Trading Activity Falls to the Lowest Level Since October 2024
Total trading volume sank to $5.79T as seasonal effects and low volatility dampened the market. Spot and derivatives volumes both hit multi-month lows.
Jan 13, 2026, 10:00 a.m.
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What to know:
- Combined spot and derivatives volumes dropped 26.4% to $5.79T. Spot trading plummeted 31.2% to $1.47T (lowest since June), while derivatives fell 24.6% to $4.33T. The decline reflected seasonal holiday effects and Bitcoin's 7-day volatility hitting its lowest level since August 2023.
- Binance's spot trading volume crashed 38.8% to $367B in December. The exchange's market share fell 3.13% to 25.0% - the largest monthly decline since July 2024.
- Gate led market share gains in 2025, rising 9.32% in derivatives to reach 11.0% and 1.96% in spot to 4.57%. Overall, Gate posted the largest combined market share increase of 7.67%.
Trading activity on centralized exchanges dropped to its lowest level since October 2024 in December. Combined spot and derivatives volumes fell 26.4% to $5.79T. Spot trading saw the steeper decline, dropping 31.2% to $1.47T, while derivatives volumes decreased 24.6% to $4.33T - marking the lowest monthly volume for both markets since June for spot and October 2024 for derivatives.
Reduced volatility weighed on trading activity, with Bitcoin's 7-day rolling average volatility falling to its lowest level since August 2023. Despite this short-term slowdown, centralized exchanges closed 2025 with a record-high annual combined spot and derivatives trading volume.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Year-to-date, HTX has seen the highest increase in spot market share, rising 2.99%. BingX and Gate also posted gains with increases of 1.98% and 1.96%, respectively. Gate led all centralized exchanges in derivatives market share growth in 2025, rising 9.32% to reach an 11.0% share. Overall, Gate emerged as the leading centralized exchange in combined spot and derivatives market share growth in 2025, posting a net increase of 7.67%.
In December, open interest on derivatives exchanges fell 8.17% to $116B. Binance, CME and Bybit were the top three exchanges by open interest, accounting for 23.2%, 15.2% and 10.8%, respectively. Gate and BitMEX rounded out the top five with 10.4% and 9.55%, respectively.
BTC and ETH maintained their dominance on centralized exchanges in December, with spot trading volumes of $513B and $285B respectively. SOL reclaimed its position as the third most traded asset by spot volumes with $69.9B. XRP and BNB rounded out the top five with trading volumes of $58.6B and $22.9B respectively.
Continue reading the full report below.
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