In the last 15 months, the map of DeFi liquidity has redrawn itself across chains, vanished from hype-driven outliers, and quietly concentrated where fundamentals mattered more than noise.

Key Insights

• DEX volume hit a record high of $380B in Jan 2025, then dropped 35% in two months, signaling a possible short-term top.
• The top 10 DEXs now account for nearly 80% of all activity; @Uniswap and @PancakeSwap alone represent ~40%.
• @Solana-native DEXs quietly took over the leaderboard, with 5 in the top 10 and growing share driven by meme-fueled volume.
• @HyperliquidX flipped the perps landscape, climbing from a newcomer to a dominant 60%+ share by March 2025.

All insights are based on publicly available data. Special thanks to @DefiLlama for the consistently high-quality stats.

A Cycle Defined by Surge and Slowdown

In early 2024, DEX volumes saw strong activity in March and May, before entering a slowdown through mid-year.

The tide turned sharply in Q4, November and December volumes surged, carrying into an explosive January 2025 peak at $380 billion.

But the rally was short-lived. By February, volume had dropped to $245 billion, a sharp 35% decline that marked the end of a three-month vertical run. This retreat set the tone for a more cautious Q2.

DEX Dominance: The Top Holds the Power

The DEX landscape remains highly concentrated. The top 10 protocols now represent 79.5% of daily volume, and the top 5 alone control 59.1%.

Uniswap and PancakeSwap account for ~40% of all DEX volume, the only two to cross the trillion-dollar mark in cumulative volume. Their dominance is built on first-mover advantage, multichain reach, and deep liquidity.

Uniswap Labs also launched @Unichain, a dedicated Ethereum L2 built on the @Optimism Superchain. It’s designed to deliver fast, low-cost transactions with native multichain interoperability,

Solana’s Quiet Takeover

What stands out is Solana’s growing presence. Five of the top 10 DEXs: @orca_so, @MeteoraAG, @RaydiumProtocol, @Lifinity_IO, and @pumpdotfun are Solana-native.

Orca (8.02%) and Meteora (6.70%) alone contribute around 15% of global DEX activity.

This rise is rooted in low fees, fast block times, and the sticky flow of Solana’s memecoin culture. Pump.fun’s surge into the top 10 is a clear reflection of that energy.

Emerging Protocols: Fluid and Aerodrome

@0xfluid (7.09%) is the most capital-efficient DEX in the top 5. Active on Ethereum, it clears over $10B monthly. Its @Arbitrum launch saw volume grow from $426M in Feb to $1.6B in Mar, showing fast adoption.

@AerodromeFi, native to @base, reflects growing liquidity on Base L2.

And while Hyperliquid doesn’t rank high in spot, it dominates perps — owning over 60% of that market.

DEX Market Share by Chain: Momentum Is Easy, Retention Is Rare

The last 15 months made one thing clear: most chains can capture attention, but few can hold onto it. From Jan 2024 to Mar 2025, chain-level DEX share shifted fast and only a handful sustained real traction.

Solana had the biggest breakout. It climbed steadily through 2024 and peaked at 45.8% in Jan 2025, driven by memecoin mania around $TRUMP and $MELANIA. But by March, it had dropped to 21.5%, cutting its share in half. Still, it averaged 25.1% the highest across all chains.

Ethereum moved in reverse. It started 2024 with ~32% share, dropped to 15.3% in Jan 2025, then rebounded to 26.4% by March — proving its staying power even after losing momentum.

Base was the most consistent climber. It grew from 3% in Mar 2024 to 12.4% by Dec, then settled at 7.4% in Mar 2025, with a steady 6.6% average across the period. No hype just slow, sticky growth.

BNB Chain held steady at 14.7% average share. It never spiked or collapsed — just consistent retail flow with no breakout moments.

Arbitrum started strong at 16%, but never took off. By Jan 2025, it had slipped to 4.8%, overtaken by both Base and Solana.

Blast peaked at 42.3% in June 2024, then disappeared the next month — a textbook case of incentive-driven volume with zero retention.

The takeaway: chain-level DEX dominance is volatile. Solana surged, Ethereum recovered, Base earned ground slowly, and hype cycles burned out fast. The chains that held on weren’t the loudest — they were the most used.

CEXs Still Dominate Spot Volume

Despite the DEX breakout in early 2025, centralized exchanges continue to dominate spot markets. Even at January’s DEX peak, CEXs retained nearly 80% of total volume.

While CEX dominance declined from 90% in early 2024 to 79% at its lowest, the broader pattern is clear: DEXs are growing, but CEXs remain the default venue for the majority of traders.

Perp Protocols Market Share

The onchain perps landscape flipped in 2024.

After more than two years of dYdX sitting at the top, Hyperliquid emerged and redefined what dominance looks like. It first took the lead in February, briefly lost it to @SynFuturesDefi mid-year, then reclaimed the top spot in August and never looked back. By March 2025, Hyperliquid held nearly 59% of total perps volume, solidifying itself as the go-to venue for serious traders.

This rise captured mindshare with a product that felt closer to a CEX than any DEX before it. In contrast, dYdX’s decline was swift. From 13.2% share in early 2024, it fell to just 2.7% by March 2025, as users migrated toward faster, cleaner, more modern alternatives.

@JupiterExchange Perps followed a different path, climbing to the second position with 8.8% share, powered by Solana-native liquidity and its spot DEX funnel. It scaled fast, but plateaued behind Hyperliquid. Others like SynFutures, @Vertex_Protocol, and @ParadexApp showed brief moments of traction.

Perp Chains: Execution Layers Were Rewritten in One Cycle

The biggest shift in perp infrastructure over the past year wasn’t which protocols users preferred, it was which chains they trusted to execute.

In January 2024, Ethereum and Arbitrum controlled the majority of perps volume, with a combined share of over 65%. But by March 2025, that had collapsed to just 11.8% — as newer, faster execution layers took over.

Leading the shift was Hyperliquid’s custom chain, which went from 13.6% to 58.9% share over the same period. In less than a year, it became the default perps execution environment, displacing L1s and L2s that once defined the category. It wasn’t just faster — it delivered the type of reliability and latency that professional traders require.

Solana had a strong run as well, rising to nearly 16% in late 2024, powered by Jupiter and Phoenix. But it eventually leveled off around 10–11%, unable to maintain breakout momentum. Base and ZKsync showed signs of life — peaking around 6–7% — but haven’t broken through to the top tier.

Meanwhile, Blast serves as a cautionary tale: a one-month wonder that reached 18.8% in June 2024, only to disappear just as quickly. In a space driven by product quality and user retention, hype didn’t hold. The new execution stack is clear — performance-first chains have reset the standard, and legacy infrastructure is no longer the default.

The future of DeFi won’t be about the most chains, it will belong to the ones that convert narratives into habits.

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