High trading volume doesn’t always mean growing adoption.
A protocol can double its volume while its user base barely grows.
So the real question is:
Who is generating that volume?
Existing users trading more? Whales? Market makers? Bots? Leverage? Incentives?
Volume shows activity, but active users show reach.
Then retention, repeat trading, fees, and revenue reveal whether that activity is actually sustainable.
The metric I’m watching more closely is not just volume growth.
It’s volume growth relative to user growth.
That gap can reveal whether a protocol is gaining users or simply making existing activity more intense.