Executive Summary: Exchange Review April 2023
CCData’s Exchange Review captures the key developments within the cryptocurrency exchange market, analysing spot markets, derivatives, fiat volumes and more.
In April, the combined spot and derivatives trading volume on centralised exchanges fell 27.9% to $2.77tn, recording the first month-on-month decline in trading volume this year. The decline in trading activity saw centralised exchanges record their lowest volumes since December 2022. This follows a month in which the price of major crypto assets, including Bitcoin and Ethereum, stayed largely range-bound after failing to break key resistance levels.
Spot trading volume on centralised exchanges dropped 40.2% to $621bn, marking the lowest since December 2022 and the second-lowest since July 2020. Derivatives trading volume also dwindled in April, falling 23.3% to $2.15tn, however, its market share hit a record 77.6%.
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Key takeaways:
- Spot trading volume on Binance fell 48.1% to $287bn in April, recording its second-lowest monthly trading volume since 2021. Binance’s market share also continued to slide, falling for the second consecutive month to 46.3%, its lowest market share since October 2022 (prior to the FTX collapse which triggered a consolidation of trading activity to Binance).
- Despite declining volumes, Binance’s position as the dominant exchange in the industry is still a long way from being threatened — with Coinbase and OKX, the next largest exchanges, accounting for only 5.60% and 5.39% of the total spot trading market in April.
- Since the launch of zero-fee trading of the BTC-TUSD pair on March 22nd, the TUSD trading volumes for the trading pair have soared to an all-time high, rising 851% to $34.0bn in April. TUSD is now the third largest stablecoin by trading volume on centralised exchanges, surpassing USDC for the first time since June 2020.
- Korean exchange, Upbit, resumed its impressive trend in trading activity this year, now accounting for 4.77% of the market share compared to 2.81% at the beginning of the year — an all-time high for the exchange.
- BTC trading volume with USDT and BUSD has seen a heavy decline in April, with the former trading pair falling 65.9% to $117bn and being surpassed by the BTC/TUSD pair for the first time on Binance on April 15th.
- In April, CME’s BTC Futures volume fell 24.0% to $26.7bn, while CME’s BTC Micro Futures traded $702mn in monthly volume, up 0.72% from the month prior. This is the first decline in four months for CME BTC futures volume.
Trading Activity Falls to a Four-Month Low
In April, spot trading volume on centralised exchanges fell 40.2% to $621bn, recording the lowest volumes since December 2022 and the second-lowest spot trading volumes since July 2020, reversing the trend in trading activity this year. Derivatives volumes also declined 23.3% to $2.15tn, despite reaching a new all-time high market share in April.
The uncertainty surrounding macroeconomic conditions, including looming recession threats and a possible pause on Fed rate hikes amidst the turmoil in the banking sector, has contributed to the declining volumes this month.
Binance’s Spot Market Share Falls to Pre-FTX Collapse Levels
Spot trading volume on Binance fell 48.1% to $287bn in April, recording its second-lowest monthly trading volume since 2021. Binance’s market share also continued to slide, falling for the second consecutive month to 46.3%, its lowest market share since October 2022 (prior to the FTX collapse which triggered a consolidation of trading activity to Binance).
Binance’s position as the dominant exchange in the industry is still a long way from being threatened with Coinbase and OKX, the next largest exchanges, accounting for only 5.60% and 5.39% of the total spot trading market.
Derivatives Market Share Reaches New All-time High
In April, derivatives trading volume on centralised exchanges fell 23.3% to $2.15tn, while the spot trading volume fell 40.2% to $621bn as major crypto assets traded largely rebound after failing to break key resistance levels. The market share of derivatives trading increased for the second consecutive month, reaching an all-time high of 77.6%.
Binance remains the largest derivatives trading platform, trading $1.32tn and accounting for 61.4% of the market share. OKX and Bybit followed in second and third place, with a market share of 15.0% and 14.6%.
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