Solana’s derivatives dashboard showed a big weekly jump, but the spot side was quieter. In DefiLlama’s Nov. 10 snapshot, seven-day perpetuals turnover on Solana was nearly $9 billion. That was up 65.29% from the week before. Most of the activity came from one venue.
One venue carries most of the volume
GMTrade, listed by DefiLlama as $GMX Solana, reported nearly $7 billion in weekly turnover. Its displayed weekly increase was 105%. Dividing that figure by the table total gives a share of roughly 77%. The rounded totals also suggest GMTrade’s gain was close to the whole table’s gain. That makes the headline number look broad, but the detail is narrower.
Spot trading moved the other way. Seven-day spot decentralized exchange turnover fell 5% to $9.9 billion. Stablecoin market capitalization dropped 4.38% to $14.5 billion over the same comparison. DefiLlama’s Pacifica page also lists $2.6 billion in weekly perpetuals turnover as off-chain, so it sits outside the Solana table. I think this matters because the derivatives number is not the same as fresh demand for SOL.
Trading points and fee terms
GMTrade’s documentation allows SOL exposure backed by wrapped SOL or USDC collateral. A dollar of derivative turnover is not a dollar of new SOL buying. The venue also describes GT points earned through trading, liquidity provision and referrals. Season 2 terms tie a referrer’s sellable quota to GT earned through referred traders’ activity. That is not the same as an unrestricted cash rebate. Fee docs list basic opening or closing charges of 0.02% or 0.024%, depending on whether a trade improves the long-short balance. The Season 2 announcement also mentioned a fee-structure change. The incentives may explain part of the increase, but they do not show how much activity would remain without them.
GM Labs said in a Sept. 16 governance post that $GMX Solana had been integrated into $GMX, though GT points remain separate from the $GMX token. In a Nov. 3 forum reply, contributor Jonezee said Solana-side buybacks were adding $GMX to the staking rewards pool.
The next test is open interest
Open interest is the better follow-up check. On Nov. 10, GMTrade showed nearly $174.9 million in open interest, against $235.1 million for the table overall. Turnover counts notional value traded during a period. Open interest counts positions still outstanding. The next test is whether GMTrade holds its turnover over several weeks, with open interest watched over matching periods. That would help separate repeat activity from a single weekly jump while the wider spot market stays calm. For now, the derivatives headline is real, but it is concentrated.
