The Ultimate Guide to Farming Perp DEX Airdrop in 2025

Context About Perpetual Exchanges in 2025

2025 can be said to be a breakout year for Perp DEXs, with the sector now recording hundreds of billions of dollars in monthly trading volume, while traders continue migrating from centralized platforms in search of leverage, anonymity, and transparency.

The movement was spearheaded by Hyperliquid’s massive success, initially capturing 73% of decentralized perpetual trading volume, thanks to its own Layer 1 blockchain and high-performance infrastructure early in the year.

With the race on, Central Limit Order Books (CLOBs) quickly emerged as the meta of recent weeks, as rival protocols built competing products to challenge the leader. These protocols are preparing to distribute millions of dollars in airdrops to users to gain market share, making farming Perp DEXs one of the most lucrative opportunities of the year.

Airdrops are among the most sought-after events for users of on-chain projects. Unlike traditional DeFi airdrops that required early adoption of untested protocols, Perp DEX farming relies on established trading infrastructures with clear reward mechanisms. This has attracted traders of all levels, from retail to professional, seeking “life-changing” returns while maximizing point accumulation.

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Our Strategy for Farming Perp DEX

Not all Perp DEXs are the same. While some boast venture capital (VC) backing and billion-dollar volumes, others remain in beta, with points already changing hands in over-the-counter (OTC) markets. However, there is a general strategy that traders can follow to minimize risks while maximizing point earnings.

For less experienced users, or those who don’t want to engage in active trading just for the sake of an airdrop, we recommend a simple and effective strategy: delta-neutral hedging, also known as funding rate arbitrage.

Here’s what this approach looks like in practice:

• Open long positions on one DEX.
• Open short positions of the same size on another DEX.
• Capture the funding rate differentials.
• Generate consistent trading volume to accumulate points.

This strategy works by taking advantage of funding rates: you open positions across different protocols to capture potential funding gaps while maintaining a neutral exposure to the market.

Opening long and short positions on different DEXs (rather than on the same platform) helps avoid sybil detection and potential blacklisting, while earning rewards or airdrops from both sides at once.

While trading perps, it is generally advised to use altcoins with smaller market caps, as they tend to generate more reward points compared to large-cap assets. However, this comes with critical liquidation thresholds: highly volatile tokens (usually low-cap) can lead to liquidation risk and potential capital loss.

Key tips for avoiding mistakes with this strategy:

• Actively monitor and manage open positions to avoid liquidation.
• Use stop-loss and take-profit orders to protect positions, especially short ones.
• Avoid high leverage to reduce exposure to sudden market moves.

To execute this strategy more efficiently, there is a helpful tool developed by the community member “ghz” (@ilyessghz2 on X). This tool visualizes the best funding rate arbitrage opportunities across major Perp DEXs. For example, it shows the APR (%) along with the specific action required to achieve it (e.g., taking a long position on one exchange and a short on another).

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The 10 Perp DEXs to Watch

While trading volume metrics can often be manipulated, Open Interest (OI) is much more expensive to fake and therefore serves as a more reliable indicator of genuine platform activity. Based on OI data, we’ve listed ten Perp DEXs that are truly worth your time for airdrop farming.

We’ve also included Bullet, which has a unique advantage as the first Solana network extension with sub-2 ms latency, and BasedApp, which currently generates over 15% of Hyperliquid’s perpetual trading volume.

Hyperliquid

Hyperliquid is the leading Perp DEX in the sector and has already distributed 31% of the total HYPE supply (around $4 billion at the time), the largest airdrop ever made in crypto history. Currently, no new airdrop has been officially announced, although numerous rumors suggest that a secret Season 3may already be underway.

According to community discussions, eligibility could be based not only on activity on the Hyperliquid platform, but also on usage of HyperEVM, the EVM-compatible blockchain built on top of Hyperliquid’s core technology.

Similarly, no token or points campaign has been announced by Unit, yet the protocol is frequently mentioned among the most anticipated airdrops of 2025. Unit serves as the tokenization layer that enables the spot market to exist on Hyperliquid.

To maximize your chances of receiving potential airdrops, we recommend first exploring protocols built on HyperEVM that already have active points programs (see our complete guide here).

Then, our preferred strategy involves using Liminal - a protocol that offers delta-neutral strategies without direct exposure to market volatility, allowing you to generate yield from Perp funding rates.

When Liminal opens positions, it directly interacts with Unit and Hyperliquid, effectively giving you exposure to three potential airdrops simultaneously.

