Centralized exchanges remained the primary venue for price discovery and risk management across major crypto assets. At the same time, market structure continued to narrow, with liquidity and leverage increasingly concentrated among a small number of dominant platforms. This shift aligns with the partial easing of global liquidity conditions in the second half of the year, which reignited demand for leveraged trading strategies.

Derivatives Trading Concentrated Among Four Major Exchanges

More than 60% of total derivatives volume in 2025 was executed on just four platforms. Binance, OKX, Bybit, and Bitget emerged as the core drivers of liquidity, leverage, and user asset concentration across the market.

Binance alone accounted for $25.09 trillion in annual derivatives volume, representing over 29% of global market share. Behind Binance, second-tier competition remained relatively balanced. OKX, Bybit, and Bitget recorded annual trading volumes ranging between $8.2 trillion and $10.8 trillion, with average daily volumes between $25 billion and $33 billion. Together with Binance, these platforms controlled approximately 62.3% of total market activity.

OKX ranked second with a 12.5% market share, followed by Bybit at 11%, and Bitget at roughly 9.5%.

Why It Matters

This level of concentration indicates that pricing power in the crypto derivatives market is increasingly controlled by a limited number of exchanges. While deeper liquidity benefits large platforms during high-volatility periods, smaller exchanges face a greater risk of price dislocations and thin order books.

High-volume trading days consistently exceeded annual averages throughout the year. On October 10, single-day derivatives volume peaked at approximately $748 billion, far above normal levels. Monthly averages hovered near $200 billion in the first quarter before accelerating in the second half, surpassing $300 billion during July–August and October.

Open Interest Hits Record Highs Before Q4 Shakeout

Open interest (OI) data highlighted the fragility of the market’s high-leverage structure. Aggressive deleveraging in the first quarter pushed total OI down to $87 billion. This was followed by a rapid rebuild in leverage, with OI reaching an all-time high of $235.9 billion in early October.

During the fourth quarter, roughly $70 billion in positions were wiped out. Despite this drawdown, year-end open interest still closed 17% higher than at the start of the year. Binance continued to dominate leverage concentration, holding nearly 28% of daily average OI, while the top five exchanges controlled more than 80% overall.

Liquidity and Custody Power Centralized

Liquidity depth data confirmed that dominance extended beyond raw volume. Binance’s Bitcoin order book depth far exceeded all competitors, while OKX ranked a clear second, particularly for institutional-sized trades.

Custodial concentration proved even more pronounced. Binance held over 72% of total custodial assets, pushing the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) to 5,352, a level signaling extreme oligopoly conditions. Other platforms shared a significantly smaller portion of user-held assets.

Liquidations and Systemic Risk Peak in October

Total liquidations in 2025 approached $150 billion, most of which reflected routine market activity. However, systemic stress was heavily concentrated around October 10–11.

Following a major macro shock linked to new U.S. tariffs on China, combined liquidations exceeded $19 billion in a single day. Elevated leverage, crowded long positioning, and strained liquidation mechanisms amplified volatility, particularly across altcoins. While Bitcoin and Ethereum experienced relatively contained drawdowns, many smaller assets suffered sharp collapses.

Outlook

The 2025 data confirms that growth in crypto derivatives continues, but with risk increasingly centralized across a handful of platforms. As liquidity, custody, and leverage concentrate further, the potential for cascading effects during macro or regulatory shocks rises. If this structure persists, 2026 may bring heightened regulatory scrutiny and more frequent platform-level stress testing.

You can also freely share your thoughts and comments about the topic in the comment section. Additionally, don’t forget to follow us on our Telegram, YouTube, and Twitter channels for the latest news and updates.

The post Crypto Derivatives Hit $85.7T in 2025 as Market Concentrates appeared first on Coin Engineer.

Centralized exchanges saw a steep decline

Centralized exchanges recorded $1.59 trillion in spot trading during November, marking a significant drop from the previous month. This decline followed fading volatility and widespread profit-taking after October’s rapid rally. As trading ranges narrowed, short-term opportunities weakened and traders reduced exposure.

Binance remained the largest exchange with $599 billion in volume, although the figure reflected a sharp pullback from October. Bybit, Gate.io and Coinbase also posted declines, reinforcing the broader cooling trend across the sector. The crypto market entered a slower phase as reduced momentum limited risk appetite and curbed trading frequency.

This period highlighted a notable shift in trading behavior, as investors responded to compressed conditions and waited for clearer market signals.

DEX volume also dropped significantly

The slowdown extended to decentralized exchanges. DEX volume fell to $397.7 billion in November, marking the lowest level since June. Additionally, major platforms like Uniswap and PancakeSwap saw meaningful decreases, reflecting softer DeFi incentives and weaker speculative activity. The market slowdown and narrower price ranges further reduced short-term trading participation.

The DEX-to-CEX volume ratio slipped to 15.73 percent, signaling a rotation back toward centralized exchanges. Deeper liquidity and tighter spreads provided more efficient execution, which became increasingly important as volatility dried up. Meanwhile, reduced incentive yields made DEX activity less attractive in the short term.

Bitcoin’s price drop weakened overall risk appetite

The downturn became more visible through Bitcoin price action. The Bitcoin price fell from $110,000 to nearly $81,000 over the month, adding pressure to the broader market slowdown. Combined with shrinking trading activity, the drop reinforced caution among retail and institutional traders. Spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $3.48 billion in net outflows, the highest since February.

