According to the latest on-chain data, the market landscape of decentralized perpetual contract exchanges (Perp DEX) has become relatively clear. In terms of 24-hour trading volume, Aster takes the lead with $121.2 billion, Lighter ranks second with $86.16 billion, Hyperliquid ranks third with $59.58 billion, while edgeX and ApeX Protocol hold the fourth and fifth positions with $50.6 billion and $21.22 billion, respectively.

The total trading volume of these five platforms exceeds $338 billion, establishing absolute dominance in the entire Perp DEX field.

For investors and traders who want to delve deeper into the Perp DEX field, focusing on the dynamics of these five major platforms can grasp the overall direction of the field. Therefore, this article from BlockBeats elaborates in detail on the recent significant developments, product updates, and community activities of these 5 platforms to help readers fully understand the latest dynamics of the current decentralized derivative trading market.

Lighter

1. Alleged Insider Reveals Lighter's Funding Amount as $1.5B.

Recently, an individual who accurately predicted Coinbase's acquisition of Echo and Kalshi's $12 billion valuation hinted in a similar riddle-like manner that Lighter's funding amount reached $1.5 billion. This news has sparked widespread community attention, and although it has not been officially confirmed, the individual's previous accurate predictions have added credibility to this rumor.

From a market performance perspective, prediction data on Polymarket demonstrates investors' high enthusiasm for Lighter: 88% probability believes its first-day fully diluted valuation (FDV) will exceed $20 billion, and 55% probability believes it will exceed $40 billion. Meanwhile, the off-exchange OTC market price has remained stable at around $80.

2. Lighter CEO Hints at Lighter Airdrop Nodes on Major Holidays

The latest hint from Lighter's CEO on Twitter has provided the community with a clearer expectation of the airdrop timeline. He clearly stated that the second-quarter point plan will end before the end of the year, but not on December 31, and cryptically mentioned that "the holidays will be lit this year."

Combining this information, the community generally speculates that the airdrop is most likely to take place during the most important Western holiday — Christmas.

Polymarket's data further confirms this expectation, showing that the probability of Lighter completing the airdrop by December 31 is as high as 90%. This means that participants may receive the long-awaited token reward before the end of the year.

3. Lighter Season 2 Rules Adjustment

This month, Lighter announced adjustments to the point distribution rules for the second season compared to the first season. 200,000 points will be distributed every Friday, covering trading activities from Wednesday to the following Tuesday. The distribution mechanism is more diversified, taking into account multiple dimensions such as trading volume, holding amount, treasury limit, liquidation and leverage multiples, P&L, and trading categories.

It is worth noting that points and trading metrics do not have a simple linear relationship. For example, twice the trading volume may generate three times or 1.5 times the points. This non-linear design aims to encourage more diversified trading behaviors. The platform has implemented a witch detection system that combines full automation and semi-automation. Each user can have up to 10 accounts without penalty, and any excess will face sanctions.

For more details, please refer to the official documentation.

4. Tokenomics and Product Roadmap

Two weeks ago, the founder of Lighter conducted a Russian AMA, revealing some key information:

Lighter plans to allocate 25-30% of the tokens for the first and second season's point airdrops, with the total community allocation reaching 50%. The remaining portion will be used for future airdrops, partner programs, and project funding.

On the product side, the spot trading feature is expected to launch by the end of October or early November, with the initial listing of core assets such as ETH, BTC, and then adding selected meme coins and partner projects.

Roadmap for the Next 6-12 Months: Implement cross-margin functionality by the end of the year, allowing the use of spot as collateral for perpetual contracts; launch EVM "sidecar" smart contract extension early next year; RWA derivatives (precious metals and crypto-related stocks) planned to go live by the end of the year; options and dark pool functionality set to be released next year and by the end of next year, respectively.

5. Arbitrage Opportunities

Community user Your Quant Guy shared an arbitrage alpha strategy about Lighter in a tweet, with an annualized return of approximately 51.5%.

6. Data Performance

According to a community-built dashboard website and lighterlytics data, Lighter's data growth is shown. Lighter currently has a TVL of 1.15B, with a three-month growth rate of 481%.

The platform's 24-hour revenue has reached $598k, indicating high trading activity on the platform. Liquidity providers dominate, with Premium Maker holding an 81.9% market share and Premium Taker at 11.6%.

The top ten traders on Lighter primarily focus on trading ETH and HYPE. The top-ranked trader has a predominant ETH short position, with a total position value of $25.52M, realized profits of $3.21M, 83 trades executed, and holds 20 positions.

