DEX Trading Soars Past $400 Billion as Market Momentum Moves Off-Exchange

• DEX to CEX spot ratio jumped from 6.0% in 2021 to 21.2% in 2025, showing a long-term structural shift.
• Solana-led memecoin trading and Binance-linked order routing pushed DEX volumes to record highs.
• Perpetuals DEXs saw rapid growth in 2025, with Hyperliquid hitting multi-trillion-dollar volumes.

A new report by CoinGecko shows that traders are gradually shifting toward on-chain platforms after years of uneven progress. The report highlights that the DEX to CEX spot trading ratio has more than tripled within five years, rising from 6.0% in early 2021 to 21.2% in November 2025.

This long-term rise signals a structural change, even though the path has been unpredictable. The data illustrate how turbulent these times have been. The ratio was at 14.6% in early 2022, dropping all the way to 5.4% in September of that year.

The collapse of FTX later in the year didn’t make any difference at first, and it took until March 2023, when U.S. regulators encouraged more trades to happen on permissionless exchanges, for the ratio to return to double digits. At the end of 2024, there was much flux in the ratio, and many thought the activity in DEX was stagnant.

Solana Mania and Binance Routing Fuel Breakout Surge

The actual ratio occurred at the beginning of 2025. In January, the ratio increased to 18.7% due to the memecoin mania in Solana, resulting in the spot trading volume in DEX reaching $413.75 billion, surpassing the peak in the previous cycle at $344.99 billion. Raydium’s trading activity increased to $88.56 billion, close to that of Uniswap at $88.92 billion.

The trend continued in mid-year. In June, the proportion posted a new record of 37.4% due to increased activity in PancakeSwap. Much of it was from Binance Alpha, which was a routing tool that began in May, routing many trades through its network. It led to a new phase in which DEXs retained a constant share of global trade activity.

By November 2025, the level remained at 20% every month for five consecutive months. It was the first time that the DEXs held such a substantial level without any short-term euphoria. In October, the spot trade in DEXes recorded an all-time high of $419.76 billion despite overall market depreciation. It was clear evidence of the shift towards on-chain trading.

Perpetuals DEXs Record Breaks as New Competitors Rise

But the increase is not merely in spot markets. The share of DEX vs. CEX perpetuals increased from 2.1% in early 2023 to a record high of 11.7% in November 2025, registering the fourteenth consecutive increase. October reached another milestone as DEX perpetuals trading activity surpassed $903.56 billion, which is over ten times the figure in the previous year.

Much of this speed has come from new market entrants. New players such as Hyperliquid, Lighter, and edgeX have already surpassed the first movers. For example, Hyperliquid has already processed $2.74 trillion in perpetual trading this year alone, and it is already in the same ballpark as Coinbase.

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