Uniswap, a leading decentralized exchange (DEX) on the Ethereum network, has seen its market share in the USDC-USDT trading pair decline sharply from 58% to 36% over a five-week span. Despite the drop in share, Uniswap’s weekly trading volume for the pair remained stable between $1 billion and $1.3 billion, while total volume for the pair grew significantly, climbing from about $2.3 billion to over $3.3 billion.
Main competitors gain ground
The USDC-USDT pair is currently Ethereum’s most active DEX market, logging approximately $480 million in daily trading volume, nearly twice as much as the USDC-WETH pair. As volume surged, other platforms absorbed the increase, prompting a shift in the market landscape.
Cryptocurrency analyst Tom Wan highlighted that rival protocols Fluid and Metric experienced notable gains during this period. Metric increased its share of the pair’s volume from 0.6% to 14%, while Fluid maintained a steady share in the 20% to 28% range. Aero, another entrant, rose from 0% to 6% of the pair’s trading volume.
Mini dictionary: Fluid and Metric are emerging liquidity and trading platforms competing in the DEX ecosystem, providing alternative venues for stablecoin swaps and leveraging innovative liquidity mechanisms to attract large traders.
Weekly growth of about $1 billion in the pair’s total volume primarily went to venues other than Uniswap. The shift was most pronounced in larger transactions, greatly affecting Uniswap’s dominance in this segment.
Over five weeks, Uniswap’s share of trades exceeding $1 million in the USDC-USDT pair fell from 85% to 44%, while Fluid’s share in this segment jumped from 10% to 43%. Metric also saw notable gains in mid-sized orders between $100,000 and $1 million, rising from 7% to 28% as Uniswap’s share dropped from 36% to 21%.
| Platform | Initial share (trades >$1M) | New share (trades >$1M) |
|---|---|---|
| Uniswap | 85% | 44% |
| Fluid | 10% | 43% |
| Metric | 7% (in $100K-$1M range) | 28% (in $100K-$1M range) |
For smaller trades under $10,000, Uniswap’s share declined more modestly from 50% to 44%, still holding the lead. Metric increased its share in this segment from 7% to 16%, as Uniswap’s market share receded across all trade sizes.
Role of liquidity depth and volatility
Analyst Tom Wan attributed the shift to liquidity depth at the live market price during volatile periods, rather than fee changes, as Uniswap’s fees for USDC-USDT pools remain among the lowest, ranging between 0.07 and 0.12 basis points.
During the second half of October, changes in the USDT price led to pronounced volatility. Uniswap experienced a significant decrease in active liquidity at the live price; in its main pool, active depth fell from approximately $900,000 per basis point on October 15 to $310,000 by October 28. This period also saw Aero enter the market and quickly capture about 6% of the trading volume.
Alternative platforms such as Fluid and Metric were less affected by this volatility. Fluid sources liquidity from lending vaults and offers flexibility around a central price, while Metric’s market makers trade from their own inventory at prevailing prices. These mechanisms ensured they could maintain liquidity where large trades occur, which drove order aggregators to send bigger trades to these venues over Uniswap.
Tom Wan emphasized that liquidity depth, not fees or technical pool settings, was the key factor influencing the realignment of market share among DEXs trading the USDC-USDT pair.
