vast majority of this exercise, even surpassing established gamers like Hyperliquid. Regardless of this, one analyst maintains that Hyperliquid stays the ‘most investible’ perp DEX out there.
Sponsored
Hyperliquid vs. Aster: Why an Knowledgeable Nonetheless Favors Hyperliquid Regardless of Market Shift
BeInCrypto just lately reported that perpetual futures buying and selling quantity surged previous $100 billion for the primary time on September 28 amid heightened market momentum. Moreover, knowledge from DefiLlama confirmed that whole month-to-month quantity reached a document excessive of $1.143 trillion in September. This marked a 49% enhance in comparison with August’s $766 billion.
Most of this exercise was pushed by Aster, which overtook Hyperliquid, the previous phase chief. Furthermore, on October 2, perp DEXs hit one other document, with day by day buying and selling quantity reaching an all-time excessive of $118.7 billion.
But once more, over the 24-hour interval, Aster accounted for $81.88 billion, whereas Hyperliquid managed solely $10.28 billion. The shift has dramatically reshaped market dynamics.
Hyperliquid’s share of perp DEX quantity has plunged from 45% to only 8%, whereas Aster’s quantity has skyrocketed.
“Over the previous few weeks, Hyperliquid’s share of Perp DEX quantity has fallen from 45% to eight%. Aster’s quantity has grown greater than 100X to $300b+ final week. Lighter and edgeX have risen to have comparable quantity to Hyperliquid,” DeFi analyst Patrick Scott highlighted.
Sponsored
Nonetheless, Scott maintains that regardless of Aster’s explosive progress, Hyperliquid continues to face out because the best-positioned perp DEX due to its fundamentals.
“Perp DEXs are in a long-term uptrend. As a p.c of CEX perps quantity, they’ve grown from lower than 2% in 2022 to over 20% final month. 10X in 3 years. Hyperliquid has been each the driving force and beneficiary of that pattern. The problem just lately and why some market individuals have questioned Hyperliquid’s is that Binance-related perp DEX Aster has exploded in quantity, claiming over 50% market share final week,” he added.
The analyst famous that, not like rivals counting on airdrop incentives, it has constructed a sustainable income mannequin. The platform trades at a 12.6x income a number of and dominates open curiosity with a 62% share. Open curiosity is a key metric for liquidity and reveals the stickiness of its person base.
“The actual fact of the matter is that Hyperliquid has managed to not simply preserve, however develop its utilization within the 12 months since its HYPE airdrop. This speaks to the loyalty of its customers and stickiness of its merchandise. This person retention can’t be replicated by incentive applications; it will probably solely be replicated by higher merchandise,” Scott added.
He famous that Hyperliquid’s benefits lengthen past perps. As a Layer 1 blockchain, HyperEVM hosts over 100 protocols with $2 billion in TVL and $3 million in day by day app income. The ecosystem contains native initiatives like Kinetiq and Hyperlend, in addition to large names comparable to Pendle, Morpho, and Phantom.
Sponsored
Hyperliquid has additionally launched USDH, a stablecoin backed by BlackRock and Superstate reserves. Its market cap is round $25 million, and its yield helps ecosystem progress.
Moreover, Scott identified that the upcoming HIP-3 initiative will permit builders to create new perp markets by staking 500,000 HYPE.
“This turns creates one other provide sink for HYPE, expands the number of tradeable belongings on Hyperliquid, and turns Hyperliquid into infrastructure for different builders to create companies on,” he remarked.
Lastly, Scott acknowledged that dangers stay. A sustained drop in Hyperliquid’s absolute quantity, a fall in open curiosity, or USDH failing to scale may weaken its place. For now, although, sturdy income, loyal customers, and increasing progress channels hold it probably the most investable perp DEX.
Sponsored
Perp DEX Launches Surge Throughout Ecosystem
In the meantime, as debate continues over Hyperliquid’s market place, a wave of latest launches has additional intensified the perp DEX house. BeInCrypto reported yesterday that Lighter launched its perp DEX mainnet.
Furthermore, TRON founder Justin Solar unveiled SunPerp, the community’s native perp DEX. It formally went reside on October 1 throughout the Token2049 occasion.
Changpeng Zhao (CZ), founding father of Binance, has endorsed this inflow. He highlighted the surge of recent perpetual DEXs getting into the market, mentioning that elevated competitors will assist develop the general sector.
“Extra gamers will develop the market measurement quicker. Rising tide lifts all boats. Long run, the perfect builders win. DYOR. Perp Dex period!” the publish learn.
As extra perp DEXs enter the market, the approaching time will inform whether or not they can preserve sustained curiosity and progress—or if the present hype will finally fade.