Pacifica Dethrones Jupiter: How a New Perp DEX King Conquered Solana’s Derivatives Market

Solana's perpetual futures arena just got a seismic shakeup. Pacifica—an upstart derivatives exchange—has bulldozed past Jupiter to claim the network's top spot. Forget gradual growth—this was a hostile takeover by liquidity.

The new derivatives darling

While Jupiter dominated Solana's perp trading for months, Pacifica's lightning-fast execution and aggressive incentives flipped the script. Traders voted with their wallets, shifting billions in volume seemingly overnight. No fancy partnerships, no vaporware promises—just better prices and lower fees.

What's next for the fallen king?

Jupiter's team now faces their first real test since becoming Solana's go-to DEX. Will they innovate or stagnate? Meanwhile, degens are already placing bets on how long Pacifica can hold the crown—remembering how quickly last year's 'unbeatable' protocols crumbled.

Final thought: In DeFi, loyalty lasts exactly as long as your last basis point of slippage.

Currently, Pacifica is still expanding, with regular new listings and weekly updates on its activity. Pacifica’s transaction volume even surpassed Jupiter, which added perp DEX activity and was briefly among the leaders on Solana.

Pacifica Weekly Update 🌊

New milestones, innovative ordertypes, new security features. If there is one thing we know for sure, Pacifica never stops shipping! ⛴️

Be part of it at: https://t.co/mL0onjhCYJ

Update 🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/5Uh2GurBvP

— Pacifica (@pacifica_fi) November 13, 2025

Pacifica became a part of the larger trend for Solana, expanding perpetual futures volumes in the past few months. In total, the platform achieves $1.49B in daily volumes across perp DEX markets.

Solana nearly doubled its perp DEX activity in the past three months and reached a monthly record in October. Perp DEX volumes ROSE to $65.3B in the past month. 

Pacifica gradually expands its liquidity

Pacifica went from a zero-volume startup to a leader on Solana within six months. The perp DEX is expanding by stages, inviting more users and increasing deposits. The market operator is joining a risky market, which also includes technical flaws. Pacifica has launched with an initial period of closed beta testing. 

Constance Wang, Pacifica’s founder and former COO of FTX, announced that the platform has increased its deposit threshold to $100K. 

Part of Pacifica’s growth comes from its point farming program, which distributes 10K points every Thursday. Pacifica has promised more farming rounds in the coming months. 

The perp DEX plans to launch a mobile version and spread to multiple chains. The market operator also plans to add a spot market and DeFi lending. 

Perp DEX posts record volumes

Perp DEX activity peaked in October, reaching a total volume of $1.36T. Hyperliquid stood out as it managed multiple on-chain liquidations on October 11. In the past few weeks, Aster surpassed Hyperliquid on reported volumes. 

Lighter was the all-time leader, though raising suspicions about the accuracy of its reported trading volumes. Lighter offers zero-fee trades, hence the high volumes. However, Lighter has the lowest value locked among major perp DEXs, not matching the high trading volume.  

Currently active perp DEXs are no longer just competing, but innovating to build their own organic user base. Pacifica has managed to join the top 10 exchanges in terms of volumes, but has not aggressively expanded its activity, and has avoided the infiltration of bots.

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