Spot and Perps DEXs See Surge in Volume Amidst Rise of Hyperliquid and Aster

Key Insights:

• Spot DEXs volume is set to cross the $1 trillion mark for four consecutive quarters starting Q4 of 2024.
• The spot DEXs volume could hit an all-time high of $1.3 trillion in Q3 of 2025.
• Perpetuals DEX volume is also near $2 trillion this quarter as Hyperliquid and Aster take off.

Decentralized exchanges (DEXs) have recorded more than $1 trillion in trading volume for the fourth consecutive quarter. It marks the first time that DEXs would achieve that milestone.

Blockworks co-founder Jason Yanowitz first shared the milestone on X, noting the over $1 trillion spot volume for DEX in 2025 Q1 and Q2.

Spot DEXs Cross $1 Trillion in 3 Quarters, Set for Fourth

According to data from Blockworks, spot volume for decentralized exchanges in Q2 of 2025 was $1.225 trillion. This puts it slightly above the previous all-time high of $1.21 trillion in Q1, which was also more than the $1.06 trillion in Q4 of 2024.

The three consecutive quarters of trading volume surpassing $1 trillion highlight the increase in activity on DEXs. However, the surge in activity is not over. Defillama data shows that spot DEXs have already pulled in $1.32 trillion even though September is yet to end.

Interestingly, Blockworks data shows that memecoins are fueling this activity. In Q2 of 2025, memecoins accounted for around 40% of the volume. Native stablecoins and project tokens also accounted for around 20% each in Q2.

Meanwhile, PancakeSwap emerged as the leading DEX by volume in Q2 with over $529 billion. This is likely due to the Binance Alpha program, which has driven activity on the BNB Chain.

Uniswap had $278 million while Raydium had just $39 million. Raydium was the leading spot DEX in Q4 of 2024 and only behind Uniswap with $230 million in Q1 of 2025. The decline in its volume corresponds with a fall in memecoin activity on the Solana network.

Despite PancakeSwap overtaking Uniswap, Uniswap recently reached a milestone of $1 trillion in annual volume. It is already near $300 million in volume this quarter, showing it remains competitive.

Unsurprisingly, BSC is the biggest network for DEX spot volume in 2025 Q2. It overtook Solana, which held the crown for three consecutive quarters between Q3 of 2024 and Q1 of 2025. Solana had stolen the top title from Ethereum, which dominated DEX activity until Q3 2024.

Perps DEXs Volume Nears $2 Trillion in Q3

Meanwhile, the new heights for Spot DEX activity pale compared to DEXs offering perpetual trading. Perps DEXs have already reached $1.8 trillion in volume in Q3 and look set to break the $2 trillion mark.

According to DefiLama,  Perp DEXs had a volume of $570.86 billion in July, followed by a record volume of  $765.87 billion in August. So far, they have pulled in $592.27 billion in September, and 2025 Q3 looks to be their biggest quarter.

The surge in Perp DEXs volume has been fueled by layer-1 Perp DEX Hyperliquid with its incentives. Hyperliquid’s latest competitor is Aster, a DEX on BNB Chain supported by  Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao, with its own token and incentives.

Zhao’s promotion of Aster through his X account has boosted the DEX profile, causing it to overtake Hyperliquid in daily volume. While other Perp DEXs like Lighter and EdgeX have a sizable market share, defillama data shows Aster is eating into Hyperliquid’s share. The four DEXs account for 77% of all perp DEXs volume