Bulk Trade Outpaces Hyperliquid, Lighter in First Day Volume as Mainnet Beta Goes Live

After months of anticipation, Bulk, an emerging Solana perpetual futures trading venue, has finally opened the doors to its invite-only mainnet beta launch.

Much to the delight of over 15,000 pre-depositors, Bulk’s launch hit Solana’s perps race with a bang, reportedly netting over $22M in Day 1 trading volume and outpacing the giants who came before it.

However, despite palpable excitement, it wasn’t all smooth sailing for the venue. Concentrated, aggressive trading caused a temporary price dislocation, triggering large liquidations and ADL.

Bulk Records $22M in Day 1 Trading

After first launching its testnet in March 2026, and amassing peak TVL of $40M in pre-deposits, Bulk is finally live in mainnet beta. An estimated 15,000 wallets are eligible for the invite-only soft launch, with access being periodically rolled out to other users over the coming weeks.

According to Bulk CEO Kobie McGlashan, Bulk processed over $22M in day one volume, surpassing the traffic witnessed by market leaders like Hyperliquid and Lighter on their respective debuts.

Comparatively, Bulk’s $22M launch would’ve placed it in fourth position in Solana’s perp DEX volume rankings, trailing GMTrade, Pacifica, and Jupiter.  While an impressive start for the emerging venue, it’s important to note that some of Bulk’s volume may be driven by mercenary capital. 

Bulk is expected to deliver one of Solana DeFi’s most anticipated future airdrops, prompting traders to generate volume on the platform in exchange for AURA, or points. 

Debut Marred by Temporary Price Dislocation

While Bulk’s maiden voyage attracted plenty of volume and demonstrated strong demand from traders, market data shows that some users took advantage of the venue’s Day One liquidity to force a price dislocation and trigger liquidations.

According to co-founder & CTO Junaid Peel’s public statement, one wallet traded aggressively through the venue’s Day One liquidity, rebuilding a large short position while undergoing partial liquidations.

The trader’s behaviour ultimately caused a market-wide price dislocation, triggering liquidations across several positions and causing cascading auto-deleveraging. Bulk has communicated that affected users will be reimbursed following incident review.

Despite the growing pains, McGlashan has asserted that targeted market manipulation practices are commonplace in the crypto industry. Challenges like what Bulk faced on Saturday are particularly common for new and emerging venues, and even established venues can fall victim to sophisticated attacks. 

In March 2026, a malicious actor forced a self-liquidation by manipulating the price of $JELLYJELLY, effectively passing a toxic position to the HLP, causing several million in losses and threatening to liquidate the entire vault at certain price thresholds.

While unsettling in the short term, incidents like the above only help to make perpetual trading venues more resilient in the long term, enabling stronger and more efficient markets and safer trading for users.

Read More on SolanaFloor

The memes are coming home

Solana Reclaims Memecoin Flows as Stonk.fun Flips Pump, Hyperliquid in Daily Revenue

Is Robinhood a worthy challenger?