DEX trading activity is becoming a key signal for Solana’s [SOL] Q4 cycle.
According to DeFiLlama data, cumulative DEX volume has already crossed $600 billion in Q3, surpassing Q2’s $572 billion. The jump suggests that on-chain activity is picking up again, raising the question of whether DEX volume can reclaim the $1 trillion mark that was last seen in Q4 2025. For the year to date, the total DEX volume has remained below that level.
Notably, Solana could be an important driver behind a potential pickup in DEX activity. As the chart below shows, the weekly spot DEX trades on Solana have now surpassed the NYSE for the first time. To put this into context, for the week ending the 13th of September, Solana recorded around 208 million spot DEX trades, compared with roughly 190 million on the NYSE.
Why does this matter? Well, the fact that Solana’s DEX traffic is diverging so sharply from the NYSE is perhaps reflective of a more fundamental change in where liquidity is flowing. As more transactions are “on-chain”, demand for more “on-chain” market infrastructure is beginning to emerge.
The rise of tokenized equities on Solana only stands to bolster this thesis. According to Blockworks data, the number of tokenized equity holders on Solana has hit a record 973k in September, up almost 60% since August. In essence, Solana is seeing “liquidity” growth outside crypto. More users are gaining exposure to traditional assets through DEXs, creating an additional source of liquidity for the network.
If this trend persists, rising DEX volume could, therefore, become a major tailwind for SOL heading into Q4.
Solana’s DEX boom puts on-chain activity in focus for Q4
The market has already dubbed Solana’s DEX boom as a mere appetizer.
According to DeFiLlama data, the combined volume of all decentralized exchanges (DEX) on the blockchain has crossed $170 billion in Q3 so far. While weekly trading activity on the network has already surpassed the NYSE, its overall DEX volume is still below Q2’s $180 billion and well behind the Q1’s whopping $325 billion.
So there is much room for growth ahead. Notably, this is where stablecoin data comes into play. The supply of stablecoins on Solana hit a record $16.5 billion on the 22nd of September. It has also jumped more than 6% over the past week, adding nearly $1 billion in new liquidity for the network.
In layman’s terms, increasing stablecoin liquidity translates to more capital to flow through Solana’s DeFi ecosystem. And if the trend persists, it could catalyze a rise in DEX activity on the blockchain.
According to AMBCrypto, Solana’s weekly DEX activity outperforming the NYSE could, therefore, be more than just a one-off milestone. Instead, it could signal a broader shift in on-chain trading activity.
With growing stablecoin liquidity, tokenized equity adoption, and DEX activity reaching new highs, Solana’s on-chain ecosystem is showing increased demand. Taken together, these factors point to DEX volume being a key metric to watch for SOL as Q4 approaches.
Final Summary
- Solana’s DEX activity is rising, with more liquidity and tokenized assets moving on-chain.
- Rising DEX volume could support SOL’s Q4 momentum.
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