Equity perpetual contracts on centralized crypto exchanges have gone from a niche product to a $250 billion-a-month market in just three months. Volume jumped roughly 17 times between April and July, according to CryptoQuant, with Binance handling 76% of the flow. The action is concentrated in semiconductor and memory-chip names — SanDisk alone accounted for more than half of HTX's equity perp volume.
Chips lead the charge
SanDisk was the most-traded equity across the venues CryptoQuant tracks, making up about 57% of equity perp volume on HTX, 29% on Gate, and 27% on Binance. Volume also clustered in SOXL, the triple-leveraged semiconductor fund, along with SK Hynix, Micron, and other memory names. Gate posted the fastest monthly expansion at 308% and has grown every month since May.
DEXs go multi-asset
Decentralized venues are spreading the action more widely. Perp DEXs are gradually evolving from crypto-only venues into a universal trading layer for a broader range of liquid assets, according to CryptoRank. SpaceX was the most-traded non-crypto asset on perp DEXs, trailing only Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Hyperliquid in volume, with $84.6 billion over 90 days. SK Hynix recorded $31.1 billion, followed by oil at $29.1 billion, gold at $28.5 billion, and the S&P 500 at $26.9 billion.
From pre-IPO to everything
The shift builds on earlier growth in pre-IPO perpetuals, which reached about $12 billion in June. Now equities, commodities, and index contracts all rank in the top ten by 90-day volume on perp DEXs. Bitcoin still leads with $543 billion, ahead of Ethereum at $246 billion and Hyperliquid at $93.6 billion. Non-crypto markets account for roughly 17% of the volume across the ten largest perp DEX contracts.
That share looks set to grow as more venues list equities and commodities, but the concentration in chip stocks on centralized exchanges shows how quickly a single sector can dominate a new market.
