The dYdX Foundation hosted its February Analyst Call on February 23, 2026, featuring a guest discussion with Han Chang, Co-Founder & CEO of Adaptive Frontier and dYdX Foundation Council Member, alongside updates on protocol metrics, macro conditions, and strategic initiatives across the dYdX ecosystem. The session brought together analysts, token holders, and ecosystem participants for a data-driven review of market conditions and protocol activity through January 2026.

Market Backdrop and Macro Drivers

The call opened with a market firmly on the bearish side. Bitcoin traded in a $64,000–$67,000 range, with the crypto fear and greed index dropping to extreme fear - among the lowest readings on record, comparable to the FTX era and the COVID-era drawdown.

On the macro side, the Fed held rates steady at its January meeting, with uncertainty around the evolution of rate policy ahead of the May 2026 transition from Powell's term. The tariff conversation resurfaced after a brief period of de-escalation, with US courts challenging the tariff policy and creating additional uncertainty for traders. Geopolitical tensions around Iran - with a significant US military presence near Iranian borders - added another layer of risk-off pressure.

On the positive side, the CFTC invited a number of crypto executives to join its advisory panel, signaling continued regulatory engagement across the spectrum of US regulators. Both the CFTC and the SEC were noted as joining forces to develop frameworks for 24/7 perpetual and spot market trading.

Industry Developments

Despite bearish sentiment, the Foundation highlighted several structural developments pointing toward longer-term institutional adoption.

CME Group announced a launch of crypto derivative trading by the end of May 2026, with the venue already recording more than $3 trillion in notional volume in 2025 and growth of 46%+ year-over-year into early 2026. The Foundation noted that CME's growing role represents new capital entering the market rather than the same participants rotating between venues - a meaningful distinction for market structure.

The call also framed how these developments validate the product structure dYdX has operated since 2018 - with TradFi venues now building toward the perpetual contract model and 24/7 trading infrastructure that decentralized venues already offer.

January Protocol Metrics

The Foundation provided its monthly update on dYdX protocol performance:

• ~$1.6 trillion in cumulative lifetime trading volume across all protocol versions
• $65 million in protocol fees distributed to stakers since inception
• 286 active markets listed (386+ historically, with inactive markets removed via governance)
• ~$50 million in cumulative USDC staking rewards distributed
• 34,000+ active stakers participating in network security
• Staking APR at ~3.3%, paid in USDC — non-inflationary, funded entirely by protocol fees

January 30-day trading volume came in at approximately $9.48 billion, a pullback from the $16 billion recorded in December, consistent with the industry-wide contraction. Notably, daily active traders held steady through the drawdown - the trader base did not capitulate even as sentiment moved to extreme fear, suggesting sustained participation and mindshare despite lower volumes.

Staked supply remained stable, and the flow of staking rewards to participants continued at reasonable levels despite the broader deleveraging trend across crypto markets.

Guest Discussion: Adaptive Frontier on Market Making, Risk Management, and Emerging Asset Classes

The guest segment featured Han Chang, who operates Adaptive Frontier across both centralized and decentralized venues and serves as a dYdX Foundation Council Member.

On CEX-to-DEX migration: Han confirmed a steady migration of volume from centralized to decentralized exchanges. Based on Adaptive Frontier's data, DEX volume share grew from approximately 4% in January 2025 to just under 11% in January 2026. Perp DEX volumes specifically increased by over 120% year-over-year, while centralized exchange volumes declined by approximately 4% over the same period.

On risk management across venue types: Han noted that from a pure trading perspective, risk management is similar across CEX and DEX. The primary risk considerations for decentralized venues center on smart contract integrity, self-custody security, and SDK supply chain vetting rather than execution mechanics. He cited dYdX's Lindy infrastructure and permissioned key feature - which separates trading access from withdrawal authority - as providing meaningful comfort for institutional-grade operations.

On latency and toxic flow: While decentralized venues carry higher latency than centralized counterparts, Han observed that they also carry significantly less toxic flow. He argued that centralized exchanges investing in lower latency protocols like SBE (simple binary encoding) primarily benefit the lowest-latency players without meaningfully improving market microstructure for retail participants - and that perp DEXs are doing a better job of protecting retail order flow.

On institutional readiness for equity perps and prediction markets: Han assessed that prop trading firms are comfortable with these products, but larger institutions face two key blockers: counterparty KYC opacity in on-chain order books (a compliance non-starter for institutional desks) and inadequate custody infrastructure, particularly on prediction market platforms that still require private key inclusion in trading algorithms. He contrasted this with dYdX's permissioned key infrastructure, which separates trading from withdrawal access.

On 2026 outlook: Han described himself as long-term bullish but expected volumes to remain muted absent a new catalyst. He noted that retail attention is currently distributed across precious metals, commodities, and AI stocks. On market structure, he projected a continued steady shift from centralized to decentralized venues on the retail side, and from centralized exchanges to regulated TradFi venues like CME on the institutional side - suggesting centralized exchanges may face a squeeze from both directions.

On catalysts for DEX adoption: Han identified regulatory clarity and a potential centralized exchange risk event as the most likely accelerators, while flagging AI agents as a dark horse catalyst - noting that autonomous agents may prefer stablecoin rails and decentralized infrastructure for transacting.

Strategic Initiatives

The call concluded with updates on ecosystem programs and events:

• Coiner integration launched — grid trading, DCA, copy trading, and TradingView signal execution bots now live on dYdX
• Surge Season 11 continues through February: 50% fee rebates for UI and API users, zero maker and taker fees on BTC and BONK perpetuals
• $1 million liquidation rebate program ongoing
• ETH-USD trading competition with Volt Trade — $15K+ prize pool
• $200K affiliate booster program allocated for February and March
• dYdX recognized as Best Decentralized Perpetual Exchange 2026 at AIBC x SiGMA Dubai
• Tokenized Capital Summit alongside Token2049 Dubai confirmed for April — a curated, traders-only event

The full February 2026 Analyst Call recording is available on the dYdX Foundation YouTube channel.

About the dYdX Foundation

The dYdX Foundation is an independent not-for-profit organization based in Zug, Switzerland. Its mission is to support the current and future implementations of the dYdX protocol and foster community-driven governance and growth across the ecosystem.

Disclaimer

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