Perpetual futures markets heat up on Solana as activity follows Hyperliquid trend

Perpetual futures markets are still expanding on Solana, turning the chain into a key hub for such trades. Even though volumes are still far from Hyperliquid, they reflect the general demand for perpetual futures trading. 

Solana is hosting a lively market for perpetual futures trading, recently breaking new records for daily volumes. Based on Glassnode data, perpetual futures open interest on the network is now above $7B, reflecting growing market participation. 

Perpetual futures DEX trading expanded based on SOL swaps, as the asset broke above $200. The recent market rally was driven by growing open interest, setting new records. 

Solana continues to outperform, with perp open interest climbing above $7B as price extends beyond $200. Market participation is clearly expanding.

Chart Link: https://t.co/Y22U0vAkmf pic.twitter.com/sv7PBryF8o

— glassnode (@glassnode) September 9, 2025

The growing volumes coincide with accelerated on-chain settlement for SOL. The asset recovered above $218, sparking a bullish outlook and potentially driving expanded trading volumes. SOL now enjoys a mix of centralized perpetual futures activities and DEX-based swaps. 

The growth in futures activities happens at a time when SOL sentiment points to greed, based on the Solana fear and greed index. 

SOL trades on peak open interest

SOL open interest on all exchanges is also at a three-year peak of $7.48B, with over 61% in long positions and the emergence of riskier short positions. Increased leveraged positions can also cause SOL volatility, by attempts to liquidate traders. 

As of September 9, short positions hold over $25M in liquidatable shorts, as SOL trading draws in riskier moves. The shift in short positions followed the breakout above $200, as the market anticipates a drawdown. On Hyperliquid, the biggest single whale position is short on SOL, with over $83M in notional value and a signifirant unrealized loss during the recent rally. 

The other potential path to SOL is another Solana season, driven by a mix of memes, lending, and other DeFi activities. Value locked is now above $12.24B, also reaching new all-time peaks in the past few weeks. Perpetual futures trading also gained additional liquidity from $12.32B of stablecoins on the Solana network. 

Jupiter, Drift drive Solana on-chain perpetual DEX

Solana on-chain futures are mostly active on Jupiter and Drift Protocol. As of August 25, Jupiter reached over $25B in perpetual futures swaps after months of growth. As Cryptopolitan previously reported, August was a record month for perpetual futures activity on Solana.

Overall, Solana carries $1.10B in perpetual futures trades, spread across multiple DeFi protocols. Some of the protocols are still relatively small and are competing for growth. Drift attempts to draw in more traders and users with passive income incentives. 

In the past months, Solana perpetual futures volumes are over $41B, making it the third-largest network carrying this type of decentralized activity. On Hyperliquid, the volumes are at over $385B, though other chains are making their moves. 

For now, Solana has managed to surpass Ethereum and BSC on the monthly futures volumes, in addition to established L2 chains like Arbitrum and Base. The perpetual futures DEX trend may continue in the coming months, as permissionless chains offer no-KYC access and growing liquidity.

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