Crypto trading volume in centralized exchanges surge to all-time high in March

Centralized exchanges' (CEXs) trading volume reached an all-time high of $9.12 trillion as Bitcoin price reached a new high, a report from CCData released on Thursday showed. The report also shows that Binance was the largest winner from the rise despite its challenges, swallowing much of the increased trading volume.

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Crypto market trading volume recorded new highs 

March was an event-ridden month for the crypto market. After Bitcoin (BTC) soared to an all-time high of $73,737.94, several narratives kicked off, fueling increased market activity. March gave momentum to narratives like AI coins, meme coin boom in Solana and Base networks, real-world assets tokens, etc.

Following the general crypto market bull run, digital analytics firm CCData released its March exchange review, which showed several trading insights from the past month.

March saw spot traders dominating the market as they looked to recover heights last seen since the Q1 and Q2 2021 bull market. Spot trading on centralized exchanges increased by 108% to $2.94 trillion, a height last seen in May.

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The trading volume of crypto derivatives saw a similar increase, rising by 86.5% to an all-time high of $6.18 trillion. The combined trading volume of both sectors amounts to $9.12 trillion—the highest centralized exchange trading volume ever recorded in the crypto market. The entire crypto trading volume goes up even further when we factor in the increasing decentralized exchange trading volume in the DeFi sector.

The report from CCData also shows that while derivatives trading volume skyrocketed, their speculative products have been losing dominance to the spot market for six consecutive months, with the former accounting for 67.8% of the entire crypto market.

Binance leads

Among the exchanges that CCData's API tracks, Binance holds the largest share in crypto trading volume, accounting for 38% and 47% of total spot and derivatives trading, respectively. This shows that the exchange has been thriving despite the challenges of its founder and former CEO Changpeng Zhao, also known as CZ, who faces a potential ten years in prison, and battles surrounding its executives in Nigeria.

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After Binance, OKX and Bitget come next in terms of derivatives trading monthly volume.

Other insights from the CCData report is that open interest in derivatives exchanges increased to $72.4 billion, while CME trading volume increased by 60.6% to $155 billion.