The legitimate spot trading volume of centralized crypto exchanges (CEXs) increased by 13.7% in August to reach $877.5 billion. This is an improvement over $760 billion in July and marks a consecutive month of increased trading volume.
The increase in trading volume in August happened despite most cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, finishing the month in the red. Before July, legitimate spot exchange trading volume had been in free fall since peaking at almost $1.7 trillion in March 2024.
CEXs’ volume performing better than 2023
According to data from The Block, this year has been relatively great for CEXs spot trading volume. The average legitimate volume in the past eight months remains above $600 billion, showing that there has been sustained activity on exchanges despite the volatility in prices.
This is far better than in 2023 when the average monthly trading volume was around $300 billion. This year’s positive volume results from improved crypto prices due to the arrival of spot Bitcoin and Ether exchange-traded funds.
Meanwhile, the overall spot exchange trading volume increased by 6.6% to $1.2 trillion in August, compared to $1.12 trillion in July. Although this still lowers the peak of $2.48 billion in March, it is an improvement on the $1.1 trillion bottom in June.
In the derivatives market, things are looking a little different. The Block data only tracks Bitcoin and Ethereum futures and their trading volumes on centralized exchanges declined in August. Bitcoin futures fell 8.33% to $1.65 trillion, while Ethereum futures dropped 8.62% to $743.86 billion.
Meanwhile, Binance remains the biggest exchange by trading volume for spot and futures trading. It saw $448.45 billion in spot trading volume in August, while its derivatives trading volume was $535.07 billion for Bitcoin futures and $244.1 billion for Ethereum futures.
In terms of spot trading, the closest competitors were Bybit with $154.26 billion, Crypto.com with $95.77 billion, and Huobi with $67.98 billion. This highlights how these exchanges, particularly Crypto.com and ByBit, have gradually eaten into the market share of OKX over the last three months.
However, OKX remains a force to reckon with in derivatives trading. The exchange had $291.12 billion trading volume for Bitcoin futures and $205.15 billion for Ethereum futures. Other exchanges with strong performance include BitGet and ByBit. BitGet had a combined Bitcoin and Ethereum futures volume of $471 billion, while ByBit had $365.18 billion.
