Author: Spirit; Source: Golden Finance
Foreword
As an important part of the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem, on-chain perpetual contracts allow traders to invest in the price of underlying assets without expiration dates. This type of contract not only provides traders with high leverage and hedging opportunities, but also gradually becomes the focus of market attention. In 2025, with the leadership of leading projects such as Hyperiquid, dYdX, GMX, Drift and SynFutures, the on-chain perpetual contract market showed an explosive growth trend. CZ tested the Mubarak perpetual contract on the APX Finance platform, which once again sparked heated discussions in the market and provided us with a new perspective to observe the entire track and industry transformation.
Perpetual Contract Market Status and Data Performance (CEX)
The perpetual contract market is driven by the change in CEX's listing strategy, and the trading volume and position value have shown a strong growth trend. This has opened up market space for the on-chain perpetual contract market and provided early education for users. Data shows:
After VINE was launched on Binance Futures in January 2025, its 24-hour trading volume exceeded US$1.6 billion.
According to a report by Coinbase International, the trading volume of the two AI meme coins Turbo and GOAT accounted for 60%, showing a strong demand for high-volatility products in the market.
In terms of leverage, the MEXC platform provides up to 200 times leverage, while Binance Futures supports 125 times leverage, fully meeting the market's demand for extremely high-risk, high-return products.
Risks also come with it: for example, the GOAT coin once plunged 50% in one day, highlighting the liquidation risk under high leverage.
The data shows that under the background of active adjustment of CEX's listing strategy and increasingly diversified user needs, the on-chain perpetual contract track is ushering in a new development window.
CZTests Mubarak Perpetual Contract
On March 24, 2025, CZ opened a position with 0.04 BNB on the APX Finance platform and tested the Mubarak perpetual contract using 24.7x leverage, focusing on the MEV (miner extractable value) issue. During the test, APX tokens rose 26%, while Mubarak tokens rose 5.5%. This operation has attracted widespread attention in the market:
CZ's test not only demonstrated the application potential of perpetual contracts in the meme coin field, but also sent a signal to the market: In the high-volatility market, innovative perpetual contract design is expected to become a new trading tool.
The market's positive response to this test reflects investors' demand and attention for on-chain perpetual contract tools, especially on-chain perpetual contract products for meme coins, because meme tokens usually start to explode during the on-chain trading stage.
APX FinanceOverview
APX Finance is a decentralized exchange that provides on-chain perpetual contracts. The V2 version supports meme coins such as Mubarak. CZ's test has brought it market attention.
Product Mechanism:
V1: Order book mode, off-chain matching + on-chain settlement, support 100x leverage, fee Maker 0.02%, Taker 0.07%.
V2: Full-chain perpetual contract, AP pool provides liquidity, support 250x leverage (classic mode), Degen mode 1001x, no slippage. Dual oracles (Binance Orace and Chainink) ensure accurate prices. .
AP pool: Initial price is $1, users earn Fee APY, and the value is affected by transactions.
DEX engine: Allows third parties to build DEX based on the technical framework, 10% of the transaction fee income goes to APX DAO, 40% to the AP pool, and partners can get 10%-30% monthly income.
Analysis of on-chain perpetual contract track
Currently, the on-chain perpetual contract track is led by a number of leading projects, each with its own focus. Hyperiquid: With the full-chain order book, zero gas fee and high throughput of its own 1 chain (initial launch stage), Hyperiquid achieved a 24-hour trading volume of US$4.6 billion and a position value of US$2.91 billion, demonstrating the support advantages of institutional-grade infrastructure for large transactions.
dYdX: As a pioneer of perpetual contracts, its order book model and its own chain based on Cosmos SDK provide professional traders with a stable trading experience, with a 24-hour trading volume of US$366 million.
GMX: Relying on multi-asset liquidity pools and high leverage mechanisms, it runs on Arbitrum and Avaanche. Although the trading volume is low, it has attracted some high-risk investors with a maximum leverage of 100 times.
Drift and SynFutures: They use hybrid models and full-chain order matching engines on Soana and Base respectively, providing diversified services for different market positioning.
Overall, the on-chain perpetual contract track is in a stage of rapid development. Various projects have met the market's demand for high leverage, low fees, and transparent and efficient transactions through different mechanisms and technical advantages.
Track Outlook
The on-chain perpetual contract market is expected to continue to grow rapidly, mainly driven by the following factors:
Improved blockchain scalability: With the continuous optimization of infrastructure, such as enhanced cross-chain interoperability and oracle technology upgrades, the execution efficiency and stability of on-chain perpetual contracts will be further improved.
User experience optimization: Lower transaction fees, higher transaction speeds, and continuously improved trading interfaces will attract more professional and retail investors to participate.
Improved regulatory environment: Although regulatory risks still exist, market participants and project parties are actively seeking communication with regulators and striving to achieve innovation within the compliance framework, which is expected to bring a stable growth environment to the industry in the long run.
At the same time, investors need to pay attention to market risks, especially potential liquidation risks in high-leverage transactions and high-volatility environments. Investors should implement effective risk management strategies and pay attention to changes in macroeconomic fluctuations and regulatory policies.
Summary
CZ's test has attracted new attention to the on-chain perpetual contract track, and further confirmed the market's demand for innovative trading tools. With the continuous technological progress of leading projects such as Hyperiquid, dYdX, GMX, Drift and SynFutures, the on-chain perpetual contract market will usher in a broader development prospect. In the future, the crypto asset sector will continue to leverage DeFi innovations and high-leverage trading tools to create a more efficient, transparent and secure financial ecosystem, providing a wider range of trading opportunities for global traders while continuing to evolve amid challenges.
Weatherly
Anais
Catherine
Kikyo
Alex