Solana DEXs must focus on building resilient markets

Opinion by: Lynn Nguyen, CEO of Saros

Decentralized exchanges (DEXs) connected Solana person been topping trading measurement charts for a portion now, outperforming those connected adjacent chains similar Ethereum, Base and BSC.

Memecoins person been mostly liable for this surge successful volume. While they person proven product-market acceptable successful crypto, lone a fistful person demonstrated the quality to past crossed marketplace cycles. 

If they are to clasp their dominance, Solana DEXs indispensable besides amusement that they tin endure perpetually evolving marketplace conditions and short-term trends. 

This besides means gathering much resilient and liquid markets for assets with staying power, specified arsenic Bitcoin, by improving the extent and diverseness of their liquidity pools.

The emergence of Solana DEXs

“Solana is drinking the Ethereum milkshake.” 

That’s however OKX explained the rising prominence of Solana DEXs successful its ‘The State of DEXs 2025’ report.

In the past week of December 2024, Solana DEXs held astir 90% of full DEX marketplace stock — an astir beyond content resurgence pursuing the ecosystem’s expected capitulation successful the astir caller carnivore market. Since then, dominance has fluctuated but remained impressively strong.

Solana’s accelerated transaction speeds, minimal costs, and developer-friendly tools propelled its growth, starring successful transaction number and DEX progressive users. As the OKX study stated:

“Solana is genuinely the retail chain.”

Market stock remained supra 50% successful January 2025 — surpassing Ethereum and Base connected definite days.

Asset absorption level VanEck’s caput of research, Matthew Sigel, noted that “Despite the MemeCoin Meltdown, Solana DEX volumes are inactive holding their ain — astir matching the full ETH ecosystem.”

It wasn’t until August, however, that Ethereum-based DEXs overtook those connected Solana, driven by organization involvement and monolithic spot ETF inflows.

The driblet successful trading measurement of highly speculative assets has led to a important diminution successful DEX measurement connected Solana overall. By aboriginal September, volumes had dropped 65% to $10 billion. These reductions person been further compounded by the emergence of “Prop” oregon “Dark” AMMs connected Solana, which person been eating distant astatine the marketplace stock of accepted DEXs implicit the past year.

This raises an important question. Should Solana DEXs absorption connected much sustainable assets?

Two cardinal obstacles to growth

There are 2 important challenges for Solana DEXs: an overreliance connected trading of highly speculative assets and an contented related to liquidity depth.

The astir speculative assets are typically besides the astir volatile. This leads to elephantine spikes and crashes successful not conscionable the assets, but besides trading volumes, particularly erstwhile examining longer-term clip horizons for the latter.  

Related: Solana DEX Jupiter suspends DAO voting until 2026 to absorption connected DeFi growth

For example, trading measurement connected Pump.fun, the starring memecoin launchpad connected Solana, plummeted 63% successful a month, with DEX measurement declining by 90%. This occurred amid what is wide considered a bull market. Moreover, extractive scams and important terms drops, from LIBRA to TRUMP meme tokens, person astatine times dented Solana’s representation arsenic a reliable trading ecosystem.

When turning to liquidity extent connected Solana, a heavy dive published successful OKX’s 2025 DEX report revealed immoderate concerning signs. A comparative survey of Ethereum, Solana, BSC, Arbitrum and Base implicit 30 days showed that Solana performed poorly based connected cardinal parameters, including trading history, extent of liquidity and sustained trading volume.

Most Solana liquidity pools were abbreviated of capable full worth locked (TVL), suggesting that though Solana recorded precocious DEX trading volumes, they were doing truthful with acold little liquidity compared to different blockchains, which tin pb to antagonistic terms interaction for traders. 

Optimizing for superior ratio is crucial, and liquidity extent is lone beneficial if it’s being utilized. It is down to the aggregators to bash a bully occupation of routing trades done aggregate liquidity sources, and DEXs to guarantee capable extent to enactment larger trades.

Building liquid markets

To bring much liquidity into  Solana DEXs, we request to capable them with resilient and ample marketplace headdress tokens, and what could beryllium a amended starting constituent than the biggest of them all, Bitcoin?

Bitcoin DeFi (BTCFi) is already a booming niche wrong the crypto industry. As a $2.3 trillion plus class, protocols and users alike are progressively present trying to leverage BTC arsenic a productive plus done onchain activity. In fact, BTCFi VC backing adjacent reached $175 million successful the archetypal fractional of 2025.

Solana DEXs tin present prehend the accidental to physique heavy liquidity for the assorted BTC-wrapped assets that are emerging, galore of which already boast ample idiosyncratic marketplace caps. After all, Bitcoin has already proven aggregate times implicit its 17-year past that it tin upwind uncertain and volatile marketplace conditions.

Following BTCFi, it’s wide that stablecoin markets are continuing to turn from spot to strength. If anything, they are adjacent much successful request going into a carnivore market, truthful gathering heavy liquidity for a assortment of stablecoins conscionable makes sense.

This is particularly the lawsuit with blockchains similar Solana, which intelligibly shows a beardown involvement successful maximizing stablecoin adoption connected their chain. The clues aren’t hard to spot — conscionable look astatine Solana’s Stable Future Summit successful Korea — its archetypal ever stablecoin-focused league that was held connected Sept. 23 of this year.

By prioritizing the industry’s strongest assets, specified arsenic Bitcoin and stablecoins, we tin physique a stronger instauration for Solana DeFi. This volition assistance Solana execute its semipermanent extremity of becoming the instauration that underpins net superior markets and assistance it basal steadfast successful little favorable marketplace conditions.

Opinion by: Lynn Nguyen, CEO of Saros.

This nonfiction is for wide accusation purposes and is not intended to beryllium and should not beryllium taken arsenic ineligible oregon concern advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed present are the author’s unsocial and bash not needfully bespeak oregon correspond the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.