Perps open interest on Solana surges to $500M, highest in nine months

Perpetual futures open interest across Solana-based platforms has climbed to $500 million, marking its highest point in nine months. The milestone signals that traders are returning to Solana’s on-chain derivatives venues after a relatively quiet stretch, even as the network still commands a relatively small slice of a market dominated by heavyweights like Hyperliquid. To put that number in context, Solana-based perpetual venues accounted for roughly 3% of the total open interest market share and about 2% of volume market share during Q1 2026. Those figures were actually down from peaks hit in 2024, making this $500 million mark feel less like a new frontier and more like a comeback tour. What’s driving the rebound One standout is PhoenixTrade, a decentralized exchange built by Ellipsis Labs, which hit a record open interest of between $10 million and $11 million in late July 2026. That represented a roughly 25% jump from PhoenixTrade’s previous high of $8.8 million set in June. A chunk of that growth traces back to a fairly straightforward catalyst: money. PhoenixTrade launched an incentive program called Flight Club, distributing $420,000 to users. The initiative spiked the platf...