These developments shaped three key behavioral shifts in November:

• Traders preferred waiting as volatility collapsed.
• Low-margin trading reduced overall activity.
• Liquidity tightened across both CEX and DEX platforms.

You can also freely share your thoughts and comments about the topic in the comment section. Additionally, don’t forget to follow us on our Telegram, YouTube, and Twitter channels for the latest news and updates.

The post Crypto Trading Volume Plunges in November as Markets Cool appeared first on Coin Engineer.

With $44 million stolen, the crypto world is once again reminded of its vulnerabilities.

Attack Originated from Internal Liquidity Account

According to CoinDCX CEO Sumit Gupta, the breach stemmed from an internal account used for liquidity provision with another exchange. Hackers drained $44 million through what Gupta described as a “sophisticated server breach.”

“No user funds were affected,” Gupta assured. “The compromised account was isolated swiftly, and the loss will be covered entirely by our treasury reserves.”

Funds Traced Across Chains

On-chain analyst ZachXBT traced the attacker’s wallet back to Tornado Cash, where it was funded with 1 Ethereum. The stolen funds were then partially bridged from Solana to Ethereum, making tracking difficult.

You Might Be Interested In: Sonic SVM Research: Can New Stablecoins Shake Up the Old Order?

The incident echoes a similar hack on WazirX—another Indian exchange—exactly one year ago to the day, which resulted in a $235 million loss. Analysts see the timing as a grim reminder of persistent cybersecurity gaps in the crypto sector.

Wave of Recent Crypto Exploits

• Nobitex (Iran): $100 million stolen on June 18; source code leaked.
• GMX V1: $40 million drained on July 9, later returned for a $5M bounty.
• Arcadia Finance: $3.5 million lost due to smart contract exploit.

These repeated breaches stress the urgent need for better risk management in both centralized and decentralized ecosystems.

You can also freely share your thoughts and comments about the topic in the comment section. Additionally, don’t forget to follow us on our Telegram, YouTube, and Twitter channels for the latest news and updates.

The post CoinDCX Suffers $44M Hack in Sophisticated Server Breach appeared first on Coin Engineer.

Speaking to Cointelegraph, Newson said that uncovering the truth behind the April crash would require a full forensic study — similar to the one conducted after the collapse of FTX.

OTC Deals Obscure the Full Picture

In an April 15 interview with Coffeezilla, John Mullin, CEO of Mantra, admitted that the team had engaged in up to $30 million worth of OTC deals. These trades, unlike on-chain transactions, are carried out off exchanges and lack public transparency.

“The whale’s accumulation of 100 million OM tokens appears to stem from secondary market activity — not direct action by Mantra insiders,” Newson explained.

Arkham and Nansen Cannot Offer Final Answers

Mullin has denied any insider dumping, arguing that Arkham mislabelled several wallets. But Newson said that even data from Arkham or Nansen would not suffice:

You Might Be Interested In: Elon Musk Talks About the Name of a New Memecoin!

“To confirm insider coordination, more than basic wallet tracing is needed. Without offchain agreements or exchange records, reaching definitive conclusions is extremely difficult.”

Audit Still Not Confirmed

Mullin said the team is considering hiring a forensic auditor, though no decision has been made yet. Mantra has asked centralized exchanges to collaborate in analyzing the incident.

Frank Weert, co-founder of Whale Alert, also noted the difficulty in obtaining complete transaction histories, even at the node level.

You can also freely share your thoughts and comments about the topic in the comment section. Additionally, don’t forget to follow us on our Telegram, YouTube, and Twitter channels for the latest news and updates.

The post Unpacking Mantra’s OM Token Crash Requires Full Forensic Investigation appeared first on Coin Engineer.

As one of the leading cryptocurrency exchanges, Bybit has been at the center of a major security crisis. Company officials stated that a serious technical collapse in the exchange’s infrastructure allowed hackers to infiltrate the system. This vulnerability compromised Bybit’s security mechanisms, enabling attackers to steal $1.5 billion worth of assets.

You Might Be Interested In: Elon Musk Talks About the Name of a New Memecoin!

How Did the Attack Happen?

According to Bybit’s report, attackers identified security loopholes within the infrastructure and exploited them to gain unauthorized access. Initially appearing as a user account breach, the attack was later revealed to have directly targeted the company’s internal systems. Hackers managed to transfer massive amounts of funds to their own wallets by taking advantage of these weaknesses.

Are Bybit Users at Risk?

Following the large-scale attack, Bybit assured users that their funds would remain secure. The company announced that most of the stolen assets would be covered from its reserves and that user losses would be reimbursed. However, some analysts have raised concerns about how Bybit will manage such a significant financial hit in the long run.

You can also freely share your thoughts and comments about the topic in the comment section. Additionally, don’t forget to follow us on our Telegram, YouTube, and Twitter channels for the latest news and updates.

The post Massive Bybit Hack: $1.5 Billion Loss Explained! appeared first on Coin Engineer.

You might like: Coinbase Exchange Decision on PlayDapp (PLA)!

The post In Bitcoin ‘s Rise, A Total of 230 Million Dollars Was Liquidated appeared first on Coin Engineer.