In 2024, the Bit cryptocurrency market saw a recovery and structural transformation, with the total market capitalization surpassing $3.8 trillion, a year-on-year increase of 110%. Among them, the price of BTC broke through the $100,000 mark that year, setting a new historical high. This was not only an important milestone in the development of the Bit market, but also a year of the comprehensive rise of the derivatives market.
The "milestone" data behind this is due to the accumulation of multiple positive factors in the industry. In January this year, the SEC approved the listing of 11 Bit spot ETFs, including products from asset management giants like BlackRock and Fidelity Investments. In July of the same year, the approval of the Ethereum spot ETF further enriched investors' choices and injected more liquidity into the market. At the same time, Tesla CEO Elon Musk's public support at the "Bit 2024 Conference" instilled more confidence in the market. He referred to Bit as the "digital gold of the digital age" and reiterated his long-term belief in DeFi. This statement further consolidated the position of Bit assets as a mainstream investment category.
Driven by the macro-positive factors, the derivatives market became another important growth engine for the Bit industry in 2024. According to Coinglass data, the global Bit derivatives market trading volume saw a significant increase in 2024, with the total open interest reaching a new high, indicating investors' strong interest in leveraged products and market price fluctuations. The major exchanges have demonstrated unique competitiveness in both the derivatives and spot markets:
• Binance led the market with an average daily mainstream contract trading volume of $40 billion, consolidating its industry leadership with its strong liquidity and broad user base.
• OKX ranked second with an average daily mainstream contract trading volume of $19 billion, and established a solid foundation for the platform's sustainable development through its leading asset reserve proof mechanism.
• Bybit ranked second globally in the spot market with an average daily mainstream spot trading volume of $2.3 billion, and saw over $8 billion in capital inflows in 2024.
• Crypto.com found breakthroughs in specific areas, winning market share through innovative features and user experience.
• Deribit dominated the options market, occupying 82.2% of the Bit options market share, establishing its leadership in the professional derivatives field.
• Hyperliqud, as the leading on-chain exchange, drove the industry towards transparency and efficiency through decentralized perpetual contracts and margin trading.
These platforms not only drove the growth in trading volume, but also provided valuable observation samples for the global Bit market. As a leading contract data analysis platform, Coinglass will deeply analyze how the major exchanges have occupied advantages in the global landscape based on data such as derivatives market, spot trading volume, asset transparency, and trading fees, and explore the core drivers of the Bit market in 2024, providing forward-looking insights and reflections for investors and the industry.
I. Derivatives Market
In 2024, the Bit derivatives market experienced historic growth, becoming an important part of the Bit market. The global Bit derivatives market set a new record, with an average daily trading volume exceeding $100 billion and a monthly trading volume exceeding $3 trillion, far exceeding the trading volume of the spot market. This significant growth reflects the increasing demand from investors for leveraged products, especially during periods of high market volatility. With the maturation of the market and the improvement of the regulatory framework, more and more institutional investors - such as hedge funds and asset management companies - have entered the derivatives market, driving further development. In addition, the participation of retail investors is also growing rapidly, as simple and easy-to-use trading platforms have lowered the entry threshold, and the high leverage feature of derivatives has attracted a large number of retail users seeking short-term returns.
As of the end of 2024, the total open interest of Bit derivatives contracts globally exceeded $60 billion, indicating a sustained demand for risk management tools and leveraged products in the market. The impact of derivatives trading on the market cannot be ignored. First, it significantly improves market liquidity, as traders can leverage a larger market size with less capital, reducing the impact of large transactions on spot prices and making the market more efficient. Second, the derivatives market plays an important role in price discovery, especially during periods of market volatility, with futures and perpetual contract prices often guiding the trend of spot market prices. In addition, derivatives also provide hedging tools for institutional investors, reducing the volatility of their asset portfolios and attracting more long-term capital inflows. Ultimately, the trading behavior in the derivatives market promotes the efficiency of market pricing, reduces the volatility of Bit assets, and enhances the overall stability of the market, laying a foundation for the mature and healthy development of the Bit market.
