What major moves have mainstream Perp DEXs been making recently?

Although the entire crypto market seems to have returned to a "bear market," enthusiasm for new sectors has not diminished much.

Especially in the derivatives sector, Perp DEX, many traders and community users are focusing more on high-frequency, structured, and points-based perpetual markets. This is also why unissued Perp DEXs can still achieve impressive data in a sluggish environment.

This momentum is expected to see a concentrated outbreak in December: two top unissued Perp DEXs are about to TGE. Can they recreate the frenzy seen when Aster launched, or even replicate that wave of phenomenal market performance? Many users, including myself, are very much looking forward to it.

Odaily BlockBeats has compiled a list of the top-ranked and most-discussed Perp DEXs by trading volume, summarizing their key events and developments over the past two to three weeks to help everyone deepen their understanding of the Perp DEX sector.

edgeX: The Seal Meme Arrives

1. Community Memecoin Seal $MARU is Here

The most viral event for edgeX is undoubtedly the launch of the community memecoin $MARU. This token, modeled after the edgeX seal mascot, attracted a lot of attention as soon as it was announced.

Total supply is 10 billion, expected to launch after Open Season ends, i.e., after December 3 (UTC+8). Of the total allocation, 70% goes directly to airdrops and ecosystem incentives, 20% is for the liquidity pool (unlocked at launch for easy trading), and the remaining 10% is reserved for core contributors (fully locked for long-term incentives).

How to get $MARU? There are two main channels:

First is Open Season points, which is the main channel. These points will be converted to $MARU airdrops after December 3 (UTC+8). Note: The platform has a minimum trading volume requirement, and wash trading will be identified and excluded. The weighting for earning points is as follows:

Perpetual contract trading: 60% weight, the main source of points;

Referral rewards: 20% weight;

TVL/Liquidity provision: 10% weight;

Position size/Liquidation: 10% weight;

The second is creator activities, which can be simply understood as Kaito's model of earning rewards by creating content. There are many forms: tweets, videos, memes, etc. Tag @edgeX_exchange, and after official screening, original high-quality content (AI-generated content does not count; supports English, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese) will have a chance to share a prize pool of 500,000 USDT + 20 million MARU.

Currently, some users have already seen temporary rewards on the dashboard (e.g., 21,370 MARU + 464 USDT). USDT can be claimed first, and MARU will be distributed after the official launch.

2. edgeX Messenger Upgrade

Related to the previous point is the edgeX Messenger upgrade. Announced on November 13 (UTC+8), this plan aims to upgrade edgeX Messenger from a simple communication tool to a global DeFi collaboration hub.

Core direction: provide a collaboration platform for traders and influencers; deeply integrate with the $MARU incentive mechanism. In short, the goal is to create a platform that combines trader community, content creation, and incentive mechanisms.

3. edgeXFlow Ecosystem Launch

On November 19 (UTC+8), edgeX launched another major initiative: the edgeXFlow ecosystem.

Simply put, edgeXFlow is a new modular execution layer that operates in parallel with the existing StarkEx. Technical specs: execution latency: <10ms; order processing capacity: 200,000 transactions/second; ZK proofs ensure transparency, etc.

The first partner is Ave.ai, and the two jointly launched the XPIN trading event (November 19-26) (UTC+8). The design of this event is quite interesting—not just a traditional PnL competition, but a hybrid incentive model: airdrop rewards based on trading volume tiers; a leaderboard with 200 spots (expanding the number of winners); and a 1.1x edgeX points bonus.

edgeX has big ambitions, aiming to onboard 30 ecosystem partners by Q2 2026. It seems they intend to promote this infrastructure as a modular execution layer industry standard.

4. Points Countdown

Open Season has entered the countdown phase! It is currently in weeks 20-24, with an estimated 2-4 weeks left. In recent weeks, 300,000 points have been distributed weekly, covering 13,000-14,000 addresses.

