Merkle Trade, the largest decentralized perpetual futures exchange on Aptos by trading volume, said in an X-post on February 3 that it will begin winding down its operations in the coming weeks.
The team said the decision followed “careful consideration” and came after the platform had processed nearly $30 billion in cumulative trading volume since launch. Without specifying a reason for the wind-down, the statement concludes: “But we are proud of what we have built and are grateful to everyone who was part of it.”
According to the announcement, new positions will be eliminated on February 6, while all remaining positions will be forcibly closed on February 10. Merkle Trade’s native MKL token will become redeemable without fees or withdrawal delays, while a final revenue distribution is scheduled for February 12, after which the staked MKL will also be redeemable, the announcement said.
MKL’s price rose 11.5% in the past 24 hours, although the token is down 90% from its all-time high in December 2024.
Merkle Trade launched in late 2023 and offered non-custodial derivatives trading alongside features such as trading missions and loot boxes, relying heavily on game-like mechanics.
That approach helped Merkle raise $2.1 million in an April 2024 seed round led by Hashed and Arrington Capital, with participation from Aptos Labs, Morningstar Ventures, Amber Group and others.
Merkle Trade’s TVL and fees. Source: DefiLlama
According to data from DefiLlama, the total value on the platform peaked at over $7.4 million in May 2024. Since then, TVL has fallen by more than half to around $3.47 million, making Merkle Trade the 17th largest TVL protocol on Aptos at the time of writing.
However, of the four Aptos-based offender DEXs listed on DefiLlama, Merkle is by far the leader, accounting for $12.4 million of the total $13.68 million in offender volume on the chain in the last 24 hours.
Aptos struggles
Merkle’s decline in TVL since 2024 reflects weakness in the broader Aptos ecosystem, where its total value is currently around $332.6 million, making it the 16th largest DeFi TVL chain.
Current TVL across the ecosystem is down more than 70% from December 2024, when it was over $1.2 billion, and is back to levels last seen in summer 2024.
Aptos TVL vs. chain costs vs. app revenue. Source: DefiLlama
However, app revenues on the network have increased in 2025, although they remain relatively low. Weekly revenue from decentralized applications (DApps) on Aptos is led by DEX PancakeSwap, with $44,396, followed by Merkle Trade with $29,575.
By comparison, the four largest chains by app revenue today – Solana, Hyperliquid L1, Ethereum and EdgeX – all registered more than $1 million in the last 24 hours.
The broader DEX sector exploded in 2025, with 24-hour volumes now exceeding most centralized exchanges. Hyperliquid has led the industry in trading volume, with rivals Lighter and Aster sometimes taking the lead.