Raydium trading volume fluctuation analysis: From leading to decline, what exactly happened?

According to the latest on-chain data, as of December 19, 2025, Raydium’s trading volume in the past 24 hours is approximately $470 million, showing a significant decline compared to the peak of $2.28 billion in January last year. Compared to Uniswap, the current leading DEX with around $2.5 billion in trading volume, Raydium’s trading activity still has a considerable gap.

Why did Raydium, once a leader in trading volume, experience a sharp decline? The reasons behind this involve both the broader industry environment and the platform’s own ecosystem development logic.

This article will start from Raydium’s fundamental positioning, explain the factors influencing its trading volume changes, compare its advantages and disadvantages with other major DEXs, and look ahead to Raydium’s future development.

01 What is Raydium? Core Mechanisms and Ecosystem Positioning

Raydium is a decentralized exchange (DEX) and automated market maker (AMM) platform built on the Solana ecosystem. Unlike early AMM designs based on Ethereum, Raydium’s core highlights are:

• Built on the high-performance Solana chain: Thanks to Solana’s high TPS and extremely low transaction costs, Raydium supports higher frequency trading and low-fee experiences;
• Concentrated liquidity pools linked with Serum order book: Raydium not only provides traditional AMM liquidity pools but also shares liquidity with Serum, a centralized order book within the Solana ecosystem, enhancing trading depth and execution efficiency;
• Rich derivative features: including yield aggregation, farming, pool incentives, staking, etc., making it more than just a trading platform.

During a year of rapid development in the Solana ecosystem, Raydium once ranked among the top in DEX trading volume due to its ecosystem traffic, low fees, and rich features.

02 Why Has Trading Volume Significantly Declined?

From a peak of $2.28 billion in January 2025 to $470 million in December 2025, Raydium’s trading volume has shrunk markedly. The reasons behind this change are multifaceted:

Overall DeFi Market Cooldown

Throughout 2025, the overall activity and capital liquidity in the DeFi market have significantly contracted compared to earlier periods. Bitcoin and Ethereum experienced slower volatility and repeated fluctuations of major assets, leading to reduced trading activity. Against this backdrop of declining trading enthusiasm, DEX volumes naturally faced pressure.

Fluctuations in the Solana Ecosystem Impact Exchanges

Raydium’s biggest advantage is its connection to the Solana ecosystem, but Solana itself has experienced multiple volatility cycles, including block production delays, ecosystem fund migrations, and shifts in market narratives, causing some liquidity and trading activity to disperse.

Intensified Industry Competition

With the emergence of cross-chain DEXs (like Uniswap across multiple Layer2s and sidechains), multi-chain aggregators, and higher-performance AMM platforms, Raydium faces increased pressure in terms of “trading depth” and “cross-chain capital attraction.” Market competition has diverted trading activity that was once concentrated within Solana.

Incentive Mechanism Adjustments

Early on, Raydium’s liquidity incentives were relatively generous, encouraging LPs and traders to participate in arbitrage and farming activities. However, as incentives tapered or were optimized, the platform’s short-term trading volume also experienced fluctuations.

03 Comparison of Raydium with Other Major DEX Platforms

Below is a comparison of key metrics between Raydium and some mainstream DEXs:

Raydium vs Uniswap

Interpretation: Uniswap offers broader trading depth and multi-ecosystem coverage, especially across various chains, while Raydium’s strengths are primarily within Solana’s internal assets.

04 Raydium’s Strengths and Challenges

Core Advantages of Raydium

• Low trading costs and fast speeds: Thanks to Solana’s technological features, costs and confirmation times are significantly advantageous;
• Serum order book linkage: Provides better trading depth and order strategies compared to pure AMMs;
• Rich ecosystem scenarios: Trading, staking, farming, and incentives have engaged early users;
• Lock-up and liquidity incentives: Attractive for stable funds.

Challenges Facing Raydium

• Single-chain dependency risk: Over-reliance on the Solana ecosystem exposes the platform to systemic risks;
• Liquidity dispersion and intensified competition: Cross-chain aggregators and multi-chain DEXs divert trading flows;
• Incentive decline pressure: Early “incentive-driven” effects are hard to sustain long-term trading activity;
• Ecosystem expansion difficulties: While considered “Solana’s top-tier DEX,” crossing out of Solana’s ecosystem faces technical and collaborative challenges.

05 Future Development Trends for Raydium

Although trading volume has declined, this does not mean Raydium’s potential is exhausted. Possible future directions include:

Deepening cross-chain capabilities

With the development of cross-chain bridges and AMMs, if Raydium can achieve more mature cross-chain asset liquidity and routing, it could break through single-chain bottlenecks and attract more capital.

Strengthening ecosystem integration

Collaborating with Solana and Layer2 projects, and working closely with infrastructure providers, can enhance liquidity depth and trading ecosystem activity.

Event-driven attention boosts

Major upgrades, partnership announcements, or ecosystem events could help Raydium regain short-term traffic and user attention.

Platform product innovation

Introducing more flexible strategies, liquidity aggregators, routing optimizers, or even local derivatives markets can improve overall user trading experience.

Summary

Raydium’s decline from leading DEX trading volume in January 2025 to its current state reflects both the overall volatility of the DeFi market and the realities of single-chain dependence and ecosystem competition. Compared to multi-chain DEXs like Uniswap, Raydium’s advantages lie in high efficiency and unique liquidity mechanisms within Solana, but challenges also stem from ecosystem diversification and capital flow diversion.

Future development will depend on cross-chain deployment, product innovation, and ecosystem collaboration to create new growth resilience. For users, understanding the platform’s core value and challenges is essential for rational participation in the DeFi ecosystem.