Aster leads with $12.12B 24h volume, Lighter follows at $8.62B, then Hyperliquid at $5.96B, edgeX at $5.06B, and ApeX at $2.12B. On monetization momentum, edgeX just posted $2.3M fees in 24h (tops the pack), while Lighter sits on $1.15B TVL (+481% in 3 months) and Aster is running a buyback program markets peg at $200M+ scale. Most upside: Lighter — massive TVL ramp + aggressive incentive/brand heat, and the crowd is already pricing a high-FDV debut; if execution meets expectation, it can still leg higher. Most likely to be surpassed: ApeX — solid, but the others’ network effects + product velocity are outpacing it. Fast follower play: Aster — ruthless ops (S3 incentives, buybacks, mobile, AI trading arena); it iterates quickly and copies what works, then amplifies with capital. Bear-market durable: Hyperliquid — owns infra + HIP-3 product surface (e.g., https://t.co/EeRJB99WKE) and feels like a venue, not just a campaign; depth + product breadth = staying power. Wildcard: edgeX — fee prints + bridge inflows suggest real trader stickiness; if they convert that into a broader product graph, it can jump a tier. Mechanically, convergence around high-throughput orderbooks + points/airdrop flywheels is obvious; differentiation now lives in distribution (mobile), listings (synthetic indices), and capital loops (buybacks, fee-sharing). True innovations: yield-linked perps, index-perps (e.g., tokenized NDX-style baskets), and AI-operable APIs that let bots run natively on the venue rather than via clunky wrappers. Next step-function: listed real-world macro baskets, composable intent routing (route flow to best venue/liquidity instantly), and programmatic market making rewards that pay for quality liquidity (time-at-touch, fill-probability) instead of raw volume. Farm points where fee/APR is richest per unit risk (e.g., Aster S3 favored pairs; Lighter season endgame) and delta-hedge exposure with opposite-venue perps — net you keep the emissions/airdrop while flattening PnL swings. Exploit listing/price lags on synthetic indices (e.g., Hyperliquid’s index-perps) vs centralized venues: when the basket deviates from spot constituents, arb the spread with basket legs. Track funding-rate skews across venues (edgeX vs Aster vs Hyperliquid) and run cash-and-carry: long on negative-funding venue / short on positive-funding venue, rotate when basis normalizes.