The trading volume of mainstream public chain perpetual contracts declined, and the wave field rose

During the period from July 27 to August 2, 2026, the trading volume of perpetual contracts in five of the six tracked chains decreased month-on-month. Base, BSC, Solana, Ethereum and Bitcoin all fell, while Tron rose 56.5%. In addition, the number of active addresses for Ethereum, Base and Bitcoin did not change in sync with falling perpetual contracts and total locked value (TVL) data, indicating that this week's participation did not align with derivatives activity.

During the period from July 27 to August 2, 2026, the transaction volume of perpetual contracts on five of the six blockchains tracked in this dataset decreased month-on-month. Base led the decline, down 72.3%(from $362.1 million to $100.3 million), followed by a 60.3% decline in BSC (from $17.62 million to $6.99 million), Solana dropped 56.4%(from $1.295 million to $565.09 million), Ethereum dropped 32.7%(from $1.435 million to $966.11 million), and Bitcoin, whose much smaller perpetual contract market fell from $10.43 million to $7.31 million.

The wave field reversed, with perpetual contract trading volume rising 56.5% from US$64.19 million to US$100.43 million, although its DEX trading volume fell 43.1% in the same week. It is the only chain in this dataset where perpetual contract transactions have increased.

Changes in perpetual contract trading volume by chain week (July 27 to August 2, 2026): Base dropped from US$362.1 million to US$100.3 million, a change of-72.3%;BSC dropped from US$17.62 million to US$6.99 million, a change of-60.3%;Solana dropped from US$1.295 million to US$565.09 million, a change of-56.4%; Ethereum dropped from US$1.435 billion to US$966.11 million, a change of-32.7%; Bitcoin fell from US$10.43 million to US$7.31 million, a change of-29.9%; the wavefield increased from US$64.19 million to US$100.43 million, a change of +56.5%.

Rising Ethereum trading volume complicates the picture of declining activity

Ethereum's total locked position value fell 4.1% this week, accompanied by a decline in the above-mentioned perpetual contracts. However, other usage signals of the network took a different direction: the number of active addresses fell 20.2% from 512,433 to 408,891, while the average daily transaction volume increased 37.4% from 1.87 million to 2.57 million. The decrease in active addresses but the increase in transaction volume is contrary to the simple interpretation of the decline in perpetual contract transaction volume as a signal that the overall network is cooling down.

DEX activity on the wavefield cools down, and the trend of perpetual contracts diverges.

The total locked value of the wavefield is basically flat, down 0.8% to US$4.849 billion. Its DEX trading volume fell 43.1%, in contrast to the growth of perpetual contracts, with stronger derivatives activity and weaker DEX trading volume. It is the only chain in this dataset that exhibits this differentiation.

TRON expands Web3 outreach through trip to Stanford

Amid the contrasting performance of Bochang on the chain this week, founder Sun Yuchen emphasized the network's participation at Stanford University. Wave Field DAO discussed global retail adoption, Wave Field AI accelerator program and the future of Web3 with students at Stanford Business School. According to Wave Field DAO, these meetings are designed to connect with the next generation of blockchain developers.

The most significant indicator change for BSC comes from perpetual contracts, not TVL

BSC's total locked position value remained unchanged, down 1.2%. BSC's biggest change this week came from perpetual contract activity, which fell 60.3%, while TVL and other tracking indicators remained relatively stable. This contrasts with chains such as Solana, which fell simultaneously on multiple indicators.

Solana is the only chain that has fallen on all tracking indicators.

Solana is unique in the data set: total locked value, token market value, perpetual contract trading volume, number of active addresses and average daily trading volume all fell this week, with market value down 6.5%, number of addresses down 23.6%, and trading volume down 17.8%, accompanied by the decline in perpetual contracts mentioned above. No other chain in the data set showed a consistent decline across all tracking data.

The increase in Base addresses is inconsistent with the decline in perpetual contracts

Base's total locked position value fell 2.4% this week. When it comes to L2 activity, the number of active addresses actually increased by 3.3%, from 256,968 to 265,485, although the chain's perpetual contract transaction volume dropped by 72.3%. Derivatives activity on Base and on-chain participation are in opposite directions this week.

The growth of Bitcoin addresses suggests that participation has not followed the decline in locked value

Bitcoin's total locked value fell by 18.2% this week, the largest decline in TVL in the data set, with the token market value falling by 3.9%. The number of active addresses went in the opposite direction, increasing by 41.5% from 569,782 to 806,292, the largest increase in addresses among all tracking chains. Combined with the above-mentioned Ethereum and Base data, address and participation counts did not fall in line with lockdown value and perpetual contract data this week, although derivatives activity has cooled almost across the board.