• Visit Liminal and connect your wallet
• Switch your account to Pro Mode
• Deposit USDC into Liminal
• Choose one or several assets from the available list
• Validate your strategy
• Change strategies regularly to maximize trading volume

To use Liminal, we recommend going through our referral link.

Start Trading on Hyperliquid

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Lighter

Lighter is a decentralized trading platform built on Arbitrum for fast and low-cost transactions, using a zk-Rollupto ensure that all trades and liquidations are executed fairly and transparently. Its main innovation lies in its zero-fee model, where fees are charged only to market makers.

After a private beta (invite-only), Lighter quickly became one of the most recommended platforms for airdrop farming. The public mainnet is now live, and Season 2 of the points program is underway and there are no more deposit caps, and no referral code is required to join.

Here is our farming strategy:

• Go to the Lighter website.
• Create an account and connect your wallet.
• Deposit USDC or other supported assets.
• Farm points by generating trading volume; the higher the volume, the more points you earn.
• Liquidations and successful trades are rewarded.

A fixed number of 250,000 points is distributed weekly to all Lighter users, making it gradually more difficult to earn points over time, although the OTC price of points continues to rise rapidly. The best strategy is to generate volume on low-volume and low-OI pairs, take advantage of referral bonuses, and participate in trading competitions to earn additional points.

The team has confirmed that around 30-50% of Lighter’s future token supply will be airdropped to early users, with the Token Generation Event (TGE) expected in late 2025.

EdgeX

EdgeX is a modular Ethereum Layer 2 (L2) and currently the largest Perp DEX by trading volume without a token. Launched in August 2024, the blockchain reached a record trading volume of over $13.5 billion in November.

In June 2025, the protocol introduced “edgeX Open Season”, the second season of its points program. The program rewards users with points for trading volume, referrals, and engagement with other platform features, leading to a significant influx of deposits.

NFTs were also awarded to users who traded over $25 million in volume, to those whose referrals brought over $50 million, and to the core community members.

Here is the proposed farming strategy:

• Visit the DEX website or the iOS / Android app, and connect your EVM wallet to deposit funds.
• Deposit via Ethereum, Arbitrum, or BNB Chain using the multichain Portfolio interface.
• Trade regularly, 60% of all rewards are based on genuine trading volume.
• Provide liquidity to generate passive returns and earn Vault Points (representing 10% of the total rewards pool).

It is important to remain consistent, track your progress (VIP tiers, leaderboard ranking) in the Points section, and complete missions to maximize earnings. A 20% pool is reserved for referrals, ambassadors, and events.

The EpicSer NFT is free to mint and exclusive to whitelisted members via Discord. Holders enjoy lifetime VIP2 fee rates, 35% perpetual trading rebates, vault staking privileges, eligibility for the governance token airdrop, and priority access to advanced strategies.

To use EdgeX, we recommend going through our referral link.

ApeX

ApeX is a Perp DEX based on an AMM mechanism (not a CLOB) and is compatible with Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base, BNB Chain, and Mantle. On October 1, ApeX announced the launch of its incentive campaign called Ape Season 1.

The season will begin on October 6 and run for 12 weeks, ending on December 28. In total, 69 million Ape Points (APE) will be distributed, at a rate of 5.75 million per week. Notably, users who traded before October 6 will receive an early adopter bonus.

ApeX is particularly interesting because it has been supported by Bybit and its CEO Ben Zhou for several years. Recently, the protocol announced a deeper integration with Mantle, a blockchain also affiliated with Bybit.

Given this connection, it is reasonable to expect some contribution from Mantle to support ApeX’s upcoming airdrop following this campaign. It is also worth noting that the APEX token is already live, but an estimated 25 million tokenshave been reserved for community incentives, which could include this airdrop.

Here is the proposed farming strategy:

• Go to the ApeX platform and create your trading account.
• Deposit funds, preferably via Mantle to take advantage of a potential boost.
• Stake APEX to earn additional Ape Points.
• Maintain a high account balance on the platform to accumulate more points.
• Active users on other Perp DEXs receive an additional bonus.
• Open positions to generate trading volume and maximize Ape Points.

Paradex

Acquired by Coinbase in 2018 and relaunched in 2023, Paradex is an appchain built on StarkNet, optimized for high performance. Transactions from the order book are processed through a centralized matching engine (with less than 100 ms latency) before being validated on the Layer 2, and then verified and secured on Ethereum, with data stored using EIP-4844 blobs for scalability and efficiency.

