Largest crypto exchanges by volume: biggest crypto exchanges

Trading volume is the clearest measure of a crypto exchange’s size: it shows how much activity and liquidity a platform really has, which in turn means tighter spreads and easier order execution.

In this article, we look at the largest crypto exchanges by trading volume, using CoinGecko’s data for 2025 and the first three quarters of 2026. Bear in mind that reported volumes differ between data providers and change fast, so treat any ranking below the top two as approximate.

Largest crypto exchanges by spot volume

The top ten centralised exchanges traded $18.7 trillion in spot volume across 2025. This is how that volume was split:

Binance remains the clear leader, with more spot volume than the next two exchanges combined, and its share of top-10 spot volume rose from 38.7% in the second quarter of 2026 to 42.7% in the third, when it was the only exchange with a double-digit share. Behind it, the order changes from quarter to quarter: Bybit was second in the second quarter, Coinbase set a record share in a falling market, Upbit slid down the table and Bitget dropped out of the top 10 in the third quarter.

What changed in 2026

• Volumes fell sharply: the top 10 exchanges traded $2.7 trillion in spot volume in the first quarter of 2026, 39% less than the $4.5 trillion of the previous quarter, after Bitcoin’s peak of around $126,000 in October 2025 gave way to a market downturn.
• Prices recovered, trading did not: in the third quarter of 2026 total crypto market capitalisation rose 39.6% to about $3.0 trillion, yet top-10 spot volume fell another 14.2% to $1.65 trillion, according to CoinGecko’s Q3 2026 report.
• Bitget was hacked: on 24 September 2026 attackers took about $352 million from Bitget’s hot and warm wallets, according to the exchange. Bitget said its User Protection Fund would cover the full loss, but it suspended withdrawals during the security review and fell out of the top 10 by spot volume in the quarter.
• Market share can rise while volume falls: Coinbase reached an all-time high of 8.6% in the first quarter of 2026 even as its absolute volume fell, because it captured a larger slice of a smaller market.
• Binance left the European Union: it stopped providing crypto services to EU residents on 1 July 2026, after failing to obtain a licence under the EU’s MiCA regulation. Its EU share has gone to licensed rivals: in euro spot pairs, Bitvavo (44%) and Kraken (20%) now lead, with Binance at 8%.
• Decentralised exchanges keep gaining ground: DEXs went from 6.9% of spot volume in January 2024 to 13.6% in January 2026.
• OKX took the derivatives crown from Binance, and the on-chain venue Hyperliquid has become one of the three largest perpetual futures markets.

Spot is only part of the picture: derivatives

For most of these exchanges, derivatives are far bigger than spot: futures and perpetual swaps can account for 70% to 90% of total volume. The daily derivatives market is worth roughly $273 billion, and the three largest venues are Binance Futures, Bybit and Hyperliquid, with OKX leading on monthly volume after overtaking Binance in 2025.

This matters when you compare rankings: an exchange like Coinbase, which is mostly spot, looks smaller than derivatives-first platforms even though it holds a much larger share of client assets.

Binance

• Share of top 10 spot volume: 39.2% in 2025, 42.7% in Q3 2026
• Registered users: over 300 million
• Derivatives: around a third of the perpetual futures market

Binance is the world’s largest crypto exchange and has been for years. Its spot volume alone is larger than that of the next two exchanges combined, and its scale gives it the deepest liquidity in the market, which usually means tighter spreads on major pairs.

Its range is another draw: 500+ cryptocurrencies and more than 1,500 trading pairs. That breadth makes it harder to vet every listing, which is a risk when lower-quality projects are listed.

Spot fees start at 0.1% for maker and taker, with a discount of up to 25% if you pay with its native token, BNB, and further reductions in higher VIP tiers. Binance also runs the SAFU emergency fund and publishes regular proof-of-reserves reports.

Regulation is its weak point. After its 2023 settlement with US authorities, which included a multi-billion-dollar penalty and the departure of founder Changpeng Zhao as CEO, it remains restricted in several markets. In the US it operates only through the separate Binance.US entity, and since 1 July 2026 it no longer serves clients in the European Union, having failed to obtain a MiCA licence.

Bybit

• Share of top 10 spot volume: 8.1% in 2025, 10.0% in Q2 2026
• Registered users: over 70 million
• Derivatives: one of the three largest venues

Founded in 2018, Bybit started as a derivatives platform and added spot trading in 2021. It was the second-largest centralised exchange by spot volume in the second quarter of 2026 and is one of the biggest derivatives venues in the world.

