Aniket Pujari
Perpetual DEXs processed over $70B on Feb. 5, their second‑biggest day ever, as Hyperliquid, Aster, edgeX and Lighter absorbed a sharp BTC, ETH, SOL‑led deleveraging.
Summary
- Per DeFiLlama, perp DEXs cleared $70B+ on Feb. 5, second only to the Oct. 10, 2025 “1011” crash that saw $19B in liquidations and sent BTC from $117,000 to $101,800.
- Hyperliquid handled $24.699B (about 31% share) in 24 hours, Aster $11.553B (~14.6%), edgeX $8.675B (~11%), and Lighter $7.537B (~9.5%), with edgeX alone credited with $600B+ in cumulative volume and over $1B in OI.
- As BTC hovered near $64,000, ETH in the high $1,800s, SOL around $79–80, and XRP near $1.37, perp DEXs proved to be a primary venue where leveraged crypto risk is warehoused and unwound.
Perpetual DEXs just printed their second-biggest day on record, turning a brutal sell-off into a stress test that DeFi largely passed.
Volume shock and “1011” shadow
According to DeFiLlama data, perp DEXs processed more than $70 billion in volume on Feb. 5, the second-highest daily tally in history and only behind the Oct. 10, 2025 “1011” flash crash. That earlier event saw over $19 billion in liquidations in a single day and sent Bitcoin from roughly $117,000 to $101,800, cementing “1011” as a structural stress event for crypto leverage.
On Feb. 5, the pain was smaller but the pipes were busier. Hyperliquid led with roughly $24.7 billion in 24-hour volume, Aster followed at about $10–11.6 billion, edgeX cleared around $8.7 billion, and Lighter handled roughly $7.5–7.5+ billion, according to DeFiLlama’s perp dashboard. Together, those four accounted for well over half of all perpetual DEX turnover.
Hyperliquid, Aster, edgeX, Lighter
Per DeFiLlama’s breakdown, Hyperliquid captured about 31% of total perp DEX volume over the last 24 hours, with a 24-hour print of $24.699 billion and roughly $248.1 billion traded over 30 days. Aster posted about $11.553 billion in daily volume, up 112% on the day and representing roughly 14.6% of total perp flows. edgeX processed $8.675 billion (+66.3% daily) for nearly 11% share, while Lighter’s $7.537 billion (+86.9% daily) translated into about 9.5% of the market.
These venues are increasingly driven by incentives and points programs, with edgeX for instance already credited with more than $600 billion in cumulative user trading volume and over $1 billion in open interest in recent campaigns. Volumes of this scale suggest a core mix of BTC, ETH and SOL perps, plus high-beta altcoin pairs that traders use to express directional and basis views; during sharp drawdowns, BTC-USD, ETH-USD and SOL-USD contracts typically dominate notional flow and liquidations, while long-tail pairs add convexity but less absolute size.
Market backdrop and major coins
Spot and perp flows met in a classic deleveraging move. Bitcoin traded near $64,000 on Feb. 6, down around 11–12% over 24 hours in some market snapshots. Ethereum hovered in the high $1,800s, after a multi-week slide from above $3,000 and with technicians now eyeing the $1,600–2,000 band as a key trading range. Solana changed hands around $79–80, off roughly 14% on the day, with a 24-hour range between about $70.6 and $92.8. XRP traded near $1.37, with a 24-hour low of $1.14 and high around $1.38.
What this day signals
The Feb. 5 spike shows perp DEXs are no longer a niche hedge; they are where a large chunk of leveraged crypto risk is now warehoused and unwound. Compared with “1011,” the latest sell-off generated less outright liquidation carnage but pushed structurally higher volumes through Hyperliquid, Aster, edgeX and Lighter, underscoring how much directional positioning has migrated on-chain in under 18 months.
