It's the same airdrop, so why did dYdX create countless fortunes, while the current PerpDEX causes retail investors to lose everything?

Overview

In the world of cryptocurrency, there exists a seemingly simple yet secretly complex game—PerpDEX (Decentralized Perpetual Contract Exchange) Airdrops.

It is a game of mathematics, human nature, and intricate algorithms. Participants contribute trading fees in exchange for points, wait for project teams to issue tokens, and hope for overnight riches.

But there is a strict rule in this game: buying is never as good as selling, so the wealth generated by dYdX in its early days left many retail investors with nothing, while current PerpDEXs have caused retail investors to lose their entire capital.

Every participant knows they will lose money, yet they still rush forward because they believe they can find a loophole within the rules to survive.

Suggestions and Practices

For ordinary retail investors, participating in PerpDEX requires extreme restraint:

Control daily trading volume within 200,000 USD, use 20% of your position to cautiously enter, ensuring profits can cover fees;

Avoid overnight positions to prevent extreme market moves; prioritize early-stage projects when point costs are still reasonable and haven’t soared to sky-high levels.

Most importantly, if you lack contract trading experience and strong self-control, do not touch this field at all.

This article does not constitute investment advice. Contract trading carries extremely high risks; please make cautious decisions.

List of Key Points (Overview)

This article presents 5 core insights:

1. The essence of PerpDEX airdrops is a betting game exchanging trading fee losses for future token value

2. Behind the point system is a sophisticated economic model; the market has evolved from blind trading to a rational era of transparent pricing

3. Four methods of earning points each have their costs; the fantasy of zero-cost point farming does not exist

4. Retail investors’ survival depends on precise calculations and strict discipline, not luck

5. Project teams have designed a perfect harvesting mechanism through rule design; participants must understand the true nature of this game

An Anomalous Data Point

Let’s start with a strange phenomenon.

One afternoon, a trader on the GRVT (a hybrid cryptocurrency exchange) platform traded with a small account for $25,000 and earned 1 point.

On the same day, he used a large account to trade $500,000 and earned 19 points.

Generally, market consensus suggests that $50,000 trading volume earns 1 point, but this small account’s data completely defies the norm—its efficiency is twice as expected.

This is not luck. This is not a system error. It reveals the most fascinating yet brutal truth in the PerpDEX world:

Rules are transparent, but algorithms are mystical.

The owner of that small account later recalled that afternoon when a position was liquidated. A loss of a few dozen dollars might have triggered a hidden weighting mechanism.

In the PerpDEX universe, project teams use seemingly fair point systems to conceal a sophisticated incentive model—they don’t just want trading volume; they want genuine risk-taking, real losses in cash.

This is the first secret of this game.

From Blind Trading to Rational Pricing

In 2021, when decentralized contract exchanges like DYDX first appeared, the entire market was chaotic.

No points, no rules, just one phrase: trade.

At that time, a $100 trading volume could yield a $10,000 airdrop because participation was minimal—most people still used centralized exchanges, not even familiar with DEXs, let alone leveraged PerpDEXs.

Barriers created value. Scarcity created wealth myths.

But myths are always short-lived.

When Lighter and EdgeX announced their token issuance in Q4 2025 and clarified the point rules—how much trading volume earns 1 point, how much position size earns 1 point—the field shifted from wild growth to industrialization.

Now, $300,000–$400,000 in trading volume is needed for 1 point. Hype became the only theme in this track.

But this evolution is not necessarily bad. It means rules have become calculable.

If a PerpDEX project has a total of 5 million points, an estimated market cap of $5 billion, with 25% of tokens allocated for airdrops, then dividing $1.25 billion by 5 million points yields a theoretical value of about $250 per point.

This can be calculated. When a field moves from uncertainty to certainty, it shifts from gambling to an actuarial game.

The question is: actuarial calculations cost money.

Four Methods, Four Costs

The four apparent ways to earn points in PerpDEX are actually four different loss mechanisms.

First: Trading Volume.

This is the mainstream method, accounting for 40-50% of all airdropped points. You need to keep opening and closing positions, contributing trading fees.

$10,000 trading volume, at 0.035%, costs $3.50 in fees. Daily volume of $200,000 equals $70 in fees; weekly $500,000.

This only accounts for fees, not the principal loss caused by market volatility.

Second: Open Interest (OI).

Sounds clever: go long on Bitcoin, short on Ethereum, hedge risk, and earn points from holding positions.

But Bitcoin and Ethereum’s volatility are not synchronized; in extreme markets, both sides can lose.

More critically, all PerpDEXs do not support cross-margin for the same asset; you can only hedge across different assets, leaving risk exposure.

Third: Bank Deposits.

The safest method—deposit money to earn interest and points. But also the most competitive.

On EdgeX, depositing $100,000 for a week might only earn a few points. Minimum risk, minimum return.

Fourth: Invitation System.

The only truly “risk-free” method, but only if you have traffic and channels. This is a KOL game, not for retail investors.

All these methods prove one fact: there is no zero-cost way to farm points.

Project teams have designed the system to block all loopholes. Self-invitation? IP checks. Multi-account hedging? Algorithm detection. Scripted volume? It’s more wear and tear.

Buying is never as good as selling.

Retail Investors’ Survival Space

But the game is not unwinnable. The key lies in precise calculations and strict discipline.

Suppose the goal is to earn 500 points on GRVT, with an estimated value of $20 per point, total profit of $10,000.