Its interface is built for active traders, with a full set of order types, indicators and analytics, fast execution and frequent zero-fee or reduced-fee promotions, across non-VIP, VIP and Pro tiers.

In February 2025, Bybit suffered the largest crypto exchange hack on record, losing around $1.4 billion in Ethereum in an attack attributed to North Korea’s Lazarus Group. It kept withdrawals open throughout, used its reserves and partner liquidity to reimburse users within days, and passed proof-of-reserves audits showing assets remained more than fully backed. Its share dipped at the time but has since recovered, and the episode is often cited as an example of transparent incident response.

OKX

• Share of top 10 spot volume: around 7% in 2025
• Derivatives: overtook Binance to become the largest venue by monthly volume
• Not available for trading in the United States

OKX, formerly OKEx, is one of the largest exchanges in the world and the leader in derivatives, having overtaken Binance during 2025, with monthly derivatives volume reaching $1.3 trillion.

It covers spot, margin, futures, perpetual swaps and options across more than 1,000 trading pairs, alongside trading bots, OKX Earn, crypto loans and an OKX Web3 wallet, which is one of the most complete wallet offerings of any exchange.

Fees are tiered by 30-day volume and OKB holdings, starting around 0.1% on spot and dropping to roughly 0.02% maker and 0.05% taker on derivatives, which makes it attractive to high-volume traders. Its interface is consistent across web and app, with customisable workspaces for advanced users.

MEXC

• Share of top 10 spot volume: 7.8% in 2025
• Growth: the fastest of the top 10, up 90.9% year on year
• Listings: 3,000+ tokens

MEXC is the exchange that grew fastest among the top ten in 2025, rising to third place by spot volume. Its strategy is straightforward: zero fees on many spot pairs and very fast listing of new tokens, with more than 3,000 assets available.

That makes it popular with traders hunting for new and small-cap tokens, and it publishes monthly proof-of-reserves reports. The trade-offs are the same as with other fast-listing platforms: many of those tokens are illiquid and high risk, and MEXC operates from a lighter regulatory regime than Coinbase or Kraken, and is not available in the United States.

Coinbase

• Share of top 10 spot volume: around 6% in 2025, a record 8.6% in Q1 2026
• Listed on Nasdaq under the ticker COIN
• Holds roughly 12% of all crypto assets held on exchanges

Coinbase is the largest exchange in the United States and the only major one that is publicly listed, which means audited accounts and quarterly disclosure. It operates in more than 100 countries and has the highest trust score of any large venue on CoinGecko.

It has three products for different users: the main app for buying and selling, Advanced Trade for active traders who want order books and charting, and Coinbase Wallet for self-custody and Web3.

Spot trading is still its core business, on a maker-taker model tiered by 30-day volume, but it has pushed hard into derivatives: it launched CFTC-regulated perpetual futures in the US in 2025, runs an international derivatives exchange and bought the options platform Deribit. Its derivatives volume grew 169% year on year by May 2026.

Gate

• Share of top 10 spot volume: 7.5% in 2025
• Listings: over 3,500 cryptocurrencies
• Users: more than 30 million

Gate, formerly Gate.io, was founded in 2013 and rebranded in May 2025. It is consistently among the largest exchanges by both spot and derivatives volume.

Its defining feature is breadth: over 3,500 cryptocurrencies, one of the widest ranges anywhere, plus Launchpad and Startup projects for early access to new tokens. Holders of its GT token get fee discounts.

On security and transparency, it publishes regular proof-of-reserves reports with coverage above 100% and has obtained licences in jurisdictions including Malta, Italy and Dubai (VARA). Like many global exchanges, it is not available in the United States.

Crypto.com

• Share of top 10 spot volume: 7.2% in 2025
• Ecosystem: exchange, app, cards, wallet and the Cronos blockchain

Founded in 2016, Crypto.com built its business around an app-first approach and a wide financial ecosystem: exchange, debit cards, a non-custodial wallet, an NFT marketplace and the Cronos (CRO) blockchain. Fees follow a maker-taker model tiered by 30-day volume, with discounts for staking CRO.

It is known for its consumer brand and ease of use, though its history includes difficult moments: in November 2022 it briefly froze some withdrawals and faced questions about exposure to the collapse of FTX, and it was criticised for heavy spending on sports sponsorships while cutting rewards for retail users. Since then it has focused on proof-of-reserves reporting and regulatory licences, and in 2025 CRO drew attention through an institutional partnership with Trump Media’s CRO Strategy vehicle.

