The crypto derivatives market in the first half of 2026: declining volumes and rising losses
The first half of 2026 was marked by a noticeable decline in trading activity in the cryptocurrency derivatives market. At the same time, the reduction in volumes occurred significantly faster than the decrease in open interest. Investors began to trade less frequently but are in no hurry to completely abandon risky assets.
Trading Volumes: Sharp Decline
The total derivatives trading volume for the reporting period amounted to $35.08 trillion, corresponding to an average daily figure of $193.8 billion. For comparison, a year earlier this figure reached $41.6 trillion. Thus, the decline was 15.7%. The trend was predominantly downward for most of the half-year. In January, the volume was $6.73 trillion, and by April it had decreased to $5.29 trillion. The June rise to $5.66 trillion could not offset the losses — it is still 15.9% below the January value.
Open Interest: Slow Decline
The average daily open interest (OI) stood at $112.7 billion, down 10% year-over-year. This decline was twice as slow as the contraction in trading turnover. In the second quarter, the divergence became particularly noticeable: OI grew by 2.1%, while trading volume lost 13.5%. By June 30, the figure had fallen to $99.9 billion, which is 17.9% below the level at the start of the year. The spring recovery of positions has completely exhausted itself. The ratio of turnover to open interest decreased by 6.3%, meaning that fewer actual trades are being made per unit of risk. The deleveraging occurred only in narrow time intervals.
Liquidations: Record Losses
The total volume of forced position closures for the half-year reached $73.35 billion. Of this, 62.2% ($45.63 billion) came from long positions. The worst month was June, when $16.14 billion was liquidated, with longs accounting for 69.5% of this volume. Notably, just three peak days in the half-year accounted for 8.9% of all liquidations, highlighting the concentration of risk during sharp movements.
Liquidity as a Key Factor of Reliability
The decline in trading activity makes the quality of large order execution critically important. The two-sided depth of the order book for BTC in the ±1% range is extremely unevenly distributed. Binance and OKX hold $236 million and $112 million, respectively, accounting for 64.8% of the entire market. Bybit and Bitget occupy third and fourth places with figures of $74.36 million and $71.7 million.
In the ETH segment, the situation appears more balanced. Binance leads with $109 million (28.7%), Bitget takes second place with $81.37 million (21.4%), ahead of OKX with its $73.35 million. The total depth of the five leading platforms for ETH was $381 million compared to $537 million for BTC. The share of leaders in ETH is 14.8 percentage points less than in BTC.
Institutional Approach and the Perpetual Contracts Segment
The segment of perpetual contracts on traditional assets showed separate growth. The five largest platforms conducted trades worth $1.2 trillion, with June accounting for a third of this volume. Binance, with a figure of $666.34 billion, holds 55.5% of the segment. The tradeXYZ trading platform accounts for 24.3%, OKX for 9.8%, and Bitget generates $66.41 billion with a share of 5.5%.
Institutional investors demonstrate a particular approach to risk management. On the CME exchange, trading volume accounts for only 4.1%, but open interest reaches 12%. This difference is characteristic of strategic hedgers with a long holding horizon for positions.
My conclusion: The derivatives market is entering a phase of "cold accumulation" — activity is declining, but capital remains in the system. This creates prerequisites for sharp volatility spikes at the slightest external trigger. Investors should reconsider risk management strategies, prioritizing liquidity depth over daily volumes.