The 2026 Boiling Point of Perpetual Contract DEX: Investment Opportunity Landscape for Over 23 Unreleased Token Projects

As Lighter completes TGE and officially launches its token by the end of 2025, a new market cycle turning point has arrived in the perpetual contract DEX sector. What does this moment signify? The market’s focus is quietly shifting toward—the next wave of projects still in the points incentive stage, not yet issued tokens, but already establishing real trading depth on-chain.

According to data from DefiLlama as of January 5, 2026, 23 potential dark horses without token issuance have emerged in the perpetual contract DEX track. Their 30-day trading volumes are already considerable, and more importantly, these volumes are backed by verified real user participation. For early investors, understanding these projects’ current on-chain performance, capital backgrounds, and technical choices is far more pragmatic than chasing market narratives.

Who is leading the trading volume rankings?

The competition in perpetual contract DEX ultimately boils down to liquidity competition. Let’s look at the trading volume data from the past 30 days.

EdgeX ($91.005 billion, ranked #4) Built on Ethereum with StarkEx technology, this project incubated by Amber Group emphasizes ultra-low latency execution and a performance benchmark of 200,000 TPS. Essentially, it is a professional-grade order book exchange with a forced withdrawal safety net. What does this design mean for institutional traders? They can enjoy CEX-level speed without worrying about smart contract risks.

GRVT ($35.683 billion, ranked #6) With $35 million in funding (backed by top institutions including QCP Singapore, ABCDE Capital), this project deployed on ZKsync Validium pioneers the “hybrid exchange” concept—combining CEX ease of use with DeFi’s self-custody features. Its target users are clear: institutional clients requiring compliance guarantees and retail traders concerned with privacy.

Paradex ($30.249 billion, ranked #7) An incubated project from crypto derivatives giant Paradigm, deployed on Starknet. Zero trading fees are its biggest competitive advantage, supporting hundreds of markets from cryptocurrencies to pre-market stocks. Behind this aggressive fee strategy is Paradigm’s confidence as an institutional liquidity provider.

Extended ($29.309 billion, ranked #8) An interesting case—founded by Ruslan Fakhrutdinov, former head of Revolut’s crypto business. It offers 100x leverage, trading across crypto and traditional assets (gold, oil, S&P 500, Nasdaq), arguably the most “ambitious” asset coverage. The latest development is migrating from StarkEx to Solana to achieve full on-chain composability.

Pacifica ($17.783 billion, ranked #9) A native Solana hybrid DEX, with a team from top institutions (Binance, FTX, Jane Street, Fidelity). Interestingly, it deliberately does not design native token incentives but wins traders through AI-assisted tools and a hybrid off-chain/on-chain settlement mode.

Breakthrough contenders in the sub-tier

Looking further down, a batch of projects with more diverse tech stacks and more innovative positioning are rising.

Reya ($14.615 billion) Built on its own Reya Chain (based on Ethereum Rollup architecture). Its core strength is capital efficiency—through millisecond execution, gasless transactions, MEV-resistant FIFO matching, and a margin efficiency boost of 3.5 times, bringing tangible cost savings to traders. Investors include Coinbase Ventures, Stani Kulechow, and other heavyweight institutions.

Trade.xyz ($11.684 billion) Deployed on Hyperliquid L1, focusing on 24/7 trading of US stocks and indices. Its positioning is clear: breaking the time restrictions of traditional stock trading with blockchain technology. Ultra-low fees and permissionless market deployment make it a new player in traditional asset trading.

Nado ($10.341 billion) Built on Kraken’s Ethereum L2—Ink. It manages spot, margin, and perpetual futures with unified margin across all positions, with 5-15 ms latency similar to CEXs and full self-custody. Technically, through dynamic collateral netting and liquidity provider vault innovations, it achieves excellent capital efficiency.

Variational ($9.65 billion, ranked #17) A peer-to-peer derivatives trading protocol on Arbitrum supporting hundreds of markets, zero trading fees, and liquidity aggregation via RFQ mode. The team includes former Genesis Trading executives, transforming market maker expertise into a customizable derivatives platform (exotic options, options, etc.) with innovative design.

Sub-ecosystem champions on emerging public chains

Based ($3.491 billion, ranked #29) A super app on Hyperliquid L1 that quickly became the dominant application in its ecosystem through excellent UI/UX. Its success demonstrates a fact: on a performant underlying layer, user experience determines traffic distribution.

Ostium ($2.377 billion, ranked #34) An RWA (Real World Asset) futures exchange on Arbitrum. With $24 million in funding (led by General Catalyst, Jump Crypto), founded by Harvard alumni. Its goal is to use on-chain verifiable methods to disrupt traditional CFD brokers—offering synthetic exposure trading in gold, oil, forex, stocks, and indices.

