Solana Daily Perps Volume Up 234% Since Being Declared “Dead”

Solana’s onchain perpetual markets are going through an uncertain time. Between Hyperliquid’s dominance of the sector and Phantom’s decision to use a rival chain to power its perps product, many Solana-based traders are starting to lose faith.

But despite claims that “Solana perps are dead”, onchain volumes have been rising week-on-week. Apps like Drift Protocol appear to be sitting on a wrath of improvements, and network updates like Alpenglow could set the stage for Solana’s perpetual trading renaissance.

What’s the outlook for Solana’s perps scene? 

Solana Leads Perps Among General-Purpose Blockchains

On July 8th, Phantom, Solana’s most popular wallet, launched a perpetual trading product. Powered by Hyperliquid, a rival Layer-1 blockchain, Phantom’s announcement was a devastating blow for Solana’s perps sector, effectively sending 15M MAU (monthly active users) outside the ecosystem in search of leveraged positions. 

Phantom opted for performance over loyalty to Solana, which makes complete sense for a business servicing 15M MAU. Crypto’s most popular wallet ultimately acted in the best interest of its users. The fact that Solana’s perps environment didn’t offer a product meeting Phantom’s expectations sent a very distinct message, one that CT picked up and spread ad nauseum.

However, rumors of Sol perps’ death are greatly exaggerated. Since this tweet on July 8, Solana’s daily perpetual trading volume has increased by 234%. While this surge in activity is largely due to the $PUMP TGE, onchain perp volumes have remained consistent in the days following the launch. 

For all the claims that the sector is dead, Solana still leads general-purpose blockchains in perpetual trading volume, edging out Ethereum, Arbitrum, and BNB Chain. Despite Hyperliquid’s undeniable dominance in the field, upcoming network updates could see Solana close the gap sooner than we think.

Alpenglow, an improved consensus mechanism Anza unveiled in May, in expected to dramatically improve Solana’s performance. In an exclusive comment to SolanaFloor, Drift Protocol co-founder Chris Heaney contends that Alpenglow’s implementation will help Drift offer gasless trades with 150ms finality.

“Alpenglow drastically reduces Solana's time to finality, enabling a faster and more reliable trading experience that is comparable with centralized competitors. Between Swift and Alpenglow, Drift will offer gasless trades that are finalized within 150ms.” - Chris Heaney, Drift Protocol co-founder

Beyond Alpenglow, Drift Protocol is hinting at significant improvements across its product suite. Notable features include a CU-optimized MM oracle, and builder codes, which enable teams to generate revenue by leveraging Drift’s stack and infrastructure.

Between Drift’s upcoming improvements and Phantom’s ultra-simplified UX, Solana’s perps environment will be well-equipped to service both professional traders and retail users chasing leveraged positions.

Phantom Perps Off to Flying Start

Since soft launching last week, Phantom’s new perpetual trading product has evidently been a resounding success. According to Phantom Perps Engineer Anvit, the wallet has onboarded over 10,000 traders since launch, attracting over $500M in trading volume.

With Phantom taking around 0.05% on all opened and closed positions, crypto’s most popular wallet has bolstered its revenue generation by approximately $250k. Hypeburn data suggests that Phantom’s perp revenue growth has been exponential thus far and increasing day after day.

Phantom perps adoption is still somewhat hindered by geo-restrictions, with traders based in the U.S. and U.K. barred from using the platform.

Solana’s perps scene is evolving, but that doesn’t necessarily need to mean elevating the experience for professional traders. Courtesy of its ‘normie-friendly’ UI, Phantom is gearing up to be the most retail-ready perps experience ever made.

While retail appeal may not translate to institutional-level volume, it represents a critical step towards growing crypto adoption and bringing users into the onchain economy.

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