The importance of decentralized exchanges to the whole DeFi ecosystem and Ethereum blockchain are evident. That is why it is crucial to assess how the top decentralized exchanges are evolving. With this review, we focus on analyses related to trading volumes, traders count, and top traded assets.
2020 has already witnessed record highs for both trading volume and traders count. And we witness the growth of 54% in trading volumes and 37% in trader counts in Q2 2020 quarter-on-quarter.
Growth was mainly driven by two governance tokens, COMP and BAL, that were distributed in June 2020. The tokens created an explosive effect within Ethereum exchanges and DeFi dapps.
Key takeaways
- The top 8 DEXs generated $3 billion in trading volumes in Q2 2020 reaching more than 5,000 daily active wallets in June.
- Uniswap retains its leadership position generating 30% of the total trading volume in Q2 2020, increasing its market share by 2% compared to Q1 2020.
- Kyber lost its market share in Q2 2020 by trading volumes from 21% to 12%. Still, it is in the top 5.
- Curve made a drastic increase in Q2 2020 as trading value surged from $137 million in Q1 to $426 million Q2 2020.
- Balancer and IDEX increased their market share by 3% respectively in Q2 2020.
- While the majority of dapps surged due to the effect of governance tokens the rest still struggled due to high Ethereum gas prices.
Trading volume hits an all-time high in June
2020 has proven to be a critical year for the Ethereum and DeFi space and the contributions of the decentralized exchange ecosystem are one of the key elements. Overall, we observe a growth of 54% in trading volumes quarter-on-quarter.
Uniswap maintained its unbeatable leadership. Trading volumes grew by 109% reaching $900 million. Accounting for 30% of the total trading volume in Q2 2020.
Curve has made its mark in Q2 2020. The addition of COMP having triggered growth of 210% or $426 million USD.
Balancer also surged in Q2 2020 to almost $100 million. Again the increase was mainly impacted by its own governance token BAL.
Contrary to Uniswap, Oasis and Kyber faced a decrease in trading volumes by 42% and 13% respectively.
Oasis has been struggling for a while and appears to have never recovered from the Black Thursday events. Both trading volume and trader counts have decreased steadily.
Trader count surpassed 5,000 in June
On average, the trader count within the top 8 DEX dapps has increased by 37% in Q2 2020 compared to Q1 2020 and the number of active wallets surpassed 5,000 back in June 2020.
The biggest increase came from IDEX and Kyber. On average IDEX wallets number increased by 550, while Kyber 300.
As already spotted, Curve showed positivity regarding both trading volumes and traders count. In Q2 2020 daily active wallets increased by 92%.
Top trading pairs
In Q4 2019, The Maker system was upgraded to Multi-Collateral DAI which resulted in SAI migrating to DAI. The growth of DAI since Q2 2019 has been remarkable. In Q2 2020, DAI is traded most commonly with WETH and has generated $525 million.
In Q2 2020, the most traded pairs across all the top 8 DEX are mainly stable coins. WETH-USDC, WETH-USDT, WETH-DAI, USDC-DAI, USDT-USDC, and WETH-HEX have increased volumes in Q2 2020 when compared to Q1 2020 by 150%, 183%, 63%, 116%,100%, and 100% respectively.
The main reason Q2 2020 has had such a significant impact is MakerDAO’s announcement of USDC and USDT as new collateral in March and June respectively, which increased trading volume.
Most traded assets on Uniswap
Uniswap is the number one application in the DEX category by trading volumes tracked by DappRadar. In Q2 2020, it has made almost $900 million and surged by 109% compared to Q1 2020 and 624% compared to Q2 2019.
The top trending trading pairs which contributed to the total in Q2 2020 are WETH-HEX, WETH-USDC, WETH-DAI, and WETH-UBT by 18%, 11%, 10%, and 4% respectively.
Most traded assets on Kyber
Kyber has experienced a decrease in trading volume when compared to Q1 2020 by 13%. However, if we observe the year-on-year growth we see trading volumes increased by 220% compared to Q2 2019.
The total volume generated by Kyber in Q2 2020 is $353 million, and the most traded coins on Kyber are WETH-DAI, WETH-USDC, WETH-USDT, and WETH-UBT. Contributing 19%, 16%, 13%, and 4% respectively.
Most traded assets on IDEX
The report on IDEX in May gave us an understanding of how the exchange is growing in 2020. The total volumes made in Q2 2020 are triple when compared to Q1 2020 and have increased by 144%.
The most-traded asset on IDEX in Q2 2020 is WETH-UBT, contributing to the total volume by 19%. Companies like Microsoft and Ernst & Young participated in the Baseline Protocol which fueled the price of the token itself. Other traded coins like WETH-USDC, WETH-DAI, and WETH-USDT have made a small contribution to the total.
Most traded pairs on Curve
Curve was released in Q1 2020 and has grown by 210% in Q2 2020 compared to Q1 2020. The total volume made by the dapp is around $426 million. The most-traded coins are USDT-USDC and USDC-DAI by contributing 44% and 20% respectively.
Most traded assets on 0x
0x launched in July 2019 and has gathered an impressive community since. The total trading volume in Q2 2020 is almost twice as high as when compared to Q1 2020, an impressive $347 million.
The most-traded coins in Q2 2020 are WETH-USDT, WETH-USDC, WETH-DAI, USDC-DAI, and USDT-USDC by contributing 44%, 16%, 13%, 5%, and 4% respectively.
Most traded assets on dYdX
dYdX is one of the fastest-growing dapps within the Ethereum DeFi ecosystem. It went live in Q2 2019 and has since grown quarter on quarter.
In Q2 2020, the dapp has made almost $433 million which is the highest so far in its lifespan. 2020 has been an amazing year for dYdX as it has grown 30% in Q2 2020 when compared to Q1 2020.
The most-traded coins which contributed to the total are WETH-DAI, WETH-USDC, and USDC-DAI by 44%, 32%, and 9% respectively.
Most traded assets on Oasis
Oasis in Q2 2020 has made a total of $167 million. It decreased by 42% compared to Q1 2020 and this could be due to DAI now being traded on a number of exchanges and DEXs around the world.
However, the most traded coins are WETH-DAI and USD-DAI which contribute 74% and 19% respectively.
Conclusions
Decentralized exchanges as part of the Ethereum and DeFi ecosystem demonstrate incredible results. Within the first half of 2020, the trading volumes increased five times compared to 2019, reaching $5 billion.
Uniswap remains the number one DEX whereas Kyber lost second place in Q2 2020. Curve and Balancer showed remarkable increases in trading volumes that were mainly driven by governance tokens.
Governance tokens proved to be the biggest accelerators of growth in Q2 2020.
Limitations and data sources
- Within this DEX overview, we are covering the top 8 DEX dapps on Ethereum as ranked by DappRadar.
- Data sources: Dune analytics.