Paradex positions itself as a “superexchange”, offering zero-fee perpetual trading as well as options markets on BTC, ETH, SOL, and HYPE. The Pre-Season and Season 1 of its airdrop campaign ran from February 1, 2024, to January 2, 2025.

Paradex is now in Season 2, which started in January 2025 and was initially set to end in July 2025, but has since been extended by six months. During this phase, 4 million XP (points) are distributed every Friday to active traders.

According to the documentation, 20% of the $DIME token supply has been allocated to the Community Airdrop. To qualify, users must reach at least $100 in trading volume and maintain an open position for at least one hour.

Here is the proposed farming strategy:

• Register on Paradex, connect your EVM wallet, and set your nickname.
• Deposit USDC and open a position (select your pair, leverage, and order type).
• Trade options to maximize volume but remain cautious of volatility.
• Provide liquidity in the USDC vaults to earn additional points (each vault has its own strategy and risk profile).
• Share your referral link to earn 5% of your referees’ fees, plus XP based on their activity. Referred users receive a 5% discount on fees.

To use Paradex, we recommend going through our referral link.

Extended

Formerly known as X10, Extended is a Perp DEX developed by a former Revolut team member. The project’s vision centers around a unified margin system (a single collateral pool) designed to create a complete trading experience that integrates perpetuals, spot markets, and lending.

Extended introduces a hybrid CLOB (Central Limit Order Book) model, where order matching and risk management are handled off-chain, while transactions are validated and secured on-chain via Starknet. This design enables very low transaction costs and ultra-low latency between 10 and 20 milliseconds.

On April 29, 2025, Extended launched its “Points Program”, through which 1.2 million points are distributed weekly among traders and liquidity providers (LPs). It is also worth noting that 4.3 million points had already been distributed prior to the official launch of the campaign.

Here is the proposed farming strategy:

• Go to the Extended website, connect your wallet, and create an account.
• Fund your Extended account.
• Open positions to generate trading volume and accumulate points.
• Earn +20% points + APY by adding liquidity to the vaults.
• Invite friends (you need $10K in trading volume to unlock a referral link).

To use Extended, we recommend going through our referral link.

Pacifica

Pacifica is a Perp DEX launched in January 2025 by the former COO of FTX and the founder of nftperp. The platform is currently in private beta (invite-only) and has introduced Pacifica Points, a points-based system designed to reward contributors who help grow and support the platform.

The points program officially began on September 4, distributing 500,000 points per week to active users. A snapshot was taken on September 3 to reward early users with additional weekly point allocations.

One of Pacifica’s main advantages is that it is a self-funded project, which means that the airdrop allocation could potentially be larger than average. Despite being in private beta, Pacifica is already among the top 10 Perp DEXs by trading volume, and its points season has been live for just one month.

Here is the proposed farming strategy:

• Go to the Pacifica website using an access code to join the closed beta.
• Connect your wallet and deposit funds.
• Open positions to generate volume and farm points.
• Join the referral program to generate your own access code.

Looking to get a Pacifica access code? OAK Research will distribute 20 exclusive codes to Premium subscribers through the Alpha Feed very soon.

Avantis

Avantis is the first Perp DEX launched on the Base blockchain, backed by Pantera Capital and the Base Foundation. The platform allows users to trade across multiple markets: crypto, forex, equities, indices, and commodities.

Offering up to 500x leverage and zero-fee perpetuals on selected markets, Avantis has become the leading DEX specializing in Real World Assets (RWAs). After two successful points seasons, Avantis distributed 12.5% of the total AVNT supply as an airdrop in September, coinciding with the token launch.

On September 3, the protocol began Season 3, announced as the most rewarding yet shortest campaign, with 4% of the AVNT supply to be distributed among XP holders over a five-month period.

Rewards are divided as follows: 25% for liquidity providers (LPs) and 75% for traders. With the current TVL of $18 million locked in LPs and an announced $20 million AVNT airdrop (at current price), this equates to an estimated annualized yield of 250%, excluding trading fees.

Here is the proposed farming strategy:

• Visit the Avantis website and connect a Base-compatible wallet to deposit or bridge USDC.
• Deposit liquidity into the LP vaults via the “Earn” tab and choose between senior or junior vaults depending on your risk preference, and lock your capital to earn up to 4x more XP.
• Open trading positions to increase your volume and maximize XP.
• Share your referral link, as referrers earn 10% of the trading volume XP generated by their referees.

