Crypto derivatives trading volume in the first half of 2026 totaled $35.08 trillion, 15.7% lower than the same period a year earlier. Despite a rebound after April’s low, open interest (OI), liquidations, and institutional flows pointed to an uneven market recovery, CoinGlass said in a report.
CoinGlass 2026 H1 Crypto Market Report is live.
Key insights from the market:
Crypto derivatives reached US$35.08 trillion, averaging US$193.8 billion per day, down 15.7% from US$41.60 trillion in the same period of 2025.
Binance remains the largest derivatives exchange by… pic.twitter.com/EEgk8RyTeR
— CoinGlass (@coinglass_com) July 23, 2026
A year earlier, the figure was $41.60 trillion. Average daily volume in January–June 2026 reached $193.8 billion. The report described lower trading activity, persistently elevated risk in open positions, and concentrated episodes of liquidations.
“More data are needed to confirm a durable market recovery,” the authors said.
Volumes declined through April
According to CoinGlass, the drop in trading volume was not a one-off. January turnover was $6.73 trillion, February $6.25 trillion, March $5.83 trillion, and April fell to $5.29 trillion.
May was little changed at $5.31 trillion. In June, volume rose to $5.66 trillion but remained 15.9% below January’s level. Volume reached $18.81 trillion in the first quarter and $16.27 trillion in the second, down 13.5% quarter over quarter.
Analysts also pointed to event-driven activity. The single-day peak came on February 6 at $480.4 billion. The low was April 5 at $74.7 billion. The gap between the high and low was about 6.4 times.
“A monthly rebound driven by a few exceptionally active trading days is not yet sufficient to confirm a broad and durable recovery in trading demand,” the report said.
Analysts said the lower turnover primarily indicates weaker contract rotation, shorter-term participation and risk appetite versus last year. That does not mean a proportional reduction of all risks that remained in the system.
Open interest fell more slowly than volume
Average daily open interest in the first half was $112.7 billion, down 10% year over year. As of June 30, aggregate OI stood at $99.94 billion (17.9% less than at the start of the year).
The trend was uneven: in January, average daily open interest was $134.46 billion, fell to $97.70 billion in February, then recovered to $101.20 billion in March, $113.82 billion in April and $123.99 billion in May. In June, it declined again to $103.56 billion.
Daily data show the same trend: OI fell from a $145.24 billion peak on January 15 to a $92.29 billion low on February 25. The six-week drop was 36.5%.
In the second quarter, CoinGlass recorded a divergence between turnover and accumulated risk. Average daily open interest rose 2.1% versus the first quarter, while aggregate trading volume fell 13.5%.
“Many positions did not close in step with the cooling in trading activity, leaving significant exposure in the market,” the authors said.
CoinGlass said that if open interest rises in the second half without a simultaneous recovery in volume and market depth, risks could build up in a less liquid environment. That would increase the market’s sensitivity to price shocks and concentrated liquidations.
Liquidations reached $73.35 billion
Across the exchanges in CoinGlass’s sample, liquidations totaled $73.35 billion in the first half, or about $405 million per day on average. Long positions accounted for $45.63 billion, or 62.2% of all liquidations. Short positions totaled $27.72 billion, or 37.8%.
By month, liquidations came in waves:
- January — $15.02 billion;
- February — $12.65 billion;
- March — $9.82 billion;
- April — $9.28 billion;
- May — $10.44 billion;
- June — $16.14 billion.
June posted the highest monthly total of the half-year. The share of long liquidations rose to 69.5%.
The largest single-day episode was January 31 — $2.588 billion. Of that, $2.433 billion were long liquidations. Two other notable days were February 5 with $2.135 billion and June 5 with $1.833 billion.
The three biggest days accounted for 8.9% of all first-half liquidations. CoinGlass said this underscores the event-driven nature of deleveraging.
Top 10 exchanges captured 81.2% of volume
The crypto derivatives market remained highly concentrated. The top 10 exchanges accounted for 81.2% of total volume, and the top 5 for 61.2%.
Binance led with $9.34 trillion and a 26.6% share. OKX ranked second with $4.19 trillion (11.9%). Bybit, MEXC and Gate posted $2.72 trillion (7.7%), $2.70 trillion (7.7%) and $2.53 trillion (7.2%), respectively.
Bitget ranked sixth by derivatives trading volume. The exchange posted $1.68 trillion, a 4.8% share.
