Perp DEX Trading Volume Authenticity Dispute Escalates: Coinglass Names Hyperliquid Triggering Industry Trust Crisis

A data platform Coinglass released a comparison report on perpetual decentralized exchanges, sparking significant controversy in the crypto derivatives space. The report selected 24-hour data from three platforms—Hyperliquid, Aster, and Lighter—and showed clear discrepancies in trading volume, open interest, and liquidation scale, leading to intense discussions about how to measure “actual trading activity.”

The data indicates that Hyperliquid’s 24-hour trading volume is approximately $3.76 billion, open interest is $4.05 billion, and liquidations are around $123 million; Aster’s trading volume is about $2.76 billion, open interest $927 million, and liquidations $7.2 million; Lighter’s trading volume is roughly $1.81 billion, open interest $731 million, and liquidations only $3.34 million.
Coinglass believes that in the perpetual contract market, high trading volume should typically be accompanied by changes in open interest and liquidation activity. Therefore, the phenomenon of some platforms having “high volume but very low liquidations” may stem from incentivized wash trading, market-making cycles, or points-based trading.

The platform pointed out that Hyperliquid shows higher consistency across key metrics, while the trading quality of other platforms still needs further verification through dimensions such as trading fees, funding rates, order book depth, and active addresses.

However, critics argue that a single-day snapshot cannot reflect long-term structures. Large whale positions, algorithmic differences, and leverage strategies can also influence liquidation distribution, and this does not necessarily mean data distortion. Some also note that liquidations alone are not the sole measure of market health.

Coinglass later responded that its conclusions are based on publicly available data and are not intended to create panic but to promote a more transparent evaluation framework within the industry.
This debate also extends to a broader level. Previously, Kyle Samani publicly questioned Hyperliquid’s governance and transparency, while Arthur Hayes even proposed a token performance betting against it, further fueling the topic’s heat.

The incident highlights the core challenge in the perpetual DEX space: under incentives, airdrops, and high leverage environments, a single metric is no longer sufficient to define “true trading.” As the derivatives market continues to expand, the game over the meaning of data may become a long-term focus for the industry.