In the first quarter of 2026, the crypto market showed a noticeable slowdown in user participation after reaching a cycle peak in the preceding months. This cooling trend was reflected in trading activity across crypto exchanges.
According to data from CryptoQuant, traders and investors increasingly focused on major exchanges as overall activity declined. Large and highly liquid platforms attracted the majority of capital, especially during periods of strong price movement. During this time, perpetual futures dominated the market structure, highlighting a strong concentration of trading activity in derivatives.
Market Experiences Decline in Trading Activity
Centralized exchange trading volume dropped significantly, falling by about 48 percent from its peak in October 2025 to 4.3 trillion dollars in March 2026. This marks the lowest level recorded since October 2024.
In contrast, perpetual futures markets remained the main driver of liquidity and exchange revenue growth during the quarter, reaching 3.5 trillion dollars in March. Trading volume in perpetual futures was four times higher than spot trading, which stood at 0.8 trillion dollars in the same month. Overall, cumulative perpetual volume has climbed to 4.5 trillion dollars so far this year.
Binance led the perpetual futures market with a 40 percent share and 1.4 trillion dollars in monthly trading volume. OKX and Bybit followed with 19 percent and 13 percent market share respectively.
Although derivatives activity surged during a relief rally in the third week of March, most of the growth in open interest occurred on Binance. By mid March, the exchange recorded the largest 24 hour increases in open interest for both Bitcoin and Ethereum, with gains of 829 million dollars and 1.6 billion dollars respectively. Other platforms such as Gate.io and Bybit also contributed, pushing total open interest in Bitcoin and Ethereum perpetual futures to 23 billion dollars and 16 billion dollars.
Binance Leads in Both Spot and Derivatives Markets
Binance also strengthened its position as the leading spot trading platform. In March, it recorded 248 billion dollars in spot trading volume, representing a 32 percent market share. Although this figure declined from 37 percent in October 2025, it still remains about three times larger than competitors such as MEXC with 9 percent and Bybit with 7 percent.
Despite growing competition, the market has not seen any major shift in leadership. Secondary exchanges including MEXC, Gate.io, Bybit, and Crypto.com have experienced growth in spot trading volume, but none have come close to matching Binance’s overall scale.#crypto#cryptonews https://coinsignals.net https://t.me/coinsignalpublic
