Pacifica Reaches $1B in Daily Perp Volume as Trading Activity Accelerates on Solana

Pacifica, a new perpetual trading protocol on Solana, is still in private beta and accessible only by invite. Despite this early stage, it has drawn attention over the past few weeks as activity on the platform has increased sharply. Let’s talk about data for more transparency.

Rising Volumes in September

Data from Dune shows that since September 9, cumulative perp trading on Pacifica has exceeded $8.83B. Daily volumes have moved from under $200M on Sept 9 to more than $1B on Sept 30, a five-fold increase in less than three weeks.

The protocol’s choice to temporarily halve trading fees has been a clear driver of this growth. Whether this change is encouraging genuine activity or creating short-term churn remains uncertain.

Trading activity on Pacifica has been concentrated in large-cap assets. $BTC perps accounted for $644M in the last 24 hours, followed by $ETH with $244M. $SOL perps reached $43.7M, placing the network’s native token behind $BTC and $ETH.

Shifts in Solana’s Perp Market Share

As a result of higher volumes, Pacifica’s share of Solana perp trading climbed to 54% by Sept 27. At the same time, Jupiter fell below 30% and Drift dropped under 14%. The change highlights how quickly market share can move within Solana’s perp sector, but it is still too early to determine whether Pacifica can sustain this position once fee levels normalize.

Open Interest and Concerns on Sustainability

While daily trading volume has passed the $1B mark, Pacifica’s open interest (OI) remains relatively modest at $68.8M. The gap between high volumes and lower OI raises questions about the depth and stickiness of activity.

Current OI distribution is led by $BTC at $29.1M, followed by $ETH at $16.9M, and $SOL at $5.8M. These figures point to real trading but suggest that positions are not being held for long, a dynamic often associated with wash trading or incentive-driven behavior.

Deposits and User Base Expansion

To participate, traders deposit $USDC into Pacifica. Net deposits stand at $23M, with inflows peaking on Sept 26 ($2.4M) and Sept 29 ($1.9M). The second spike aligned with the fee reduction announcement.

The number of depositing addresses has expanded from around 260 in mid-September to more than 1,800 by Sept 29. More than 57% were new addresses. In total, 14.2K wallets have deposited, with 63% joining after Sept 15.

Deposit size analysis points to strong retail participation. Nearly half of all wallets deposited between $100 and $1K. A further 24.1% added between $10 and $100, while 22.5% contributed deposits in the $1K to $10K range. Only 3.8% of wallets placed between $10K and $100K.

This pattern indicates that Pacifica’s user growth is being driven primarily by smaller traders, many of whom appear motivated by the possibility of an airdrop.

Outlook

Pacifica’s rapid emergence has shifted attention within Solana’s perp landscape. Aggressive fee cuts and speculation about future incentives have clearly boosted adoption and activity, yet the relatively low open interest compared to volume raises doubts about how much of this trading is organic.

Whether Pacifica can translate short-term growth into lasting market share will depend on its ability to attract deeper liquidity and retain users once incentives ease. For now, the protocol represents an example of how quickly competitive dynamics can shift in Solana’s evolving perp market.

Read More on SolanaFloor

USD1 on Solana: 175M Supply and $1.2B Trading Volume in the First Month

Can DATs & ETFs Help SOL hit $500 by 2026?