DEX exercise in January was the best in 5 years. Regardless of the latest financial downturn, DEXs are nonetheless closely used throughout market environments.
DEX exercise continued to rise in January, pushed by among the most generally used chains. Regardless of a sluggish begin to 2026, multi-chain decentralized exchanges continued to point out sturdy demand.
DEX buying and selling quantity in January 2026 has already exceeded 2022 ranges on account of elevated decentralized retail exercise throughout a number of chains. |Supply: Dune Analytics
In the beginning of 2026, DEX exercise in January has already exceeded 2022 ranges, with over $278 billion traded to this point. In January, DEX buying and selling started to get better from the native lows, breaking the decline that began in October. Quantity reached $15.74 billion in 24 hours, led by Uniswap and PancakeSwap.
DEX exercise accounts for roughly 18% of concentrated quantity, sustaining regular proportions. For now, DEX exercise remains to be under its 2022 peak. Nevertheless, this time round, trades and trades are much less prone to be tied to level farming or yield, and as a substitute observe precise buying and selling makes an attempt.
The DEX setting will develop into extra aggressive
DEX exercise isn’t solely on the rise general, but additionally displays a number of tendencies within the cryptocurrency area. low ethereum fuel charge The time has come for brand spanking new actions.
Decentralized markets are additionally targeted on particular meta-narratives, exhibiting a surge in exercise on different networks.
BNB Chain is likely one of the venues, and PancakeSwap stays the market share chief amongst all DEXes.
Solana's exercise additionally has peak intervals, usually related to a number of trending meme tokens. Meme exercise, new launches, and secondary market transactions are the principle drivers of the Solana DEX reawakening. Solana has additionally benefited from elevated exercise in HumidiFi. $22 billion General quantity for the final 30 days.
Basechain DEX quantity reaches new peak
Base is likely one of the chains that has seen a surge in buying and selling quantity lately. The L2 platform stays one of the crucial lively platforms within the Ethereum ecosystem. Over the previous few days, Base exercise has jumped to $3.39 billion per day, in comparison with a traditional baseline of $2.5 billion.
Base has elevated its DEX quantity by ~10x because the starting of 2026, with Uniswap and Aerodrome driving over 86% of the exercise.
Base additionally recorded web inflows of $163 million in January, however the inflows didn’t match the rise in DEX exercise. A few of Base’s DEX quantity could possibly be an early signal of returning retail merchants testing new apps and buying and selling routes.
DEX exercise on Base is now low cost and accessible and is attempting to make a comeback. retail transactions That is primarily carried out by means of the minting of latest tokens and early value discovery. A higher restoration within the DEX is prone to happen solely after the chain reveals a rise in locked worth and extra important worth inflows.
For now, DEXs replicate the emergence of latest meta-narratives and new token lessons, whereas merchants are extra cautious about liquidity in comparison with earlier buying and selling cycles.
Base grew to become an anomaly in early January, outperforming each Ethereum and Ethereum. BNB chain in weekly quantitycould also be linked to a brand new token. However, base charges remained comparatively low as merchants grew to become extra cautious and examined the market with smaller orders.