In 2024, the trading volume of Bit derivatives occupied a significant share of the total trading volume, and the market distribution among major exchanges also showed obvious differences. According to Coinglass' contract trading volume data, Binance continued to maintain a market-leading position, with the total trading volume of the top 10 contract currencies reaching $14.69 trillion in 2024, far exceeding other competitors, demonstrating its unparalleled advantage in Bit derivatives trading. OKX ranked second globally with a trading volume of $7.06 trillion, also demonstrating its core position in the global derivatives market. OKX's users are mainly concentrated in the top 5 currencies, including BTC, ETH, SOL, DOGE and PEPE, further consolidating its market dominance in these high-demand currencies.
Although Bitget and Bybit ranked third and fourth respectively, their performance was also impressive, but there is still a significant gap between their trading volume and that of Binance and OKX, indicating that the global market competition landscape is still relatively concentrated.
The competitive landscape among different exchanges has shown more obvious differentiation. Platforms like OKX and Binance have consolidated their leading positions in the global market through optimizing trading products and enhancing user experience, while Bitget and Bybit have demonstrated unique competitiveness in specific areas or currencies.
In 2024, the price of BTC broke through the $100,000 mark, driving a significant growth in the BTC options market. With the rise in Bit price, the activity of options trading has increased significantly, with the total open interest reaching $41.127 billion, further consolidating its core position in the global market.
As of December 19, 2024, the total open interest in the BTC options market was $41.127 billion, and ETH was $10.072 billion. The BTC market size is 4 times that of ETH, reflecting the position of BTC as the core liquidity asset in the Bit market.
In the competitive landscape of the BTC options market, Deribit continued to dominate, accounting for 82.2% of the global market share. Meanwhile, OKX performed outstandingly with its flexible product strategy and strong liquidity, ranking third with an open interest of $2.927 billion, accounting for 7.1% of the global market share. This performance highlights OKX's rapid rise in the options market and its sustained growth potential.
In 2024, the Ethereum (ETH) options market continued to grow, with the total open interest reaching $10.072 billion. With the further development of the smart contract ecosystem and the drive of staking activities, the ETH options market has shown a steady growth trend.
The ETH price broke through the $4,000 high in 2024, driving an expansion of market demand. In the market landscape, Deribit continued to dominate, while other platforms gradually expanded their market share through their respective market strategies. Data shows that among the top-ranking platforms, some exchanges' market share exceeded 10%, indicating the active deployment of competitors in this field.
II. Spot Trading Volume
In 2024, the cryptocurrency spot trading market showed a trend of centralization, with the market share gap between the major trading platforms further widening. In 2024, Binance ranked first with a mainstream spot trading volume of over $2.15 trillion, occupying an absolute dominant position in the market. Closely following were Bybit and Crypto.com, with mainstream spot trading volumes of $858 billion and $810 billion respectively, forming the second echelon and demonstrating their competitive advantages in the mid-sized market.
Coinbase and OKX ranked among the top five with trading volumes of $635 billion and $606 billion respectively, consolidating their stable positions in the market. In comparison, Kraken's trading volume was $133 billion, Bitstamp's was $67 billion, and Bitfinex's was $58 billion, with these exchanges having relatively smaller market sizes and user groups more concentrated in specific regions or professional investor fields. Gemini's trading volume was only $18 billion, ranking low among the major exchanges, reflecting its more focused market positioning on serving institutional clients and long-term investors.
III. Asset Holding Transparency
Transparency is gradually becoming the key to centralized exchanges winning user trust. The collapse of FTX in 2022 exposed deep-seated problems in the industry in terms of asset transparency and risk management, directly leading to a crisis of market confidence. Users found it difficult to verify the true financial status of the exchanges, and internal governance deficiencies exacerbated the risk of asset loss, severely damaging the credibility of the industry and significantly increasing market uncertainty, posing a serious challenge to the long-term development of the cryptocurrency industry.
After the FTX incident, the market's demand for transparency quickly increased, and CEXs began to rebuild trust through asset disclosure and technical upgrades. Top exchanges, including OKX, were the first to introduce Proof of Reserves (POR) and adopt advanced cryptographic technologies such as zk-STARK, allowing users to independently verify asset status and balance transparency with privacy protection. This trend not only reshaped the industry's trust foundation but also established new development standards for CEXs, laying an important cornerstone for the future of the cryptocurrency market.
Furthermore, the transparency of exchanges is inseparable from a clear and quantifiable indicator system. According to data from defillama, "Assets" and "Clean Assets" have become key indicators for assessing the health of exchanges:
The first is Assets, which include all assets held by the exchange, but do not count IOU assets already accounted for on other chains. For example, BTC anchored on the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) has already been recorded on the Bitcoin chain and will not be counted twice.
