DeFi perps volume explodes past $1T in a record month so far

Decentralized perpetual trading volume is set for a massive month in October, having just passed a record $1 trillion with a week still to spare as traders place big bets on the crypto markets.

The $1 trillion milestone has already beaten August’s record of $762 billion by a considerable margin, according to data from DeFiLlama.

While Hyperliquid leads October with $317.6 billion in trading volume, Lighter, Aster, and edgeX have also fared well, seeing $255.4 billion, $177.6 billion and $134.7 billion, respectively, with the rest made up of smaller decentralized exchanges.

Those platforms contributed to a record $78 billion in decentralized perps volume on Oct. 10 alone.

Change in monthly perps trading volume since February 2021. Source: DefiLlama

Given the current run rate, decentralized perps volume is on track to finish October at about $1.3 trillion — nearly doubling August’s tally.

Perps have become popular due to their 24/7 trading, high leverage, no expiration, and the ability to profit from both rising and falling markets — attracting speculative traders seeking higher returns with minimal holding requirements.

CEXs are still perps kings, but DEXs are catching up

Decentralized perps trading volume remains a fraction of that seen on centralized exchanges, with Binance and Bybit seeing $69.3 billion and $26 billion in trading volume over the last 24 hours, CoinGecko data shows.

However, that lead is narrowing hard and fast as crypto innovators continue to build more user-friendly frontends for crypto perp traders to interact with.

Hyperliquid was the breakthrough protocol, Infinex founder says

Decentralized perps platforms have been around for nearly a decade, led earlier by the likes of Synthetix, dYdX, and GMX. However, Hyperliquid was the first one to “get it right” and scale successfully, Infinex founder Kain Warwick told Cointelegraph earlier this month.

One of the most widely used crypto wallets, MetaMask, integrated Hyperliquid on Oct. 8, letting users access Hyperliquid’s perpetual swaps exchange directly through its app.