Capital is pouring into perp DEXs at historic levels as open interest has surged to a record high of $26.4B. The sector has grown 33% month-over-month and has fully recovered from the October 2025 market crash. This has been led by Hyperliquid, which reached a record $17.7B OI (+42% MoM). But there's an interesting difference this time, as capital appears to be more organic and more sticky: October 2025: $1.6T volume, $19B OI (84x turnover) September 2026 (so far): $410B volume, $26.4B OI (15.5x turnover) Meanwhile, OI on @Lighter_xyz has grown 66% over the last month as Lighter trends back towards its previous highs reached in October 2025, making it the fastest-growing of the top perp DEXs by OI data: @Blockworks