Decentralized Exchange ( DEX ) records all-time high trading volume... Market share expanded threefold in five years.

Source: TokenPost Original Title: Decentralized Exchange Trading Volume Hits All-Time High… Market Share Expanded Threefold in Five Years Original Link: The trading volume of decentralized exchanges (DEX), symbolizing the growth of the DeFi market, has reached an all-time high. As of November 2025, the spot trading volume of DEX amounted to $419.7 billion, approximately 61 trillion 605.9 billion won. Despite ongoing market corrections, this recorded figure shows that the market dominance of DEX is rapidly expanding.

In January 2021, the spot trading share of DEX was only 6% of the entire market, but by November 2025, the share had increased to 21.2%, more than tripling over five years. Notably, even after the collapse of major exchanges in 2022, the DEX share experienced a stagnation without an immediate rise, but in March 2023, spurred by increased regulations, the market share broke through 10% and rebounded.

In 2025, the surge of meme coins based on Solana(SOL) acted as a catalyst, leading to a sharp increase in DEX trading volume. In January alone, the DEX spot trading volume reached a record high of $413.7 billion(, approximately 60 trillion 807.9 billion won), and some DEXs recorded trading volumes nearly on par with major DEXs.

The rise of DEX is evident not only in the spot market but also in the derivatives market. The market share of DEX-based perpetual( contracts grew significantly from 2.1% on January 2, 2023, to 11.7% in November 2025. Over the course of a year, the cumulative trading volume of DEX derivatives approached $903.5 billion), which is about 132.8145 trillion won(, representing a tenfold increase compared to the same period last year.

Emerging exchanges have stood out among them. By 2025, emerging DEXs are expected to handle a total of $2.74 trillion), approximately 403.78 trillion won( in derivatives trading, surpassing most centralized exchanges. Unlike existing DEX projects, the emerging strong players are leading the market in various aspects such as service range, liquidity, and fee competitiveness.

The proportion of DEX in the overall trading market has maintained around 20% over the past five months, which is significantly higher than before. The industry pointed to the resurgence of DEX's role as a major factor due to incidents of trust collapse such as the collapse of major exchanges, a hardline regulatory stance, and the rise of meme coins.

The structural growth of decentralized exchanges has entered a full-fledged trajectory. With the intensification of regulatory risks and the meme coin craze acting in combination, there is a trend for investors to prefer trading environments where they can control their assets themselves.