How Will Jupiter’s Ape Pro Challenge Solana Favorites like Photon, BullX?

Solana DEX volume exploded in 2024, with tens of thousands of traders eager to test their skills in the ecosystem’s thriving meme economy.

Competition among trading terminals and tools has grown particularly fierce, with platforms like BullX, Photon, Trojan, and BonkBot rapidly innovating to provide traders with the ultimate tool.

Jupiter, one of Solana’s biggest DeFi players, is the latest to throw down the gauntlet. Launching Ape Pro, Jupiter makes a bold entrance into the competitive field of advanced trading tools.

What can we expect from Ape Pro?

Ape Pro Goes Live

Launching on October 17, 2024, Ape Pro provides a comprehensive trading terminal that promises to give traders a competitive edge. On top of streamlining and simplifying the ‘aping’ process, Jupiter claims its goal with Ape Pro is to “help drive the memecoin space forward.”

But this isn’t the first time that Jupiter has launched an experimental trading platform. Back in July 2024, Jupiter launched its original Ape memecoin trading app. Despite a smooth and simple UX, the platform didn’t attract significant adoption, leading the Jupiter team to refocus their efforts to deliver a superior product.

Ape Pro delivers a host of improvements over the original Ape trading platform. Optimized for mobile devices, the application aims to provide a powerful and complete terminal, featuring:

• Real-time charts and transaction data.

• One-tap social logins

• MEV-protected swaps

• One-tap token swaps

• Intelligent fee optimizations

For all its fanfare, Ape Pro is remarkably similar to rival platforms like BullX and Photon, with comparable UI and features. However, Ape Pro still has an ace up its sleeve - the Jupiter team has teased that the platform will introduce a token creation tool in the near future.

Ape Pro charges a 0.5% fee on trades. This is considerably less than competitors Photon, BullX, and Telegram-based tools, which typically charge 1% before accounting for referral discounts. 

Jupiter’s platform also introduces a generous referral campaign, encouraging traders to invite other network participants to the platform in exchange for a 10% fee discount.

CoinHall Acquisition Bears Fruit

At Solana Breakpoint 2024, Jupiter co-founder Siong Ong proudly announced that the Solana DeFi titan had acquired Coinhall, a charting terminal focused on servicing the wider Cosmos ecosystem.

Since the acquisition, the Coinhall team has been deeply involved in the development of Ape Pro, drawing on their experience and expertise to improve the updated terminal.

Soju, a core Jupiter team member, expressed enthusiasm for the Ape Pro launch, highlighting the valuable contributions of Coinhall engineers AaronCQL and Joe Doe.

Trading Terminal Competition Heats Up

As proven throughout 2024, comprehensive trading terminals are an excellent commercial venture in bullish market dynamics. Platforms like Photon, Trojan, and BonkBot regularly feature among crypto’s top ten revenue-generating applications.

Unlike rival trading platforms like Photon, Ape Pro will also operate as a token-launching protocol. This positions Jupiter to potentially disrupt and siphon market share away from pump.fun, a Solana-based token-creation app that has taken the crypto space by storm.

Aside from the Jupiter Perpetual DEX, the protocol has largely avoided charging fees for services. Basic token swaps through the aggregator, Jupiter’s flagship application, are free. This extends to the new Jupiter mobile wallet, which bucked the trend of charging fees on in-wallet trades.

Jupiter boasts one of the crypto industry’s most loyal and engaged communities. If Ape Pro performs as intended and becomes the terminal of choice for Jupiter users, the platform could quickly become one of the industry’s most valuable applications.

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