Onchain Perpetuals Surpass $1T Monthly Volume as Crypto Traders Seek Leverage

Crypto derivatives trading experienced a significant surge in 2025, with traders increasingly turning to onchain perpetual futures. This shift propelled monthly trading volumes beyond the $1 trillion threshold, as highlighted by analysis from Coinbase researcher David Duong.

Key Takeaways:

Onchain perpetual futures exceeded $1 trillion in monthly trading volume as traders sought leverage in 2025.
Decentralized platforms gained momentum at the expense of centralized trading venues.
Equity perpetuals might be the next area of growth for onchain derivatives.

By the end of 2025, decentralized exchanges were facilitating more than $1 trillion in monthly perpetual futures volume, approaching levels seen in some centralized exchanges. Duong noted in a post on X that this trend was partly influenced by the lack of a traditional altcoin season.

Onchain Perpetuals Surpass $1T Monthly Volume as Crypto Traders Seek Leverage

Why Crypto Traders Are Choosing Perpetual Futures

With spot markets offering fewer substantial profit opportunities, traders began to pursue leverage through perpetual futures to amplify their returns.

Perpetual futures, or "perps," allow traders to have leveraged exposure to price fluctuations without a specified expiration date. Duong observed that the “unprecedented degree of leverage” offered by these instruments makes them particularly appealing, enabling traders to manage substantial positions with relatively small amounts of capital.

This growth trend is primarily led by decentralized trading platforms rather than traditional centralized exchanges.

Platforms like Aster and Hyperliquid have become key players in this market, highlighting a shift towards self-custodial derivatives trading. Duong suggests that this evolution points to increasing confidence in onchain infrastructure, alongside enhancements in execution, liquidity, and user experience.

Looking ahead, Duong predicts that equity perpetual futures could become the next significant growth opportunity.

Tokenized stock derivatives may merge crypto's continuous trading environment and leverage features with the rising demand for major U.S. equity exposure outside traditional market hours. Such instruments would broaden the scope of perpetual futures beyond cryptocurrency assets and enhance their integration into decentralized finance (DeFi).

Duong remarked, “We believe perpetual futures are evolving from isolated, high-leverage trading options into fundamental, composable components within DeFi markets.”

Rising Competition Among Onchain Perpetual Futures Platforms

As the volume of onchain perpetual futures continues to grow, competition among trading platforms is heating up.

Hyperliquid, which launched its perpetual trading platform in late 2023, gained significant traction in 2025 after introducing spot trading features. According to data from DeFiLlama, the exchange reported roughly $319 billion in trades during July, achieving a record high for the month.

Other competitors have also seen rapid advancements. After its token launch in September, Aster briefly led the decentralized perpetual rankings with nearly $36 billion in 24-hour trading volume, capturing over half of the total activity within decentralized exchanges at that time.

In November, Lighter secured $68 million following the launch of its public mainnet, bringing in fresh capital to an increasingly competitive market.

In just the last 30 days, onchain perpetual futures generated approximately $972 billion in trading volume, positioning Lighter, Aster, and Hyperliquid as the top trading venues.