Crypto traders are increasingly moving leveraged trading activity onto decentralized exchanges, according to a new report from CoinGecko. This signals a broader shift in how derivatives liquidity is forming across the digital asset market.
The report found that perpetual DEXs captured a growing share of both trading volume and open interest throughout 2025. It was driven largely by the rapid rise of Hyperliquid and a wave of newer on-chain trading platforms.
CoinGecko’s data showed the perp DEX-to-CEX trading volume ratio climbed from just 3% in January 2025 to a peak of 13% later in the year before cooling to around 10% by April 2026.
That still marks a major increase compared to previous market cycles, when centralized exchanges overwhelmingly dominated crypto derivatives trading.
Hyperliquid emerges as a major liquidity venue
Much of the growth came from Hyperliquid, which the report identified as the dominant player among perpetual DEXs.
CoinGecko reported that Hyperliquid processed roughly $190.28bn in trading volume in April alone. The figure places it alongside some of the industry’s largest centralized derivatives exchanges.
At the same time, decentralized exchanges have continued to gain share of open interest. This metric is often viewed as more structurally important than trading volume because it reflects where traders are maintaining active leveraged positions.
According to the report, perpetual DEXs now account for around 13.5% of total market open interest.
The findings suggest traders are becoming increasingly comfortable keeping leveraged exposure on-chain rather than relying entirely on centralized trading venues.
Centralized exchanges are responding aggressively
The report also showed that centralized exchanges are rapidly expanding their listings of perpetual contracts amid intensifying competition.
MEXC and BingX listed the most new perpetual contracts between January 2025 and April 2026, with 879 and 565 listings, respectively, according to CoinGecko.
Many of the new listings focused on memecoins, AI-related tokens, and smaller-cap crypto assets.
That trend points to perpetual futures becoming one of the crypto industry’s primary battlegrounds for attracting speculative trading activity.
Still, centralized exchanges continue to control the overwhelming majority of derivatives liquidity overall. CoinGecko noted that CEXs still accounted for roughly 90% of perpetual trading volume as of April 2026.
Liquidity is fragmenting across crypto markets
The report suggests crypto’s derivatives market is not fully decentralizing, but instead fragmenting into a broader mix of centralized and crypto-native trading venues.
Newer perpetual DEXs such as Pacifica, Extended, and Variational were also identified as emerging competitors, with CoinGecko attributing some of their growth to incentive programs and rising speculation around potential airdrops.
That shift could reshape how liquidity, leverage, and speculative trading activity move through crypto markets over the coming years.
Final Summary
- CoinGecko’s latest report shows perpetual DEXs gaining market share in both trading volume and open interest, led largely by Hyperliquid.
- Centralized exchanges remain dominant overall, but competition for derivatives liquidity is increasingly shifting toward on-chain trading platforms.
