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Solana perpetual futures trading is a $400B+ annual market – and growing fast. In 2025 alone, Jupiter processed $264 billion in perp volume, Drift handled $92 billion, and newcomer Pacifica surged past both to claim the daily volume crown within six months of launching.
But volume alone doesn’t tell you which platform to use. Fees, leverage limits, available trading pairs, and the underlying architecture all matter depending on how you trade.
I’ve tested all the major Solana perp DEXs to find the best Solana perp DEX for each trading style – and broken down exactly where each one shines and where they fall short.
| Platform | Max Leverage | Taker Fee | Trading Pairs | TVL | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jupiter Perps | 250x | 0.06% flat | 3 (SOL, BTC, ETH) | ~$2.5B | Simple, deep liquidity on majors |
| Drift | 101x | 0.10% (tiered) | 40+ | ~$1.5B | Full-featured trading + yield |
| Pacifica | 50x | 0.04% | 20+ | ~$38M | Low fees + AI tools |
| Raydium Perps | 50x | 0.025% | 80+ | Growing | Most trading pairs |
| GMTrade | 500x | 0.04-0.06% | Multi-asset (RWA) | ~$6.5M | Forex, stocks, commodities |
| Zeta/Bullet | 50x (planned) | 0.10% | Ceased → rebuilding | N/A | Coming in 2026 (testnet) |
Jupiter Perps is the default choice for most Solana traders, and for good reason. With ~$2.5 billion locked in the JLP vault, it has the deepest liquidity pool on Solana by a wide margin. That means tighter execution and less slippage on large orders.
What makes it different: Jupiter doesn’t charge funding rates. Instead, traders pay hourly borrow fees that adjust based on pool utilization. This makes costs more predictable – you won’t wake up to a surprise 0.1% funding hit because the market tilted overnight.
The trade-off: Only three trading pairs. If you want to trade anything beyond SOL, BTC, or ETH perps, you need to look elsewhere.
Jupiter also uses a triple-oracle system (Edge, Chainlink, Pyth) with a keeper network that delivers zero-slippage execution against the JLP pool. For LPs, the JLP vault earns 10-14.5% APY from real trading fees – not emissions. If you’re new to providing liquidity on Solana, the JLP vault is one of the simplest entry points.
Best for: Traders who stick to majors, want deep liquidity, and prefer predictable fee structures. Also ideal if you’re already in the Jupiter ecosystem (aggregator, DCA, limit orders).
Read our full Jupiter guide → | Start Trading on Jupiter Perps →
Drift is the most complete trading platform on Solana. Beyond perpetuals, it offers spot trading, borrow/lend, an insurance fund, and even prediction markets through BET.
Key stats: $133B+ all-time volume, $1.5B+ peak TVL, and 40+ perpetual markets – including memecoins like BONK and WIF that you won’t find on Jupiter.
Drift runs a hybrid liquidity model combining a virtual AMM (vAMM), an on-chain orderbook, and a keeper network. After the v3 upgrade in December 2025, 85% of market orders fill within a single Solana slot (~400ms).
Fees work differently here. Drift uses volume-based tiers: 10bps for default takers, dropping to 3bps for VIP tier. DRIFT stakers get up to 40% fee discounts, and makers earn 2bps rebates. The High Leverage Mode unlocks 101x on SOL, BTC, and ETH – but comes with higher fees and limited slots.
Drift also accepts 30+ assets as collateral (including SOL, BONK, and various stablecoins), and you earn yield on deposited collateral while positions are open.
Best for: Active traders who want variety (40+ markets), cross-margin efficiency, and ecosystem features like prediction markets and insurance fund staking.
Pacifica went from zero to Solana’s #1 perp DEX by daily volume in under six months. Founded by Constance Wang (ex-FTX COO) with a team from Binance, Jane Street, and OpenAI, it launched mainnet in June 2025 and surpassed Jupiter by September.
The pitch: CEX-like speed through off-chain order matching, combined with fully on-chain settlement. Pacifica’s taker fees start at 0.04% – cheaper than both Jupiter (0.06%) and Drift (0.10%).
What’s unique: AI-powered trading agents that learn from your trading patterns and offer personalized insights. Whether that’s genuinely useful or a gimmick depends on your trading style, but it’s a differentiator no other Solana perp DEX offers.
Pacifica supports 20+ perpetual markets with 5-50x leverage, cross-margin and isolated-margin modes, and a points program that’s been running since September 2025. No token yet, but the community expects an airdrop.
The concern: TVL is only ~$38M compared to Jupiter’s $2.5B and Drift’s $1.5B. Lower liquidity means potentially worse execution on larger trades.
Best for: Fee-conscious traders who value low costs and AI tools, and airdrop farmers positioning for a potential token.
Read our full Pacifica guide →
Raydium Perps launched in January 2025, powered by Orderly Network’s shared cross-chain orderbook. This gives Raydium access to 80+ trading pairs – more than any other Solana perp DEX.
