PancakeSwap saw $205B Q1 trading volume in best ever quarter

Multi-chain decentralized finance platform PancakeSwap recorded $205.3 billion in trading volume in Q1 2025, its best quarterly performance since launch.

PancakeSwap (CAKE) shared the milestone in an Apr. 24 post on X, citing Dune Analytics data. Since Q1 2023, trading volume has grown by 921%, while user and transaction counts have grown by 81% and 159%, respectively. With over 123 million users, the platform has handled over $1.33 trillion in total trading volume to date. 

The primary source of user activity is the BNB Chain (BNB), which has recorded 48 million users and a $1.14 trillion cumulative volume. Base, Arbitrum (ARB), and Ethereum (ETH) are some other active chains. PancakeSwap launched in 2020 and has since grown into a leading DeFi platform across several chains.

The platform’s strong growth coincides with the rollout of CAKE Tokenomics 3.0, which officially went live on Apr. 23. The update removes CAKE staking and veCAKE, replacing them with a buy-and-burn model and a hard supply cap of 450 million tokens.

Daily emissions will fall in two stages, from 29,000 CAKE to 20,000, and later to 14,500. Around 5.3 million CAKE are expected to be burned each year under the new system.

Despite the upbeat DeFi metrics and tokenomics shift, CAKE is down 26% over the past 30 days. With a 2% decrease over the last day, the token is currently trading at $1.97. The daily chart indicates that the price is consolidating just below the $2.08 key resistance, with $1.87 and $1.78 serving as support.  

The relative strength index at 51 shows a neutral trend with no discernible momentum, and the Bollinger Bands exhibit low volatility. Bulls need a clear break above $2.08 to confirm a trend change. CAKE might move lower in the near future if the price doesn’t hold.