In a notable shift within the decentralized finance (DeFi) landscape, Solana (SOL) has overtaken Ethereum (ETH) in 24-hour trading volume across decentralized exchanges (DEXs). According to data from DeFiLlama, Solana’s DEX ecosystem surged to a staggering $62.4 billion in daily trading volume, significantly outpacing Ethereum’s $8.5 billion during the same period.
This surge underscores a growing trend: users are increasingly favoring high-performance blockchains that prioritize speed, low cost, and real-world utility. At the heart of this momentum is Raydium, Solana’s leading automated market maker (AMM), which alone accounted for $42 billion in trading volume—nearly 67% of Solana’s total DEX activity.
Ethereum’s DEX Performance in Comparison
On Ethereum, Uniswap, the dominant decentralized exchange, reported $15.2 billion in daily volume. While this remains impressive, it highlights a widening performance gap between the two ecosystems when measured by user engagement on DEX platforms.
Additionally, three other Solana-based DEXs—Orca, Aerodrome Finance, and two others—ranked among the top five globally by daily volume, with Orca recording $10.7 billion and Aerodrome Finance reaching $7.12 billion. Notably, five Solana-powered DEXs collectively surpassed the $1 billion daily trading mark, signaling robust ecosystem health and user adoption.
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Layer-1 vs. Layer-2: Solana Leads Weekly DEX Volume
Beyond daily metrics, Solana has also surpassed Ethereum in weekly DEX trading volume, even when factoring in Ethereum’s layer-2 scaling solutions such as Arbitrum, Optimism, and Base. This milestone is significant because it reflects not just raw throughput but sustained user activity and trader preference.
Solana’s architecture—built for speed and scalability—enables sub-second transaction finality and negligible fees, making it ideal for高频 trading environments like DeFi and meme coin markets. In contrast, Ethereum, despite its strong developer base and security model, continues to face challenges related to network congestion and high gas costs during peak usage.
Market Cap Milestone: Solana Joins the $100B Club
The surge in trading activity coincided with Solana joining the elite $100 billion market capitalization club**. Following an 18% price rally the previous week, SOL’s market cap peaked at **$116 billion. As of November 19, SOL was trading at $243.20**, down slightly by 0.13% over 24 hours, with its market cap adjusting to **$115.03 billion.
Meanwhile, Ethereum maintained a much larger market cap of $374.07 billion**, with ETH priced at **$3,105—a minor 0.04% dip—but backed by a dramatic 45.53% increase in trading volume, reaching $366.2 billion. This suggests strong institutional and retail interest despite slower on-chain activity relative to Solana.
Why Is Solana Outperforming?
According to prominent crypto educator Cygaar, Solana’s success stems from its focus on user experience and real-use decentralized applications (dApps).
“Solana builds for users who want to use apps, not just developers building infrastructure,” Cygaar noted. “Ethereum focuses on layers and tooling, but average users care about fast, cheap, functional apps.”
This philosophy has fueled explosive growth in sectors like decentralized trading, NFTs, and social tokens on Solana. The network’s ability to support high-frequency transactions without compromising cost-efficiency makes it a preferred choice for retail traders and DeFi innovators alike.
Key Factors Driving Solana’s DEX Dominance:
- Ultra-low transaction fees: Often less than $0.01 per trade.
- Sub-second block times: Enables rapid trade execution and settlement.
- Developer-friendly ecosystem: Strong support for Web3 startups and dApp builders.
- Growing liquidity incentives: Projects like Raydium offer yield rewards and farming opportunities that attract traders.
- Meme coin frenzy: Solana has become a hotspot for viral tokens, driving speculative volume.
Core Keywords and SEO Optimization
This analysis naturally integrates key search terms that align with current market interest and user intent:
- Solana DEX volume
- Raydium vs Uniswap
- Solana vs Ethereum
- decentralized exchange ranking
- high-performance blockchain
- SOL price analysis
- DeFi trading trends
- crypto market capitalization
These keywords reflect what active crypto users are searching for: performance comparisons, real-time data insights, and actionable intelligence on where trading momentum is shifting.
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q: Did Solana really surpass Ethereum in DEX trading volume?
A: Yes. According to DeFiLlama data from mid-November, Solana recorded $62.4 billion in 24-hour DEX volume, far exceeding Ethereum’s $8.5 billion across its native chain.
Q: Is Uniswap still the largest DEX by volume?
A: While Uniswap remains the largest Ethereum-based DEX with $15.2 billion in daily volume, multiple Solana-based platforms—including Raydium—have individually surpassed it in recent activity.
Q: What caused Solana’s recent price surge?
A: SOL rose 18% due to increased on-chain activity, rising DEX volumes, growing institutional interest, and heightened speculation around ecosystem developments.
Q: Why does low transaction cost matter for DEXs?
A: Lower fees encourage more frequent trading, enable micro-transactions, and make arbitrage viable—driving overall liquidity and platform usage.
Q: Can Solana sustain this level of performance?
A: Sustainability depends on continued network stability, developer innovation, and resistance to past issues like outages. However, recent upgrades suggest improved resilience.
Q: How does Ethereum’s layer-2 strategy compare to Solana’s approach?
A: Ethereum uses layer-2 rollups to scale while maintaining security; Solana scales natively through high-throughput design. Each has trade-offs: complexity vs. centralization concerns.
The Bigger Picture: A Shift in User Priorities
The data suggests a broader trend: users are voting with their transactions. They’re choosing platforms where trades execute instantly and cost pennies—not dollars.
While Ethereum remains the cornerstone of secure smart contract execution and decentralized finance innovation, Solana is capturing the retail trader’s attention by delivering performance at scale.
As DeFi evolves beyond early adopters into mainstream financial use cases, speed and usability will likely become even more critical than they are today.
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Final Thoughts
Solana surpassing Ethereum in DEX trading volume marks a pivotal moment in blockchain competition. It’s not just about technology—it’s about who delivers better experiences to real users.
With Raydium leading the charge and multiple SOL-based exchanges dominating global rankings, the ecosystem demonstrates that high throughput and low costs can drive massive engagement.
As market dynamics continue to shift, both networks will play vital roles—one as a secure settlement layer, the other as a high-speed execution engine.
For traders, developers, and investors alike, staying informed about these trends is essential—and monitoring where volume flows can reveal the next wave of opportunity.