The past six months could have been some of the most significant in Bitcoin’s history. However, the continuing decline in prices from historical highs has led to reduced investor activity, resulting in a 20% decrease in average spot volumes among the largest digital asset exchanges. Compared to June 2023, the result for the last month was still more than double.
Crypto Spot Volumes Down Monthly, Yet Growing Annually
June saw the third consecutive month of declines in spot volumes for the top ten cryptocurrency exchanges, dropping to $812 billion from over $1 trillion reported in May.
According to Finance Magnates Intelligence, the month-over-month depreciation averaged almost 20% in June 2023. Nearly all the exchanges analyzed reported decreases. OKX, for example, lost 26%, falling from third place and now out of the top rankings.
Huobi took advantage of the situation, being the only one to overcome the adverse market trend and achieve a modest increase in volume by 6% to $72.1 billion.
Yet, as in previous months, the monthly declines do not reflect the annual condition. Year-on-year volumes are still higher, growing by 120% compared to June 2023, when they stood at $422 billion.
The ranking leaders grew by more than threefold annually, as seen with ByBit and even fivefold in the case of Huobi.
„The CEX industry has experienced significant growth in 2024. Total aggregate spot volumes have reached $10.6 trillion in the first half of 2024, compared to $4.32 trillion in the second half of 2023, a 145% increase and demonstrating the resilience of this sub-sector compared to others within the broader industry,” commented CCData.
Binance Continues to Lead the Way
Binance and ByBit remain the two largest exchanges by spot volumes. Binance’s market share modestly decreased by 2 percentage points to 54%, while ByBit’s grew by the same amount to 14%.
OKX, meanwhile, dropped out of the top three and was replaced by Huobi, which now accounts for 9% of the market share. Binance, ByBit, and Huobi currently account for over 75% of the total turnover among the top ten exchanges by spot volumes. Binance also recently reported that it surpassed the 200 million user mark.
The cryptocurrency market is now entering a quarter that historically has been one of the worst for Bitcoin returns. The oldest cryptocurrency barely held above its February lows, bouncing back from the $53,000 level.
Throughout the summer, significant selling pressure may persist on digital assets, driven by the monetary policies of major central banks and the liquidation of assets belonging to Mt. Gox.