Ethereal ($1.563 billion, ranked #37) Deployed on Ethena Network (as a Layer 3 application chain), using interest-bearing stablecoin USDe as the main collateral. Its positioning is clever: building trading infrastructure around the Ethena ecosystem and distributing tokens to ENA holders.

Vest ($1.286 billion, ranked #39) An Arbitrum zkRisk engine DEX, with core innovations in unlimited position capacity and rapid asset listing. Backed by $5 million in funding, supported by professional trading teams like Jane Street and Amber Group.

Astros ($170.35 million, ranked #58) A Sui-native perpetual DEX incubated by NAVI Protocol. Its strategy is clear: deeply integrate Sui’s lending ecosystem to create a self-sustaining trading-lending ecosystem that does not rely on token incentives. This infrastructure is foundational for Sui to become a “derivatives hub.”

Privacy pioneers and tool aggregators

Hibachi ($204.34 million, ranked #64) Privacy-first design, deployed on Arbitrum and Base. Implements zk-encrypted positions/balances via Celestia DA, with millisecond latency off-chain CLOB. With $5 million in funding, the team includes top professionals from Citadel, Tower Research, Meta, Google. This combination represents a new trend: combining Wall Street’s professionalism with blockchain privacy capabilities.

Bullpen and Liquid These two projects represent different aggregation strategies. Bullpen is a trading terminal on Hyperliquid, integrating futures, spot, and prediction markets; Liquid is a cross-chain DEX aggregator, integrating top exchanges like Hyperliquid, Lighter, Ostium into mobile-first apps. Their commonality: in an era of fragmented liquidity, UX aggregation becomes a new competitive dimension.

Existing tokenized projects as reference points

Backpack Exchange Raised $37 million, although essentially a CEX, its strong Solana ecosystem background and acquisition of FTX EU’s regulatory license in the EU make its perpetual trading volume ($32 billion) comparable to mainstream CEXs. It exemplifies the maturity of hybrid wallet-exchange models.

Hope in testnets and private phases

Decibel (Aptos native) An on-chain trading engine unifying spot, perpetual futures, and yield strategies. Supported directly by Aptos Labs, designed as a neutral execution layer for global on-chain markets. Currently in public beta, participants can earn XP rankings through trading volume.

RiseX (on Rise Chain) An integrated perpetual contract DEX with on-chain order book and shared liquidity. Rise Chain itself is a high-performance Ethereum L2 (with ultra-low latency infrastructure integrated with BSX Labs). Mainnet launch planned for early 2026.

01.xyz Driven by N1 blockchain (NordVM engine), currently invite-only private testnet. Positioned as the “next-generation venue” for unlimited-scale perpetual contract trading based on dedicated Layer 1.

Cascade An efficient DEX on Arbitrum, raised $15 million (led by Coinbase Ventures, Polychain Capital). Currently in early deposit phase (invitation-only), leveraging liquidity strategies and points accumulation momentum.

Investment logic for market cycle

Why is 2026 likely to be the “token issuance wave” for perpetual contract DEX projects?

First, mature models have already emerged. From EdgeX’s StarkEx tech stack, GRVT’s hybrid exchange design, to Paradex’s zero-fee strategy, we see a diversification of technical routes, each with strengths, forming a mature market.

Second, real trading volume has solidified. The $91 billion of EdgeX and $35.6 billion of GRVT indicate that DEXs have become mainstream choices for derivatives trading, not just experimental edges. Institutional capital is flowing in.

Third, funding backgrounds are substantial. Projects backed by top institutions like Coinbase Ventures, Paradigm, Dragonfly, Sequoia are often pushed forward toward tokenization at appropriate times.

Fourth, user bases are mature. From Amber Group incubating EdgeX to NAVI Protocol incubating Astros, this ecosystem integration pattern shows that perpetual DEXs have become core infrastructure on major public chains, not optional.

Practical participation suggestions

For those looking to get involved early:

First, prioritize projects ranked in the top ten by trading volume. These on-chain indicators have been verified, and TGE risks are relatively controllable.

Second, distinguish between technical stacks. StarkEx/Starknet represent ZK-rollup routes; Arbitrum/Optimism represent Optimistic Rollup routes; Hyperliquid signifies dedicated L1. Different choices imply different performance-security trade-offs.

Third, pay attention to funding institutions. Projects supported by top institutions like Paradigm and Coinbase Ventures usually have stricter governance standards and exit mechanisms.

Fourth, participate in testnets to earn points. Decibel, RiseX, and others have opened public testing, and trading volume accumulation can lay the foundation for future token distribution.

Fifth, beware of risks. Perpetual DEXs are inherently complex derivatives platforms, with risks including smart contract vulnerabilities, liquidity risks, and hedging risks. Projects with higher capital efficiency tend to have higher risk management challenges.

Data sources: DefiLlama (as of January 5, 2026), SoSoValue, CryptoRank

This article aims to provide an objective analysis of the market status and does not constitute any investment advice. Digital asset investments carry high risks; participants should assess their risk tolerance independently.