Fluid DEX Volume Soars to All-Time High in February

Fluid, a decentralized exchange (DEX) and lending protocol, is eclipsing all-time high volumes and total-value locked (TVL).

The DEX reached an all-time high weekly volume of $1.34 billion between Jan. 27 and Feb. 2, and is on track to eclipse that number in the next seven-day period after recording $820 million over the last 48 hours. This compares with weekly volume of $17 bilion for Uniswap, the largest Ethereum DEX by volume.

The DeFi protocol’s growth may be attributed to the high yield it provides to stablecoin lenders. It also had good timing. Fluid launched its DEX product on Oct. 29, less than a week before the presidential election that set off the Q4 crypto rally.

The rapid growth has propelled Fluid’s rank amongst Ethereum-based DEXs, and it is currently the third largest DEX by volume on the chain, trailing just Curve and Uniswap. Curve is still outperforming Fluid by 44% in terms of weekly volume, with $3.7 billion compared to Fluid’s $2 billion, and Uniswap dwarfs them both - recording $17 billion over the same time period.

The year-old DEX’s climb is a sign of how quickly the DeFi ecosystem can change. Fluid combines features like smart collateral, smart debt, and liquid staked eth vaults to offer users multiple directions for using capital, and creative methods for boosting yield or reducing fees.

Lending Arm Also Grows

The protocol offers users “smart collateral” and “smart debt” which are designed to lower borrowing costs, and collateralize their liquidity providers by deploying their positions as automated-market maker (AMM) liquidity on the DEX.

The increased DEX volumes come alongside a new all-time high on Fluid’s lending arm, which reached $850 million on Feb. 1, and currently sits at $790 million, according to DeFiLlama.

Fluid is built by Instadapp, which released its token in June 2021. The Instadapp token, formerly INST, now trades under the ticker FLUID, and was trading as low as $1.05 in October. The FLUID token surged with the market, reaching as high as $9.45 on Dec. 16. On this local high the token also tagged a new all-time high market capitalization of $375 million.

FLUID has retraced since, and currently changes hands for $5.78 per token, or a $230 million market capitalization.