Top Derivatives DEXs in 2025: How Hyperliquid, dYdX, and Orderly Network Are Revolutionizing Futures Trading

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The Rise of Derivatives DEXs in 2025

Ostap Harasymchuk

CBDO

4 min read

22 Aug 2025

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The Problem and Solution: Why Derivatives DEXs Are Transforming Futures Trading 

Problem: Centralized exchanges (CEXs) like Binance dominate futures trading, processing $5.4 trillion in derivatives volume in Q1 2025, but they carry significant risks. High fees, mandatory KYC, and counterparty vulnerabilities—evidenced by the 2023 FTX collapse costing users billions—limit accessibility. Traders face hacking risks, fund freezes, and restricted market access in regulated regions.

Solution: Derivatives DEXs offer non-custodial, permissionless trading, eliminating intermediaries. They enable perpetual contracts with no expiration, up to 100x leverage, and low fees through smart contracts and decentralized oracles (e.g., Chainlink, Pyth) for transparent pricing. Platforms like Hyperliquid and Orderly Network (WOOFi Pro) drove $1.5 trillion in 2024 volume, capturing 26% market share in 2025. Gasless transactions and AI agents enhance UX and analytics, making derivatives DEXs a DeFi cornerstone, rivaling CEXs while aligning with Clarnium’s community-driven ethos.

Architecture: How Derivatives DEXs Work Technically

Derivatives DEXs power perpetual futures trading on blockchain networks, eliminating centralized intermediaries with sophisticated architectures tailored for speed, security, and liquidity. Unlike spot DEXs (e.g., Uniswap) or token launch platforms like Pump.fun, which uses bonding curves for token creation, derivatives DEXs manage complex financial instruments through smart contracts, decentralized oracles, and hybrid liquidity models.

Core Components:

Smart Contracts: Self-executing contracts on blockchains like Solana, Arbitrum, or custom Layer-1s (e.g., Hyperliquid’s HyperEVM) automate trade execution, margin calls, and liquidations. For example, GMX leverages its GLP multi-asset pool smart contract to pool assets like BTC, ETH, and USDC, enabling zero-slippage trades and reducing impermanent loss for liquidity providers. These contracts handle leverage up to 100x and ensure trustless settlements.
Decentralized Oracles: Real-time price feeds from Chainlink (used by GMX, dYdX) or Pyth (Hyperliquid, Drift) prevent manipulation and ensure accurate pricing. Pyth’s sub-second data delivery, adopted by Orderly Network, supports high-frequency trading with latency below 100ms, critical for volatile markets.
Liquidity Models: Derivatives DEXs use automated market makers (AMMs), on-chain order books, or hybrids. Hyperliquid’s HyperCore orderbook, powered by HyperBFT consensus, processes 200,000 orders per second with sub-second finality, rivaling CEXs. Orderly Network’s synthetic Proactive Market Making (sPMM) aggregates liquidity across NEAR, Arbitrum, and Base, reducing slippage via cross-chain pools. Perp v2 employs a Uniswap v3-based virtual AMM, concentrating liquidity to minimize price impact.
Funding Rates: Adjusted every 1–8 hours, these balance long and short positions, aligning perpetual prices with spot markets. dYdX uses dynamic funding rates to stabilize markets during volatility, ensuring fairness.
Gasless Transactions: Enabled via account abstraction, platforms like Nekodex and Aark eliminate gas fees, enhancing UX for retail traders.
Cross-Chain Interoperability: Atomic swaps via Hash Time-Locked Contracts (HTLCs) and bridges (e.g., Orderly Network’s SDK) enable trading across Ethereum, Solana, and Base, reducing liquidity fragmentation. THORChain and Rubic pioneer trustless swaps, a growing 2025 trend.
AI Agents: In 2025, AI-driven analytics optimize trading. WardenSwap uses AI to predict price trends and allocate liquidity, while Orderly Network leverages AI for cross-chain order routing, improving execution efficiency.

