Trading volume on DEXs on the Ethereum network has halved from December’s record highs

What’s new? The total trading volume on decentralized crypto exchanges (DEXs) in the largest smart contract network, Ethereum, in March amounted to $57 billion, which is almost half the figure recorded during the peak of the crypto market in December 2024 ($112 billion). The daily number of unique traders during the same period fell from a record 95 000 to 40 000, the lowest in the last 12 months of observations.

Material by The Block

What else is known? The sharp decline in DEX user activity coincided with a cooling in the broader market and reduced speculative capital flows into investment crypto products.

Uniswap remains the leading decentralized Ethereum trading platform, accounting for the vast majority of active users, while its main competitor, SushiSwap, currently only attracts around 2000 traders per day.

This decrease in trading volume indicates not only a decline in activity, but also a decrease in average transaction size. Such changes emphasize that traders prefer to take a more cautious stance in the current environment.

Despite the deterioration in results last month, DEXs still not only retain approximately 13% of the total spot trading volume, but also continue the upward trend in the index seen in recent years, highlighting the ability of DEXs to compete with centralized exchanges (CEX).

However, at this stage of the crypto market’s development, the differences between the two types of exchanges are still evident. For example, CEXs continue to offer superior liquidity, lower transaction costs, and faster execution for most standard trading operations.

At the same time, innovations from DEX aggregators such as Bebop and CoWSwap are gradually narrowing these gaps by optimizing routing, combating slippage, and improving the overall user experience.

Additionally, Layer 2 (L2) networks for scaling Ethereum, such as Base, have captured a significant share of trading volume, while Solana’s Layer 1 (L1) blockchain continues to position itself as an alternative trading platform.

This redistribution suggests that while activity in native DEXs on Ethereum has declined, traders are still interested in exploring cost-effective platforms rather than abandoning decentralized trading altogether, analysts at The Block note.

Nevertheless, the value of the Ethereum (ETH) native token has fallen by more than 20% over the past week, causing some large long-term holders to begin selling off their holdings at losses or minimal gains.

On-chain analysts also said that Donald Trump’s DeFi protocol World Liberty Financial sold off some of its ETH holdings at a significant loss amid the market decline earlier in the week.