The Decentralized Exchange (DEX) handled a combination of $1.15 trillion spots and permanent contract volumes during August, with monthly DEX activity above the $1 trillion threshold.
According to data from Defillama, the Spot Dex volume reached $506.3 billion in August, reaching just $1.5 billion, a record high of $507.8 billion recorded in January.
The August figures represent an 18.4% increase from trading activity in July, indicating the sustained growth of spot trading on the chain.
The amount of permanent contracts has driven record-breaking performance, reaching $648.6 billion in August, a jump of 31.3% from July, an absolute best jump in the derivatives product category.
Permanent surges accounted for 56.4% of the total DEX volume during that month.
Ethereum regains spot leadership
August marked the first time since March that Ethereum has overtaken Solana and the BNB chain in trading volume on the chain.
Ethereum handles a spot volume of $1000.4 billion each month, while Solana has registered nearly $120 billion. The BNB chain concluded its top three with a spot trading activity of around $60 billion.
Uniswap has maintained its position as the dominant Spot Dex protocol, with over $143 billion processed in August, earning 28.2% of the total. Pancakeswap took second place with $56.6 billion, while Hyperliquid completed the top three with a spot volume of $21.7 billion.
The permanent landscape showed even greater concentration, with high lipids establishing absolute dominance by capturing 62.5% of the market through a monthly volume of $400 billion.
The Ethereum-based permanent protocol handled $72.5 billion and took second place, while the BNB chain platform generated $55.1 billion.
Among other permanent protocols, Edgex has acquired a trading volume of $43.6 billion, but has ordered $23.7 billion during August.
The increase in spot volume led to a 0.7% increase in DEX-To-CEX trading rate in August, up 17.2%. Throughout 2025, this ratio has consistently exceeded 10%, indicating the sustained adoption of trading infrastructure on the chain.
These figures show that there is growing acceptance of decentralized trading venues that could potentially be driven by improved user experience across major DEX platforms.
The monthly volume achievement of $1.1 trillion positions decentralized exchanges as a permanent fixture in the cryptocurrency market structure, with persistent trading still attracting the same attention as its centralized counterparts.