According to calculations by community KOLs, based on edgeX revenue being about 16% of Hyperliquid's, if the FDV at TGE reaches around 2-7 billions USD, the value per point may be in the $30-$300 range. Of course, this is just an estimate; the actual value will depend on market conditions. Currently, the probability of edgeX's FDV on launch day on Polymarket is as follows:

5. Strategic Partnership with Polymarket

This is also quite a significant announcement. Yesterday, edgeX announced a strategic partnership with Polymarket: Polymarket's prediction scenarios will be seamlessly integrated into the edgeX mobile app; users can participate in event predictions with one click; both parties will jointly develop innovative leveraged prediction products.

Since this was announced just yesterday, there are no more details yet, but we can keep an eye on future developments. It is expected that future co-developed products may become key projects in the edgeXFlow ecosystem.

Lighter: Raised $68 Million, Valued at $1.5 Billion

1. Major Fundraising

On November 11 (UTC+8), Lighter announced the completion of a $68 million funding round, instantly becoming a DeFi unicorn. The lineup for this round is quite impressive:

Funding details:

Amount: $68 million (equity + token subscription rights)

Valuation: $1.5 billion (post-money)

Lead investors: Founders Fund (Peter Thiel), Ribbit Capital

Participants: Haun Ventures, Robinhood (rare for a brokerage VC to participate)

Total funding: about $90 million (previously raised $21 million in 2024, led by Haun/Craft)

There are several highlights in this round:

First, the investor lineup is top-notch. Founders Fund is one of Silicon Valley's top VCs, and Robinhood, as a brokerage, personally investing in a perp DEX is rare in the industry, indicating that traditional finance is increasingly recognizing decentralized derivatives.

Second, the founder's background is hardcore. Novakovski is a legendary figure—entered Harvard at 16, graduated at 18, personally recruited by Citadel founder Ken Griffin, and later worked as an engineer and trader at several financial institutions for nearly 15 years. Founders Fund partner Joey Krug bluntly stated that 85%-90% of the investment decision was due to founder Vladimir Novakovski and his team.

2. The Only Perp DEX with Daily Trading Volume Exceeding $10 Billion

Recently, Lighter's growth data has been explosive.

24-hour trading volume: about $7.9-11.2 billion (fluctuates depending on the time, and once became the only perp DEX to break $10 billion);

TVL: about $1.15 billion (20,000x growth in 6 months! From about $500,000 at the end of March);

Open interest: over $17 billion;

L2 ranking: Already among the top in Ethereum L2 protocols, considered the first native perp DEX on Ethereum;

However, some analysts have pointed out concerns: Lighter's trading volume/open interest ratio once reached 27 (industry healthy value is usually ≤5), suggesting that some trading volume may be driven by points incentives and wash trading. Trading volume before TGE often contains wash trading, which is also an industry feature. We may soon know Lighter's real trading volume after TGE. But considering the platform just graduated from beta, its overall performance is still very impressive.

3. Oracle Integration + RWA Expansion, Targeting Traditional Financial Assets

Lighter recently announced a partnership with Chainlink to integrate real-time oracle data, officially expanding into the real-world asset (RWA) derivatives sector.

Supported asset classes include: commodity futures contracts (gold, crude oil, etc.); stock index derivatives; forex trading pairs; other real-world assets.

Additionally, since RWA price sources are not available 24/7 (e.g., gold and stocks only have prices during trading hours), Lighter has made some special arrangements: during non-trading hours, only "reduce-only" mode is available, users can only submit reduce-only orders; funding rates continue to be calculated during non-trading hours; RWA markets only support isolated margin mode (considering experimental and volatile nature); a dedicated XLP (experimental liquidity provider) pool provides liquidity for RWA markets, isolated from the main LLP pool.

Hyperliquid: The Joys and Sorrows of a King

1. HIP-3 Upgrade, Fees Drop by 90%

On November 19 (UTC+8), Hyperliquid released a major upgrade: HIP-3 Growth Mode.

