In the first three months of 2026, cryptocurrency trading reached $20.57 trillion. However, decreasing trade amounts and a lack of widespread participation suggest a hesitant recovery rather than a booming market.
A recent report by CoinGlass analyzes changes in investment, trading volume, and market activity across cryptocurrency exchanges from January to March. The report suggests the market is still recovering from events that occurred in late 2025.
A Market Still Healing From Q4’s Crash
The first quarter of 2026 started with significant challenges. A sudden increase in tariffs in October 2025 caused $19 billion worth of crypto assets to be sold off in a single day – the biggest sell-off the crypto market had ever seen.
As a researcher tracking the cryptocurrency market, I’ve observed a significant downturn in Bitcoin‘s price. It fell around 35% from its peak of over $126,000, and we also saw a drop of more than 40% in the amount of open interest across various exchanges.
— CoinGlass (@coinglass_com) April 3, 2026
By January, the market began to show signs of recovery. Overall trading volume for the quarter totaled around $20.57 trillion, with $1.94 trillion in immediate trades and $18.63 trillion in derivatives.
Each month saw fewer results than the last. January was the most active month, while March had the lowest activity for the entire quarter.
Throughout the quarter, the ratio of derivatives to spot prices remained around 9.6 times higher, a bit above what we expect for the entire year of 2025.
This indicates traders favored using futures contracts to protect their investments and make quick trades, instead of directly buying or selling assets with the expectation of price movement.
Binance’s Lead Extends Across Every Metric
In my research, I analyzed cryptocurrency exchanges based on four key metrics: how much trading was happening, open interest, the depth of their order books, and the amount of user assets they held. My findings showed that Binance consistently outperformed all other exchanges across all four of these areas.
Binance accounted for about 34.9% of the total trading volume on the ten largest derivatives exchanges, reaching approximately $4.90 trillion.
Binance’s trading volume was higher than that of OKX and Bybit combined. It averaged $23.9 billion in daily open interest, which is about 2.2 times more than Bybit, the second-highest exchange.
The amount of available trading volume was also noteworthy. On Binance, Bitcoin futures typically had around $284 million in buy and sell orders clustered closely around the current market price.
OKX came in second with $160 million, followed by Bybit at $76.55 million. This trend was consistent whether looking at Bitcoin spot trading, Ethereum futures, or Ethereum spot trading. While several competitors performed well, none were able to outperform Binance in all four of these markets at the same time.
The biggest difference between exchanges was in the amount of customer assets they held. Binance held around $152.9 billion, representing 73.5% of the total held by the top ten exchanges. OKX had the next largest amount with $15.9 billion, while Gate, Bitget, and Bybit each held between $5 and $7 billion.
My research indicates that this concentration is significantly higher than Binance’s trading volume or open interest. According to a CoinGlass report, the amount of assets users keep on a platform isn’t just about current activity – it’s a better sign of a platform’s future success. It really reflects how much users trust the brand, how comprehensive their services are, and how easy it is to deposit and withdraw funds.
Hyperliquid Enters the Mainstream Conversation
A key highlight of the last quarter was the emergence of Hyperliquid (HYPE), a platform for trading decentralized derivatives. It processed around $492.7 billion in trades during the first three months of the year.
That placed it inside the top ten.
With an average of around $6.0 billion in daily trading interest, peaking at $9.7 billion, it nearly matched the levels seen on established platforms like Bitget.
The increase in activity confirms CoinGlass’s 2025 report, which forecasted that decentralized derivatives were moving beyond testing and starting to compete for a real share of the market.
Merry Christmas!🎄
CoinGlass 2025 Crypto Derivatives Market Annual Report
— CoinGlass (@coinglass_com) December 25, 2025
In a March report, JPMorgan highlighted Hyperliquid, pointing out that the increasing desire for 24/7 trading of standard assets is fueling the growth of decentralized exchanges and causing them to gain market share from some smaller, traditional exchanges.
Grayscale also filed an S-1 for a HYPE ETF in March, seeking a Nasdaq listing.
For now, Hyperliquid’s scale remains significantly below the leading centralized exchanges.
Its arrival in the market creates more competition for smaller platforms trying to gain a larger share of the derivatives business.
What Comes Next
The CoinGlass report identified several variables to watch heading into Q2. These include:
- The Federal Reserve’s monetary policy path,
- Changes in BTC spot ETF fund flows, and
- The progress of regulatory framework implementation across major jurisdictions.
The first quarter wasn’t focused on reaching record levels. Instead, it was about bouncing back, staying focused, and how the market is changing – clearly showing which platforms are attracting investment and which are struggling to keep up.
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2026-04-03 16:26