# Ethereum and Arbitrum Surge While Solana Struggles in DEX Market
This week (February 1–7), the decentralized exchange (DEX) market showcased a notable divergence, with Ethereum and Arbitrum exhibiting strong performance and Solana-based DEXs experiencing significant declines.
# Solana Down 19%, Ethereum Up 48%
According to DefiLlama data, Solana saw its weekly trading volume drop by 19.25% to $40.3 billion. Despite maintaining the top market share at 29.5%, Solana’s trends show a clear deceleration compared to the gains of its competitors. Conversely, Ethereum displayed robust strength with a weekly trading volume increase of 48.41%, reaching $27.1 billion.
Arbitrum and Tron also garnered attention with weekly trading volume increases of 49.33% and 82.68%, respectively. Arbitrum stood out with a trading volume of $7.6 billion and maintained a total value locked (TVL) of $592.3 million, highlighting its prominence within the Ethereum Layer 2 ecosystem. Tron, despite a relatively lower TVL of $984 million, attracted interest due to its strong community and rapid growth.
Hyperliquid and Avalanche also showed significant growth, with respective increases of 38.79% and 32.22%. Hyperliquid has notably attracted investors through an optimized trading experience and lightweight network structure.
# Emerging Platforms Shine in Ethereum Ecosystem
On a platform-specific basis, Ethereum-based Uniswap and Curve Finance recorded weekly trading volume increases of 14.2% and 44.28%, respectively, driving the growth of the Ethereum DEX market. Uniswap led the pack with a weekly trading volume of $27.1 billion, commanding 21.64% of the overall DEX market and securing its top position.
The emerging platform Fluid also demonstrated impressive growth, with its weekly trading volume surging 128% to $215 million. Fluid DEX is characterized by its unique structure that links the lending market with DEX, offering up to 39 times capital efficiency. This design allows new protocols to leverage existing asset pools, propelling Fluid to the position of the third-largest DEX on Ethereum within just a month of its launch.
Fluid is the fastest ever to hit $10 billion in volume on Ethereum. — Messari (@MessariCrypto) February 6, 2025.
Meanwhile, leading Solana-based DEXs such as Raydium and Meteora reported declines of 30.89% and 29.87% in trading volumes, respectively. This downturn reflects a decrease in liquidity within the Solana ecosystem and a drop in market share.
# Can Ethereum Sustain Its Momentum While Solana Rebounds?
This week highlighted the strength of Ethereum-based DEXs and the rise of innovative platforms. Leading platforms like Uniswap and Curve Finance continue their steady growth, while newcomers like Fluid are rapidly expanding their market share. It remains to be seen whether these trends will persist or if platforms on other chains, such as Solana, will rebound in the coming weeks.
