DEX Volumes Surge 230% as Stablecoins Drop and Institutions Accumulate

Key Points

• Stablecoin market cap dropped $1.81B with $3.38B outflows from Ethereum-based USDT and USDC.
• DEX volumes surged, spot up 18.68% to $140.33B, perps up 230% to $515.25B.
• BitMine and whales accumulated ETH and Aster, while BlackRock sold ETH and BTC.

Crypto markets showed contrasting signals last week, with stablecoin supply shrinking while decentralized trading activity expanded sharply. Lookonchain reported the total stablecoin market cap declined by $1.81 billion, led by $3.38 billion outflows from Ethereum-based USDT and USDC.

Meanwhile, decentralized exchanges saw significant growth in activity. Spot trading volume reached $140.33 billion, marking an 18.68% weekly increase. Uniswap recorded $28.89 billion in trades, up 25.01%, while PancakeSwap reported $22.335 billion, up 7.19%.

Perpetuals trading expanded even faster, with weekly volume totaling $515.258 billion. Aster led the surge with $270.679 billion, up 2385.8%, while Hyperliquid handled $80.527 billion, a 34.05% increase.

Institutional and whale participation also remained strong. BitMine added 234,846 ETH worth $963 million, raising its holdings to 2.65 million ETH. Strategy purchased 196 BTC valued at $22.1 million, bringing its total Bitcoin holdings to 640,031 BTC.

Institutional Moves and BlackRock Selling Shape Market Sentiment

Whale activity extended beyond majors, with two wallets accumulating 129.59 million Aster tokens worth $259 million, or 7.82% of supply. These large acquisitions highlight growing institutional and whale influence across both established and emerging tokens.

However, not all flows were positive. BlackRock sold $205.18 million worth of ETH and $38.19 million worth of BTC, signaling ongoing institutional selling pressure. This divergence between accumulation and disposals continues to shape sentiment.

This week adds further uncertainty with key U.S. labor market data releases. Job openings arrive on September 30, followed by initial jobless claims on October 2 and unemployment figures on October 3.

Stronger employment data could reduce the probability of Federal Reserve rate cuts, while weaker results may lift expectations of easing. These macro events, combined with volatile flows, leave crypto markets braced for potentially sharp moves.

Overall, declining stablecoin supply, surging DEX volumes, and mixed institutional activity reflect a shifting market landscape. Investors remain focused on macro conditions and large-scale flows to assess direction.