A year ago, on-chain perpetual futures were a rounding error in the derivatives market. Now they’re a line item that centralized exchanges can no longer ignore.
The share of perpetual futures volume handled by decentralized exchanges climbed from roughly 2.5% to 7.8% of total perpetual futures volume over the course of 2025, according to analysis from a16z drawing on CoinGecko’s annual report. In absolute terms, DEX perpetual trading hit $6.7 trillion for the year, a 346% jump from 2024.
The numbers behind the shift
Centralized exchanges still dominate by a wide margin. CEX perpetual futures volume reached $86.2 trillion in 2025, itself a healthy 47% increase year-on-year. But the growth rates tell a very different story about momentum.
The 7.8% market share figure measures DEX perpetual volume as a proportion of CEX perpetual volume. It’s a metric that matters because perpetual futures, contracts with no expiration date that let traders hold leveraged positions indefinitely, are the single most-traded instrument in crypto.
