Perpetual Contract DEX Rankings Change: Lighter Leads but is Losing Momentum, Small Platform Pacifica Sees Trading Volume Rebound

[BlockBeats] On December 5, there were new developments in the on-chain perpetual contract trading market.

According to the latest data from DefiLlama, trading volumes across major Perp DEXs have diverged over the past day—Lighter, despite a decline of around 15%, still firmly holds the top spot with $8.88 billion in volume, TVL remaining at $1.27 billion, and open interest at $1.83 billion.

Aster follows closely behind, with a daily trading volume of $7.37 billion, TVL of $1.42 billion, and open interest reaching $2.58 billion. Hyperliquid is also performing well, posting $6.32 billion in trading volume, $4.34 billion TVL, and open interest nearly matching trading volume at $6.3 billion.

Among mid-sized platforms, EdgeX recorded $4.09 billion in trading volume, but its TVL is only $412 million, with open interest at $811 million; ApeX achieved $2.82 billion in trades, but TVL is down to just $47.19 million, and open interest is only $88.51 million. Variational had a daily trading volume of $1.75 billion, TVL of $72.86 million, and open interest at $373 million.

Notably, smaller platform Pacifica saw its trading volume surge again, reaching $591 million in 24-hour trades, TVL at $41.78 million, and open interest at $61.71 million—clearly, some capital is starting to flow into these smaller-cap platforms.

Backpack also posted $1.15 billion in daily trading volume, with open interest at $201 million, but TVL data has yet to be disclosed. The competitive landscape in the decentralized derivatives sector is becoming increasingly diverse.