The global crypto derivatives market experienced remarkable growth in 2025, reaching a staggering total trading volume of $85.7 trillion. This surge was characterized by an average daily turnover of approximately $264.5 billion, indicating a robust increase in trading activity as the year progressed.
According to CoinGlass, a notable trend in trading was the “low start, high finish” pattern, which reflected tight macro liquidity at the beginning of the year, followed by a stronger risk appetite as market conditions improved. The report highlighted that the market has evolved into a concentrated oligopoly, with a few major players dominating the landscape.
On October 10, a peak trading day, single-day volume soared to around $748 billion, showcasing the market”s capacity for significant fluctuations. Binance emerged as the clear leader, capturing over 29% of the global derivatives volume, which translates to approximately $25.09 trillion for the year. Following Binance, OKX, Bybit, and Bitget collectively held more than 62% of the total trading volume.
Beyond the top-tier exchanges, the market showed a stark drop in participation, as smaller exchanges struggled with minimal trading volumes and liquidity challenges. Open Interest (OI) in the derivatives market also displayed significant volatility, beginning the year at a low of $87 billion due to heavy deleveraging in the first quarter. However, OI rebounded to a record high of $235.9 billion in early October before experiencing a substantial decline of $70 billion in the fourth quarter. Despite these fluctuations, year-end OI showed a 17% increase compared to the beginning of the year.
Binance maintained its dominance in leverage concentration, accounting for about 28% of the daily average OI, while the top five exchanges collectively controlled over 80% of the market. The report also indicated that Binance”s BTC order book depth significantly outperformed its competitors, with OKX in a distant second position, particularly for larger institutional trades.
Custody of user assets revealed a high concentration as well, with Binance holding over 72% of custodial assets, resulting in an HHI score of 5,352, indicating a strong oligopolistic structure. OKX followed as the second largest custodian, while other platforms shared a considerably smaller asset base.
Liquidations in the market were substantial, totaling nearly $150 billion throughout 2025. Most of these liquidations were routine; however, a significant event occurred between October 10 and 11, when liquidations exceeded $19 billion in a single day, triggered by macroeconomic shocks related to new U.S. tariffs on China. This scenario was exacerbated by high leverage, crowded long positions, and strained liquidation mechanisms, resulting in increased volatility, especially among altcoins.
While Bitcoin and Ethereum experienced moderate downturns, many smaller assets faced severe declines in value, emphasizing the risks associated with high-leverage trading within the derivatives market.