HIP-3 itself allows anyone to deploy their own perpetual contract market on Hyperliquid without permission by staking 500,000 HYPE tokens. The new "Growth Mode" is an optimization on top of HIP-3—specifically providing ultra-low fee incentives for new markets.

Core changes: Taker fees drop by more than 90%, from the original 0.045% to 0.0045%-0.009%; high-staking users get even better rates, with the lowest possible fee as low as 0.00144%-0.00288% if they reach the highest staking and trading volume levels; rebates and trading volume contributions can also be reduced by more than 90%, etc.

However, to prevent "parasitic trading volume," growth mode markets have some exclusion rules: they cannot include BTC or existing validator-operated markets, crypto baskets/ETFs, synthetic price indices, or any assets that duplicate existing markets (e.g., gold already has PAXG-USDC).

The purpose of this upgrade is clear: to lower the threshold for launching new markets. New markets often have few traders and thin liquidity at the beginning; a 90% fee discount can effectively attract early users and further help Hyperliquid transition from "a Perp DEX" to "a permissionless financial infrastructure layer."

2. Another Whale "Meets the Same Fate"

Celebrity trader Andrew Tate recently lost all his funds on Hyperliquid, jokingly referred to as "Hyperliquidated."

According to Arkham on-chain data, Andrew Tate's liquidation can be traced back to nearly a year ago. On December 19, 2024 (UTC+8), there was a collective liquidation of long positions in BTC, ETH, SOL, LINK, HYPE, PENGU, etc.

On November 18 (UTC+8), when BTC fell below $90,000, Andrew Tate's last positions were fully liquidated, and his account was wiped out. This instantly became meme material, as he often claims to be a financial guru.

Some analysts have directly listed him as "one of the worst traders in crypto history," alongside other big losers on Hyperliquid (James Wynn lost $23 million, Qwatio lost $25.8 million, 0xa523 lost $43.4 million in a month).

3. POPCAT Manipulation Attack

On November 12 (UTC+8), Hyperliquid suffered its second major attack this year, the previous one being XPL, and this time the target was the memecoin POPCAT.

The attacker withdrew 3 million USDC from OKX, distributed it to 19-26 new wallets, and opened about $20-30 million in leveraged POPCAT longs (about 5x leverage) on Hyperliquid. Then, they placed a $20 million buy wall at $0.21, creating the illusion of strong demand. Other traders saw the buy wall, thought there was support, and followed suit to go long. The attacker suddenly removed the buy wall, and POPCAT's price plummeted from $0.21 to $0.13.

Ultimately, a large number of leveraged longs were liquidated, with at least 26 liquidated accounts totaling $25.5 million in positions and $2.98 million in margin losses. The HLP vault had to absorb $4.9 million in bad debt. The strange thing about this attack is that the attacker themselves also lost $3 million, so it doesn't seem to have been for profit.

The community has two main theories: one is that the attack was purely a "stress test" to damage Hyperliquid's reputation, with Binance/CZ as the main suspect. The other is that the attacker hedged on a centralized exchange, so they made money overall; some on-chain analysis points to BTX Capital, but founder Vanessa Cao has denied involvement.

Aster: Giving Away Money While Buying Back

1. Fourth Phase "Aster Harvest" Airdrop of 120 Million ASTER

On November 10 (UTC+8), Aster officially launched the fourth phase airdrop, codenamed Harvest. The allocation is 120 million ASTER (1.5% of total supply), lasting 6 weeks (November 10 - December 21) (UTC+8), distributed at 0.25% per week, evenly across 6 epochs.

Compared to previous phases (S2 distributed 4%, S3 distributed 2.5%), S4's allocation is indeed reduced. However, community analysis suggests that since there may be fewer participants, individual user rewards may actually be higher, and the halving of inflation may push up token prices.

Tips for earning more points in this phase: $ASTER can be used as collateral for perpetual contracts, and using $ASTER as contract collateral earns extra points; paying fees with $ASTER gets a 5% discount; spot trading now also qualifies for points; and anti-wash trading measures are in place—Aster now emphasizes quality trading, with maker order and symbol accelerator multipliers to filter out wash trading.

