Trump's token launch shakes up Solana DeFi: Meteora's daily trading volume surges 8x, Raydium's share temporarily drops below 30%
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Trump's token launch shakes up Solana DeFi: Meteora's daily trading volume surges 8x, Raydium's share temporarily drops below 30%
In terms of growth, Meteora might be the biggest beneficiary of the TRUMP token frenzy—so is this windfall a flash in the pan or the beginning of a change?
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: Frank, PANews
Following the market frenzy sparked by former U.S. President Donald Trump's launch of his personal token TRUMP, the Solana ecosystem has emerged as the biggest beneficiary. Not only did decentralized exchange (DEX) trading volumes hit record highs for two consecutive days, but daily on-chain transaction fees also surged to $33.3 million—setting a new all-time high.
Looking deeper into shifts within the Solana ecosystem, Jupiter and Meteora stand out as the most direct beneficiaries. Jupiter has long been the most active aggregator on Solana, so its prominence during this surge was expected. More surprising, however, is Meteora’s rise. Relatively low-key during this cycle and previously trailing Raydium in key metrics, Meteora may have actually gained the most from the TRUMP token boom. But is this windfall fleeting—or the start of a lasting transformation?
Riding the Presidential Token Wave: Daily Volume Jumps 8x
Prior to January 18, Meteora’s daily trading volume hovered around $500–600 million. On January 18 alone, it skyrocketed to $3.99 billion—an increase of roughly 8 times. Volumes remained elevated over the following days, reaching $6.1 billion on January 19 and $4.7 billion on January 20.
This surge is mirrored in active addresses. Typically, Meteora sees between 120,000 and 130,000 active addresses per day with little fluctuation. On January 18, that number jumped to 550,000; it reached 700,000 on January 19 and 640,000 on January 20—representing growth of up to 5.8 times.
Free-Riding on Jupiter?
The primary driver behind these changes is clearly the wave of interest generated by the Trump family’s token launch. As of January 21, seven of the top ten trading pairs on Meteora were linked to Trump-related tokens, primarily TRUMP and MELANIA.
Of course, these gains stem entirely from the Trump family’s token initiative. From an ecosystem perspective, what features does Meteora offer that made it an attractive choice?
In reality, there has been little public news about Meteora. Founded in 2021, it is one of Solana’s earliest liquidity platforms. Meteora has two co-founders: Ben Chow and Meow, both of whom are also co-founders of Jupiter. In fact, Meteora and Jupiter share common origins. Originally named Mercurial Finance, Meteora issued a token called MER in 2022. However, due to the fallout from the FTX collapse, the team decided to rebrand as Meteora, abandon the MER token, and plan a relaunch with a new token named MET. As of now, MET has not yet launched; according to prior announcements, its release is expected in February 2025.
Comparing data between Meteora and Jupiter reveals that Meteora has historically lagged behind Jupiter in user base and capital flow. However, during this TRUMP-driven surge, Meteora saw proportionally greater growth. On January 18, Jupiter’s daily trading volume spiked to $16.8 billion, setting a new record of $20.6 billion on January 19. Prior to this event, Jupiter typically maintained a daily volume around $6 billion. This suggests that the TRUMP token launch primarily leveraged Jupiter’s established user base and deep liquidity. Meteora’s involvement appears to be a strategic move—likely driven by shared team affiliations—to boost anticipation ahead of its planned MET token launch.
Shifting DeFi Dynamics in the Solana Ecosystem
Beyond Jupiter and Meteora, other DEXs also experienced significant data boosts as trading activity surged. After January 18, Raydium’s trading volume more than doubled, peaking at $13.8 billion in daily volume. However, its growth in active users was modest, increasing by about 30% to a peak of around 4 million daily active users. Other protocols such as Lifinity, Orca, and Phoenix also saw noticeable increases.
Still, the biggest winner appears to be Meteora. According to Blockworks data, Meteora’s usual share of meme coin trading volume on Solana was less than 10%. Starting January 18, that figure jumped to 60%. This gain came largely at the expense of Raydium, which previously held around 90% of the meme trading market. Following the TRUMP token launch, Raydium’s share briefly dropped below 30%.
In fact, Jupiter—the most popular trading aggregator on Solana—previously launched APE Pro, a meme token launchpad aimed at challenging Pump.fun’s dominance. However, the platform failed to meet expectations. Similarly, Meteora introduced comparable functionality but received little attention on social media.
Additionally, PANews attempted multiple times to use this feature, but consistently encountered server crash messages.
Clearly, as Solana solidifies its dominance in the meme coin space, competition within its ecosystem is intensifying. For Jupiter and Meteora, the Trump family’s token launch represented a historic opportunity. Both projects describe the TRUMP token release as the largest product launch in crypto history.
Judging by results, Jupiter and Meteora successfully capitalized on this moment, achieving dramatic growth. In terms of rationale, compared to the Pump.fun and Raydium duo, Jupiter and Meteora appear better aligned with the branding and compliance expectations of a presidential token launch.
The bigger question remains: Will Trump’s token inspire other politicians or celebrities to follow suit? If this becomes a trend, the Jupiter-Meteora partnership could leverage such orchestrated launches to permanently shift market share away from Pump.fun and Raydium.
After all, at present, individually launched meme coins rarely become “golden dogs.” Even recently popular AI Agent-related tokens are backed by professional teams and organizations. Judging by Meteora’s performance, Pump.fun’s dominance may already be weakening.
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