Bitget

• Share of top 10 spot volume: around 6% in 2025, outside the top 10 in Q3 2026
• Derivatives: among the four largest venues, around 90% of its volume
• Copy trading: one of the largest platforms of its kind

Founded in 2018, Bitget is best known for derivatives and copy trading. Derivatives make up the large majority of its activity, and its copy-trading feature, which lets you automatically replicate other traders’ strategies, is one of the biggest in the industry.

It also offers spot trading across several hundred tokens, a Launchpad for new projects, tokenised real-world assets and forex and commodity exposure through USDT pairs. Its native token, BGB, is one of its most-traded assets.

Leverage goes up to 125x on some pairs, which carries correspondingly high risk. Bitget is not available in the United States, Singapore or mainland China, and with derivatives you are trading leveraged contracts rather than owning the assets.

On 24 September 2026, Bitget reported that about $352 million was taken from its hot and warm wallets. It said its User Protection Fund, which it puts at more than $464 million, would cover the entire loss, though that figure has not been independently verified, and it suspended withdrawals while it reviewed security. The hack pushed Bitget out of CoinGecko’s top 10 by spot volume in the third quarter.

HTX (formerly Huobi)

• Share of top 10 spot volume: around 5% in 2025
• Users: 45 to 55 million across 160+ countries
• Listings: over 700 cryptocurrencies

HTX is one of the longest-running exchanges, founded in 2013 in Beijing by Leon Li and rebranded from Huobi in September 2023, after Justin Sun, the founder of TRON, joined as an adviser. It is now headquartered in Seychelles and offers spot, derivatives, staking, loans and yield products.

Its spot fees are tiered, with discounts for its HT token. Two caveats are worth knowing: HTX has faced accusations of wash trading, with analytics firms flagging gaps between reported and organic volume, and it suffered security breaches in 2023, including a roughly $100 million exploit of the HECO bridge, though it reimbursed users. It is not available in the United States, mainland China or Singapore.

Upbit

• Share of top 10 spot volume: around 5% in 2025, volume down 18.9% year on year
• Users: over 13 million, in a country of 51 million
• Does not offer derivatives

Upbit is South Korea’s largest exchange and, unlike most global rivals, offers only spot trading. Operated by Dunamu, it processed around $642 billion in trades in the first half of 2025 alone.

Its strength comes from its home market, one of the most crypto-active in the world, where it has historically held 70% to 80% of domestic volume, though rival Bithumb has been gaining ground. Korean won pairs are its speciality, with XRP its most-traded asset in 2025. Its ecosystem also includes staking and an NFT marketplace.

Upbit’s volume fell 18.9% in 2025, the sharpest drop among the top ten, and another 33.7% in the third quarter of 2026, again the largest fall in the top ten. On security, hackers stole around $50 million from its hot wallets in 2019, and the exchange reimbursed affected users.

Why trading volume matters when choosing an exchange

Volume is a proxy for liquidity. On a high-volume exchange, you can enter and exit positions more easily, with less slippage between the price you see and the price you get, which matters most on larger orders and smaller tokens.

But volume alone is a poor way to choose a platform, for three reasons:

• Reported volume isn’t always real: wash trading, where the same funds are traded back and forth to inflate figures, has been flagged at several exchanges. Proof-of-reserves reports and independent audits are a better signal of soundness.
• Size doesn’t equal protection: the biggest exchanges are often the least regulated in your country. Check which entity you would contract with and what licences it holds where you live.
• What you trade changes the ranking: derivatives-heavy exchanges look enormous next to spot-focused ones. If you only buy and hold crypto, spot liquidity and custody matter far more than futures volume.

Conclusion

Binance is still the largest crypto exchange in the world by a wide margin, with 42.7% of spot volume among the top ten in the third quarter of 2026, followed by Bybit, MEXC, Gate and Crypto.com, while OKX now leads in derivatives and Coinbase leads on trust and regulation.

The rankings move every quarter, and 2026 has shown how quickly: volumes fell almost 40% in the first quarter and kept falling in the third even as prices recovered, Coinbase hit a record share in a shrinking market, Binance left the European Union after failing to obtain a MiCA licence, Bitget suffered a major hack, and decentralised exchanges kept taking share from centralised ones.

For most investors, the practical lesson is that size is only one criterion. Regulation in your country, security record, transparency of reserves and the fees you will actually pay matter at least as much as where an exchange sits in a volume table.