by Jonathan Agozie 
The drop in trading volume may indicate market stabilization, decreased speculative trading, or growing investor confidence.
In May 2024, centralized crypto exchanges recorded a $5.27 trillion trading volume, marking a 20.1% drop from the previous month. This decline, marking the second consecutive month of reduced trading activity, can be attributed to the stable price of Bitcoin following its halving event in April.
/1 Our latest Exchange Review is now live! This monthly report provides readers with insights into #crypto exchange volumes.
In May, the combined spot & derivatives trading volume on centralised exchanges fell 20.1% to $5.27tn, as $BTC & $ETH remained largely range bound. pic.twitter.com/oh17A52ump
— CCData (@CCData_io) June 5, 2024
Spot trading volumes within centralized exchanges decreased by 21.6% to $1.57 trillion, while derivatives trading also fell by 19.4% to $3.69 trillion. This drop may indicate market stabilization, decreased speculative trading, or growing investor confidence.
The Surge in Market Dominance
Despite the drop in trading volume, the derivatives market saw increased dominance as the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved spot Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs). This approval drove a 50.3% surge in open interest for Ether derivatives, reaching $14 billion.
In the derivatives market, Binance continued to lead with a dominance of 45.4%, trading $1.68 trillion in monthly volume. Binance maintained its position as the largest spot exchange with a 34.6% market share, even though its volumes declined by 19.8% to $545 billion.
Among the exchanges, Bybit stood out by achieving an all-time high spot market share of 7.36%, despite a 12.7% drop in spot trading volume to $116 billion. OKX and Bitget followed with market shares of 21.3% and 14.5%, respectively.
Additionally, the U.S. CME exchange saw mixed performance, with overall derivatives trading volume falling by 7.42% to $115 billion. However, ETH futures volumes surged by 37.5% to $20.5 billion, while ETH options trading volume hit a new all-time high, increasing by 115% to $931 million, reflecting heightened institutional interest post-SEC approval.
Despite the initial increase in trading activity following the approval of spot Ether ETFs, traders are selling off their positions. Nonetheless, some analysts remain optimistic about Ether’s potential to break its November 2021 all-time high of $4,870 once spot Ether ETFs begin trading, possibly this month, driven by increased demand pressure.
