Aster, the BNB Chain perpetual DEX backed by YZi Labs, processed more than $420 billion in September 2025, overtaking Hyperliquid's $282.5 billion for the month, as total on-chain perp DEX volume crossed $1.05 trillion for the first time, up 48% from August's $707.6 billion, The Block reported on October 2, 2025. Lighter, a competing perp DEX then in private beta, placed third with $164.4 billion.
The sector's quarterly total reached approximately $1.8 trillion in Q3 2025, DL News reported.
In June, Aster reached $33 billion, a threefold increase from its prior peak, while Hyperliquid held more than $186 billion and close to 62% of the total on-chain perp DEX market. Over the three months that followed, Aster's monthly volume grew more than twelvefold.
YZi Labs (formerly Binance Labs, the family office of Binance co-founders Changpeng Zhao and Yi He) is a major Aster backer. Changpeng Zhao had publicly called on perp DEXs to launch dark pools ahead of Aster's rollout. The platform lets users place and match orders without broadcasting their positions to the network, shielding trades from frontrunning and price manipulation, DL News reported.
As Aster's figures climbed toward $100 billion, DefiLlama removed its perpetual data in October 2025, saying it could not independently verify the numbers because the project does not supply the software needed to run an Aster node. "Aster is reporting very, very high perp volumes — to the tune of $100 billion. So it's a bit suspicious," 0xngmi, DefiLlama's founder, told DL News. DefiLlama said it lacked data to either confirm or rule out wash trading.
Hyperliquid recorded $430 million in weekly net outflows in the week ending December 19, 2025, as Aster and Lighter tightened competition across the sector, The Block reported.
