The Battle of the Three Giants in Perp DEX: Hyperliquid, Aster, and Lighter Reshape the DeFi Market Landscape

As of early October 2025, the daily trading volume of decentralized perpetual futures exchanges (Perp DEX) has exceeded $100 billion, achieving explosive growth from several billion dollars in early 2024. Hyperliquid once held a 70% market share, but its dominance has rapidly weakened with the rise of Aster and Lighter. Aster leads with high leverage and a multi-chain architecture, while Lighter has garnered widespread attention with zk-SNARKs and a zero-fee model. This article will delve into the competitive logic, on-chain data, potential risks, and future landscape of these three platforms.

Market Landscape Transformation: From One Dominance to Tripartite Balance

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In the past year, the Perptual Futures DEX market has undergone a drastic restructuring. Hyperliquid almost monopolized the market from the second half of 2024 to the first half of 2025, maintaining a market share of around 70% for a long time. However, entering September, Aster took over with explosive growth, with its volume skyrocketing from 1 billion dollars at the end of September to 70 billion dollars by the end of the month, capturing nearly 70% of the market share.

At the same time, Lighter, which is still in the private testing phase, went live on the mainnet on October 2 and recorded an average daily volume of 8 billion dollars within just a few days, showing strong momentum. Hyperliquid, although still maintaining a daily volume of 10–15 billion dollars, has seen its market share drop to 10%.

This "liquidity migration" highlights the intense competition in the DeFi derivatives market, as the rapid movement of users and funds is reshaping the industry landscape.

The Growth Doubts of Aster: Real Demand or Incentive Illusion?

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Although Aster has become the leader of the new generation market, its growth model is being questioned. On-chain data shows that Aster's volume to TVL ratio exceeds 70:1, far higher than the common 3–7 range seen in DeFi platforms. This abnormal indicator suggests that there may be "wash trading" behavior.

In addition, Aster's volume surged tenfold within a week, severely deviating from the natural growth curve. Analyst Ethan Zhou pointed out that this "incentive-driven" growth may be difficult to maintain in the long term. Aster encourages self-trading through a points reward mechanism to create a false sense of prosperity, attracting liquidity and follow.

In the short term, this strategy has indeed increased market share and topic relevance, but the long-term sustainability and real user retention remain unknown.

The Differentiated Competitive Logic of the Three Major Platforms

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Hyperliquid: Performance and Professional Depth Coexist Hyperliquid is built on its own Layer-1 chain, utilizing HyperCore (CLOB mechanism) and HyperEVM architecture, with transaction confirmations taking only 0.2 seconds and a processing capacity of up to 200,000 orders per second, performance comparable to mainstream exchanges. Its HLP liquidity vault attracts over $500 million in deposits, providing users with an annualized return of 6-8%. The annualized income in 2025 will reach $800 million, of which $715 million has already been used for HYPE token buybacks, creating a deflationary effect. Its core advantages lie in execution depth and a stable income model, regarded as the platform closest to a centralized trading experience in DeFi.

Aster: The Adventurer of Cross-Chain Architecture and High-Leverage Strategies Aster supports BNB Chain, Ethereum, Solana, and Arbitrum, covering a multi-chain ecosystem, allowing users to trade without complex cross-chain bridges. Its dual-mode architecture includes: Simple Mode (up to 1,001 times leverage) and Pro Mode (featuring CLOB interface and MEV protection). Additionally, Aster offers stock perpetual futures, enabling traders to leverage crypto assets to operate on stocks like Apple and Tesla, crossing the boundary between crypto and traditional markets. The merger with APX Finance has further caused its token to surge by 2,000% in a short period, making it one of the most followed DeFi projects of 2025.

Lighter: Reshaping Trust with zk-SNARKs Lighter is built on Arbitrum using zk-rollup technology, with each transaction and settlement verified through cryptographic proofs to ensure fairness and transparency. Even more disruptive is its zero-fee model: zero-fee trading has attracted a large number of retail users, with its LLP market making vault yielding up to 60% annually. Founded by former Citadel engineers and supported by renowned institutions, Lighter combines the rigor of traditional finance with the innovation of DeFi, and is regarded in the industry as a "mathematically verifiable fair exchange."

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Industry Drivers: The Game of Liquidity, Incentives, and Trust

The current competition for perpetual futures DEX is primarily driven by three forces: Liquidity Competition: Funds are intensively flowing towards platforms with high-yield vaults, making short-term incentives key. User Experience Evolution: Low latency and high transparency in trading experience are becoming the new standard. Trust Mechanism Innovation: From Hyperliquid's on-chain matching to Lighter's cryptographic proof, DeFi is reshaping the boundaries of trust through technology.

Risks and Challenges: The Double-Edged Sword of Regulation and Sustainability

The analytical agency CryptoInsights believes that Aster's ultra-high leverage (1,001 times) and the lack of KYC policy may trigger regulatory scrutiny; although Lighter's zero-fee model is highly attractive, its long-term commercial sustainability remains to be verified.

At the same time, the market-driven "tide withdrawal effect" may lead to a sharp decline in liquidity. Once the rewards diminish or user incentives decrease, the volume may fall back.

In addition, as the Perptual Futures market expands to one-tenth of the CEX scale, regulatory intervention and competitive internal friction will become the main risks in the next stage.

Investor Strategy Recommendations

For professional traders, Hyperliquid remains the most robust platform, suitable for participants pursuing execution quality and capital security; Aster, on the other hand, is more suitable for high-risk users seeking high volatility and short-term returns; Lighter's zero fees and ZK structure provide long-term users with fairness and cost advantages.

Overall, the Perptual Futures DEX market is still in a phase of rapid evolution, and strategies should focus on liquidity monitoring and risk management.

Conclusion

As Arthur Hayes said: "The crypto market always rewards players who dare to disrupt." Hyperliquid, Aster, and Lighter represent three different DeFi philosophies: speed, freedom, and trust. Their competition not only drives innovation in the derivatives market but also redefines the future of Decentralization finance. Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute any investment advice. The crypto market is highly volatile, and investors should make decisions cautiously.