March CME Derivatives Trading Volume 23.5% Decline

Since January, declining CME Cryptocurrency futures trading volume (Source: Coindesk)

In March, overall Cryptocurrency derivatives trading decreased, showing a distinct change in the market shares of major exchanges. In particular, CME Exchange saw a decrease in trading volume and weakened market presence, while Binance succeeded as the only one to rebound by raising its market share.

According to CoindeskData (CCD), the trading volume of CME's derivatives in March was only 175 billion dollars, down 23.5% from the previous month. This is the lowest level since October last year, with CME's total market share falling from 4.63% to 3.64%. CME's Solana futures product, which it had pinned hopes on, also saw a muted market response as its trading volume stood at 151 million dollars during the same period.

The total trading volume of Centralized Exchanges (CEX) was 6.79 trillion dollars, down 6.24% from the previous month. Spot trading decreased by 14.1% to 1.98 trillion dollars, and derivatives decreased by 2.56% to 4.81 trillion dollars, marking three consecutive months of decline.

In particular, Bybit experienced a significant user departure following a cold wallet hacking incident in February, with its spot trading volume plunging 52.1% to 81.1 billion dollars. As a result, Bybit's market share fell from 7.35% to 4.10%, the lowest level since July 2023. Crypto.com also saw its trading volume drop by 46.7% to 99.1 billion dollars, with its market share lowered to 5.01%.

On the other hand, Binance's market share rose by 1.63 percentage points to 28.6%, recovering to the highest level since June 2024. Binance continued to dominate the ranking among exchanges, with Coinbase maintaining second place with a 5.13% market share.

In the case of the derivatives market, despite a decrease in trading volume, its share of the entire digital asset market expanded to 70.8%. Binance maintained its lead with a volume of 1.91 trillion dollars and a 39.7% market share, followed by OKX (17.8%), Bybit (14.4%), Bitget (13.3%), Coinbase International (5.40%), and CME (3.64%).

The report analyzed that "Volatility in market shares among exchanges is becoming active," and "Especially, OKX and HTX are gradually expanding their presence in the market." Overall trading volume declined, but competition among exchanges has become even more intense.