Crypto trading volumes hit $18.6 trillion as growth slows

Source: CryptoNewsNet Original Title: Crypto trading volumes hit $18.6 trillion as growth slows Original Link: Cryptocurrency exchange activity increased in the previous year, with total controlled and decentralized spot trading volumes reaching approximately $18.6 trillion, according to CryptoQuant, a blockchain analytics platform.

The $18.6 trillion was up 9% year-over-year, although growth was significantly reduced compared to 2024’s 154% rise. On the other hand, Perpetual futures activity continued to be strong, increasing 29% year over year to $61.7 trillion, a $13.8 trillion increase over 2024.

Market Leaders in Bitcoin and Altcoin Trading

Last year, a certain head-leading exchange led Bitcoin permanent trading with $25.4 billion, almost half of the combined volume of the top 10 exchanges. Not far behind, several other major exchanges formed a strong second tier, collectively handling between 11% and 19% of the traffic, while Hyperliquid accounted for $2.2 trillion (3.7%).

According to CryptoQuant, the remaining platforms, including certain compliant platforms, together contributed almost 10% of Bitcoin permanent volume. The analytics platform revealed that the majority of spot trading activity was concentrated in a few major venues. The leading exchange reported about $7 trillion in spot trading volume in the fiscal year of last year, accounting for 41% of the total of the top 10 exchanges.

The analytics platform revealed that the top exchange dominated both the Bitcoin and altcoin markets with strong activity in ETH, XRP, BNB, TRX, and SOL. Other major exchanges each reported volume of approximately $1.3–1.5 trillion, at a substantial distance behind.

In the previous year, ETH made minimal progress, gaining only 1.68%. Meanwhile, BNB rose by about 37 percent, but it fell by 23 percent over the past three months in 2025. The bullish trend signified solid underlying demand associated with major exchange ecosystems, even though short-term profit-taking temporarily harmed prices.

According to CoinMarketCap data, TRON increased by about 36 percent over the last year, although this rise declined by 6 percent over the last three months. However, both XRP and Solana closed the year with a decline of approximately -15% and -19.37%, respectively. XRP and Solana had massive Q4 amendments of approximately -17.53% and -30.16% over the last three months.

Stablecoin Reserves Concentration Among Major Exchanges

According to CryptoQuant, USDT and USDC reserves of the leading exchange reached around $47.6 billion last year, which is 72 percent of the balance in the top ten exchanges’ stablecoins. The analytics platform indicated that other major exchanges were the subsequent leaders with $9.3 billion and $2.2 billion, respectively.

The crypto data provider revealed that a small number of exchanges possessed the majority of the stablecoin liquidity. Several other platforms owned more modest shares, ranging from 1.7% to 2.8% of total reserves.

CryptoQuant disclosed that the leading exchange’s stablecoin reserves had reached a new record of $51 billion at the beginning of November last year. However, the crypto data provider revealed the reserves had reached around $49 billion at the year’s end. The analytics site indicated that the 2025 reserve had increased to 51 percent of the level of 31.7 billion in stablecoin reserves as of the end of 2024.

Reserve statistics indicated that only two exchanges held more than half of all reserves in 2025, with the leading exchange alone holding $117 billion, representing a 31.8 percent increase in BTC, ETH, USDT, and USDC. Another major platform was ranked second with 22.1 percent of $81 billion. According to reserve data, other exchanges came in third place and beyond with varying percentages of total reserves.