Aster

1. Phase Three Airdrop Plan

On October 6, Aster smoothly transitioned to the Phase Three reward plan "Aster Dawn," which will last for 5 weeks until November 9. This plan introduces an innovative multi-dimensional Rh point scoring system, considering factors such as trading volume, holding period, ASTER ecosystem assets (such as asBNB, USDF), realized gains and losses, and team referral contributions.

The highlights of the Dawn plan include: 4% of the total ASTER supply dedicated to the Phase Three airdrop; spot trading included in the point system for the first time, no longer limited to perpetual contracts; specific trading pairs (such as AT, AT, AT, ON, etc.) enjoy a 1.2x point bonus; the team referral standard fee is 10%, and large holders can apply for a higher level. Scores are recalculated weekly to ensure fairness, but the specific formula is kept confidential to prevent wash trading.

The Phase Two rewards were available for query starting on October 10, withdrawals began on October 14, with no lock-up restrictions.

2. Launch of Buyback

In October, Aster officially launched the Phase Three (S3) token buyback plan. After the buyback is completed, the repurchased tokens will be transferred to the same address as the S2 buyback, followed by the commencement of the S3 airdrop distribution.

Based on an estimated daily platform fee of $15 million, the market expects the total buyback amount to exceed $200 million. Several community members and analysts believe that if this buyback plan continues to be executed, it may drive the ASTER price to the $10 target.

Analysis on Buyback, KOL Meme-loving Mike shared some additional insights and details: Aster's current valuation shows a significant discount; all KOL round chips have either been bought back OTC at the current price or have all been unlocked, with highly concentrated chips; Binance's internal exposure to Aster has no limit. These factors together form the bullish logic.

3. Mobile End and AI Trading Event

The Aster App has officially landed on the iOS App Store and Google Play Store, allowing users to trade anytime, anywhere, marking a significant milestone for the platform in user experience.

More notably, the launch of the "Aster Vibe Trading Arena." This event is aimed at the world's top AI traders and developers, with a total prize pool of $50,000 ASTER tokens. Participants need to build an automated AI system "Vibe Trader" that can trade live through the Aster API. The winning team will also have the opportunity to establish a long-term partnership with Aster.

The competition timeline is as follows: submissions accepted from October 21 to November 3, with the final winners announced no later than November 21. The judging process includes Aster's initial screening, community voting, and the final decision of the core team.

Inspired by nof1 (@the_nof1), the MoneySharks project has launched a perpetual contract trading competition on Aster similar to six large language models, each starting with an initial fund of 1 BNB (about $1,100). As of now, all six major language models are in a loss-making state, with the first place matching nof1's test results and being deepseek.

Hyperliquid

1. Season 3 Ready to Launch

Renowned community member Raccoon Chan 小浣熊 (@RaccoonHKG) speculated on the "Season Three November" through clues and inferred that the Hyperliquid third-quarter airdrop plan will be launched in November. This news has excited users who have been actively participating in trading.

2. Significant Achievements of HIP-3 Upgrade

The HIP-3 upgrade activated on October 13 has brought significant changes to the ecosystem. The most prominent success story is trade.xyz and its launch of XYZ100—a tokenized Nasdaq 100 futures tracking the top 100 non-financial companies in the United States. The product's first-day trading volume exceeded $35 million, demonstrating strong market demand.

According to Hyperliquid News: trade.xyz set a new all-time high for daily trading volume, reaching $77.57 million. It generated $37,789 in revenue within 24 hours, with total revenue surpassing $217,000. Based on the current growth trajectory, some analysts believe that by Christmas, trade.xyz's trading volume will surpass the established platform dYdX.

It is worth mentioning that currently trade.xyz is still in full operation, and only users with advanced reservations can use it.

3. Robinhood Effect

On October 23, Robinhood launched HYPE, and the token saw a daily price increase of 25%. More importantly, there was sustained buying support. According to arthur.hl (@ArthuronH), Robinhood is currently buying about $3.7 million worth of HYPE per day, compared to just $2.4 million a few days ago. The net buying rate even exceeded that of SOL, demonstrating the strong demand for HYPE from traditional financial platforms.

