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Crypto might’ve had a bounce this quarter, but spot traders? Not so much.
According to TokenInsight’s latest exchange report, the spot market just clocked its second straight quarter of decline, down another 22% in Q2.
That’s a $1 trillion drop in volume, despite Bitcoin flexing a 25% rally.
Derivatives hold strong, spot fizzles
Spot trading volume fell from $4.6 trillion in Q1 to $3.6 trillion in Q2 across centralized exchanges (CEXs). We can blame it on low altcoin activity, limp liquidity, or traders just moving on, whatever the case, the vibe in spot was flat.
Meanwhile, derivatives trading barely flinched. Sure, there was a slight dip from $20.9 trillion to $20.2 trillion, but compared to spot? That’s holding the line.
Traders kept leaning into high-frequency derivatives trades to play the market swings and hedge their bets.
Only two CEXs actually managed to grow their spot volumes in Q2, MEXC (up 2.7%) and Bitget (up 0.7%).
Everyone else? Pretty much bled volume.
ETFs popped, altcoins slumped
What did see action? Crypto ETFs.
TokenInsight points out that BlackRock pulled in nearly $15 billion in Q1 alone, part of a larger $17.8 billion ETP inflow. That’s 370% growth quarter-on-quarter.
Traditional finance showing up to the crypto party? It’s happening.
And while Bitcoin had a solid quarter, altcoins weren’t feeling the love. Lower trading activity in that corner dragged down support for exchange tokens too, not great news for CEX platforms that lean on altcoin volume.
Looking ahead, TokenInsight sees Q3 spot trading ranging between $3 trillion and $3.5 trillion. In short: unless altcoins find a second wind, the spot market might keep hitting snooze.
