The competition in Perp DEX will become intense in 2025: on-chain order books and high-leverage products will reshape the derivation market landscape.

In 2025, Perp DEX (Decentralized Perpetual Futures Exchange) has become the core growth driver of the crypto assets derivatives market, with leading platforms like Hyperliquid and Aster repeatedly breaking daily trading volumes of 1 billion USD, driving the quarterly total trading volume of this category to a historical high. This trend highlights the advantages of self-custody, on-chain auditability, and composability with the DeFi ecosystem, which are gradually siphoning users and liquidity away from mainstream CEX. As the pace of technological iteration accelerates, the competition among perpetual futures DEX has expanded from order book design to multidimensional confrontations such as leverage multiples, cross-chain compatibility, and fee models.

The Rise of Perpetual Futures DEX: Advantages of Self-Custody and On-Chain Transparency

Perpetual Futures (Perpetuals), as a derivation with no expiration date, anchor the spot price through a funding rate mechanism between long and short parties, allowing traders to hold positions indefinitely without the need for rollovers. This design is widely popular in the crypto field and has become a major contributor to current trading volume. Compared to mainstream CEX, the core advantage of perpetual futures DEX lies in self-custody and on-chain transparency: mainstream platforms deploy order matching and settlement entirely on-chain or on application-specific chains, with all orders, transactions, and cancellations being publicly auditable, and assets always remaining in users' wallets rather than on the custodian's balance sheet. This on-chain footprint further enables seamless integration with Decentralized Finance protocols, providing greater flexibility for trading strategies.

Top Players Ecosystem Overview: Hyperliquid, Aster, and GMX Lead the Track

· Hyperliquid features a customized public chain and a fully on-chain Central Limit Order Book (CLOB) as its core characteristics, with every order action recorded on the chain, combining CEX-level precision with chain verifiability. The platform currently supports its daily trading volume of billions of dollars with a deep order book and high-speed block processing capabilities.

· Aster has recently emerged with high leverage (up to 150 times), multi-chain coverage, and strong liquidity, repeatedly topping daily volume and open interest (OI), becoming a key variable driving the rise of the perpetual futures DEX category.

· GMX maintains user loyalty in the Arbitrum and Avalanche ecosystems through the fee-sharing dividend tokenomics and cost optimization design of its V2 version, with its classic model still viewed by the market as a robust choice.

In addition, DYdX maintains a decentralized order book and high throughput after migrating to an independent chain based on Cosmos; Drift and Jupiter from the Solana ecosystem form a combined advantage with high-speed trading and deep liquidity; ApeX accumulates considerable volume based on self-custody and exchange-level user experience; EdgeX, as an order book DEX incubated by Amber Group, attracts professional traders with CEX-level speed and product iteration.

Cutting-edge Technology and Market Trends: Order Book Innovations and Leverage Competition

The current competition focus of perpetual contract DEX is concentrated on on-chain order book design and leverage efficiency. Hyperliquid's full on-chain CLOB model sets a benchmark for the industry, while new projects like Aster prove the market space for aggressive strategies through high leverage and cross-chain liquidity aggregation. From a technical perspective, the Solana ecosystem supports Drift and Jupiter's 150x leverage products with its high throughput characteristics, while platforms like EdgeX balance speed and decentralization through hybrid architecture. Market trends indicate that although mainstream CEX still dominates user perception, on-chain self-custody, auditable paths, and composability are continuously attracting incremental funds. Investors need to pay attention to the funding rate stability, liquidity depth, and on-chain settlement risks of each platform.

Operating Suggestions and Risk Warnings

For traders, when choosing a perpetual futures DEX, it is essential to prioritize the evaluation of on-chain data transparency (such as order book depth and settlement delays) and leverage costs. It is recommended to diversify allocations to representative platforms from different ecosystems, for example, allocating part of the funds to projects like Hyperliquid, which excels in order book trading, while also paying attention to emerging projects with high growth potential like Aster. It should be noted that high leverage trading may amplify liquidation risks, especially during periods of increased market volatility, so it is crucial to strictly control positions. In the long term, projects with genuine on-chain settlement capabilities and sustainable token economic models are more likely to survive the competitive waves.

Conclusion

The competition for perpetual futures DEX in 2025 has evolved from a technological testing ground into a full-scale market battle, with on-chain order books and high-leverage products becoming the industry standard configuration. As leading projects like Hyperliquid and Aster continue to iterate, and with the addition of public chain ecosystems such as Solana and TRON, the decentralized derivatives market is rapidly being restructured. This process not only drives the maturity of on-chain trading infrastructure but also provides users with more autonomous and transparent financial tools. However, the fierce competition is accompanied by technical risks and market volatility, requiring participants to maintain rational assessment and risk awareness.

Disclaimer: This article is for news information only and does not constitute any investment advice. The crypto market is highly volatile, and investors should make decisions with caution.