ChainCatcher report: Venture capital firm a16z crypto stated that perpetual contracts pegged to stocks, gold, and other traditional assets have seen rapid growth in trading volume, with an increasing share occurring on-chain. Trading volume reached $117.3 billion in August 2026, a 44-fold increase from one year prior, with open interest at $4.8 billion. After a decline in April 2026, trading volume hit a new peak in May, rose to $145.1 billion in July, and then dipped to $117.3 billion in August. Open interest increased nearly 30-fold from $161 million in July 2025 to $4.8 billion in August 2026, remaining near record highs even as trading volume declined. As of November 2025, centralized exchanges accounted for approximately two-thirds or more of monthly trading volume; by December, on-chain venues nearly matched them. In August 2026, on-chain venues accounted for 86%—about $101 billion—while centralized exchanges accounted for approximately $16 billion, with their volume peaking in March and declining through July. The decentralized perpetuals platform Hyperliquid launched HIP-3 in October 2025, enabling developers to deploy their own perpetual markets using the shared trading infrastructure HyperCore. That month, on-chain RWA perpetual trading volume rose to approximately $4 billion; by December, on-chain venues accounted for roughly half of tracked volume. A year ago, commodities made up 84% of trading; in August this year, stocks accounted for 48%, commodities for 28%, and indices for 18%. In June, open interest for stock perpetuals reached $1.6 billion, surpassing commodities at $1.2 billion; in August, these figures were $2.2 billion and $1.6 billion, respectively.
a16z: RWA perpetual volume reaches $117.3B in August 2026
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Summary
a16z reported that real-world asset (RWA) perpetual trading volume reached $117.3 billion in August 2026, a 44-fold increase from the prior year. Trading volume peaked at $145.1 billion in July before declining to $117.3 billion in August. Open interest rose to $4.8 billion, up nearly 30-fold from July 2025. On-chain platforms accounted for 86% of the volume in August, totaling $101 billion. Stocks represented 48% of trading volume, up from commodities, which accounted for 84% a year earlier.
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