Solana DEX Volume Drops 82% as Meme Launches Fall
Weekly DEX trading volume on Solana fell about 82% between May 11 and May 25 as meme-coin launches halved and the 1–2 year holder cohort began selling on May 21.
Weekly decentralized exchange trading volume on Solana dropped about 82% over two weeks, from roughly $104.3 billion in the week of May 11 to about $18.8 billion in the week of May 25.
Meteora, a high-volume Solana DEX, saw weekly volume fall from about $93.1 billion to $9.2 billion over the same period, accounting for more than $80 billion of the total decline.
Total weekly DEX volume on Solana has also decreased more than 50% since January, extending a longer-term downtrend in on-chain trading activity.
On-chain analytics show the number of new meme-coin launches on Solana roughly halved in early 2026. Launchpads mint new tokens that traders often buy and quickly trade, and fewer launches reduced the supply of fresh tokens available for trading.
Glassnode’s HODL Waves metric, which segments supply by the length coins have been unmoved, shows the 1-to-2 year holder cohort held 16.049% of SOL supply on May 21 and about 15% on June 1. The cohort’s share began to decline on May 21.
The fall in DEX volume, the drop in new meme-coin issuance and the sell-down of the 1-to-2 year cohort all occurred within the same two-week window in May.
Data referenced include on-chain DEX volume figures, counts of new token launches and supply distribution metrics.
Articles by this author
