DEX Perpetual Volume Hits Record Low as Traders Flee to Centralized Exchanges

The decentralized exchange (DEX) perpetual market has hit its lowest volume for the year, dropping to $355.78 billion in July. This is a significant decline from the previous peak of $1.19 trillion in October 2025.

The data shows that traders are shifting their behavior towards centralized exchanges (CEXs), with the DEX-to-CEX futures ratio plummeting to 11.49% as of writing. In November 2025, this ratio had reached 21.6%, indicating a sharp decline in trader activity on DEXs.

However, it's not all doom and gloom for traditional traders. The Open Interest (OI) on HIP-3 has hit an all-time high of $3.96 billion, with trading volume reaching $9.19 billion. This growth is a sign of the product's underlying utility and suggests that traders are committing more funds to the market.

The crypto market as a whole is experiencing a slowdown, with activity across the board seeing a significant plunge. Centralized exchanges now account for 96.03% of total derivatives trades in the market.