There are 12 weeks until the expected token issuance, so about 42 points per week.

At 1 point per $50,000 trading volume, that’s 2.1 million trading volume per week, about 300,000 daily.

With $500 capital, 20x leverage, opening $10,000 positions each time, you’d need to open and close 15 times a day.

Technically feasible, but psychologically nearly impossible—no one can guarantee all 15 trades stay rational and stop-lossed properly.

A more realistic strategy:

Trade only 10 times a day, achieving 200,000 trading volume

Use the first 8 trades with 20% positions to test the waters for profit

In the last 2 trades, confirm the trend and increase position size, covering the $70 in daily fees with profits

Never hold overnight positions to avoid extreme moves during sleep

Keep weekly fees under $500

This requires extremely strong self-control because contract trading is high-frequency stimulation, amplifying human weaknesses.

Market observations show retail investors’ survival cycle is about 3-6 months—not because they are not smart, but because they get emotional, trade high-frequency, and double down after losses trying to recover.

In the PerpDEX world, those who survive until the token issuance day are not the smartest, but the most disciplined.

Mysticism and Algorithms

Returning to the case of earning 1 point with $25,000 trading volume—why does such an anomalous data point occur?

The project’s point algorithm is always more complex than the rules they publish.

They talk about “trading volume,” but the actual weighting may include: actual holding time, liquidation count, order frequency, distribution of order sizes.

A small high-frequency bot and a risk-bearing trader are seen as completely different in the algorithm’s eyes.

This “mysticism” is not unfair; rather, it’s a clever defense mechanism.

It prevents pure volume farming, ensuring points flow to those who contribute liquidity and risk to the platform.

But for participants, it means you can never fully calculate the account.

All you can do is control the big picture: keep trading volume within a reasonable range, ensure losses are manageable, and don’t lose your mind chasing points.

Timing Window

If Lighter and EdgeX launch tokens as scheduled in December, and the airdrops are valuable, the entire PerpDEX field will usher in the next wave.

More projects will emerge, more point systems will launch, and more people will enter this track.

This means two things:

First, now is the window for strategic positioning. Before the next wave, participating early in projects like GRVT keeps point costs relatively low. When the market refocuses, costs will rise rapidly.

Second, this window will close soon. Once a new hype cycle begins, point costs can double or more within weeks. At that point, unless you have substantial capital, participation becomes less cost-effective.

But there is a paradox:

The earlier you enter, the higher the uncertainty—projects may never reach token issuance;

The later you enter, the higher the cost—paying a huge price for minimal returns.

That’s why vision is so important. You need to identify promising projects early and get involved before they are discovered by the market.

This requires comprehensive judgment of technology, team, funding, and market timing.

And this judgment is precisely what most retail investors lack.

The Essence of the Game

Let’s face the true nature of this game.

PerpDEX airdrops are not charity; they are a sophisticated design by project teams to exchange future token value for current liquidity and trading volume.

They need real trading data to attract investors, TVL data to support valuation, and user base to prove market demand.

The point system is their tool—using clear rules to attract participation, complex algorithms to ensure real costs are paid, and future airdrops to make you willing to incur losses.

This is not a scam. This is trading.

You exchange current fees and losses for future token value. If the project succeeds, your return could be ten times or more of your input; if it fails, your loss is pure.

The key question: do you understand what you are doing? Have you calculated your input-output? Do you have the capacity to bear the worst outcome?

Most people do not. They see others’ stories of wealth, believe in myths like “$100 turns into $10,000 in airdrops,” and rush in.

They don’t realize that was a market from three years ago, that current costs are dozens of times higher, and that they are participating in an actuarial game, not gambling.

Then they lose their principal within 3-6 months, leave the market, and become just another statistic in the “retail survival cycle.”

Final Words

If you’ve read this far, you already have an advantage: you understand the rules of this game.

But knowing the rules does not guarantee victory. In the PerpDEX world, winners need three things:

Precise calculation skills—being able to determine the cost and expected return of each point;

Superhuman self-control—staying rational amid high-frequency stimulation;

Sharp judgment—early identification of truly valuable projects.

Most people lack all three.

So if you’re unsure, the best choice is to abstain. Because in this game, buying is never as good as selling.

Project teams have already calculated all variables—they know how many will lose money, how many will give up, and only a few will get those truly valuable airdrops.

But if you choose to participate, remember these principles: control your position, stick to stop-losses, don’t get emotional, avoid overnight positions, treat it as a work that requires costs, not a get-rich-quick scheme.

Because in this market, those who believe in myths end up as fertilizer for others. Those who truly make money know from the start:

This is business, not myth.

Reminder｜List of Pending Verification Information

GRVT’s scheduled token issuance before February is based on Q1 2026 market expectations, from industry reports rather than official confirmation; watch for official announcements.

The estimated value of “20 USD per point” for GRVT is market-based; actual value depends on market cap and total points at issuance. OTC point prices will fluctuate sharply with market sentiment.

The “1 point per $50,000 trading volume” ratio may be adjusted as the project progresses and participation increases.

Lighter’s December token launch plan has received high market consensus (Polymarket prediction probability 89-90%), but official project schedule updates are still needed.

EdgeX, although generally expected to launch in Q4 2025, lacks official confirmation; actual timing may be delayed. Continuous attention to official updates is recommended. **$BCH **$BNB