Solana records fifth straight week of DEX volume decline

Decentralized exchanges (DEXs) on Solana recorded approximately $20.2 billion in the week that ended February 16. The numbers extend a streak of declining weekly trading volume for the fifth straight week, based on DeFiLlama data.

The data analysis site also revealed that in the week ending February 10, 2025, Solana’s on-chain transaction volumes fell by 28%, totaling $31.8 billion.

The slide in Solana DEX activity has been linked to a broader market trend. Similar volume reductions have been observed across other blockchains like BNB Chain, Ethereum, Sui, and Polygon.

Solana’s declining numbers 

According to DeFiLlama, the weekly trading volume has fallen by 24.35%, totaling $28.893 billion over the past week. 

Meteora reported the most activity as the top DEX with a volume of $875.8 million, followed by Raydium at $836.37 million and Orca at $322.32 million. The cumulative trading volume for the top DEXs reached $155.172 billion over the entire period.

Meteora had a weekly Total Value Locked (TVL) of $8.024 billion with a volume/TVL ratio of 0.84, which indicates strong liquidity. Raydium had a higher weekly TVL but a lower volume/TVL ratio of 0.5. 

While Solana DEXs have witnessed a volume decline, those on Binance Smart Chain (BSC)  have picked up, and the chain currently has the highest trading volume among decentralized exchanges.

This is a stark difference from March 2024 stats when BSC DEXs trailed in third place by trading volume at $47.81 billion, behind Solana and Ethereum, while the fourth spot went to Arbitrum’s $27.74 billion. 

The increase in BSC’s trading volume indicates a significant increase in activity and coincides with the return of memes to the ecosystem, which is ironic because many believe one reason Solana DEXs are declining in volume is because of meme fatigue. 

Solana currently has the moniker of the “home of memes.” However, this cycle has seen many bad actors and selfish players extract millions from the ecosystem thanks to Pump.fun’s effectiveness in proliferating memes, even without any technical knowledge. 

Factors implicated in the Solana DEX decline 

The decline in Solana’s DEX volume can be partially attributed to the gradual cooling in the memecoin trading craze that has gripped Solana since the bull run started. Many memes have come and gone, and users seem to have been exhausted by the continuous pump-and-dump schemes, rugpulls, and insider trading.

The sentiment of traders could also be because they are just about ready for something different. Binance’s former CEO, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), came forward with a meme that drove trading traffic back to BSC and has seemingly now jump-started meme season on the chain.

The Solana chain remains a top competitor in the DEX market. The value of the SOL token has significantly declined by over 50% in the past year, but many analysts still remain optimistic about the network’s long-term potential.

A good example of those who still believe in Solana’s supremacy is Mert Mumtaz, the Helius Labs CEO. 

Following the latest Libra memecoin debacle led by Argentina’s president, Javier Milei, Mert went off on trolls calling the Solana chain a scam chain because of the number of memecoin scams that occur on it. In a series of tweets, Mert talked about the toxic sentiments surrounding the chain, pointing out that the network itself has no control over what it is used for. 

As far as Mert is concerned, the tech works, which is why memes have been so successful on the chain, and nothing else matters.

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