Survey of the Seven Major DEXs

In the past week, the survival status of decentralized exchanges has sparked widespread discussion. Hyperliquid shook the market due to the “self-destructive arbitrage” of whales with 50x leverage, resulting in nearly $4 million in losses after taking on liquidation orders in its HLP vault. On the other hand, GMGN, which once thrived during the Pump period, is now facing significant challenges. According to data from Dune, the platform’s revenue has plummeted from $2.34 million on January 19 to $74,000 on March 11, a nearly 97% drop. Meanwhile, high marketing expenses for KOLs, user churn, and intensified competition from CEXs have further raised concerns about GMGN’s future. In this context, ChainCatcher reviews the recent revenue situation of seven major DEXs for readers’ reference.

Quick Summary (Straight to the Conclusion)

• Jupiter and PancakeSwap maintain high daily revenues and stable long-term performance.
• Hyperliquid leads in revenue over the past 24 hours but has seen a significant drop from historical highs.
• Raydium and Shadow Exchange experienced a sharp decrease in revenue, reflecting a notable decline in market activity.
• Aerodrome and THENA have also seen severe declines but still retain some profitability.

Below is a comparison of the recent 24-hour revenue situation and historical highest daily revenues for several major DEXs:

Data source for the entire article: Defillama, as of March 12

In-Depth Analysis: Current Status and Trends of Major DEXs

1. Shadow Exchange

• ✅ Background and Positioning: A native concentrated liquidity layer and exchange deployed on Sonic, supported by the x(3,3) incentive model, aimed at providing an efficient and low-cost trading experience.
• Revenue Data: Historical high of $864.44K, recent 24-hour revenue of $83K, a decline of 90.30%.
• Market Performance: Ranked in the top ten for cryptocurrency revenue in the past 30 days, with stable user activity. The x(3,3) mechanism enhances capital utilization, while the MEV protection mechanism optimizes the trading experience, yielding substantial earnings for liquidity providers and traders. The Gems reward system attracts deep participation from the Sonic ecosystem, driving protocol ecological expansion and showcasing ongoing growth potential.

2. Raydium

• ✅ Background and Positioning: The leading AMM DEX in the Solana ecosystem, previously attracting numerous users with low transaction fees and efficient trading.
• Revenue Data: Historical high of $3.39M, recent 24-hour revenue of only $48K, a decline of 98.57%, with a significant drop in market activity.
• Market Performance: At one point in Q4 2024, it accounted for 61% of Solana DEX trading volume, but its TVL is only 39% of Uniswap’s, indicating active trading but relatively insufficient liquidity. Additionally, Raydium’s trading volume is highly dependent on the support from Pump.fun, necessitating the exploration of new non-meme domains for expansion.

3. Jupiter

• ✅ Background and Positioning: A top DEX aggregator in the Solana ecosystem, optimizing the best trading paths, and serving as a core pillar for Solana DeFi trading volume.
• Revenue Data: Historical high of $3.13M, recent 24-hour revenue of $329K, a decline of 89.46%, yet it still maintains relatively high activity compared to other DEXs.
• Market Performance: As the DEX with the largest trading volume in the Solana ecosystem, it benefits from deep liquidity and high cross-platform integration, resulting in low user trading costs. However, it has faced scrutiny regarding insider trading allegations due to the Libra incident, with no further investigation results currently available.

4. PancakeSwap

• ✅ Background and Positioning: The leading DEX in the BSC ecosystem, maintaining competitiveness through low gas fees, high-speed trading, and multi-chain expansion (Ethereum, Arbitrum, Polygon, etc.).
• Revenue Data: Historical high of $6.4M, recent 24-hour revenue of $1.11M, a decline of 82.65%, yet it retains high profitability in the DeFi space.
• Market Performance: Thanks to the active BSC ecosystem, PancakeSwap has a broad DeFi user base and continues to expand its product features (such as NFTs, staking, etc.).

5. Hyperliquid

• ✅ Background and Positioning: A decentralized derivatives trading platform in the Arbitrum ecosystem, employing an active market-making mechanism to differentiate itself from GMX.
• Revenue Data: Historical high of $4.42M, recent 24-hour revenue of $1.17M, a decline of 73.52%, yet it still holds a dominant position in the DeFi derivatives market.
• Market Performance: Benefiting from traders attracted by high-leverage trading, Hyperliquid maintains a leading position in both trading volume and profitability. However, recent whale arbitrage incidents have raised concerns about its liquidity management mechanisms, leading to some capital fleeing for safety.

6. Aerodrome

• ✅ Background and Positioning: The core DEX of the Base ecosystem, utilizing the ve(3,3) economic model to incentivize liquidity providers and optimize the trading experience.
• Revenue Data: Historical high of $1.52M, recent 24-hour revenue of $290K, a decline of 80.91%, with a decrease in market liquidity but still retaining some activity.
• Market Performance: Dominating in the Base ecosystem, benefiting from recent signs of recovery in the Base chain, with strong market performance, continuous growth in trading volume and market capitalization, and high community participation.

7. THENA

• ✅ Background and Positioning: One of the DEXs in the BNB ecosystem, adopting the ve(3,3) economic model, aiming to enhance the sustainability of liquidity incentives.
• Revenue Data: Historical high of $208.95K, recent 24-hour revenue of $48K, a decline of 77.02%, yet it still possesses some competitiveness in the BSC ecosystem.
• Market Performance: Considered a second-tier DEX in the BSC ecosystem, facing strong competition from PancakeSwap, but its ve(3,3) model still attracts some liquidity. According to website disclosures, THENA is planning to migrate to version V3. This upgrade will introduce the “Hooks” feature, allowing smart contracts to be deployed on specific liquidity pools to execute specific logic during user interactions. This will support advanced order types, complex applications, and customized needs, further enhancing the protocol’s flexibility and functionality.

Currently, decentralized exchanges are exhibiting a trend of declining revenues, intensified competition, and structural differentiation. The revenues of mainstream platforms have generally fallen by 70%-98% from historical highs, significantly affecting market activity. Jupiter and PancakeSwap continue to hold the top positions, with high daily revenues and relatively stable long-term performance, relying on ecological layouts and user bases to maintain competitiveness. Hyperliquid still occupies a position in the derivatives market, but concerns about its risk control capabilities have arisen due to whale arbitrage incidents, impacting capital liquidity. Raydium and Shadow Exchange have seen their revenues shrink significantly, with the former affected by a decrease in Pump.fun trading volume, while the latter is struggling due to an overall decline in market activity. Aerodrome and THENA still demonstrate some profitability but face pressure from stronger competitors in their respective ecosystems.

Looking ahead, DEXs must confront three core issues:

• How to maintain trading activity—As the market cools and users’ willingness to trade decreases, how can DEXs enhance user stickiness?
• How to optimize liquidity management—With whale arbitrage and intensified competition from CEXs, how can platforms build a more robust liquidity system in the DeFi space?
• How to achieve sustainable income—In a bear market cycle, high-fee models are challenging to sustain long-term; do DEXs need new profit models?

In the face of industry challenges, the future survival strategy for DEXs may no longer just be about trading volume, but rather about liquidity, risk control mechanisms, and ecological layouts.

This article is a cooperative reprint from: Deep Tide