Perpetual trading volumes on decentralized exchanges (DEXs) surged to an all-time high of $70 billion on Thursday, driven by Aster, a new derivatives platform on BNB Chain.
Perpetual DEXs have surged to record volumes on three consecutive days as decentralized perpetuals activity heated up. On Tuesday, the overall volume for perp DEXs hit $52 billion, followed by $67 billion on Wednesday.
The volume topped $70 billion on Thursday, highlighting renewed momentum in the decentralized finance (DeFi) derivatives markets.
Aster topped the leaderboard with almost $36 billion in 24-hour trading volume, which was over 50% of the total perp DEX activity on Thursday. The platform outpaced rivals like Hyperliquid and Lighter, both recording volumes of above $10 billion.
Incentive farming drives perpetual DEX trading activity
Aster’s breakout performance on Thursday followed the platform’s growing dominance in decentralized derivatives. On Wednesday, Aster surpassed its peers with $24.7 billion in 24-hour volume, more than double Hyperliquid’s performance on that day.
While trading volume is a key metric measuring interest and market conviction toward a platform, Aster’s rise was also driven by aggressive incentives for using the platform.
Trading, minting and holding in Aster’s DEX gives users points, making them eligible for an Aster airdrop.
Because of this, community members said the surge in volume may have negative effects for retail traders. One user said volume spikes may look good until the rewards dry up, arguing that the volume did not truly reflect market conviction.
Another community member compared the volume surge to the exchange fee-mining season in 2018 and the DeFi summer of 2021. The user said these events don’t end well for retail.
“Cash out even a small amount, unless you know what you’re doing. It is very easy to lose money at this stage of the market,” the user said.
Related: Machi Big Brother exits $25M HYPE bet at $4M loss as rivals eat Hyperliquid market share
Aster open interest surged to $1.25 billion in one week
Since its launch, Aster has performed well in key DeFi metrics. On Friday, Aster logged a trading volume of over $400 million and doubled its total value locked (TVL). The platform continued to grow, recording a TVL of over $2 billion on Thursday.
In addition, Aster’s open interest, a metric that tracks the total number of outstanding contracts that haven’t been settled, reached $1.25 billion on Wednesday.
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