The second is Clean Assets: reflecting the total locked value (TVL) of the exchange, excluding the exchange's own issued assets (such as platform tokens), more accurately measuring the asset quality and liquidity of the exchange.
Through these two indicators, users can more clearly assess the stability and transparency of the platform.
Binance ranks first in the industry with total assets of $165.29 billion, but the transparency and asset quality of Binance have received widespread market attention in the face of increasingly severe regulatory pressure.
In 2024, OKX's capital inflows and transparency performance became an important data point in the cryptocurrency industry. According to defillama data, OKX ranked among the industry leaders with a net inflow of $4.602 billion, with total assets reaching $28.86 billion, of which $28.72 billion were clean assets, accounting for a high proportion of 99.5%. The net inflow data indicates that OKX is at the forefront of its peers in terms of user trading activity and capital flow, while the high proportion of clean assets reflects that the vast majority of the platform's assets are unencumbered or unlent, demonstrating high financial security and liquidity.
Bybit's net capital inflow reached $8 billion, with rapid growth. Crypto.com and Bitfinex faced net outflows of $220 million and $2.3 billion respectively, reflecting further declines in their market share.
IV. Trading Fee Rates
(I) Spot Trading Fee Rates
With the intensification of competition in the spot trading market, major exchanges are attracting users through optimizing fee rates, adjusting user thresholds, and implementing differentiated strategies, resulting in a clear stratification of the market.
At the level of ordinary users, the fee rate strategies of major exchanges are consistent, all adopting a 0.1% Maker and Taker fee rate.
At the level of VIP users, the competitive landscape is more intense. OKX offers the most competitive fee rate structure for its highest-level VIP users: a negative Maker fee rate of -0.01% and a Taker fee rate of 0.02%. This outperforms the 0.011% Maker and 0.023% Taker fee rates offered by Binance for top-tier users. Bybit's fee rate structure in this area is relatively conservative, with a Taker fee rate of 0.015% and a Maker fee rate of 0.005%, which, although overall higher than the other two exchanges, still maintains certain market competitiveness.
In terms of the trading volume thresholds required to reach these preferential fee rates, OKX has the highest requirement, needing a trading volume of over $5 billion within 30 days. Binance's requirement is over $4 billion, while Bybit's threshold is the lowest at only $1 billion. This differentiated threshold setting reflects the different strategies and market positioning of the exchanges in the battle for high-end users.
(II) Futures Trading Fee Rates
As the derivatives market has developed rapidly, futures trading has become a core battlefield for competition among major exchanges. Platforms are engaging in competition at different user levels through refined fee rate structures and differentiated threshold strategies.
At the level of ordinary users, the leading exchanges in the market have shown significant consistency in their basic fee rate structures. Binance and OKX adopt a unified fee rate structure (Maker fee rate 0.0200%, Taker fee rate 0.0500%), reflecting the price consensus of a mature market. Bybit maintains the same Maker fee rate (0.0200%) but slightly adjusts the Taker fee rate to 0.0550%, reflecting its strategy in revenue structure.
At the level of VIP users, the competitive landscape is more intense and the differentiation is more evident. OKX stands out with the most aggressive fee rate strategy, offering its top-tier VIP users a negative Maker fee rate (-0.0050%) and a highly competitive Taker fee rate (0.0150%). Binance, on the other hand, adopts a relatively conservative strategy, providing VIP users with a Maker fee rate of 0.0000% and a Taker fee rate of 0.0170%, reflecting its stable position as the market leader. Bybit's fee rate strategy (Maker 0.0000%, Taker 0.0180%) is close to that of Binance.
In terms of access thresholds, the three exchanges present a clear gradient. Binance maintains the highest standard, requiring a 30-day trading volume of $25 billion, highlighting its market leadership position; OKX closely follows, setting a $20 billion threshold, which is in line with its aggressive fee rate strategy; Bybit adopts a more user-friendly $5 billion threshold, indicating its strategic intention to expand market share.
This differentiated threshold setting not only reflects the market positions of the platforms but also their different philosophies in user selection and risk control. These fee rate designs reflect the strategies adopted by the platforms in attracting different user groups. As market competition intensifies, the fee rate differences between platforms will become an important factor influencing user choices.
