Tokenised Stocks Push RWA Perps to 99% of Bitcoin's Weekly Volume

RWA perpetuals nearly matched Bitcoin over seven days

Perpetual futures tied to tokenised stocks and commodities reached $61.7 billion in combined seven-day trading volume on Hyperliquid and Binance, according to data provider Talos. That figure equalled 99.2% of Bitcoin perpetual volume across the two venues, which rank among the largest for these products. Binance and Hyperliquid concentrate most of the reported RWA perpetual activity. Talos said the snapshot covered the week ending 31 July 2026. Perpetual futures are derivatives without an expiry date. Traders can hold leveraged positions for as long as they keep the contract funded. A periodic funding rate keeps each contract's price close to the asset it references.

Tokenised equities led the trading surge

Tokenised equity contracts drove 57.8% of the tracked RWA volume, Talos reported, and commodities followed at 28.2%. Real-world assets (RWAs) are traditional financial instruments, such as stocks and commodities, issued as blockchain tokens. The contracts let traders take positions without holding the underlying tokenised shares. The figures measure trading activity, not ownership of the assets themselves. Turnover can rise faster than on-chain ownership, since each token can change hands many times. The on-chain value of RWAs has grown to about $36.8 billion, excluding stablecoins, according to RWA.xyz.

Hyperliquid became the top venue for RWA perps

Hyperliquid recorded $25.1 billion in RWA perpetual volume during the week of 13 to 19 July, Talos said. That total was about 52% of the platform's $48.2 billion in weekly volume and exceeded every other perpetual category combined. It marked the first time RWA derivatives topped all other categories on the exchange. Hyperliquid settles trades through on-chain execution, and its participants rely on oracle pricing and on-chain liquidation mechanics. Binance users take on centralised custody and counterparty exposure instead.

Current-week data showed RWA perps passing Bitcoin

Early data for the current week suggested the trend continued. RWA perpetual volume had already reached $37.2 billion, exceeding Bitcoin perpetual volume by about 9%, according to Talos' dashboard. Equity-linked contracts accounted for $22.8 billion of that total, commodities for $9.1 billion and indexes for $4.2 billion. Exchange-traded fund (ETF) contracts added about $338 million. Foreign exchange, pre-initial-public-offering (pre-IPO) and other contracts made up the remainder. The spread across equities, commodities, indexes and funds extended traditional-market categories into always-on crypto trading.

Bitcoin traded near $63,000 at publication

Bitcoin traded at $63,012 at the time of publication, down 2.46% over the past seven days (CoinPaprika, 2 August 2026). Its market value stood near $1.26 trillion, with 24-hour trading volume of about $12.9 billion. The token remained roughly 50% below its record high from October 2025. The seven-day RWA total sat just under Bitcoin's perpetual turnover on the two venues before moving ahead days later.

RWA perps stay a small share of all futures

Despite the growth, RWA perpetuals remain a modest part of the wider derivatives market. Talos data showed aggregate futures volume of about $821.4 billion over the past seven days. Tracked RWA perps accounted for roughly 7.5% of that total. The category made up only a small fraction of derivatives volumes months earlier, before exchanges expanded listings of tokenised stocks and commodities. Near parity with Bitcoin on two venues does not equal dominance across all crypto derivatives. The contracts also carry risks, including forced liquidation when prices move sharply against a leveraged position. Talos framed the data as a market snapshot rather than a full count of every venue.

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