Decentralized Crypto Exchange (DEX) Volume Surged 62% in February

Trading volume on decentralized crypto exchanges (DEX) increased by 62 percent in February 2020 setting a new all-time high (ATH) in a continuation of the trend of growing customer appetite for alternatives to centralized crypto trading marketplaces.

DEX February 2020 Volume Sets New ATH

According to blockchain data tracking firm, Dune Analytics, the total trading volume of DEX platforms for February 2020 was over $372 million. This figure represents a 62 percent increase from the monthly total recorded for January 2020.

February was an all-time high month for DEXs on @ethereum with $372 million traded! Slightly beating the previous record from November. We can also see that DEX volumes are highly correlated with ETH price. https://t.co/ifsecZBNmz pic.twitter.com/DSKgmdwDDd — Dune Analytics (@DuneAnalytics) March 1, 2020

At over $372 million, February’s total trading volume also constitutes a new ATH for trading activity on DEX platforms. The previous all-time high was about $358 million achieved back in July 2019.

In total, more than $601 million has been traded on DEX platforms within the first two months of 2020. The total DEX volume for the whole of 2019 was $2.37 billion.

Since reaching its previous ATH of $358 million, trading appetite on DEX platforms appeared to take a nosedive, coinciding with a period of downward price action for Ethereum (ETH) at the time. Indeed, from January 2019 to July 2019, DEX trading activity steadily increased in tandem with the ETH spot price performance.

Since the middle of Q4 2019, appetite appeared to resurface for DEX platforms as reported by BTCManager at the time. This surge in activity has led to trading volume reaching a new ATH in February.

However, with ETH not being spared from the sharp decline in the crypto market over the last week, it remains to be seen whether DEX trading volume will suffer a significant downward push. For now, the week-on-week growth in DEX trading stands at 21 percent with a total volume of about $108 million during the period.

Data from Dune Analytics shows that more than $16.1 million has been traded on DEX platforms with Uniswap, Kyber, and 0x claiming the majority of the total DEX market share.

Lending and DEX Propelling DeFi Surge

The growth in trading volume on DEX platforms is also indicative of the increasing level of activity in the Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ecosystem. According to DeFi analytics site DeFi Pulse, the total ETH value locked (TVL) in the market stands at $943.9 million.

Earlier in the year, the TVL did cross the $1 billion milestone but the sharp decline in the price of ETH has seen this figure drop slightly. Leading DEX platform Uniswap is among one of the top-5 DeFi platforms in terms of TVL.