Perpetuals decentralised exchanges ended 2025 with cumulative trading volume of about $12.09 trillion, up from roughly $4.1 trillion at the start of the year.
Data from DefiLlama showed around $7.9 trillion of that lifetime total arrived in 2025 alone.
The figures suggest about 65% of all perp DEX trading volume took place in a single calendar year.
Market watchers said the concentration underlined how fast onchain derivatives scaled as traders pushed more leverage on-chain.
December recorded roughly $1 trillion in perp DEX volume, capping a late-year surge.
Monthly volumes first touched $1 trillion in October, before repeating the mark through the end of the year.
The second-half rally drove most of the year’s growth rather than a steady climb across all quarters.
DefiLlama data put first-half 2025 volume near $2.1 trillion, while the second half reached about $5.74 trillion.
The second half therefore accounted for roughly 73% of 2025’s total perp DEX volume.
Trading stayed relatively stable in early 2025, pointing to a baseline level of onchain derivatives use rather than a breakout.
Momentum shifted mid-year as activity rose in the third quarter and then jumped again in the fourth quarter.
Fourth-quarter volume alone exceeded the total volume recorded across the first half of 2025.
Analysts said deeper liquidity and better execution helped perp DEXs move from “backup venues” to primary venues for leveraged trades.
Hyperliquid led for most of the year, especially in the first six months when monthly volumes ranged from about $175 billion to $248 billion.
Rivals such as Aster and Lighter stayed much smaller early on, with Aster posting single-digit billions and Lighter only scaling after the first quarter.
The competitive picture began changing from June as both challengers grew faster than Hyperliquid.
Lighter moved from under $50 billion in monthly volume to consistently above $100 billion by the third quarter.
Aster delivered the sharpest late-year push, with volumes jumping to about $259 billion in both October and November.
By year-end, the data pointed to a shift away from a single-leader market and towards a more competitive, multi-venue perp DEX ecosystem.