To use Avantis, we recommend going through our referral link.

Based

Based was originally launched in 2023 as a smart wallet linked to a debit card. In June 2025, the protocol announced the integration of Hyperliquid’s Builder Codes to launch HyperApp, a dedicated on-chain finance application.

Today, Based has evolved into an omnichain Perp DEX built on Hyperliquid’s technology and directly supported by Ethena. It offers a web interface, mobile applications for iOS and Android, a Telegram trading bot, and Based Cloud, a tool allowing projects to launch custom-branded trading terminals in under five minutes.

Beyond trading, Based continues to offer debit cards (including one issued in partnership with Hyperliquid) and operates a launchpad, Upheavalfi, which recently completed a public sale oversubscribed by 110×.

Following the success of Season 1, which positioned Based as the leading Hyperliquid-based protocol by both volumeand fees generated through Builder Codes, the team has officially announced the start of Season 2, scheduled for October 6, 2025, immediately after the final snapshot of the first phase.

Season 2 will not only reward volume farming, but will also emphasize trader consistency and long-term engagement. A total of 10,000,000 XP will be distributed per epoch, with each epoch lasting three days. The total duration of Season 2 has not yet been officially disclosed.

Based farming is particularly attractive because it offers dual exposure: both to Based’s own upcoming airdrop and potentially to a hidden Hyperliquid season if one is announced later.

Here is the proposed farming strategy:

• Go to the Based website and create an account to deposit funds (preferably via Hyperliquid).
• Open positions on perpetual contracts and trade spot assets (x1.4 XP multiplier).
• Prioritize pairs from the HyperEVM ecosystem (x2 XP multiplier).
• Hold PUP tokens, which generate additional XP distributions for holders.

To use Based, we recommend going through our referral link.

Bullet

Evolving from its predecessor Zeta Markets, Bullet is an appchain designed as a “network extension” of Solana and specialized in perpetual trading. The execution of order book transactions and the risk engine operate on this dedicated network, while Solana itself serves only as a settlement, consensus, and data availability layer.

This design allows Bullet to overcome Solana’s technical limitations and target high-frequency trading with latency below 2 ms, while still benefiting from the blockchain’s security and decentralization.

Bullet has recently completed its testnet phase and is preparing to launch its mainnet, which users can already join through a pre-whitelist by filling out a form here.

The Bullet airdrop has not been officially confirmed, but there are strong indications of a potential token distribution based on user activity during both the testnet and the mainnet launch. Bullet is positioning itself as one of the leading Perp DEXs on Solana.

Here is the proposed farming strategy:

• Still in testnet: active participation is expected to be a key factor for airdrop eligibility.
• Set up a Solana wallet (Backpack is recommended; Phantom and Solflare are also accepted).
• Acquire a small amount of SOL to cover transaction fees.
• Go to the Bullet platform, connect your wallet, and create a trading account.
• Deposit testnet funds once your account is created and use all the available features.
• Fill out the form to join the pre-whitelist.

Each participant is allowed only one account; duplicate accounts will be disqualified. Verification through your X account is required (with an option to remain anonymous). Joining Bullet’s social media channels and contributing actively to the community is also viewed positively.

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Other Perp DEXs You Can Farm

Byreal: Byreal incubated by Bybit is envisioned to bridge the gap between centralized exchange liquidity and decentralized finance transparency. The platform focuses on bringing real-world assets (RWAs) on-chain, aiming to become a leading liquidity infrastructure for tokenized real assets. Still on beta phase and over $313 million in trading volume, ByReal has active airdrop plans and ongoing reward distributions.

GTE: Originally launched testnet, March 2025 on MegaETH. GTE is a perp DEX platform and token launchpad. Their is speculation of an airdrop for testnet participants who contributed by trades, liquidity and gave meaningful feedback.

MassDotMoney: This is a mobile-first DeFi app for spot swaps, 25x leveraged perps, and tokenized RWAs on Solana and Hyperliquid with gasless transactions.There are no confirmed airdrop, instead the platforms offers MASS token rewards via referrals (50% bonus), quests, social engagement, and fee rebates (2 MASS per $1 fees) tied to app usage.

Axiom: Axiom is a Solana DEX specializing in memecoin sniping, perps, and spot trading with MEV protection and proprietary execution engine, generating about $15M weekly revenue. The platform features points for trading volume, referrals, and quests to earn SOL rewards and tier progression with ongoing eligibility.

