This article is from: arndxt

Translation | Odaily Planet Daily (@OdailyChina); Translator | Azuma (@azuma_eth)

Editor's Note: Decentralized perpetual contract exchanges (Perp DEX) have become one of the most competitive sectors in the industry. While Hyperliquid's leading position is becoming apparent, many new-generation Perp DEX are also emerging vigorously. In the following text, cryptocurrency analyst arndxt conducts a differentiated analysis of the core highlights of several rising stars in the Perp DEX sector, comparing projects including Vertex, Drift, GMX V2, Kwenta, Aevo, Ethereal, OstiumLighter, and edgeX, which may help investors identify potential alpha in this sector.

Below is the original content by arndxt, translated by Odaily Planet Daily.

The rise of decentralized perpetual contract exchanges (Perp DEX) is inevitable, as they eliminate the possibility of centralized platform failures from an economic mechanism perspective.

The current technical architecture is trending towards a design that retains a Binance-level user experience while completely eliminating the risk of fund custody. The next 12 months will be a critical period for the development of this sector, with winners able to monopolize liquidity by optimizing this design structure, while losers will merely become another mediocre project relying on token incentives.

Necessary Design Mission

The collapse of FTX in November 2022 interrupted the previously accepted development trend in the industry—exchanging fund custody rights for speed and liquidity. Suddenly, the speed of execution seemed meaningless in the face of the safety of the funds themselves.

However, the first generation of Perp DEX (such as GMX V1 and Gains) was too slow and rigid, making it difficult to compete with centralized exchanges (CEX) in terms of execution quality. The gap between "CEX-level speed" and "DeFi-level security" has become a core issue that the industry urgently needs to address.

Today, a large number of new Perp DEX are directly responding to this issue, with their trading matching speeds generally below 10 milliseconds, funds fully settled on-chain, and absolutely no custody of user funds.

Liquidity is gathering around order book engines (rather than vAMM models). Whoever can break through the daily trading volume threshold of $1 billion to $5 billion will be able to build a moat—arbitrageurs and copy trading bots will take root here.

In addition to the much-discussed Lighter and Ostium, Ethereal is also worth paying attention to. If its team can achieve matching speeds below 5 milliseconds while maintaining non-custodial status, it may become the first "high-frequency trading-level" DEX to directly access intent routing (rather than isolated order books).

How Newcomers Build Moats

One increasingly clear point is that the competitive dimensions of the new generation of Perp DEX are not only trading volume but also intent trading, deep vertical scene cultivation, and filling the systemic gaps that industry leaders like Hyperliquid have yet to address.

In this context, the development strategy of new Perp DEX is very clear—first identify the trading needs that Hyperliquid has not met, then build a dedicated execution layer around it, and finally use new technological primitives that were not feasible two years ago as core support.

Currently, the following projects are targeting the gaps that Hyperliquid has not covered:

• Ostium: Traditional Financial Assets (TradFi Assets);

• Lighter: Cryptographic Fairness;

• edgeX: Ultra-Private Throughput;

• Ethereal: Cross-L2 Intent Routing;

When evaluating the development status of major Perp DEX in the third quarter of 2025, I tend to use differentiated order flow (rather than just trading volume) as the core rating metric.

• Hyperliquid: Still the undisputed king, looking forward to the second quarter airdrop.

• Vertex Protocol + Drift Protocol: Pioneers of cross-margin on the two fastest blockchains (Arbitrum and Solana).

• edgeX + Lighter: Once zk-proof throughput is validated in practice, they may become institutional-grade choices.

• Ostium: Dark horse contender, the nominal trading volume of RWA perpetual contracts may surpass that of native crypto assets.

• Traditional vAMM-type Perp DEX (GMX, Gains): Still have a strong retail base, but must launch an order book, or they will inevitably lose trading volume.

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