Taker fees during beta are just 2.5bps (0.025%), and execution is gasless. The 50x leverage and CLOB architecture make it feel closer to a CEX experience.
The reality check: $6 billion cumulative volume sounds decent until you compare it to Jupiter’s $264 billion in 2025 alone. Daily volume typically ranges $15-100M, and liquidity depth is shared across Orderly’s multichain infrastructure rather than being Solana-native.
Best for: Traders who want access to long-tail assets and altcoin perps not available on Jupiter or Drift.
GMTrade (formerly GMX-Solana) brought the battle-tested GMX V2 architecture to Solana. But its real differentiator isn’t crypto perps – it’s multi-asset trading.
You can trade perpetual futures on forex pairs, commodities, stocks, and indices alongside crypto. Up to 500x leverage is available, making it the highest-leverage option on Solana (and one of the highest anywhere).
The Trade-to-Mint mechanism earns GT tokens based on fees paid, effectively creating a fee rebate system. TVL sits around $6.5M with ~$2.4B cumulative volume.
Best for: Traders who want RWA exposure (forex, commodities, stocks) on Solana, or degens comfortable with extreme leverage.
Read our full GMX Solana guide →
Don’t compare taker fees in isolation. Jupiter charges 0.06% to open but has no funding rates – just borrow fees. Drift charges 0.10% but offers maker rebates and staking discounts. Pacifica’s 0.04% looks cheapest, but lower TVL can mean worse execution on size.
Total cost = open/close fees + funding/borrow fees + slippage from execution quality.
500x leverage means nothing if the pool can’t handle your position size without significant price impact. Jupiter’s $2.5B JLP pool handles large orders with minimal slippage. Pacifica’s $38M TVL? You’ll feel the impact above a few hundred thousand dollars.
Let’s be real – Hyperliquid dominates global perp DEX volume with 70%+ market share. It’s not on Solana, but it’s where many serious perp traders have migrated. Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko is building Percolator, a new perp DEX with sharded matching engines, specifically to compete. It’s not live yet, but it signals how seriously the Solana ecosystem takes the perps race.
| If You Want… | Use |
|---|---|
| Deepest liquidity on SOL/BTC/ETH | Jupiter Perps |
| Most trading pairs + yield features | Drift |
| Lowest fees + potential airdrop | Pacifica |
| Altcoin and long-tail perps | Raydium Perps |
| Forex, stocks, and RWA perps | GMTrade |
| Extreme leverage (500x) | GMTrade |
For most traders, Jupiter or Drift covers 90% of needs. Jupiter if you trade majors and want simplicity. Drift if you want variety, cross-margin, and ecosystem features.
Pacifica is worth watching – the volume growth is real, the fees are competitive, and the team has serious pedigree. But the lower TVL means you should be size-aware.
Start Trading on Jupiter Perps → | Open Drift →
Aster claims $650B+ in cumulative volume across BNB Chain, Ethereum, Solana, and Arbitrum. It’s backed by YZi Labs (formerly Binance Labs) and the ASTER token trades at ~$0.70 with a $1.8B market cap.
The caveat: DefiLlama temporarily delisted Aster’s volume data in October 2025 after detecting near-1:1 correlation with Binance volumes across multiple pairs – raising wash trading concerns. The data was relisted but verification remains incomplete.
From my perspective, Aster’s Solana presence is secondary to its BNB Chain dominance (~70% of volume). Worth monitoring, but I’d focus on Solana-native platforms for Solana perps trading.
Read our Aster vs Hyperliquid comparison →
Jupiter Perps is the easiest starting point. Three trading pairs, deep liquidity, no complex funding rates, and it’s integrated into the Jupiter platform you’re probably already using for swaps.
Drift offers more features – 40+ trading pairs, prediction markets, insurance fund staking, and cross-margin with 30+ collateral types. Jupiter has deeper liquidity on majors, simpler fees, and higher leverage (250x vs 101x). Choose Drift for variety, Jupiter for simplicity and size.
Generally yes. Jupiter charges 0.06% flat (no maker/taker difference), Pacifica starts at 0.04% taker, and Raydium offers 0.025% during beta. Compare this to Binance’s 0.02-0.05% tiered structure. The main cost difference is in funding rates and execution quality.
On-chain settlement means your funds remain in your wallet – no exchange custody risk. However, smart contract risk exists on every DeFi platform. Jupiter and Drift are the most battle-tested, with billions in cumulative volume and multiple audits. Newer platforms like Pacifica carry more smart contract risk simply due to shorter track records.
Zeta Markets ceased operations in May 2025 after processing $15B+ in lifetime volume. It’s rebranding as Bullet, a Solana “network extension” claiming 1.2ms execution latency. ZEX tokens migrate to BULLET 1:1. Mainnet is planned for 2026 but remains in testnet.
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@OfficialRazzaer
Solana DeFi Expert & DLMM Specialist
Solana DeFi expert since 2021, specializing in dynamic liquidity market making (DLMM) and advanced LP strategies. Creator of SolanaGuides.com and former YouTube educator with 6K+ subscribers.
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