Cryptocurrency derivatives trading surged to $86 trillion in 2025, averaging $265 billion daily, as Binance captured nearly 30% of global volume, according to liquidation tracker CoinGlass.
The exchange processed $25.09 trillion in cumulative derivatives volume, representing 29.3% of worldwide trading.
OKX, Bybit and Bitget followed with $8.2 trillion to $10.8 trillion each in yearly volume.
The top four exchanges accounted for 62.3% of total market share.
What Happened
The derivatives market shifted from retail-led speculation toward institutional hedging and basis trading in 2025.
Institutional pathways expanded through spot exchange-traded funds, options and regulated futures.
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange consolidated its position after overtaking Binance in Bitcoin futures open interest during 2024, though Binance recently reclaimed the lead.
CoinGlass estimated total forced liquidations at $150 billion for the year.
The largest liquidation event came Oct. 10-11, when more than $19 billion in positions evaporated within 24 hours.
Long positions accounted for 85% to 90% of the liquidations.
CoinGlass linked the crash to President Donald Trump's announcement of 100% tariffs on Chinese imports.
The tariff threat pushed markets into risk-off mode, triggering cascading margin calls across exchanges.
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Why It Matters
The shift toward institutional trading created deeper leverage chains and interconnected positioning.
"Extreme events that erupted during 2025 imposed stress tests of unprecedented scale on existing margin mechanisms, liquidation rules and cross-platform risk transmission pathways," CoinGlass said in its report.
Global crypto derivatives open interest sank to $87 billion after first-quarter deleveraging.
Open interest later surged to a yearly high before resetting in early Q4.
The flash deleveraging erased more than $70 billion in positions, roughly one-third of total open interest at the time.
Year-end open interest of $145.1 billion still marked a 17% increase from January levels.
The October liquidation event exposed vulnerabilities in platform infrastructure and cross-exchange risk transmission.
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