Traditional-Asset Perpetuals Dominate $18B in Daily Volume, Altcoins Face Increasing Competition

Talos data shows that daily volume in RWA perpetual futures rose from less than $1 billion in January to $18.8 billion during Sept. 3-9, representing 18.5% of futures volume across those venues.

This shift creates a competitive threat for altcoins as traders no longer need a new token to find leverage, volatility, or a market that stays open around the clock.

A DefiLlama study found that 31.7% of new wallets were RWA-first, generating $111.6 billion (31.5%) of trading volume produced by new users.

RWA-first wallets kept 83.6% of their volume in RWA markets, while Other-first wallets sent 22.8% of their volume into RWA markets and produced roughly 40% of RWA-market volume.