Raydium is Solana's AMM King. Can it Corner the Perps Market Next?

Raydium is Solana's AMM King. Can it Corner the Perps Market Next?

Raydium's Perpetuals Service Surges to $100M Daily Trading Volume in Just One Month

• Raydium's newly launched perpetuals (perps) trading platform is now processing $100 million in daily trading volume.
• It has quickly become the third-largest perps trading venue on Solana, trailing only Jupiter and Drift.
• Raydium's integration with Orderly Network enables multi-chain perps trading, contributing to rapid growth.
• A full-scale launch is expected in the coming weeks, with plans for increased marketing and outreach.

Raydium's Rapid Rise in Solana’s Perps Market

Decentralized trading platform Raydium is making waves in Solana’s perpetual futures market, quickly gaining ground against established competitors. Despite being only weeks old, its perps trading platform has already crossed $100 million in daily trading volume, securing its spot as the third-largest perps exchange in the Solana ecosystem.

Raydium’s rapid adoption comes despite minimal marketing efforts and an ongoing "public beta" phase. The platform’s strong brand reputation and deep liquidity pools have played a significant role in attracting traders. InfraRAY, a core contributor to Raydium, emphasized the project's organic growth, stating, "Raydium’s brand still packs a punch."

How Raydium Stands Out

Unlike traditional crypto exchanges, Raydium operates as an automated market maker (AMM), enabling permissionless liquidity pools for various assets. This has been a crucial advantage in Solana’s booming memecoin market. However, most users don’t directly visit Raydium’s website; instead, they access its trading services through aggregators, which split orders across multiple platforms.

This means Raydium primarily interacts with liquidity providers ("makers") but has less direct engagement with traders ("takers"), a key area for growth. "Greater network effects exist when you own the relationship with the taker," said InfraRAY.

Orderly Network's Role in Raydium’s Expansion

Raydium’s perps trading is powered by Orderly Network, a multi-chain trading project that consolidates liquidity across blockchains. This integration allows traders from various ecosystems to access a unified order book, leading to smoother execution and greater efficiency.

Orderly’s impact has been substantial: perps traders from Solana now account for 25% of Orderly’s total trading volume. According to CEO Ran Yi, "We're trading anywhere from $200 to $400 million a day across a couple dozen projects offering Orderly-supported perps trading."

By handling perps trading through Orderly instead of executing transactions directly on-chain, Raydium benefits from lower costs and improved transaction reliability. However, the cross-chain infrastructure introduces complexities that developers are still fine-tuning.

What’s Next?

Raydium’s perps platform is expected to exit its beta phase and launch fully in the coming weeks. Once officially live, the team plans to ramp up marketing efforts and expand its user base.

Despite its strong start, Raydium still trails behind Solana’s dominant perps platforms. Jupiter, the leading on-chain perps exchange, processes nearly $2 billion in daily volume, while Drift handles twice the volume of Raydium.

However, InfraRAY remains confident in Raydium’s ability to close the gap, citing its ability to list new trading pairs faster than competitors. Orderly Network’s infrastructure allows Raydium to rapidly introduce new markets, positioning it as a key player in Solana’s evolving derivatives landscape.