Telegram's Lighter Tie-Up Could Reshape Retail Access To Leveraged Trading

• Users can trade more than 50 assets, including cryptocurrencies, commodities, stocks, and ETFs, with up to 50x leverage.
• Platforms like Hyperliquid have seen increased weekend trading activity, particularly after the U.S.-Iran war began and oil prices became more volatile.
• Centralized exchanges such as Coinbase are also entering the fray to capture market share.

Wallet on Telegram announced on Thursday a partnership with Lighter (LIT), allowing its users to trade perpetual futures directly within Telegram’s messaging app amid the race to capture growing demand for around-the-clock trading.

The company said it would allow users to trade across over 50 markets, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), oil, gold, stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and offer leverage of up to 50x – at par with Hyperliquid. It plans to introduce incentive programs tied to perpetual trading in the future. 

Toncoin (TON), the native cryptocurrency of The Open Network (TOP) on which the wallet is built, traded flat in the last 24 hours at around $1.22. Retail sentiment around the cryptocurrency on Stocktwits trended in ‘neutral’ territory over the past day with message volume at ‘normal’ levels.

Meanwhile, LIT’s price fell 2.6% in the last 24 hours to around $0.85 amid weakness in the broader cryptocurrency market after President Donald Trump’s speech on Wednesday night. Retail sentiment around the token trended in ‘bullish’ territory over the past day but chatter remained at ‘low’ levels.

Race To Capture 24/7 Trading Demand Intensifies

The rollout comes amid rising demand for round-the-clock trading in crypto markets. Wallet on Telegram noted that perpetual trading volumes surged by over 300%, approaching $8 trillion in 2025, with monthly activity now consistently exceeding $1 trillion. 

Platforms like Hyperliquid (HYPE) saw a surge in futures trading activity over the weekends, especially after the U.S.-Iran war started at the end of February.  According to data on DeFiLlama, Hyperliquid currently leads in trading volume with over $200 billion reported volume over the last 30 days, followed by edgeX (EDGE) at $76 billion and Aster (ASTER) at $74 billion. Aster offers higher leverage of up to 1001x. The three are considered to be the primary contenders of the “perp DEX wars.”

However, it’s not just decentralized exchanges looking to capitalize on the trend. Coinbase (COIN), which launched perpetual futures in March, offers 10x leverage on single stocks like Apple (AAPL) and Nvidia (NVDA) as well as 20x leverage for contracts on the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) and the Nasdaq-100 Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ).

Read also: EXCLUSIVE: The Man Who Predicted The Oil Shock, Iran Strikes Says Markets Could Fall Another 18%

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