The Tears of the Perp Era: As New Trends Emerge, Old Kings Fade Before Hyperliquid brought a new wave, the on-chain perpetual DEX had already gone through several "seasons of change." The former leading platforms now face different situations: Some still maintain stable trading volumes, rooted in niche markets; Some have chosen to withdraw from the stage, with websites and communities quietly falling silent; Others are still online but have long since said goodbye to their former glory, quietly operating within a limited user base. Let's take a look at these old-school Perps—to see how they are developing today: who is still operating steadily, who has faded from the main stage, and who is still striving to hold onto a small market. > dYdX As the original king of on-chain Perps, dYdX feels like it has completed its "historical mission." Its monthly trading volume can still rank in the top 20, and its daily trading volume can stably remain above the hundred-million-dollar level. From V1 to the current V4, and the exploration of App chains, dYdX has never stopped innovating. However, it's undeniable that from a data perspective, dYdX has been on a downward trend, shrinking by 90% from daily trading volumes of several billions four years ago. Although dYdX is no longer as glamorous, it still maintains stable operations thanks to years of product iteration and technological accumulation. > GMX Speaking of dYdX's decline, we must mention GMX, because GMX broke the conventional order book logic of on-chain perpetual contracts, being the first to popularize the "peer-to-pool" retail market-making logic. Through its GLP design, it truly integrated on-chain Perps into the DeFi Lego gameplay, once becoming the most popular wealth management product on Arbitrum. However, after experiencing a contraction in trading volume during the bear market and several vulnerability exploits, this former rising star now only seeks "stable happiness." Its current data level is roughly on par with dYdX, ranking in the top 20. But it's worth noting that GMX's TVL has been very stable over the past few years; even after two or three years, the assets in the protocol are still around 500 million USD, indicating that the GLP design remains relevant even in 2025. > Two Solana Stars: Jupiter & Drift Solana's two stars, Jupiter and Drift, still hold the title of "billion-dollar club," maintaining monthly trading volumes of 20 billion USD and 10 billion USD respectively. Jupiter mimicked GMX's model, forking JLP. And with Solana's strong liquidity and Jupiter's own ecosystem resources, JLP has become an indispensable high-quality asset for various DeFi protocols on Solana. Drift's product types are more diverse, primarily various yield vaults based on Perp trading. By introducing various basis trading, Delta-neutral strategies, and other algorithmic trading pools, Drift has not only garnered TVL but also boosted its Perp trading volume growth. Overall, as two Perp exchanges known for their product strength on Solana, their future stable profitability and healthy operations are well-assured. > Vertex Not all past powerhouses can hold onto their territory. For example, Vertex, another Perp exchange that was quite popular in 2023, was not so lucky. The Vertex team mostly came from top TradFi quantitative trading firms, such as Jump Trading. Its product was also known for its high performance back then, with daily trading volumes reaching hundreds of millions of USD upon launch, and "mining trading" was in full swing. Later, Vertex also attempted to build more efficient underlying liquidity infrastructure, but the results showed that the PMF was not particularly obvious, and it subsequently became lukewarm. Until this year, Vertex also announced its acquisition by Kraken's L2 INK, and the VRTX token will be phased out and migrated to INK. The product will also migrate from Arbitrum to INK, and whether it can experience a second spring remains unknown. > Aevo Aevo was even more of a flash in the pan. Before major exchanges launched pre-market trading, Aevo single-handedly popularized this model. For a time, everyone praised "pre-market trading" to the skies, hailing it as a powerful tool for project teams and market makers to pump prices, and a good hand for CEXs to potentially control new coin performance. The subsequent result was that major CEXs successively launched their own "pre-market trading," and Aevo's own Perp trading had no particular advantage compared to other competitors. Chronic death might be the ultimate outcome. 2 billion and 2 million—this is the comparison between Aevo's peak daily trading volume and its recent trading volume. In the Perp trading track, it seems to have been eliminated. 「End」 One generation, one god. In addition to the projects listed above, many other Perp exchanges that once held a place have faded from public view: Gains Network, MUX Protocol, THENA... Some are still trying to operate, while others have long become tears of the era. Which Perp did you earn your first pot of gold from back then, and which Perp did you suffer heavy losses on? Feel free to share in the comments section~ Disclaimer: This content is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. DeFi protocols carry significant market and technical risks. Token prices and yields are highly volatile, and participating in DeFi may result in the loss of all invested capital. Always do your own research, understand the legal requirements in your jurisdiction, and evaluate risks carefully before getting involved.
Author: OneKey Team ( @jonasCyang )
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