The crypto market kicked off 2026 with powerful catalysts. As decentralized finance infrastructure continues to evolve, the on-chain derivatives sector is experiencing unprecedented growth. On February 13, Bullet, an all-in-one trading platform within the Solana ecosystem, announced the official mainnet launch of its perpetual contract trading. Nearly simultaneously, decentralized derivatives protocol Extended rolled out US stock perpetual contracts, further bridging the gap between traditional assets and on-chain trading.
From Hyperliquid’s rapid rise to Bullet’s high-performance architecture, Perp DEXs (decentralized perpetual contract exchanges) are quietly reshaping the trading landscape for crypto assets with their advantages in low latency, non-custodial security, and global accessibility. According to projections from Delph Digital, Perp DEXs have grown their share of the derivatives market from roughly 2.1% at the start of 2023 to nearly 11.7% by the end of 2025, and are expected to surpass 25% market share in 2026.
Bullet Mainnet Launch: Millisecond Response Powers "All-in-One" Service
At the center of this sector’s momentum is Bullet, which has launched perpetual contract trading on Solana mainnet. While access is currently limited and requires an invitation code, Bullet’s published performance metrics have already caught the market’s attention. Its purpose-built trading infrastructure claims to process up to 30,000 orders per second, with latency under 1 millisecond.
These numbers directly rival, and in some cases surpass, the performance of leading centralized exchanges (CEXs). Low latency is critical for derivatives trading, especially during periods of high volatility, where slippage and execution speed can make or break a trade. Bullet isn’t just a contract trading platform—it integrates derivatives, spot, and lending products under a single protocol, delivering a true "all-in-one" solution. This product suite is designed to maximize capital efficiency, allowing users to collateralize, borrow, and hedge within one interface. Perp DEXs are leveraging this sticky, integrated experience to retain users.
Extended Launches US Stock Perpetuals: Breaking Down Asset Barriers
If Bullet represents a leap in performance, Extended’s US stock perpetuals mark a breakthrough in asset diversity. While crypto’s inherent volatility has always attracted traders, global demand for traditional equities like Tesla and the S&P 500 remains strong.
By introducing US stocks to on-chain perpetual trading, Extended is effectively creating a global trading venue that operates without traditional brokers. Users can go long or short on US stock indices or individual equities directly from their crypto wallets, without navigating complex overseas brokerage accounts. This "fusion" of traditional assets and crypto dramatically expands the user base for on-chain derivatives, attracting those who want to trade traditional markets using stablecoins.
Perp DEX Market Landscape: Hyperliquid Leads, Challengers Emerge
According to DefiLlama data as of February 13, the Perp DEX market currently features a "one dominant, many strong" competitive landscape.
- Hyperliquid remains firmly in the lead, leveraging its custom Layer 1 blockchain and order book model. It boasts $6.56 billion in 24-hour trading volume, $4.97 billion in open interest, and $4.23 billion in total value locked (TVL). Hyperliquid’s success demonstrates the viability of on-chain order book models on high-performance blockchains.
- EdgeX stands out with $3.03 billion in 24-hour trading volume, surpassing Aster to claim the second spot.
- Other major players like Aster, Lighter, and Apex maintain daily volumes ranging from hundreds of millions to several billion dollars, highlighting the market’s robust activity.
| Rank | Perp DEX | 24h Trading Volume (USD) | Open Interest (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hyperliquid | $6.56B | $4.97B |
| 2 | EdgeX | $3.03B | $993M |
| 3 | Aster | $2.98B | $1.79B |
| 4 | Lighter | $2.06B | $725M |
| 5 | Apex | $1.30B | $112M |
- Data source: DefiLlama, as of February 13, 2026 *
The Battle of Architectures: How Are Trading Experiences Being Transformed?
To truly reshape the trading landscape, Perp DEXs are betting on innovative technical architectures. Three main models dominate the market:
- Order Book Model: Exemplified by Hyperliquid, this approach builds a custom Layer 1 blockchain and leverages HyperBFT consensus for ultra-fast matching. It most closely mirrors the traditional finance trading experience, making it the top choice for professional traders.
- AMM Model: Represented by GMX, this model relies on liquidity pools (like GLP) as counterparties. Liquidity is easier to bootstrap, and users trade against the pool rather than directly with other traders.
- Hybrid Model: Drift is a key example, combining vAMM with off-chain order books to balance liquidity and trading depth.
With Bullet joining the mix, Solana’s high-speed, low-fee environment further amplifies the advantages of on-chain derivatives. The ability to process tens of thousands of orders per second is dispelling the stereotype that DEXs are slow or offer a poor user experience.
Reshaping the Landscape: Three Core Advantages of Perp DEXs
As more high-performance protocols come online, Perp DEXs are redefining trading in three key ways:
- True Asset Sovereignty: On centralized exchanges like Gate, assets are held in custody by the platform. On Perp DEXs, traders always retain control of their funds, interacting non-custodially through their wallets. This greatly reduces the single-point risks of exchange hacks or insolvency.
- Global, Permissionless Access: Whether it’s Bullet’s millisecond response or Extended’s US stock contracts, Perp DEXs eliminate geographic and financial barriers. Anyone with an internet connection and a crypto wallet can access cutting-edge financial derivatives.
- Composability and Innovation: On-chain trading enables programmability. Developers can build strategy libraries, automated hedging tools, or tokenize trading yields using Perp DEX data—capabilities that centralized exchanges simply can’t match.
Opportunities and Challenges
Although Perp DEXs have grown their market share from 2.1% in early 2023 to 11.7% by the end of 2025, fully "reshaping" the landscape still presents challenges. Key concerns include whether liquidity depth can rival CEXs during extreme market conditions, smart contract security risks, and the uncertainty of global regulation—all looming threats for the sector.
Nevertheless, the trend is clear. With the wealth-generation effect of Hyperliquid and the rollout of new infrastructure like Bullet, both capital and users are visibly migrating on-chain.
Conclusion
As a bridge connecting users to the crypto world, Gate closely monitors the latest developments in on-chain derivatives. Whether it’s price discovery for Perp DEX ecosystem tokens like Hyperliquid (HYPE), or tracking governance tokens of emerging protocols such as EdgeX and Aster, Gate is committed to providing users with a timely and liquid trading environment.
As of February 14, trading pairs for HYPE tokens on Gate remain highly active, with prices responding swiftly—offering traders a reliable entry point to capture the upside of the on-chain derivatives sector. As Perp DEX trading volume continues to flow out from centralized exchanges, understanding and participating in this sector early will be a key strategic move for crypto investors in 2026.
The future is already here—it’s just not widely adopted yet. The explosive growth of on-chain derivatives may well be the decisive step toward true financial sovereignty in crypto.