CME was seventh with $1.43 trillion and 4.1%. Next were Coinbase, BingX and WhiteBIT. Each reported volume between $1.29 trillion and $1.31 trillion and a share around 3.7%.
CoinGlass also noted the top 10 share rose from 79.7% in January to 82.3% in June. Binance’s share increased from 24.1% to 28.3%, and OKX’s from 10.6% to 12.8%.
According to the authors, the June volume recovery was driven mainly by leading crypto-native platforms. That pushed market concentration above the level at the start of the year.
By average daily OI, the market structure differed from volume. The top 10 exchanges accounted for 79.3% of aggregate open interest, and the top 5 for 56.2%.
Binance remained first with $24.01 billion and a 21.3% share. CME ranked second with $13.55 billion (12%), while by trading volume it had only 4.1%.
Gate, MEXC and OKX took third to fifth place with average daily open interest of $10.23 billion, $8.93 billion and $6.70 billion, respectively. Bitget again ranked sixth: $6.39 billion, a 5.7% share.
CoinGlass noted that crypto-native platforms dominated trading flows, while CME had greater weight in outstanding positions. This reflects differences in participant profiles and holding periods.
CoinGlass separately examined order book depth for BTC and ETH derivatives within ±1% of the mid-price. The metric reflects how much liquidity is available near the current market price and how large trades may affect price.
In BTC markets, depth was concentrated on Binance and OKX. The first showed $236 million, or 44% of the sample’s total depth; the second $112 million (20.8%). Bybit and Bitget had $74.36 million (13.9%) and $71.70 million (13.4%), respectively. Gate had $42.64 million (7.9%).
In ETH markets, the distribution was more even. Binance ranked first with $109 million and a 28.7% share. Bitget was second with $81.37 million (21.4%).
OKX posted $73.35 million and 19.2%, Bybit $62.61 million and 16.4%, and Gate $54.35 million and 14.3%.
Combined ETH order book depth across the five venues was about $381 million versus $537 million for BTC. ETH liquidity was distributed more evenly across venues.
Bitcoin ETFs ended the half with outflows
U.S. spot bitcoin-ETFs closed the first half with $5.46 billion in net outflows. On positive trading days, the funds took in $13.17 billion; on negative days, they lost $18.63 billion. CoinGlass noted that two-way flows remained active, but redemptions prevailed.
January saw $1.606 billion in outflows and February $207 million. In March and April, the funds flipped to net inflows of $1.322 billion and $1.966 billion, respectively.
In May and June, flows turned negative again with outflows of $2.425 billion and $4.510 billion.
“Spot BTC ETFs did not achieve sustained net inflows in the first half,” the authors said.
CoinGlass said a short-lived or one-off return to inflows does not confirm a reversal in institutional demand. In the second half, the key question is whether the funds can maintain stable inflows and asset growth excluding price effects.
U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs recorded $1.483 billion in net outflows in the first half. On positive days, inflows totaled $3.215 billion; on negative days, outflows reached $4.698 billion.
In January, the funds lost $353 million, in February $370 million, and in March $46 million. April saw a net inflow of $356 million, but outflows resumed in May and June at $541 million and $529 million.
Combined assets of the Ethereum ETFs fell from $19.05 billion on January 2 to $8.33 billion on June 30. The period’s peak was January 14 at $20.84 billion. CoinGlass noted that changes in assets cannot be explained solely by flows; Ethereum’s price movements also influenced the figure.
The authors emphasized that bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs should be assessed separately due to differences in asset size, product structure and the pace of share creation and redemption.
Recovery remained unsynchronized
In its concluding section, CoinGlass said the crypto derivatives market did not go through a linear deleveraging. Lower trading turnover, periodic position rebuilding and concentrated risk reduction occurred simultaneously.
For the second half, analysts suggested watching whether the rebound in volumes can persist, and whether ETF flows and corporate purchases can improve at the same time.
“The market recovery will become more durable only with broader synchronization of trading activity, capacity to absorb capital and institutional demand,” the authors concluded.
Earlier, K33 experts suggested that in July spot trading activity in the crypto market could fall to the lowest level since November 2023.
Previously, Grayscale analysts linked a possible bitcoin bottom to further policy of the Fed. In their view, macroeconomic factors have become more important than the classic four-year halving cycle.
