Permanent DEX Market Structure in Transition – Fragmentation Through Specialization

The landscape of perpetual trading platforms is undergoing a significant restructuring. While the past six months have shown trading volumes increasingly distributed across specialized perp protocols, a market in transition is emerging between established leaders and rising challengers. This development signals a paradigm shift in the liquidity landscape of decentralized finance.

Hyperliquid Maintains Its Dominance

The perp DEX market continues to be dominated by Hyperliquid Perps. The platform secures the largest market share and stabilizes its leadership position through continuous liquidity concentration. Hyperliquid benefits from a large user and trading community that uses the platform as the primary venue for perpetual derivatives. This stability has not been sustainably challenged over the past six months.

New Rivals Drive Market Diversification

Between 2025 and the beginning of this year, a clear trend emerged: Lighter V2 Perps expanded aggressively and gained significant market share during this period. At the same time, Paradex and Jupiter Perpetual established themselves as more stable alternatives with consistent, albeit smaller, market positions. Even more interesting is the role of newcomers—Avantis, Aster, Drift, and edgeX—who are beginning to generate notable trading volumes and thus threaten the market concentration of traditional players.

Why Decentralization of Liquidity Is Progressing

This fragmentation is no coincidence. Trading communities are diversifying their activities to benefit from the specialized functions and innovative designs each protocol offers. The distribution of liquidity across multiple perp platforms creates optimized ecosystems for different types of trading—whether higher leverage, better fee structures, or specific trading pairs. The market increasingly favors efficiency over concentration.