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For a long time, decentralized trading felt complicated and unclear for most users. But over the last market cycle, on-chain trading platforms have become highly liquid, user-friendly, and equipped with all the essential tools traders expect. This shift is clearly reflected in the growing number of users moving from CEXs to DEXs.
One of the leading examples is dYdX — a decentralized exchange with over $1.5 trillion trading volume, that not only matches CEX-level convenience but also goes further with initiatives like the Surge Program, which has launched with $20M in prizes for its traders. In this overview, you’ll learn about the core details of the event and how to participate.
What is the dYdX Surge Program?
The dYdX Surge Program is a massive trading competition with a $20 million prize pool, launched by dYdX in collaboration with Chaos Labs in April 2025. This is a long-term campaign running over 9 months and structured as a seasonal competition — with each season lasting one month.
Each season, traders earn points for using the dYdX exchange, with a primary focus on perpetual futures trading (every trade counts). A key detail is that rewards are not based on PnL or ROI, but rather on taker trading volume and fees paid — making the program accessible to a wider audience, not just experienced traders.
For example, the first two seasons are already complete. In Season 1 alone, 2,806 traders shared 2.26 million DYDX tokens (~$1.43M), with 627 traders earning over $100 each, and the top trader receiving $184,550. In Season 2, dYdX traders received over $1.44 million in payouts.
Reward Mechanics: How the $20M Is Distributed
The overall prize pool of dYdX Surge is up to $20 million in DYDX, the native token of the dYdX ecosystem, which is used to reward traders and plays a key role in staking, security, and governance on the dYdX Chain.
As mentioned above, the entire event is divided into 9 monthly seasons, during which dYdX users earn points and compete on a transparent, real-time leaderboard managed by Chaos Labs. At the end of each season, up to $2.2 million in rewards is distributed among participants.
What criteria determine how points are earned in dYdX Surge? While reward allocation may slightly vary from season to season to improve the overall balance and fairness of the program, the core logic remains consistent. Below is the current reward allocation along with the point-earning criteria for the ongoing third season.
General prize allocation — 45%
Points are distributed based on trading fees paid by users as takers (executing market orders). Additionally, there are boosted markets — trading pairs for which traders earn points at twice the rate of regular markets. The boosted tokens may change each season; for the current season, they are:
There is also a daily trading activity bonus: every trading day adds +1.67% of the base General reward (to be eligible, at least $1 in fees must be paid that day).
Retail prize allocation — 40%
Points in this allocation are awarded for taker activity on dYdX (market orders) executed via the official dYdX web or mobile interfaces. Unlike the General allocation, points here are earned based on trading volume, not on fees paid.
Activation prize allocation — 15%
Participants can earn extra points by increasing their stDYDX balance during the Surge season compared to the previous season.
stDYDX is a token you receive when you stake your DYDX tokens to a dYdX Chain validator from the same wallet you use for trading. The key requirement is that your current stDYDX balance must be higher than it was in the previous season.
Key Details of the Surge Program
The Role of the Surge Program in the dYdX Ecosystem
dYdX Surge is one of the most major and longest-running incentive campaigns in decentralized trading. Unlike many programs, it does not take PnL or ROI into account when calculating points, making it more accessible to all types of traders. Surge also stands out with its flexible and community-governed reward structure, focusing on actual platform usage, rewarding active users, and supporting sustainable growth.
Another key advantage is full decentralization — there’s no need to register, complete KYC, or manually claim rewards. Traders simply use a non-custodial wallet to participate. Rewards are distributed automatically at the end of each season. The system is fully transparent, with a publicly updated leaderboard maintained by Chaos Labs.
How to Participate in the dYdX Surge Program
Go to dYdX.trade and connect your wallet. After signing a transaction, a dYdX Chain address will be automatically created and linked to your wallet.
Make a deposit using any supported token and network. One of the most common and convenient options is USDC.
Go to the ‘Trade’ tab, choose a trading pair, and start trading. For each taker trade, you’ll earn points in the dYdX Surge Program based on your trading volume and fees paid.
Boost your points by:
Trading boosted markets (AIXBT, KAITO, SUI, XRP)
Trading daily to activate the daily bonus
Staking DYDX under the ‘DYDX’ tab to earn additional staking points
Track your points. Once you’ve made a trade you can track your earned points in several ways:
About dYdX
dYdX is a leading decentralized trading platform for perpetual futures, supporting over 200 trading pairs with some of the deepest liquidity, fast and seamless order execution, and industry-leading low fees.
Since launching in 2018, dYdX has become one of the most widely used platforms in decentralized perpetual trading, with a total trading volume exceeding $1.5 trillion to date. dYdX was also the first exchange to build perpetual futures trading on a decentralized exchange (DEX).
The platform features an intuitive and powerful trading interface with everything traders need — including advanced order types, multiple margin modes, risk management tools, charting and analysis tools, and leverage up to 50x.
Conclusion
The dYdX Surge Program shows how decentralized finance can offer inclusive and transparent incentives for traders, without relying on just one metric like profit or trading volume. Since everything happens in a decentralized way, dYdX Surge has a community-driven and flexible reward structure that can be adjusted through on-chain voting. The program is accessible to both beginners and experienced users, aiming for long-term engagement and steady growth of the entire dYdX ecosystem.
To learn more about the dYdX Surge, follow the official resources:
dYdX Website | Download dYdX App | X | Discord | Blog
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