By Karen Z, Foresight News
In the cryptocurrency market in 2025, decentralized perpetual contract exchanges (Perp DEX) have become one of the hottest tracks with unstoppable momentum.
Hyperliquid led this wave of enthusiasm, and the emergence of Aster and Avantis further ignited market enthusiasm and user interest in interaction.
So, at the current stage, which other Perp DEX platforms are worth paying attention to and interacting with?
Before reviewing Perp DEX and introducing related strategies, the author solemnly reminds that although there is an expectation of airdrops when participating in the interactive Perp DEX market, participants must remain vigilant, fully consider potential risks, and comprehensively weigh the following key factors:
Inherent risks of contracts : Perpetual contract trading is known for its high leverage. Users must always pay attention to controlling their positions and setting reasonable stop-loss orders to avoid potential market volatility risks.
Differences in platform endorsement : Beyond product design and user experience, the power of platform endorsement cannot be ignored. Aster's growth is partly due to the strong endorsement of Binance and the support of CZ. AVNT, on the other hand, is backed by Coinbase and Peter Thiel. This strong endorsement makes it difficult for subsequent projects to replicate the same growth.
Perp DEX narrative sustainability : Although currently trending, the sustainability of this narrative depends on factors such as regulatory changes and market fluctuations. Users should exercise rational judgment and avoid blindly following trends.
Earning points has become more difficult : Most Perp DEX platforms have entered their mid-to-late-stage points campaigns, and earning points has become significantly more difficult. Blindly chasing "airdrop expectations" may lead to a situation where "interaction costs exceed benefits."
Subsequent token incentive mechanism : whether there will be a subsequent token repurchase and destruction design.
Aster
Aster, formed by the merger of Astherus and APX Finance at the end of 2024, is positioned as a multi-chain perpetual trading platform. Previously, Astherus was selected as a Binance Labs Season 7 incubation project and received investment from Binance Labs (now YZi Labs).
In Simple Mode, Aster offers one-click execution to protect against MEV. In Pro Mode, Aster adds 24/7 perpetual stock swaps, hidden orders, and grid trading, supporting BNB Chain, Ethereum, Solana, and Arbitrum.
In terms of data performance, according to Dune data, Aster currently has more than 1.97 million cumulative users, more than 720,000 trading users, total revenue of US$51.89 million, and a transaction volume of US$6 billion in the past 24 hours, which is about 40% of Hypeliquid's transaction volume.
Aster Genesis Phase 2 will end at 07:59 on October 6th. 4% of the total ASTER supply was rewarded for Phase 2. Some of the factors that will be considered for Phase 2 rewards include:
Trading Volume Score: The higher your trading volume on Aster Pro, the more Rh Points you earn. Takers earn twice as many points as makers.
Holding time score: The longer you hold a position, the more Rh points you will get (up to 2 times the user's weekly trading volume).
Aster Asset Holding Points: Use Aster assets (such as BNB or USDF) as margin to trade on Aster Pro (points capped at 2 times the user's weekly trading volume).
Realized Profit and Loss Score: Daily realized profit and loss (excluding funding and other fees) is calculated into Rh points.
Referral Points and Team Points: Inviting others earns 10% (first level) or 5% (second level) of their base points.
Lighter
Lighter, originally a decentralized spot order book on Arbitrum, has since transitioned to an application-level ZK-Rollup focused on perpetual contract trading, using custom zero-knowledge proof circuitry for verifiable matching and clearing. Lighter does not charge any transaction fees.
Lighter's official website shows that its investors include a16z and Lightspeed Faction. Currently, Lighter has launched a private test mainnet(invitation code required).
In terms of data performance, on September 21, Lighter's TVL exceeded US$500 million, and its 24-hour contract trading volume reached US$6.9 billion, which is about 46% of Hypeliquid's transaction volume.
I haven't found the specific rules for Lighter point distribution yet. Community user feedback indicates that Lighter points are becoming more difficult to obtain, and users are required to assess the odds themselves.
edgeX
edgeX is an order-book-based derivatives trading system incubated by Amber Group. edgeX Exchange is the first MVP in the edgeX ecosystem. Future applications and modular components will include edgeX Telegram Bot, edgeX Leverage (supporting US stock, forex, and commodity futures trading), edgeX Epool, edgeX Lend, and edgeX Insurance.
edgeX contributor @ruiixyz stated on September 23rd that edgeX is currently the second-largest perpetual decentralized exchange platform by monthly revenue ($19 million), with a daily trading volume of $5 billion and over 100,000 active users.
The weight of edgeX points is mainly based on trading volume (60% of the pool), followed by referrals + ambassadors + activities (20% of the pool), TVL and Vault points account for 10% of the pool, and liquidation points and OI points each account for 5% of the pool points.
