Crypto exchange monthly spot volume doubled in March, reaching nearly $2.5 trillion for first time since 2021

Cumulative monthly spot volume on centralized crypto exchanges more than doubled in March to reach nearly $2.5 trillion.

Monthly spot volume had been gradually increasing since bottoming out at around $324 billion in September 2023, tracking at just over $1 trillion in December and January and reaching $1.2 trillion in February.

Trading volume subsequently surged in March, hitting $2.48 trillion — the first time it has reached such levels since November 2021, according to The Block’s data dashboard . However, it remains 40% lower than the all-time high monthly spot volume of $4.2 trillion recorded in May 2021.

The monthly data coincides with a surge in daily spot volume in early March, reaching a seven-day moving average peak of $100 billion on March 10 as bitcoin first broke past its prior cycle peak of around $69,000 and the recently launched spot Bitcoin BTC +0.50% ETFs reached a record daily trading volume of $9.9 billion and a net daily inflow high of $1.05 billion.

However, average daily trading volume has subsequently dropped sharply to $57.4 billion as of Tuesday.

Binance dominates market share by spot trading volume

Binance currently dominates by monthly spot volume, registering $1.1 trillion in March alone — equivalent to a market share of 45.5%.

Upbit was second for the month, generating $221 billion (8.9%) and Bybit came third with $187 billion (7.5%). OKX and Coinbase rounded out the top five, generating $171 billion (6.5%) and $157 billion (6.3%) in trading volume, respectively.

Bitcoin futures trading volume also surges to $2.5 trillion

Monthly bitcoin futures volume on crypto exchanges also reached nearly $2.5 trillion in March, rising 86% from $1.3 trillion in February to hit $2.45 trillion.

March’s figure is the second-highest bitcoin futures trading volume in history, surpassed only by the $2.8 trillion generated in May 2021, according to The Block’s data dashboard .

Binance again leads the market by bitcoin futures volume, accounting for $983 billion, or 40% of March’s numbers. Bitget and OKX came second and third for the month, generating $519 billion and $410 billion, respectively.

Bitcoin is currently trading for $66,112, according to The Block’s price page — up 2% over the past month but down 6% during the last week. Meanwhile, the GMCI 30 index , representing a selection of the top 30 cryptocurrencies, gained over 15% in the past month but fell 6% over the last seven days to 144.66.