Real-World Asset Perpetual Futures Volume Nears Bitcoin on Major Exchanges

Perpetual futures tied to tokenized stocks and commodities came close to matching Bitcoin perpetual trading volume last week on two of the largest exchanges offering the products, according to data from Talos.

RWA Trading Volume Approaches Bitcoin Levels

Combined seven day volume across tracked real world asset perpetuals reached $61.7 billion on Hyperliquid and Binance, equal to 99.2% of Bitcoin perpetual volume on those platforms. Tokenized equity contracts made up 57.8% of that total, followed by commodities at 28.2%. The overall value of onchain real-world assets, excluding stablecoins, has grown to about $36.8 billion, as exchanges increasingly add tokenized stocks and commodities alongside traditional crypto offerings.

Hyperliquid Leads Early Momentum

Hyperliquid recorded $25.1 billion in RWA perpetual trading volume during the week of July 13 to 19, surpassing the combined volume of every other perpetual category on the platform. Circle co-founder Jeremy Allaire said the shift reflects crypto markets moving away from trading purely digital assets.

Growth Accelerates Into the New Week

Early figures for the current week show RWA perpetual volume has already reached $37.2 billion, now exceeding Bitcoin perpetual volume by roughly 9%. Equity-linked contracts led with $22.8 billion, followed by commodities at $9.1 billion and indexes at $4.2 billion, with smaller contributions from ETFs, foreign exchange and pre-IPO contracts. Pantera Capital has said perpetual futures could become a dominant trading tool beyond crypto, citing round-the-clock trading and continuous price discovery. Despite the rapid growth, RWA perpetuals still represent a small slice of the broader derivatives market, making up about 7.5% of the $821.4 billion in total futures volume over the past week.