Hyperliquid recently surpassed the trade volume of perpetuals exchange dYdX, reaching $1.5 trillion

Despite being a much newer platform, Hyperliquid's token buybacks and lack of cash incentives have provided long-term stability.

Hyperliquid, a high-performance L1 trading blockchain, has been enjoying many successes recently. Earlier this month, it captured more than 60% of the perpetuals trading market, and its HYPE token hit a 3-month high shortly afterward.

Yesterday, analysts noticed that Hyperliquid’s all-time trading volume surpassed dYdX, and it reached $1.5 trillion today.

Hyperliquid's all-time volume is nearing $1.5t and surpassing what dYdX achieved in four years

Hyperliquid

dYdX is a decentralized perpetuals exchange that has been active for five years, whereas Hyperliquid’s platform only launched in 2023.

Nonetheless, the younger protocol has overtaken it. After launching its native token in 2021, dYdX began employing it to reimburse users’ trading fees, boosting its volumes. It then built community hype around an informal “trading contest” with competitors.

Hyperliquid, on the other hand, did not rely on dYdX’s incentive strategy. After its own TGE last year, it managed to accumulate huge volumes through functionality, word-of-mouth, and product quality.

2024 was a peak year for crypto perpetuals trading, and the HYPE TGE took advantage of the moment. This has apparently proved to be a more durable approach.

Additionally, Hyperliquid directs the vast majority of its trading fees to token buybacks, which dYdX only instituted months later, and to a lesser degree.

This helped the firm repurchase 17% of the total circulating HYPE tokens, providing several key advantages. Over the last month, HYPE’s market cap has been steadily rising towards $10 billion:

Despite its strong rise, Hyperliquid has also seen several major controversies. For example, it denied claims of a Lazarus Group security breach despite clear on-chain evidence last year.

In March, it unleashed a major scandal when it delisted JELLYJELLY in response to a short squeeze. This led to accusations of market manipulation and substantial losses.

dYdX hasn't suffered a public debacle like that in many months, but Hyperliquid did act quickly to rebuild its reputation. So far, this seems to have worked.

Earlier today, Hyperliquid also reached a new all-time high in open interest, surpassing $8 billion. If it can maintain this momentum, the exchange can build a commanding lead over DeFi's perpetuals market.