PerpDEX Shakeup: How Hyperliquid Can Adapt in 2025

The perpetual DEX (PerpDEX) landscape is undergoing serious reshuffling, and Hyperliquid, despite its early dominance, is under pressure from rising challengers like Aster. This article analyzes the macro trends in perpetual DEX trading, how Hyperliquid’s strengths and weaknesses stack up, and the strategic pivots it may need to reclaim momentum.

Global PerpDEX Market Trends

The perp DEX sector has exploded: daily trading volume has surged past $52 billion, a year-over-year increase of 530%, and the space now claims ~26% of the wider crypto derivatives market. The competition is evolving: classical order-book (CLOB) models (e.g. Hyperliquid) are competing with AMM models (GMX, Gains), while hybrid models (like Jupiter Perps) aim to combine order book precision with AMM flexibility.

• Order-book models appeal to professional traders needing deep liquidity
• AMM models attract retail users seeking ease and minimal friction
• Hybrid designs seek to balance both worlds
• Volume metrics show order-book platforms regaining favor

Aster’s Rise & Market Disruption

Aster has rapidly made waves in the PerpDEX sector. On its token launch day, it saw a 1,650% surge, $371 million in trading volume, and tens of thousands of new addresses joining. Its product features—such as 1001× leverage, hidden orders to reduce MEV attacks, and allowing users to use yield-bearing assets as margin—offer strong differentiators. Aster’s TVL jumped by 328%, with the BNB Chain contributing the lion’s share of capital.

• Leverage far beyond Hyperliquid’s 40–50×
• Hidden order function to protect large trades
• Integrated yield asset margining
• Rapid capitalization of new users and liquidity

Hyperliquid’s Current Strengths & Pressures

Hyperliquid remains technically robust. Its HyperCore architecture processes up to 200,000 orders per second with only ~0.2s latency. It has cumulative perpetual trading volume of $2.76 trillion and maintains deep liquidity in major pairs. However, its market share has shrunk: from 71% in May down to ~38% as of now.

• Deep liquidity and low slippage (0.1–0.2 bps)
• Strong technology and proven performance
• A shrinking share due to aggressive competition
• Needs to fight for relevancy beyond pure performance

Strategic Moves for Hyperliquid

To counteract market erosion, Hyperliquid must lean into ecosystem play and innovation:

• HIP-3 (permissionless perpetual markets): open up to custom perpetual markets, e.g. RWA futures, AI compute futures
• Native stablecoin USDH: reduce dependence on external U.S. dollar assets and internalize capital flows
• Expand cross-chain and interoperability: mitigate single-chain constraint
• Deepen ecosystem composability: tightly integrate protocols like Kinetiq, Pendle, HyperLend, Based for network effects

Conclusion

The PerpDEX space is at a turning point. While Hyperliquid’s technological foundation is strong, it must evolve beyond raw performance into a full ecosystem play. Innovations like HIP-3, USDH, and deeper protocol integration may be critical in reclaiming momentum and differentiating in a fast-growing, competitive market.