2025 Innovations:

Layer-2 Scaling: Ethereum’s high gas fees are mitigated by Arbitrum, Optimism, and Base, with transaction costs below $0.001. dYdX’s StarkWare Layer-2 and Orderly’s Base integration ensure fast, low-cost trades.
Hybrid Models: RubyDex and dYdX combine AMM efficiency with order book precision, supporting advanced orders (e.g., stop-loss, limit).
Quantum-Resistant Security: With quantum risks emerging, Hyperliquid explores post-quantum cryptography (e.g., lattice-based signatures) to secure contracts.
Community Engagement: Telegram mini apps, inspired by Clarnium’s TG App Launcher, drive community rewards on platforms like Satori (via Hibachi Points), fostering trader loyalty on TON.

These advancements make derivatives DEXs faster, cheaper, and more secure, offering CEX-like performance with DeFi transparency.

Top Derivatives DEXs in 2025: New and Most Used

Derivatives DEXs captured 26% of futures volume in 2025, up from 9% in 2024, with $1.5 trillion in 2024 trading volume. Below are the top platforms, ranked by liquidity, volume, and innovation.

1. Hyperliquid

Overview: Leads with 80% market share, $15B daily volume, and $10B open interest on a custom Layer-1 with HyperBFT, offering 50x leverage on 150+ assets (e.g., BTC, ETH, SOL).
Key Features: Gas-free trading, Hyperliquidity Provider (HLP) vault for yields, and community-driven contracts via HIP-3. Sub-second execution rivals CEXs.
Why It Stands Out: Deep liquidity and minimal slippage for institutional traders.

2. dYdX

Overview: On its Cosmos-based chain, dYdX offers 50x leverage on 220+ markets with $1B+ TVL and $2.8B daily volume.
Key Features: StarkWare Layer-2 for low fees, advanced order types, and $DYDX rewards. Resilient post-2023 front-end exploit.
Why It Stands Out: CEX-like UX with DeFi security for pro traders.

3. Orderly Network

Overview: A 2025 standout on NEAR, Arbitrum, and Base, with $500M+ monthly volume and 20x leverage on 50+ pairs (e.g., BTC, ETH).
Key Features: Synthetic Proactive Market Making (sPMM) for CEX-like liquidity, gas-free trading, and 80% revenue sharing to $WOO stakers. SDK supports DApp integration.
Why It Stands Out: Cross-chain liquidity and points program for airdrops.

4. Aevo

Overview: Ethereum Layer-2 DEX with $10B total volume and 50x leverage on 100+ assets, excelling in pre-launch token futures.
Key Features: Off-chain matching, on-chain settlement, and TradingView integration.
Why It Stands Out: Appeals to speculative traders.

5. GMX

Overview: On Arbitrum and Avalanche, GMX has $130B total volume, $480M TVL, and 100x leverage on BTC, ETH, AVAX.
Key Features: GLP pool for liquidity, Chainlink oracles, and low fees. $GMX enables governance.
Why It Stands Out: High leverage and zero price impact.

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Decentralized exchanges will likely capture significant market share from centralized exchanges in derivatives and futures trading. In 2025, DEXs have become increasingly user-friendly and, more importantly, cost-effective for active trading. The advantages of decentralization—such as no KYC requirements, no fund freezing, and transparency through user-controlled funds and on-chain order matching—will continue to drive the DEX narrative forward.

Ostap Harasymchuk

CBDO

To Sum Up

Derivatives DEXs, with $1.5 trillion in 2024 volume and 26% market share in 2025, are redefining futures trading. Platforms like Hyperliquid, dYdX, and Orderly Network (WOOFi Pro) eliminate CEX risks—hacks, fees, KYC—with non-custodial, high-leverage trading. With $23 trillion projected for global derivatives volume, DEXs deliver transparent, permissionless markets. Stay ahead by exploring these platforms and their innovations. Want to dive deeper or craft a winning trading strategy for 2025? Connect with experts to navigate the DeFi landscape and unlock your project’s potential!

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