Perp-DEX Trading Volume Share Climbs to 12% of Global Perpetual Market

The market share of decentralized perpetual exchanges (perp-DEX) has surged from 0.11% in January 2023 to 12.33% as of September 2026, according to a Castle Labs report. Monthly volume for the sector peaked at $1.36 trillion in October 2025. Growth is largely driven by real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, which accounted for nearly 20% of perp-DEX volume in July. Hyperliquid currently leads the sector with a 56.8% share of open interest, followed by platforms such as Aster, Variational, Lighter, and edgeX.