Hyperliquid Regains Perp DEX Lead as Trading Concentrates
- Hyperliquid commands the highest weekly perp trading volume across the sector.
- Lighter activity declines substantially following its late December token airdrop.
- Open interest indicates that traders are mainly using leverage on Hyperliquid.
Perpetual decentralized exchanges displayed widening leadership gaps as trading activity concentrated around fewer platforms over the past week. Coinness data, based on CryptoRank.io and DefiLlama, tracked volume and open interest shifts as of January 18, 2025. The figures show Hyperliquid reclaiming market leadership while activity cooled across several competitors.
Recent data also revealed a sharp reversal for Lighter following its token distribution. According to CryptoRank.io posts on X, weekly trading volume on Lighter dropped nearly threefold from its peak. As liquidity retreated, Hyperliquid moved back into the top position among perpetual DEXs by trading volume.
Source: X
At the same time, CryptoRank flagged Variational as another active venue. The platform maintained daily trading volumes near the $1 billion mark, even as broader incentive-driven activity weakened across the sector.
Hyperliquid Pulls Ahead in Weekly Trading Volume
Hyperliquid recorded $40.7 billion in perpetual DEX trading volume over the last seven days. That figure placed it well ahead of all competitors and confirmed its position as the largest liquidity venue in decentralized perpetual futures.
In comparison, Aster ranked second with $31.7 billion in weekly volume. Although the gap narrowed relative to past weeks, Aster still trailed Hyperliquid by a wide margin. The difference reflected a stronger flow concentration on a single platform.
Lighter followed in third place with $25.3 billion in weekly volume. While still active, the platform showed a clear decline from December highs. The slowdown coincided with fading incentive-related activity after its airdrop event.
Open Interest Data Shows Risk Concentration
Open interest figures over the past 24 hours reinforced the same trend. Hyperliquid held $9.57 billion in open interest. The level passed the combined total of other major perpetual DEXs tracked.
The “Others” category totaled $7.34 billion in open interest. Within that group, Aster led with $2.73 billion. Lighter followed with $1.42 billion. Variational posted $1.32 billion, while EdgeX reached $1.2 billion. Paradex trailed with $0.67 billion.
This imbalance is where traders hold leveraged exposure instead of rotating short-term volume. Why are traders increasingly parking risk on one platform rather than spreading positions across multiple venues?
Incentives Fade as Liquidity Normalizes
Lighter’s decline followed a major airdrop at the end of December. The platform distributed LIT tokens worth $675 million. CoinGecko ranked the event among the ten largest asset distributions in crypto history.
Before the airdrop, Lighter also changed operating rules. It introduced mandatory staking for liquidity pool participation. It also revised fee structures for market makers and high-frequency traders.
Related: Arthur Hayes Predicts Perpetual Futures Will Reshape Markets
After the distribution, the weekly trading volume reduced from the peaks of above $600 million in December. The pullback was a signal of how quickly liquidity can be withdrawn once the incentives for the tokens are over.
Similar concerns surfaced at Token2049. BitMEX CEO Stephan Lutz warned that many perpetual DEXs rely heavily on incentives. In an interview, he described token rewards as paid advertising that often fails to sustain long-term trading commitment.
While Hyperliquid dominated volume and open interest, its token was weak. HYPE, similar to other exchange and DeFi governance tokens, was subjected to the same pressure as the aforementioned issues, such as emissions, value capture, and long-term economics, which raised concerns about its future.
