The decentralized exchange (DEX) segment also experienced a healthy increase in the volume of weekly exchanges, reaching total volume at $164.79 billion by August 29, 2025.
This value indicates a 21.14 percentage change over last week, which shows a new wave of decentralized finance (DeFi) trading activity. Centralized exchanges (CEX) continue to hold a dominant role, DEXs currently have a larger place in total market volume and this underscores the increasing relevance of DEXs within the greater crypto ecosystem.
Uniswap Retains Its Lead
Uniswap still continues to lead the DEX market. The platform recorded a total value locked (TVL) of $3.60 billion and a seven-day trading volume of $35.18 billion which is far ahead of its competitors. Its depth in liquidity and wide adoption by users remain to make it the favorite of DeFi traders in search of efficiency and reliability.
PancakeSwap Strengthens Position
PancakeSwap had made the second place with a weekly trading volume of $15.37 billion and TVL of $2.06 billion. PancakeSwap operates using the BNB Chain, whereby it has remained attractive to users in the platform especially to retail traders whose biggest attraction lies in the minimal fee, as well as a wide selection of trading pairs. Its consistent rise is evidence of its capability to counter DEX giants that are based on Ethereum.
Rising Stars: Hyperliquid and Orca
Hyperliquid has also become an upcoming competitor in the DEX market, scoring a total of $10.53 billion of weekly trading volume with a TVL of $420 million. Its potential is also noted by its high performance in execution and increasing adoption despite its rather limited liquidity pool relative to the industry leaders.
Another competitor, Orca, recorded a trading weekly of $6.24 billion and TVL of $1.08 billion. Orca has been making headway with its speed and low costs of transaction because it runs on the Solana network.
Aerodrome, Raydium, and Meteora in Focus
Aerodrome registered an average trading volume of $5.96 billion weekly which was backed by a $596.15 million TVL. In the meantime, Raydium, another Solana-based DEX, realized the largest trading volume of $ 4.51 billion, with a TVL of $ 644.52 million, and, thus, established a decent place among the major liquidity providers in the Solana ecosystem.
Meteora was next, with trading volume of $3.91 billion and a TVL of $523.62 million. Both of these exchanges contribute to the growth of DeFi multi-chain visibility.
Curve and LFJ Round Out the Top Rankings
Curve, which is the leading liquidity pools based on stablecoins, had a weekly trading volume of $2.41 billion and a TVL of $211.88 million. Although its TVL has decreased since its previous highs, Curve is still an essential infrastructure in swapping stablecoins.
Small but expanding exchange LFJ reported weekly trading volume of $1.30 billion and a TVL of $188.07 million, indicating that even newer exchanges are finding a foothold in the competitive DEX environment.
Outlook for the DEX Sector
The weekly growth exceeding 21% indicates the power of decentralized finance in the market volatility. Though Uniswap and PancakeSwap remain the giants, the emergence of Hyperliquid, Orca, Aerodrome, Raydium, and Meteora highlights the diversification in the industry. The constant rivalry between centralized and decentralized exchanges is also a topic of interest, and DEXs are continuously gaining a larger market share.
Assuming this momentum, decentralized exchanges can gain a more prominent place in global crypto trading. Such affordable prices, enhanced user experience, and interoperability across chains have the potential to drive more users, bringing the industry a step forward to an area of mainstream relevance.