Paradex
Paradex is an application chain and hybrid derivatives exchange incubated on Starknet by Paradigm, an institutional cryptocurrency liquidity platform. Paradex currently supports trading futures, options, pre-market, and spot markets, with no transaction fees.
Official data from Paradex shows that the platform has a total of 32,607 users (depositing or trading), with a trading volume of $964 million in the past 24 hours.
The Paradex Points Program is now in its second season. Points can be earned through trading and maintaining open positions, providing bilateral liquidity, providing collateral to Paradex Vaults, and referrals. In December 2024, Paradex announced plans to launch the DIME token in 2025, with 20% of the tokens allocated for the Genesis airdrop. However, the second season has been postponed, and the official end date has not yet been announced.
Extended
Extended, formerly known as X10, began as a hybrid cryptocurrency exchange powered by the StarkEx Layer 2 engine, migrating from StarkEx to Starknet in mid-2025. Extended plans to evolve from a Perp DEX into a complete open finance ecosystem powered by native unified margin, integrating perpetual contracts, spot markets, and integrated lending markets under a single margin system.
Extended is led by Ruslan Fakhrutdinov, former head of crypto operations at Revolut, and completed a $6.5 million financing round in April 2024. Tioga Capital, Semantic Ventures, Cherry Ventures, StarkWare, Cyber Fund, and angel investor Lido founder Konstantin Lomashuk participated in the investment.
Season 1 of the Extended Points Program will launch on April 29, 2025, with 1.2 million points awarded weekly. Points can be earned through trading, providing liquidity, and referrals.
Ethereal
Ethereal is a decentralized spot and perpetual contract exchange powered by USDe. It will be built on the Converge chain, a joint venture between Ethena and Securitize. Ethereal is about to launch mainnet, and registration for the mainnet waitlist is now open.
The current strategy that can be operated on Ethereal is to deposit USDe into Ethereal to obtain eUSDe receipt tokens, accumulate Ethereal points, and unlock up to 30 times the Ethena reward multiplier.
GRVT
GRVT is a hybrid trading and investment market that currently supports trading perpetual contracts and will later support trading and investment in spot, options, and RWA.
In September 2025, GRVT announced the completion of a US$19 million Series A financing round, led by ZKsync, Further Ventures, EigenCloud and 500 Global, bringing the total financing amount to US$26.1 million.
GRVT plans to conduct a TGE in the first quarter of 2026. GRVT launched its Rewards 2.0 program on September 23rd, offering points earned through deposits, trades, and referrals. GRVT also stated that deposits will earn a 10% annualized return.
Ostium
Ostium is an open-source decentralized exchange based on Arbitrum that supports trading stocks, commodities, forex, indices, and cryptocurrency contracts with up to 200x leverage.
Ostium Labs completed a $3.5 million financing round in October 2023, with General Catalyst and LocalGlobe co-leading the investment, and SIG, Alliance and Balaji Srinivasan participating in the investment.
Ways to obtain Ostium points include trading, recommendation, and staking LP.
vooi
Vooi is a cross-chain perpetual contract DEX aggregator. The VOOI Pro version is an order book trading terminal, and the VOOI Light version is a unified trading platform driven by chain abstraction (integrating GMX, Ostium and KiloEx).
Vooi was previously selected for the seventh season of the MVB Accelerator Program in March 2024, and subsequently received investment from Binance Labs. In March 2025, VOOI announced the completion of a $1.25 million community-led financing round on echo.
Vooi distributes 20 million points weekly, of which 10 million points are used to reward users who trade contract contracts in the Light version, 4 million points are used to reward users who trade contract contracts in the Professional version, and 6 million points are used to reward users who trade spot and RWA. Additionally, users who invite friends will receive 15% of their friends' trading points.
StandX
StandX supports perpetual contracts trading with interest-bearing stablecoins on margin. Official StandX documentation indicates that its core team consists of members of the Binance Futures founding team and professionals with Goldman Sachs backgrounds. StandX emphasizes that the platform is entirely self-funded and has not received any external investment.
Currently, StandX supports earning points through pre-deposits, namely minting and pre-depositing DUSD with USDT or USDC. Points can also be earned by recommending, providing DUSD liquidity, holding LP tokens, holding DUSD YT on RateX, and trading DUSD on DEX Pools.
Astros
Astros is a Sui ecosystem DEX aggregator and perpetual contract market, powered by NAVI Protocol. Currently, Astros has soft-launched its perpetual contract DEX.
Odysseys, transactions, and interactive activities will be released from time to time on the Astros website.
