Crypto exchange monthly spot volume doubled in March, reaching nearly $2.5 trillion for first time since 2021

Quick Take

  • Monthly spot volume on centralized crypto exchanges more than doubled in March compared to February.
  • It reached almost $2.5 trillion for the first time since November 2021.

Cumulative monthly spot volume on centralized crypto exchanges more than doubled in March to reach nearly $2.5 trillion.

Monthly spot volume had been gradually increasing since bottoming out at around $324 billion in September 2023, tracking at just over $1 trillion in December and January and reaching $1.2 trillion in February.

Trading volume subsequently surged in March, hitting $2.48 trillion — the first time it has reached such levels since November 2021, according to The Block’s data dashboard. However, it remains 40% lower than the all-time high monthly spot volume of $4.2 trillion recorded in May 2021.

The monthly data coincides with a surge in daily spot volume in early March, reaching a seven-day moving average peak of $100 billion on March 10 as bitcoin first broke past its prior cycle peak of around $69,000 and the recently launched spot Bitcoin BTC -4.77% ETFs reached a record daily trading volume of $9.9 billion and a net daily inflow high of $1.05 billion.

However, average daily trading volume has subsequently dropped sharply to $57.4 billion as of Tuesday.

Binance dominates market share by spot trading volume

Binance currently dominates by monthly spot volume, registering $1.1 trillion in March alone — equivalent to a market share of 45.5%.

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Upbit was second for the month, generating $221 billion (8.9%) and Bybit came third with $187 billion (7.5%). OKX and Coinbase rounded out the top five, generating $171 billion (6.5%) and $157 billion (6.3%) in trading volume, respectively.

Bitcoin futures trading volume also surges to $2.5 trillion

Monthly bitcoin futures volume on crypto exchanges also reached nearly $2.5 trillion in March, rising 86% from $1.3 trillion in February to hit $2.45 trillion.

March’s figure is the second-highest bitcoin futures trading volume in history, surpassed only by the $2.8 trillion generated in May 2021, according to The Block’s data dashboard.

Binance again leads the market by bitcoin futures volume, accounting for $983 billion, or 40% of March’s numbers. Bitget and OKX came second and third for the month, generating $519 billion and $410 billion, respectively.

Bitcoin is currently trading for $66,112, according to The Block’s price page — up 2% over the past month but down 6% during the last week. Meanwhile, the GMCI 30 index, representing a selection of the top 30 cryptocurrencies, gained over 15% in the past month but fell 6% over the last seven days to 144.66.


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© 2023 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

About Author

James Hunt is a reporter at The Block, based in the UK. As the writer behind The Daily newsletter, James also keeps you up to speed on the latest crypto news every weekday. Prior to joining The Block in 2022, James spent four years as a freelance writer in the industry, contributing to both publications and crypto project content. James’ coverage spans everything from Bitcoin and Ethereum to Layer 2 scaling solutions, avant-garde DeFi protocols, evolving DAO governance structures, trending NFTs and memecoins, regulatory landscapes, crypto company deals and the latest market updates. You can get in touch with James on Telegram or 𝕏 via @humanjets or email him at [email protected].

Editor

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