The price of Ether has risen by 12% since the start of the fourth quarter (Q4) following a period of sluggish market performance in the third quarter (Q3). Fortunately, the industry has recovered from the bearish market, particularly the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector, which has made a strong comeback.
Numerous factors are contributing to the overall increase in Ethereum’s value, including economic recovery, a market rally, and its growing social dominance. Currently, Ether’s upward trajectory is arguably driven by the market valuation of its decentralized exchange (DEX) tokens.
According to CoinGecko, as of now, DEX tokens have a market capitalization of $9.93 billion and a 24-hour trading volume of $1.60 billion. Additionally, DefiLlama data indicates that the total locked value (TVL) of ETH is rapidly increasing and has reached $23.8 billion, with Uniswap leading in TVL and Pancakeswap taking the top spot in terms of trading volume.
The native token of the decentralized exchange PancakeSwap, CAKE, has experienced a significant 92% weekly growth. This surge in market valuation coincides with the introduction of a new feature on its platform called Position Manager.
The newly introduced tool enables users to deposit funds into a vault, which are then automatically allocated to liquidity pools for yield farming. As of now, CAKE’s TVL stands at $61.82 million, with a 24-hour trading volume of $343.83 million and a market capitalization of $550.71 million.
Simultaneously, Uniswap, a well-established DEX, is proving its prowess by leading the TVL rankings at the current moment. This exchange platform, known for its support of ERC-20 tokens, leverages the Automated Market Maker model to transform token swaps.
The TVL of UNI, Uniswap’s native token, has reached $3.01 billion. Currently, UNI has a 24-hour trading volume of $361.63 million and a market capitalization of $3.64 billion.