Solana's DEX Volume Surges 100% to $1.4 Trillion in July 2025

Solana has been making significant strides in the cryptocurrency ecosystem, particularly in the realms of decentralized finance (DeFi), non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and gaming. The network's rising activity in these areas has been a key driver of its growing ecosystem. Major projects like Marinade Finance and Tensor have played a crucial role in this expansion, contributing to the network's overall growth and development.

Institutional players are increasingly recognizing Solana as a viable alternative to Ethereum, especially for applications that require high-frequency trading and tokenized asset platforms. The recent uptick in staking activity and validator participation further underscores the network's growing maturity and stability. This institutional interest is not only a testament to Solana's technological capabilities but also to its potential for long-term growth and adoption.

Despite the positive momentum, several risk factors remain. Market volatility tied to U.S. monetary policy or regulatory developments in Europe could impact capital flows across crypto markets. Solana also faces stiff competition from Ethereum’s layer-2 scaling solutions and other chains like Avalanche and Sui, which continue to expand their ecosystems. Additionally, technical corrections are always a possibility after strong weekly gains, and traders are eyeing the $185 level as a key resistance. Failure to break above it could result in a short-term pullback. However, the $160–$165 range remains a critical support zone that has held up well during past downturns.

Solana's decentralized exchange (DEX) volume climbed past $1.4 trillion in July 2025, marking a new record for the blockchain. This figure includes cumulative trading data from top Solana-based platforms such as Raydium, Orca, and Meteora. Raydium led a 24-hour activity with more than $1.2 billion in trades, followed by other high-traffic exchanges that helped push the volume higher. Data from DeFiLlama recorded $3.85 billion in 24-hour DEX volume on Solana, with a monthly total exceeding $69 billion. These numbers highlight a steady rise in user participation across the network, including activity from both individual traders and institutional entities. The volume increase follows an uptick in decentralized applications built on the Solana blockchain, many of which focus on trading, staking, and yield farming. The goal remains to attract more users and expand Solana’s presence within decentralized finance.

Institutional activity has also added momentum to Solana's growth. A partnership with enterprise blockchain firm R3, announced in May, focuses on bringing tokenized real-world assets onto the network. This collaboration is part of a larger trend in which traditional financial firms are exploring public blockchain platforms. The institutional momentum has been supported by regulatory signals, with prediction market data from Polymarket placing the likelihood of a spot SOL ETF approval before the end of 2025 at 99%. This optimism followed the July debut of the Rex Shares SOL staking ETF, which reached a net asset value of $42 million within its first few days of trading. The product performed better than the XRP futures ETF on its launch day, indicating rising investor appetite for Solana-related financial products. Network activity also remains strong, with Solana ahead in daily transactions and active addresses. The network processed more than 125 million transactions per day on average and maintained over 5 million unique active addresses.

Solana's ecosystem Meme project MEW recently released its first animated trailer, which has received wide acclaim from the community and is furthering its IP development upgrade. The animated trailer presents exquisite artwork and a complete world view, showcasing the project team's determination to continuously develop this IP. Subsequent plans include deepening the MEW brand value through animation and related content. This development is part of a broader trend of increasing user engagement and community involvement within the Solana ecosystem, which is crucial for its long-term success and sustainability.

Solana's growing ecosystem and increasing institutional interest position it as a key player in the cryptocurrency space. With solid fundamentals and a strong technical base, Solana appears to be on track for continued growth and adoption. However, investors should remain cautious and prepared for volatility, especially given the macroeconomic uncertainty ahead. As always, timing the market is difficult, but Solana's expanding ecosystem and growing adoption make it a key token to watch as we move forward.