An evaluation by Coinglass evaluating perpetual decentralized trade (perp DEX) information has sparked fierce debate and, within the course of, highlighted rifts inside the crypto derivatives sector.
The examine uncovered marked discrepancies in buying and selling volumes, open curiosity, and liquidations throughout Hyperliquid, Aster, and Lighter. Customers are left asking what qualifies as real buying and selling exercise on these platforms.
Coinglass Information Sparks Debate Over Genuine Buying and selling on Perpetual DEXs
Coinglass is going through backlash after publishing a comparability of perp DEXs, questioning whether or not reported buying and selling volumes throughout components of the sector replicate real market exercise.
A 24-hour snapshot evaluating Hyperliquid, Aster, and Lighter exhibits that:
- Hyperliquid recorded roughly $3.76 billion in buying and selling quantity, $4.05 billion in open curiosity, and $122.96 million in liquidations.
- Aster posted $2.76 billion in quantity, $927 million in open curiosity, and $7.2 million in liquidations
- Lighter reported $1.81 billion in quantity, $731 million in open curiosity, and $3.34 million in liquidations.

High crypto decentralized derivatives exchanges ranked. Supply: Coinglass on X
In line with Coinglass, such discrepancies can matter. In perpetual futures markets, excessive buying and selling quantity pushed by leveraged positions usually correlates with open-interest dynamics and liquidation exercise throughout worth strikes.

Trade Liquidations. Supply: Coinglass on X
The agency steered that, somewhat than natural hedging demand, the mixture of excessive reported quantity and comparatively low liquidations could point out:
- Incentive-driven buying and selling
- Market-maker looping, or
- Factors farming.
Primarily based on this, Coinglass concludes that Hyperliquid confirmed stronger inside consistency throughout key metrics.
In the meantime, the quantity high quality of some rivals warrants additional validation utilizing indicators similar to funding charges, charges, order-book depth, and lively dealer counts.
“Conclusion…Hyperliquid exhibits a lot stronger consistency between quantity, OI, and liquidations — a greater sign of actual exercise. In the meantime, Aster/Lighter’s quantity high quality wants additional validation (vs charges, funding, orderbook depth, and lively merchants),” the analytics platform indicated.
Critics Push Again, however Coinglass Defends Its Place
Nevertheless, critics argue that conclusions drawn from a single-day snapshot could possibly be deceptive. Particularly, they recommend different explanations for the information, together with whale positioning, algorithmic variations between platforms, and variations in market construction that might affect liquidation patterns with out implying inflated quantity.
“Extra doubtless rationalization?”
So, you are simply speculating? You write an article criticizing Aster and Lighter primarily based solely on hypothesis, with none certainty?
Wow, I believed Coinglass was a good firm. If we will speculate, perhaps Hype has extra liquidations…
— D C CRYPT (@DC__CRYPT) February 9, 2026
Others questioned whether or not liquidation totals alone are a dependable indicator of market well being, noting that increased liquidations may also replicate aggressive leverage or risky buying and selling situations.
In the meantime, Coinglass rejects accusations that its evaluation amounted to hypothesis or concern, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD), emphasizing that its conclusions had been primarily based on publicly accessible information.
“Coinglass merely highlighted just a few discrepancies primarily based on publicly accessible information. We didn’t anticipate {that a} impartial, goal=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener nofollow”>wrote, including that open dialogue and tolerance for criticism are important for the trade to enhance.
In one other response, Coinglass pressured that disagreements needs to be addressed with stronger proof somewhat than accusations.
The agency additionally argued that increased leverage ceilings on some platforms might make them structurally extra liable to pressured liquidations. This outlook shifts the controversy away from uncooked numbers towards trade design and threat administration.
A Sample of Backlash within the Perp DEX Sector: What Counts as “Actual” Exercise?
The controversy comes amid a broader wave of disputes surrounding Hyperliquid and the perpetual DEX market.
Earlier, Kyle Samani, co-founder of Multicoin Capital, publicly criticized Hyperliquid, elevating considerations about transparency, governance, and its closed-source components.
Hyper liquid is in most respects every thing incorrect with crypto
Founder actually fled his residence nation to construct
Overtly facilitates crime and terror
Closed supply
Permissioned— Kyle Samani (@KyleSamani) February 8, 2026
His remarks triggered sturdy reactions from merchants and supporters of the platform, lots of whom dismissed the criticism and questioned his motives.
BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes additional escalated the feud by proposing a $100,000 charity wager, difficult Samani to pick any main altcoin with a market cap above $1 billion to compete in opposition to Hyperliquid’s $HYPE token in efficiency over a number of months.
Since $HYPE is unhealthy @KyleSamani let’s make a wager.
I wager that from 00:00 UTC 10 Feb 2026 to 00:00 UTC 31 July 2026 $HYPE will out carry out any shitcoin >$1bn mcap on coingecko in USD phrases. You select your champion.
Loser donates $100k to a charity of the winner’s alternative. https://t.co/9n3TjxiRPk
— Arthur Hayes (@CryptoHayes) February 8, 2026
The dispute highlights a deeper concern going through crypto derivatives markets: the shortage of standardized metrics for evaluating exercise throughout DEXes.
Buying and selling quantity has lengthy served as a headline indicator of success. Nevertheless, the rise of incentive packages, airdrop campaigns, and liquidity-mining methods has difficult the interpretation of these figures.
As new perp DEX platforms launch and competitors intensifies, metrics similar to open curiosity, liquidation patterns, leverage ranges, and order-book depth have gotten central to assessing market integrity.
This Coinglass incident mirrors how information itself has turn out to be a battleground amid a sector pushed by each numbers and narratives. Subsequently, the controversy over what these numbers actually imply is prone to intensify because the perpetual futures market continues to develop.
The put up Coinglass Ignites Perp DEX Information Struggle Amid Hyperliquid Quantity Debate appeared first on BeInCrypto.