(3) Contract Funding Rate
The funding rate, as a core mechanism of perpetual contracts, maintains the balance between the contract price and the spot price through the periodic exchange of fees between the long and short parties. A positive funding rate means that the long party pays the short party, and vice versa. This indicator not only reflects market sentiment, but is also an important reference for measuring the market's leverage preference. (Note: The analysis in this article is based on 8-hour rate data, and the annualized calculation method is: 8-hour rate × 3 × 365. For example, an 8-hour rate of 0.01% is approximately equivalent to an annualized rate of 10.95%.)
In 2024, the overall crypto market maintained an optimistic sentiment, as evidenced by the funding rate data. Binance had a positive funding rate for 322 days throughout the year, closely followed by Bybit with 320 days, and OKX with 291 days (based on daily 0:00 BTC-USDT Coinglass contract data). This persistent positive funding rate indicates that the market's bullish sentiment dominated for most of 2024.
In 2024, the funding rates of major exchanges fluctuated with changes in market conditions.
Q1: The ETF-driven euphoria period
At the beginning of 2024, market sentiment was high. In early January, the 8-hour funding rates of the three major exchanges reached around 0.07%, annualized at about 76.65%, reflecting an extremely optimistic market expectation. This was highly consistent with the major event of the approval of the Bitcoin spot ETF. Among them, OKX reached a single-day high of about 0.078% in early March, annualized at around 85.41%.
Q2 to Q3: The period of rational return
From April to August, the market entered a calm period. The funding rates oscillated at relatively low levels, mostly below 0.01% (annualized below 10.95%), and even turned negative at times. This indicates that the market's speculative sentiment has cooled and become more rational.
Q4: The period driven by policy expectations
November saw another peak, with the funding rates of the three major exchanges generally rising to the 0.04%-0.07% range (annualized 43.8%-76.65%), and the market once again showed a strong bullish sentiment. This may be related to year-end policy expectations and the influx of institutional capital.
The leading exchanges, through differentiated fee rate strategies, have further widened their advantages in market competition. This not only effectively improves the utilization efficiency of user funds, but also provides more targeted service options. This trend not only reflects the instant changes in market supply and demand, but also to some extent reflects the continuous exploration and refined operation capabilities of trading platforms in terms of liquidity management, risk control, and user experience optimization.
Binance: As the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance's funding rate trend has shown remarkable stability. The annual rate fluctuation range is relatively narrow, with the lowest frequency of extreme values, and the annualized rate is usually maintained in the rational range of 5%-15%. This characteristic confirms its status as a "market barometer".
OKX: In comparison, OKX has shown stronger market sensitivity. Its funding rate fluctuations are the largest, with an annualized range from -20% to 85%. This characteristic makes it an important reference for predicting changes in market sentiment, especially suitable for high-frequency traders who want to seize short-term market opportunities, or can be seen as a "sensitive market weather vane".
Bybit: Bybit's funding rate changes are usually between Binance and OKX, with an annualized fluctuation range between -10% and 60%. This "balanced market positioning" feature allows it to maintain market competitiveness while providing users with a relatively stable trading environment.
V. Coinglass Exchange Scoring
Coinglass, as an authoritative data analysis platform in the cryptocurrency market, has established a comprehensive exchange scoring system, comprehensively evaluating the world's major cryptocurrency exchanges in terms of trading scale, platform reputation, and security and transparency. This scoring system not only provides investors with an objective reference for platform selection, but also promotes the entire industry to develop in a more standardized and transparent direction.
Specifically, the scoring system is mainly based on the following aspects:
Trading Scale Performance
In terms of spot and contract trading volume, the market shows a clear layering effect. According to Coinglass data, Binance leads the market with an average daily trading volume of $40 billion in mainstream contracts, and an amazing $6 billion in mainstream spot trading. OKX, closely following, also has a strong market vitality, with an average daily mainstream contract trading volume of $19 billion. These data fully reflect the dominant position of the leading exchanges in the market. This scale advantage not only reflects the trading depth of the platform, but also reflects the user's trust in the platform.
Platform Reputation Assessment
In 2024, after experiencing multiple tests in the early market, the industry reputation and social influence of the leading exchanges have been further consolidated. The total user coverage of major platforms on social media has exceeded tens of millions, and the community activity is significantly positively correlated with the trading volume of the platform. Binance, OKX and other leading exchanges have established a professional and reliable brand image among user groups through continuous product innovation and service upgrades. The daily interaction and information transparency of the platforms on mainstream social media have also become an important way to enhance user trust.
