Over the past year, total trading volume across centralized crypto exchanges has surged to $80 trillion, according to CCData’s Exchange Review series.
The milestone captures the combined activity from both spot and derivatives markets, highlighting a year marked by sharp cyclical swings, structural dominance of perpetual contracts, and a new, elevated volatility baseline.
Volume Regimes: A Tale of Two Halves
The 12-month chart divides cleanly into two trading regimes:
- Summer–Autumn 2024: Trading volumes languished at $4–5 trillion/month amid a volatility drought. Notably, September 2024 marked the annual low at $4.34T, reflecting market exhaustion and subdued sentiment.
- Winter 2024–Spring 2025: A dramatic rally lifted volumes to a high of $11.3T in December, fueled by U.S. election optimism and Ethereum ETF approvals. Since then, volumes have moderated but remained elevated, hovering near $6.8T in both March and April 2025.
This regime shift suggests a market increasingly responsive to macro-political events and ETF-driven flows, breaking from the low-vol doldrums of mid-2024.
Derivatives: Still Dominant
A persistent theme throughout the year has been the structural dominance of derivatives:
- In every month, derivatives volumes consistently outpaced spot, often by a 2:1 margin.
- Even at December’s high, derivatives accounted for 67% of total turnover, underscoring the grip of perpetual futures and leveraged products on market structure.
The data implies that institutional and speculative traders, drawn to high-leverage strategies, remain key liquidity drivers despite intermittent regulatory pushback.
Recent Cooldown, Still Elevated
While April 2025’s flatline at $6.79T suggests a cooling off from the Q4 frenzy, it’s worth noting this still represents a ~30% jump from the mid-2024 trough. In other words, the market appears to have reset to a higher baseline.
Moreover, after four months of declines, the first uptick in derivatives volumes in April hints that leverage appetite may be stabilizing, potentially setting the stage for renewed speculative surges.
| Month | Combined Volume (USD trillions) |
|---|---|
| 2024-05 | 5.27 |
| 2024-06 | 4.22 |
| 2024-07 | 4.94 |
| 2024-08 | 5.22 |
| 2024-09 | 4.34 |
| 2024-10 | 5.19 |
| 2024-11 | 10.40 |
| 2024-12 | 11.30 |
| 2025-01 | 9.03 |
| 2025-02 | 7.20 |
| 2025-03 | 6.79 |
| 2025-04 | 6.79 |
| Total | 80.69 |
Final Take
The $80 trillion headline conceals a nuanced, bifurcated market story:
- Muted conditions through mid-2024 gave way to an explosive Q4, and volumes have normalized at a structurally higher level.
- Derivatives markets continue to lead, and spot flows are increasingly reactive to catalysts like ETF approvals and macro-political shifts.
- This new regime may define the 2025 landscape, unless fresh volatility jolts the system again.
