Crypto CEX Activity Cools: Volume Down 48% From Bitcoin ATH

On-chain data shows crypto trading volume on centralized exchanges has fallen to $4.3 trillion, a decline of nearly 50% from the October Bitcoin peak.

Crypto Exchange Volume Has Witnessed A Significant Drop

According to data from on-chain analytics firm CryptoQuant, the crypto trading volume of the centralized exchanges has been cooling down. The “trading volume” here refers to an indicator that keeps track of the total amount of a given asset or group of assets becoming involved in trading activity on exchanges.

Below is the chart shared by CryptoQuant that shows the trend in this metric for the entire crypto sector over the last few years.

As is visible in the graph, the crypto trading volume shot up to a peak level during the last quarter of 2024, suggesting traders were at their most active on exchanges. In 2025, a second peak aligned with Bitcoin’s rally to its new all-time high (ATH).

Both of these highs coinciding with price surges isn’t surprising, as bullish price action tends to attract hype, which naturally results in higher trading activity. In contrast, bearish or sideways phases tend to scare investors away. From the chart, it’s visible that the latter effect has followed with the bearish reversal that crypto has seen since the last quarter of 2025.

Compared to the peak in October, crypto trading volume is today down 48%. Out of the $4.3 trillion volume that exchanges are observing right now, just $0.8 trillion is occurring on spot platforms. Thus, it would appear that perpetual futures markets are seeing most of the activity.

In terms of the individual exchanges, Binance continues to be the most dominant platform.

From the graph, it’s visible that Binance occupies the largest share of the exchange trading volume. Though, its dominance has actually shrunken over the years. At its peak back in the previous cycle, Binance controlled the majority of the market.

In some other news, the latest Bitcoin price surge has led to a break above a key Trader Realized Price level, as CryptoQuant has highlighted in an X post. The “Trader Realized Price” here refers to the average cost basis of the recent BTC buyers.

As displayed in the chart, the lower band of the Trader Realized Price was acting as an upper bound for BTC during the past few weeks, but the latest rally has taken the coin beyond the line. “If it holds, $79K is next—the key bear market ceiling and test for structural recovery,” noted the analytics firm.

BTC Price

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is floating around $71,800, up more than 7.5% in the last seven days.