cointelegraph.com
Cryptocurrency derivatives trading volume surged to almost $85.7 trillion in 2025, averaging about $264.5 billion a day, according to a report by liquidation data tracker CoinGlass.
Binance led the market with roughly $25.09 trillion in cumulative derivatives volume, or about 29.3% of global trading, meaning nearly $30 of every $100 traded ran through the exchange, CoinGlass said.
OKX, Bybit and Bitget followed, each posting $8.2 trillion to $10.8 trillion in yearly volume. These four exchanges accounted for about 62.3% of total market share.
CoinGlass said institutional pathways expanded through spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs), options and compliant futures, helping drive a structural rise for Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), which had already overtaken Binance in Bitcoin ($BTC) futures open interest in 2024 and consolidated its footing in 2025.
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Derivatives grow in complexity
CoinGlass said that derivatives also grew in complexity in 2025. The market moved away from a retail-led, high-leverage boom-and-bust model toward a mix of institutional hedging, basis trading and ETFs.
This shift came with a cost, as deeper leverage chains and more interconnected positioning increased “tail risks.”
“Extreme events that erupted during 2025 imposed stress tests of unprecedented scale on existing margin mechanisms, liquidation rules, and cross-platform risk transmission pathways,” the report said.
Global crypto derivatives open interest sank to a yearly low of about $87 billion after deleveraging in the first quarter, then surged through the middle of the year to a record $235.9 billion on Oct. 7.
A sharp reset in early Q4 erased more than $70 billion in positions, roughly one-third of total open interest, in a flash deleveraging event. Even after that shakeout, year-end open interest of $145.1 billion still marked a 17% increase from the start of the year.
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October’s liquidation shock exposed plumbing risks
The biggest stress test of the year hit in early October. CoinGlass estimated total forced liquidations in 2025 at about $150 billion, but a big chunk of the damage came during Oct. 10 and Oct. 11, when liquidations topped $19 billion. Most of the wipeout was on the long side, with 85%–90% of liquidations coming from traders betting on higher prices.
CoinGlass linked the crash to US President Donald Trump’s announcement of 100% tariffs on imports from China. That pushed markets into “risk-off.”
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