2. $10 Million Trading Competition: "Double Dipping"

On November 17 (UTC+8), Aster launched its largest trading competition ever: a total prize pool of $10 million.

The competition is divided into 5 weekly phases (lasting until December 21) (UTC+8), each with its own leaderboard. The first phase prize pool is $1 million, with up to $2 million per week; each phase has 1,000 winning spots; only perpetual contract trading is eligible, ranked by trading volume and PnL.

The biggest highlight of this competition is "double dipping," meaning the same trade counts for both the competition and the S4 airdrop. For example, a top trader can earn up to $300,000 in a single week, and if they top the leaderboard for 5 consecutive weeks, they could theoretically win $1.5 million.

3. Ongoing Protocol Buybacks

Aster's buyback efforts are among the most aggressive in the perp DEX sector. As of November 13 (UTC+8), the cumulative buyback amount is about $214 million; the number of repurchased tokens accounts for 7.11% of circulating supply.

Recently, CZ called for buying over $2 million worth of ASTER, triggering speculative demand; meanwhile, market makers like Wintermute are quietly accumulating, so some analysts predict ASTER could rise to $10.

However, some in the community are concerned: about 6.35 billion ASTER tokens are still locked, and future unlocks may create selling pressure. About $700 million worth of tokens are expected to be unlocked before 2026. Recent changes in unlock schedules have also caused some panic. But the official stance is that unlock times will not be changed.

4. "Machi Mode" Feature

This may be the most meme-worthy new feature launched by Aster. On November 19 (UTC+8), Aster announced the launch of "Machi Mode," where liquidated users can receive points rewards—essentially a "consolation prize" for losing traders.

Why is it called Machi Mode? It's a playful nod to well-known trader Jeffrey Huang, aka "Machi Big Brother."

According to Lookonchain data, since November 1 (UTC+8), the three biggest whales with the most liquidations on Hyperliquid are: Machi Big Brother—71 liquidations; James Wynn—26 liquidations; Andrew Tate—19 liquidations.

Machi is far ahead, truly the unlucky "King of Liquidations." He once lost over $53 million in a single month, and is known for his ultra-high leverage and aggressive positions. Aster naming this feature after him is, in a way, embracing the degen culture of the crypto community.

Others

Additionally, let me introduce two other unissued Perp DEXs that I personally follow and their recent developments.

1. Pacifica

On November 12 (UTC+8), Pacifica announced the launch of the TIF=TOB (Time in Force = Top of Book) order type.

Simply put, when you submit a post-only limit order and the price is set too aggressively (crossing the order book and executing immediately), the traditional approach is to cancel the order. But TIF=TOB doesn't cancel it; instead, it automatically adjusts your order to the top of the order book.

For example, suppose the current best bid for BTC is $100,000 and the best ask is $100,100. If you submit a TOB buy order at $100,200 (which would cross the ask), the system will automatically adjust your order to $100,099—just below the best ask, making it the new top of the book. This is a great feature for market makers.

Currently, Pacifica has become one of the most important projects on the Solana chain.

2. Variational

Another is Variational, a Perp DEX that has played a significant role in the Arbitrum DeFi revival strategy.

Features: The automatic listing engine eliminates coordination delays through internal OLP market making, currently supporting 515+ tokens, making it the perp DEX with the most listings; the protocol does its own market making, with hedging costs of only 0-2 basis points, users pay a 4-6 basis point spread, and at certain times, annualized returns exceeded 300%. Loss compensation: currently, over $2 million in refunds have been issued, covering 70,000+ trades and benefiting 6,500+ users, with the highest single refund exceeding $100,000, accounting for about 2% of total platform losses.

On November 15 (UTC+8), over $1 million in retrospective rewards were distributed; on November 17 (UTC+8), a retail sentiment index tool was launched, showing that 89% of trading volume comes from the long-tail market. Overall data growth is very fast, and although points competitions are not yet open, there may be trading volume retrospectives in the future.