DeFi App: A Cross-chain DEX superapp with $6M funding from Mechanism Capital enabling gasless swaps, perps contract trading, lending, and yield farming across Ethereum, Solana, Arbitrum, BNB, and Base.

Season 2 airdrop is ongoing with an allocated 1B HOME. Points XP is based on swaps, deposits, referrals and community engagement with 2x staking multiplier and weekly vesting.

Hibachi: Hibachi is a privacy-focused Perp and derivates DEX on Arbitrum and Base using zk proofs and $5M seed from Dragonfly and Electric Capital. With 20% token allocation for a possible airdrop, points are earned through trading activity and referrals.

Helix: This is a premier DEX on Injective blockchain for on-chain perpetuals, spot trading, and TradFi assets (pre-IPO derivatives) with up to 25x leverage and mobile apps. There are no confirmed airdrop plans but the platform previously distributed 2M PYTH to early users,  and now has points program launched for protocol participation.

Perennial: Perennial is a decentralized derivatives protocol built as a dedicated perps rollup on Ethereum. Having secured $12 million from major investors like Polychain Capital and Coinbase Ventures, its smaller number of users is good for early adopters because there's less competition.

There isn't an official token or airdrop right now. But, since the protocol needs liquidity, they might offer token incentives in the future to active participants on the platform.

Ostium: Ostium is a perpetual DEX protocol on the Arbitrum network. It enables leveraged trading of RWAs like stocks, commodities, indices, and currencies through synthetic perps, bridging TradFi and DeFi with on-chain price exposure.

On March 31, 2025, Ostium introduced a points program that rewards users with weekly points distributions who receive "score units" from trading, referrals, and liquidity provisioning. While not explicitly stated, it is expected these points will convert into liquid tokens at TGE.

Vest: Vest Exchange is a zk-sync rollup and perpetual futures DEX that.provides deep liquidity and allows users to trade a wide range of crypto and Traditional markets like equities and indices while also offering same-day perpetual listings for IPOs.

The platform’s core technology centers around the Universal Risk Engine, a composable protocol for real-time risk pricing that uses zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) to provide consistent liquidity through a single pool priced by zkRisk

Vest received an allocation of 2,452,128 ZK tokens and has airdropped 400K ZK tokens to Mainnet Alpha users. It launched a points program in March 2025 that distributes 1 million points weekly to active users across Base, Arbitrum, Ethereum, Optimism, Polygon, and ZKsync Era

Continued interaction with Vest may lead to receiving the remaining ZK allocation in the future.

Reya: Reya Network is Reya Network is an Ethereum L2 blockchain optimized for DeFi perpetual trading by focusing on liquidity, capital efficiency, and performance. With an ambitions target of 100 ms latency and 30,000 tps, Reya Network aims to set a new standard for performance among Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatible L2s.

To boostrap liquidity, Reya Network has an active points program that is rewarding depositors with XP for providing liquidity and trading on the network.

VOOI: VOOI is an intent-based cross-chain perpetual DEX aggregator supporting over 17 EVM and non-EVM networks, enabling efficient leveraged trading across multiple protocols with gas management features.

VOOI launched a campaign with point farming, where users can earn points by trading on the platform. With speculations that these points will be the main criteria for receiving an airdrop, 20 million points are distributed weekly.

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Conclusion

There has been a growing narrative suggesting that Hyperliquid may be losing its lead. At first glance, the rising popularity of several new Perp DEXs and their tokens seems to support this view.

In reality, most participants are simply trying to be early on “the next Hyperliquid.” As we explained in our analysis of this current meta, the market is in a phase of euphoria, with users chasing the most lucrative opportunities. Once these incentive programs end, however, the market is likely to correct itself naturally.

Airdrop farming often creates a temporary illusion of demand: many farmers focus on short-term rewards and quickly move on to the next project once incentives dry up. As a result, the true underlying value of these platforms and their tokens may be overestimated in the short term.

Ultimately, the Perp DEX landscape in 2025 represents one of the strongest opportunities for airdrop farmers. Given Hyperliquid’s success and the competition among emerging challengers, the potential rewards could be significant.

The most straightforward and prudent strategy remains to adopt a delta-neutral approach, while focusing on organic activity and careful risk management. Combined with a clear understanding of each project’s specific criteria, this approach could position traders to capture a new wave of major airdrops by late 2025 or early 2026.