Perp DEX Weekly Snapshot: Market Resilience and Protocol Competition Heating Up

I. Market Dynamics and Major Position Shifts

Whale Positioning Adjustments Amid Market Volatility

Recent on-chain activity reveals interesting contrasts in how major traders are navigating current market conditions. While some whales are strategically reducing their exposure in certain positions, others are doubling down despite facing significant paper losses.

ETH Short Liquidation Pressure Building: One significant whale (address 0x7fdaf) has been actively trimming ETH short holdings over the past 6 hours, offloading approximately $1.66 million and $7.79 million in separate transactions. This trader is currently sitting on roughly $5.27 million in unrealized losses, with liquidation risk at $7,304 ETH.

BTC Contrarian Play: In a counterintuitive move, another major trader (address 0x5d2f4) continues adding to BTC short positions despite carrying $9.02 million in paper losses. The position has grown by $850,000 recently, with liquidation pressure mounting at $127,873.

Long Position Rebalancing: Meanwhile, address 0x5648A has been reducing ETH long exposure, selling approximately 830 coins ($3.95 million equivalent), though this trader faces only modest losses of $44,600 with a liquidation floor at $4,091.

II. Performance Snapshot Across Leading Protocols

Hyperliquid: Breaking Records on Multiple Fronts

Token Momentum and Buyback Surge: HYPE continues to establish fresh price highs, demonstrating relative stability compared to BTC ($87.35K, -0.78% 24H) and ETH ($2.92K, -0.99% 24H). The protocol’s aggressive repurchase strategy signals confidence—over 168,000 HYPE tokens were bought back in the past 24 hours at an average of $46.02, representing a new historical record totaling approximately $7.72 million.

Provider Economics at Peak Efficiency: The Hyperliquid Liquidity Provider (HLP) ecosystem now boasts over $430 million in total value locked and maintains an impressive 16% APR. Yesterday alone, HLP generated more than $600,000 in returns within just 15 minutes. Total protocol fees and revenue hit historic highs at $7.48 million and $6.96 million respectively, underlining Hyperliquid’s dominance in derivative trading volume across public chains.

edgeX: Revenue Leader and Emerging Benchmark

Trading Activity Milestones: edgeX surpassed the $2 billion mark in 24-hour trading volume, solidifying its position as a major liquidity hub for perpetual contracts.

LP Economics Outpacing Competitors: The edgeX Liquidity Provider (eLP) program currently manages approximately $150 million in deposits and offers an impressive 34% APR over the past month. Protocol revenue exceeded $750,000 in 24 hours, maintaining its rank as the top revenue-generating Perp DEX.

Lighter: Rising in the Liquidity Provider Rankings

Derivative Product Expansion: Lighter recently launched 5x leverage products across four tokens: GMX ($8.59), DYDX ($0.17), MNT ($1.05), and ETHFI ($0.70), broadening its offering in the square lighter category of perpetual trading.

LLP Program Performance: The Lighter Liquidity Provider (LLP) has accumulated over $880 million in total value locked with an impressive ~80% APR. On August 15 alone, LLP delivered a 2.5% return rate, demonstrating strong capital efficiency.

Other Notable Platforms

Drift’s Yield Strategy: Drift offers syrupUSDC deposits yielding 30% APY, providing an alternative income opportunity within the Solana ecosystem.

Pacifica’s Fresh Momentum: Founded by FTX COO Constance Wan with team members including NFTperp creator Jose (@The0xJose), Pacifica represents Solana’s newest addition to the Perp DEX landscape. Despite being self-funded with no external capital, the platform has already attracted over 1,000 users and processes daily trading volumes exceeding $50 million.

III. Comparative Market Analysis

Volume Expansion Across the Sector

Seven-day average trading volumes have surged significantly for most leading Perp DEXs. Hyperliquid, Jupiter, and Orderly registered the most substantial gains, signaling healthy ecosystem growth and capital inflow.

Open Interest Trajectory

OI levels across major protocols reflect market confidence and positioning depth, with protocols showing resilience despite broader market headwinds.

Revenue Distribution and Protocol Economics

The competitive landscape reveals clear differentiation in monetization models:

Current Leaders: edgeX continues commanding the revenue chart with $750,000+ in 24-hour earnings. Hyperliquid has surged to second place after accumulating $7+ million in revenue yesterday, surpassing Circle and demonstrating exceptional fee generation capability. This revenue explosion underscores the protocol’s growing market share and user engagement in the perpetual derivatives space.

The sustained revenue growth across top-tier protocols indicates that despite market volatility, derivative trading demand remains robust and competitive dynamics are driving innovation in protocol design, capital efficiency, and user incentives.