According to a report from liquidation data tracker CoinGlass, cryptocurrency derivatives trading volume rose to almost $85.7 trillion in 2025, averaging about $264.5 billion per day.
According to CoinGlass, Binance led the market with cumulative derivatives volume of about $25.09 trillion, representing about 29.3% of worldwide trading, meaning nearly $30 of each $100 was transacted through the exchange.
This was followed by OKX, Bybit and Bitget, each with an annual volume of between $8.2 and $10.8 trillion. These 4 exchanges accounted for around 62.3% of the overall market share.
CoinGlass said institutional avenues expanded through spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs), options and conforming futures, helping to drive a structural rise within the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), which had already overtaken Binance in open Bitcoin (BTC) futures in 2024 and consolidated its position in 2025.
Binance is the leader when it comes to derivatives volume. Source: CoinGlass
Derivatives have gotten increasingly complex
According to CoinGlass, the complexity of derivatives has also increased in 2025. The market has evolved from a retail-focused, highly leveraged boom-and-bust model to a mixture of institutional hedging, basis trading and ETFs.
This shift got here at a value, as deeper leverage chains and more networked positioning increased tail risks.
“Extreme events that erupted in 2025 resulted in stress tests of unprecedented magnitude for existing margin mechanisms, liquidation rules, and cross-platform risk transfer channels,” the report said.
Global open interest in crypto derivatives fell to a one-year low of about $87 billion after deleveraging in the primary quarter, then rose to a record $235.9 billion by mid-year on Oct. 7.
A pointy reset firstly of the fourth quarter worn out greater than $70 billion price of positions, a few third of all open interest, in a flash deleveraging event. Even after this adjustment, year-end outstanding inventory of $145.1 billion still represented a 17% increase from the beginning of the 12 months.
The October liquidation shock exposed plumbing risks
The biggest stress test of the 12 months took place originally of October. CoinGlass estimated the overall variety of forced liquidations in 2025 at about $150 billion, but much of the damage occurred on October 10 and 11, when liquidations exceeded $19 billion. The majority of losses occurred on the long side, with 85-90% of liquidations coming from traders betting on higher prices.
Total liquidations in 2025. Source: CoinGlass
CoinGlass linked the crash to US President Donald Trump's announcement of 100% tariffs on imports from China. This has driven markets into “risk aversion”.