4. HyperEVM Native Protocol

Hyperliquid Daily (@HYPERDailyTK) compiled a summary of the HyperEVM native protocol, showcasing its importance to developers with applications ranging from DeFi protocols to innovative uses.

edgeX

1. edgeX's 24-Hour Revenue Performance Surpasses Hyperliquid

According to Artemis's "Top Chains by Fees" data, edgeX surpassed Hyperliquid with $2.3 million in 24-hour fee revenue, becoming the new on-chain fee leader, highlighting the platform's high transaction activity and user engagement.

In terms of bridging fund flows, edgeX ranked second in net inflows in the last 24 hours, only behind Ethereum, demonstrating strong fund attraction.

2. Further Clarification of TGE Signal

The edgeX official Twitter account launched a widely-discussed poll: "Something special for the mainnet launch. If our mascot is Maru (the seal), what should the token symbol be?" This tweet received over 111,000 views and 141 replies within 24 hours, which was interpreted by multiple media outlets as a clear signal of an upcoming TGE.

The edgeX administrators further confirmed in the Telegram group that matters related to the TGE are progressing as planned. Starting this week, the team will progressively release relevant information and will soon hold community conference calls and Q&A sessions to ensure users have a full understanding of the tokenomics and distribution plan.

ApeX

1. Launch of Ape Season 1 Score Airdrop

ApeX officially commenced Season 1 of its core scoring program on October 6th. This is a large-scale user incentive activity lasting nearly three months. The program kicked off with a warm-up on September 29th and will run until December 28th, spanning a total of 12 epoch periods.

Season 1 has set up a reward pool of 69 million APE scores, distributing 5.75 million scores weekly. The distribution takes place every Wednesday at 8 AM UTC, based on the previous week's user activity data.

Channels for earning scores include: trading volume (60%); referral system (20%); TVL treasury (10%); liquidation actions (5%); holding interest (5%);

Additionally, for users who have joined ApeX's fleet teams, there are corresponding bonuses based on the team's weekly trading volume. Users can receive a score multiplier ranging from 1.05x to 1.5x: $5 billion trading volume gets 1.05x, $10 billion gets 1.10x, $30 billion gets 1.15x, $50 billion gets 1.20x, $80 billion gets 1.30x, and the top teams with over $100 billion will enjoy the highest multiplier of 1.5x.

Furthermore, there are several special bonuses available: an additional multiplier through Mantle Network deposits; staking APEX tokens for 3-24 months provides different bonus levels; participants in the warm-up period receive a compounding factor reward as early adopters; users with historical trading activity on platforms such as Hyperliquid, Aster, EdgeX, among others, can also receive the "DEX Pioneer Bonus."

2. Kaito AI Collaboration: $100,000 Creator Support Program

ApeX has partnered with Kaito AI to launch a creator incentive program lasting over two months with a total prize pool of up to $100,000 USDT. The program runs from October 27 to January 4, 2026, divided into 5 two-week periods, with the top 100 creators being rewarded in each period, offering a $20,000 bonus per period.

Creator rankings are based on a comprehensive score in three dimensions:

Content quality accounts for the highest percentage (50%), covering market analysis, ApeX platform tutorials, trade strategy sharing, DeFi industry discussions, and meme culture content. This means that both in-depth research content and light-hearted creative works have the opportunity to be rewarded.

Social interactions account for 30%, mainly considering likes, comments, and retweets on the Twitter platform. This encourages creators not only to produce high-quality content but also to actively engage with the community to expand their influence.

Ecosystem value contribution accounts for 20%, evaluating the creators' actual contribution to the ApeX ecosystem, such as attracting new users and promoting feature usage.

Of special note, if creators are also active traders, they can receive additional bonuses. A weekly trading volume of $500,000 grants a 1.25x point multiplier, while over $2 million enjoys a 2x multiplier. Furthermore, highly active creators can receive up to a 30% trading fee discount.

3. AI Trading Competition

The AI Trading Arena, launched on October 20, provides algorithmic trading enthusiasts with a stage to showcase their skills. The competition features a $25,000 USDT prize pool, supporting AI trading bots accessed through API/SDK.

The platform provides each participating fund with an initial $5,000 capital and allows leverage of up to 100x.

4. ApeX Traders Club

Targeting platform power users, ApeX has launched the Trader's Club program. The program runs from October 17 to November 13, lasting 4 weeks, with a weekly distribution of $2000 USDT as rewards, totaling $8000.

The entry requirement is a mandatory 6-month trading volume verification to ensure all members are genuine active traders. The club takes the form of an exclusive Telegram community, providing a platform for high-net-worth traders to engage in deep discussions and information sharing, forming a tight-knit community of elite traders.

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