DeFi Perpetual DEX Trading Volume Explodes as Traders Chase Volatility

Defying market turbulence, decentralized perpetual exchanges are seeing unprecedented activity—proving once again that crypto traders thrive on chaos.

The Volatility Playbook

While traditional investors panic-sell during price swings, DeFi degens are doubling down. Perpetual DEX platforms report trading volumes surging past previous records as sophisticated traders leverage decentralized infrastructure to capitalize on market movements.

No Counterparty Risk, Maximum Leverage

These platforms eliminate centralized intermediaries while offering up to 100x leverage—because what's a little market volatility without the ability to completely obliterate your portfolio? The self-custody model means traders maintain control of their assets, though apparently not always their risk management instincts.

Institutional Money Watching

Traditional finance firms are monitoring the surge with mixed fascination and horror—like watching a car crash in slow motion, except the cars are Lambos and the crash involves millions in liquidations.

The revolution won't be centralized—but the losses might be spectacular.

Perpetual DEX traders returned to Leveraged positions within days of the market’s largest liquidation event.

October 10 marked crypto’s most devastating single-day liquidation event when President Donald TRUMP announced 100% tariffs on Chinese imports.

The announcement triggered an estimate of $30 billion in forced position closures within 24 hours. Bitcoin crashed from above $121,000 to $106,000 during the cascade.

Record Volume Amid Market Chaos

Despite the leverage flush, perpetual DEX activity reached unprecedented levels. Last week, the largest weekly on-chain perpetual trading volume on record was registered at $264.5 billion, according to DefiLlama data.

The current week’s volume, spanning October 13 to 19, has already reached $142.5 billion as of October 19, representing 53.8% of the total from the previous week.

Given three remaining trading days, weekly volume appears poised to match recent patterns, where traders have packed perpetual DEXes.

The sustained activity challenged expectations that leverage traders WOULD retreat after such severe losses.

The October 10 event exceeded all previous crypto liquidation records. March 2020’s COVID crash liquidated $1.2 billion in positions, while November 2022’s FTX collapse triggered $1.6 billion in forced closures.

The tariff-driven crash liquidated nearly 20 times more capital than the COVID panic.

Open Interest Bounces Back Rapidly

Open interest recovered swiftly from the washout. After crashing from $25.9 billion to $14.5 billion between October 9 and 10, positions reached a local bottom of $13.7 billion on October 11.

Open interest climbed to $17 billion by October 13. Short-term volatility erased part of this recovery.

Macro headlines drove bitcoin below $111,000, triggering another liquidation cascade on long positions.

Platform distribution showed shifts in market share. Hyperliquid maintained the largest open interest at $7 billion.

Aster held $3.4 billion, Lighter registered $1.3 billion, and EdgeX still approaching $1 billion at $856 million.

Market Share Migration Signals Airdrop Activity

Hyperliquid lost dominance as trading patterns shifted. On October 12, Hyperliquid achieved a 32.13% market share. As of press time, this figure dropped to 26.4%.

Volume dominance migrated primarily to Lighter, which jumped from 18.6% to 22% during the period.

BSC registered considerable growth with $793 million in daily perpetual trading volume, its second-highest level in history. This granted BSC 2.4% market dominance.

Continued perpetual DEX interaction after the traumatic October 10 episode connected to airdrop farming strategies.

A CoinGecko report on October 16 highlighted the top upcoming airdrops, noting that farming tokenless perpetual DEXes boomed in late 2025.

Users noted the typically generous airdrop allocations by perpetual DEXes. This generosity stemmed from the extremely high profit margins these platforms generated.

Beyond Aster, speculative airdrop farm targets included Lighter and Pacifica. Volume dominance bleeding from Hyperliquid to upcoming exchanges without tokens, such as Lighter, reinforced this theory.

Traders appeared willing to accept liquidation risks to position for potential token distributions from newer platforms.

The pattern suggested that airdrop expectations, rather than pure trading conviction, partially explained the rapid return to leveraged positions.

This dynamic created sustained activity levels despite the recent surge in leverage, demonstrating market risks.

Analysts from Glassnode noted that violent liquidation events can serve a market purpose by flushing risky leverage and restoring a healthier balance.

The October event removed excess speculation while protocols like decentralized platforms managed massive liquidations without system failures.

The market is SAFE and sound, ready for another round. And so are users hunting for protocol rewards.