Security and Transparency Performance
In the post-FTX era, security and transparency have become the primary considerations for users when choosing a trading platform. The leading exchanges generally adopt advanced security measures such as multi-signature and cold wallet storage, and have not experienced major security incidents throughout the year, demonstrating the effectiveness of their risk control systems. Particularly noteworthy is that OKX has established a new industry transparency standard through its regularly published Proof of Reserves (PoR) system. Its 99.5% clean asset ratio not only demonstrates the high-quality asset structure, but also highlights the platform's professional risk management capabilities.
Under Coinglass' scoring system, Binance and OKX have stood out in the market with their respective advantages. Binance, relying on its strong market scale and complete ecosystem, continues to maintain a leading global position. The platform has the largest user base, with an average daily mainstream contract trading volume of $40 billion and $6 billion in mainstream spot trading volume, fully demonstrating its market dominance. At the same time, its user fee structure also has strong market competitiveness.
Closely following is OKX, with a comprehensive score of 78, ranking second globally. This achievement is due to the platform's balanced development in multiple areas. In terms of the trading ecosystem, OKX provides an excellent trading environment for users of different levels through a flexible fee structure (VIP users can enjoy a -0.0050% maker fee rate) and a comprehensive derivatives tool chain. In terms of risk control and transparency, the leading asset reserve proof mechanism and efficient risk management system have laid a solid foundation for the platform's sustainable development. Meanwhile, the professional trading interface design and comprehensive product matrix also ensure an excellent user experience.
Coinglass' scoring system reveals the current development trend of the cryptocurrency trading market: trading scale is no longer the only standard for measuring platform strength, asset transparency and security have become the core indicators of user concern, while product innovation capabilities and user experience have become the new focus of platform competition. The differentiated development strategies of Binance and OKX, the two major exchanges, have brought positive competition to the market. Binance focuses on expanding market scale and improving the ecosystem, while OKX seeks breakthroughs in innovative products and user experience. This differentiated competition pattern ultimately benefits the entire industry, promoting the industry to develop in a more standardized, transparent and professional direction.
VI. Conclusion
The cryptocurrency market in 2024 has shown the characteristics of structural transformation and qualitative change. Under the dual driving force of the influx of institutional capital and the gradual improvement of the regulatory framework, the market has not only achieved breakthroughs in quantitative indicators, but also undergone profound changes in market structure, trading mechanisms and risk management.
In terms of market landscape, the competition among leading exchanges has shifted from simple scale expansion to a multi-dimensional comprehensive strength competition. Binance, relying on its powerful ecosystem and a mainstream spot trading volume of $2.15 trillion throughout the year, continues to lead the market, while OKX has established a unique advantage among professional traders through product innovation and precise market positioning, with a net capital inflow of $4.602 billion and a 99.5% clean asset ratio. This differentiated competitive landscape has driven the entire industry to comprehensively improve in areas such as product depth, technological innovation, and risk management.
The rapid development of the derivatives market has become one of the most significant structural changes in 2024. The daily trading volume exceeding $150 billion reflects a fundamental change in the demand for crypto asset allocation by institutional investors. The prosperity of the options market is particularly noteworthy, with the total open interest of Bitcoin options reaching $41.127 billion and Ethereum reaching $10.072 billion, indicating that market risk management tools are becoming increasingly sophisticated, and institutional-grade trading infrastructure is gradually maturing.
From the perspective of industry development trends, asset transparency and platform security have become core competitive factors. The widespread adoption of the Proof of Reserves (PoR) mechanism and the establishment of innovative risk control systems mark the industry's transition from wild growth to standardized operations. Leading exchanges have set new industry standards in terms of compliance, transparency, and risk management through technology upgrades and process optimization.
Looking ahead to 2025, the cryptocurrency market is entering a new cycle of innovation. First, the continued approval of ETFs will deepen the integration of crypto assets and traditional financial markets, bringing more institutional-level liquidity to the market. Secondly, the technological breakthroughs of DEXs may reshape the market microstructure, driving the evolution of trading models towards greater efficiency and transparency. Furthermore, the accelerated wave of asset tokenization will expand the boundaries of the crypto market, providing exchanges with new business growth points.
