Overview of Sui Network Perp DEX: What are the differences among the four major protocols?

Author: 0xShinChan, encryption KOL

Compiled by: Felix,

The post-FTX era has completely changed the trading landscape, driving a large number of users to decentralized perpetual contract exchanges (Perp DEX). The daily trading volume on these platforms now often exceeds 30 billion dollars, which shows that there is a huge demand for decentralized derivatives.

However, the fragmented nature of early Perp DEXs was often hindered by the usability of UI/UX, liquidity depth, and the reliability of price feeds, which obstructed their widespread adoption. Starting in 2024, the market landscape began to change, marked by the emergence of innovative models such as GMX PVP and dYdX order books. Today, lending, DEX, and yield trading protocol teams on the Sui Network are enriching their product lines, including perpetual contract trading.

The advantages of Sui in Perp DEX

Sui actually offers several compelling features that make it a strong contender for building perpetual DEX.

• High performance and low latency: Sui's parallel transaction processing enables high throughput and low latency, which is crucial for efficient order matching on DEX and a smooth trading experience.
• Object-centric data model: Sui's unique data model supports efficient storage and parallel processing of account and asset data.
• zkLogin enables seamless onboarding: The zkLogin feature simplifies the onboarding process for users, allowing them to create accounts using familiar Web2 credentials, reducing the experience barrier for new traders.

• Sponsored Transactions: Sui's sponsored transaction feature can reduce user costs and enhance the overall trading experience.

The following are the early builders of Sui:

• Bluefin
• Astros powered by NAVI Protocol
• Aftermath Finance
• Typus Finance GLP trading model

Kriya is also about to launch its Perp DEX.

Here is an overall comparison table before delving into each one.

The following will compare and study various protocols, analyzing their trading characteristics, protocol mechanisms, and performance.

Bluefin

Bluefin, as a veteran Perp DEX on Sui, combines a fast-matching off-chain order book with a secure on-chain settlement engine. The protocol's liquidity is managed by professional market makers (MM):

Leveraging Sui's parallel transaction processing capabilities, Bluefin has extremely low order execution latency and fast on-chain final confirmation (under 500 milliseconds). Moreover, it supports almost all perpetual contract assets on Sui, covering the widest range, including $DEEP, $WAL, and $TRUMP.

• The trading volume of Bluefin platform's 24-hour perpetual contracts is between 40 million and 70 million USD, indicating a high level of trading activity on the platform.
• The BTC-PERP trading pair typically accounts for the largest share of daily trading volume (about 60%), followed by SUI-PERP and ETH-PERP.
• According to Defi Llama data, the annual fees generated are approximately 4 million USD.

The UI/UX is excellent. Users can utilize the trading view feature, with a clear interface that includes everything needed. It is worth mentioning that Bluefin's zkLogin integration is supported by Sui. This simplifies the user onboarding process and eliminates the complexity of wallets and mnemonic phrases.

Aftermath (Testnet)

Aftermath will launch its Perp DEX testnet for the first time in November 2024. It operates fully on-chain, unlike many Perp DEXs that rely on off-chain order book matching, Aftermath puts the entire order book on-chain. As it is still in the testnet phase, the statistics are limited.

Aftermath focuses more on enhancing the liquidity/TVL of its DEX and existing liquidity pools. Future potential incentives / The official launch of Perp DEX may take place later.

Astros (Beta)

Astros is a DEX aggregator + Perp DEX created by the NAVI Protocol team. Like Bluefin and Aftermath, NAVI Protocol also uses an order book mechanism in its Perp DEX. As it is currently in the testing phase, information and specific mechanisms regarding the cooperating market maker (MM) are not yet detailed. Its 24-hour trading volume reaches 300 million dollars, which may be driven by its ongoing trader incentive program.

Typus Perp

Typus Finance launched its GMX-style Perp DEX about two weeks ago. According to Defi Llama data, the 24-hour trading volume is around $200,000, and the TVL of the TLP pool exceeds $700,000.

Assets in the TLP pool include $SUI, $USDC, $DEEP, and $LBTC, with an APR currently exceeding 100%.

Some observations and conclusions

The Rise of Order Books: The Perp DEX ecosystem of Sui is currently clearly leaning towards the order book model, a phenomenon that is reflected both in the protocol design choices and its dominant position in trading volume. This indicates that the order book mechanism either has inherent applicability within the architecture of Sui or has gained market recognition from its user base.

Asset scarcity and the allure of memes: The range of assets supported by the Sui Network Perp DEX is clearly limited, which represents a potential opportunity. If a certain protocol can quickly embrace the highly volatile but lucrative memecoin trading space (a field that has a continuously developing cultural foundation on Sui), then leveraging the inherent speculative nature of these assets may drive an increase in platform trading volume.

The Necessity of Initial Stages and Incentive Mechanisms: Compared to the mature and highly liquid Perp DEX ecosystems on EVM and Solana, Sui's cumulative trading volume and TVL are still in the initial stages. Given the existing feature sets and available functionalities of these alternative chains, attracting traders to the Perp DEX on the Sui network may require more than just technical innovation; highly attractive incentive mechanisms could be the key factor in attracting speculative capital and promoting significant growth in the Perp DEX ecosystem.

Related Reading: Overview of the Three Major Perp Dex Mechanisms: Hyperliquid vs. Jupiter vs. GMX