Futures Trading on Telegram’s TON Blockchain Jumped Tenfold in a Week
A Telegram-based exchange experienced a stunning week of perpetual futures trading, achieving $100.4 million, a 1,000% increase from the previous week, according to DeFiLlama. This surge highlights the potential of TON, a blockchain built on the Telegram platform, for cryptocurrency speculation through leverage.
The Story Behind the Numbers
Most of this activity originated from Storm Trade, a decentralized exchange app, which accounted for $100.3 million of TON's total trading volume. While TON aims to attract traders from Hyperliquid, currently valued at $86, with its significant week, it faces a stiffer challenge.
Gram, the TON native coin, traded at $1.17, down 2.8% in 24 hours and 4% in a week, significantly lagging its all-time high of $8.25.
Storm Trade: Fees and Token Buybacks
Storm Trade differentiates itself as a Telegram-based derivatives trading platform, offering leverage for various asset classes. Its revenue comes from trading fees, with a notable feature called Degen Mode charging 0.02% per trade plus 0.005% for each hour a position is held. Interestingly, Storm buys back its own token, STORM, with a portion of its fees, rather than GRAM.
Leverage as a Driver
The recent surge in TON trading volume is largely attributed to leverage. On October 8, Storm introduced 500x leverage in new trading pairs, including HYPEDEGEN. This high leverage can lead to significant losses if prices move against traders.
Hyperliquid vs. TON
While TON's surge is impressive, Hyperliquid, a much larger player, dominates the perpetual futures space. Hyperliquid's HYPE token is valued at $20.6 billion, while Gram is valued at $3.3 billion. Storm's audience, despite its substantial Telegram following, pales in comparison to Hyperliquid's market reach.