Binance Leads as Centralized Exchange Volumes Drop 48% in Q1 2026

Key Insights

• Trading volume for centralized crypto exchanges in March fell 48% from the October 2025 peak to $4.3 trillion.
• Derivatives account for the majority of the trading activity as spot volume continues to decline.
• Binance remains the largest exchange globally, with dominance in both futures and spot markets.

CryptoQuant’s new report shows a drop in activity on centralized exchanges in Q1 2026. Trading volumes fell sharply compared to late 2025 levels. According to the report, March 2026 trading volume was just $4.3 trillion.

This represents a 48% drop from the October 2025 peak and the lowest level since October 2024. Analysts believe that it is a clear indication of how participation has declined since the market peaked.

Perpetual Futures Driving Volume Despite Decline

The decline in activity on centralized exchanges coincided with the crypto market hitting a peak in October. At that time, Bitcoin reached $126,000. Since then, both spot and trading have been in decline.

However, spot volume has fallen faster compared to derivatives. In fact, the decline in volume would have been more pronounced if not for the derivatives market.

According to the data, perpetual futures account for $3.5 trillion of the trading volume in March. This left just $800 billion in spot volume. Derivatives volume has remained within the same range, with March being the lowest month since September 2024.

CryptoQuant analysts wrote:

Interestingly, it is not just centralized exchanges that are driving derivatives activity. It is even more evident with decentralized exchanges, where Perps DEXs such as Hyperliquid dominate volume.

According to DefiLama, perpetuals decentralized exchanges led by Hyperliquid have recorded $652 billion in volume over the last 30 days. During the same period, DEXs, including Uniswap and PancakeSwap, recorded only $189.45 billion in volume.

Binance Maintains Position as Biggest Exchange Despite Increased Competition

Meanwhile, Binance remains the biggest exchange even as competition intensifies. The exchange led spot trading in March with $248 billion, enough for a 32% dominance, even as it declined from 37%.

However, several upstarts are also gaining momentum in spot trading with MEXC, Bybit, and Crypto.com, particularly seeing more activity.

Even with that, none of them come close to Binance, with MEXC having just 9% of market share and $77 billion in volume. Bybit had 7% with $59 billion, while Gate and Crypto.com had $56 billion and $52 billion, respectively.

Still, it is the derivatives volume that solidifies Binance’s position as the largest exchange in the world. It recorded $1.4 trillion in monthly volume, giving it a 40% dominance, beating OKX with 19% and Bybit with 13%.

The exchange has now had a cumulative spot volume of almost  $1 trillion in 2026. MEXC has $263 billion spot volume so far, while Bybit has $206 billion.

With perps, dominance is also obvious, as Binance has accumulated $4.5 trillion in cumulative volume so far in 2026. OKC comes second with $2.2 trillion, while Bybit has $1.5 trillion.

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