In 2024, the cryptocurrency market saw a recovery and structural transformation, with the total market capitalization surpassing $3.8 trillion, a 110% year-on-year increase. Among this, the BTC price 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 crypto market, but also a year that witnessed the comprehensive rise of the derivatives market.
The "milestone" data behind this was driven by the accumulation of multiple positive factors in the industry. In January this year, the SEC approved the listing of 11 Bitcoin spot ETFs, including products from asset management giants like BlackRock and Fidelity Investments. In July of the same year, the approval of Ethereum spot ETFs further enriched investors' choices and injected more liquidity into the market. Meanwhile, Tesla CEO Elon Musk's public support at the "Bitcoin 2024 Conference" instilled more confidence in the market. He referred to Bitcoin as the "digital gold of the digital age" and reiterated his long-term belief in DeFi. This statement further consolidated the position of crypto assets as a mainstream investment category.
Driven by the macroeconomic tailwinds, the derivatives market became another important growth engine for the crypto industry in 2024. According to Coinglass data, the global crypto derivatives market trading volume saw a significant surge in 2024, with the total open interest reaching a new high, indicating investors' strong interest in leveraged products and market price volatility. 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.
- FTX found a breakthrough in specific areas, winning market share through innovative features and user experience.
- Deribit dominated the options arena, accounting for 82.2% of the global Bitcoin options market, establishing its leadership in the professional derivatives field.
- Hyperliqud, as the leading on-chain exchange, drove the industry towards greater 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 crypto market. As a leading contract data analysis platform, Coinglass will delve into how 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 crypto market in 2024, providing forward-looking insights and reflections for investors and the industry.
Derivatives Market
In 2024, the crypto derivatives market experienced historic growth, becoming an important component of the crypto market. The global crypto derivatives market set new records, with an average daily trading volume exceeding $100 billion and a monthly trading volume surpassing $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. As the market matures and the regulatory framework improves, 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 user-friendly trading platforms have lowered the entry barrier, and the high leverage characteristics of derivatives have attracted a large number of retail users seeking short-term gains.
As of the end of 2024, the total open interest of BTC contracts in the global crypto derivatives market exceeded $60 billion, indicating a sustained demand for risk management tools and leveraged products. The impact of derivatives trading on the market cannot be overlooked. 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, where the prices of futures and perpetual contracts often guide the price movements in the spot market. Furthermore, derivatives 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 cryptocurrency assets, and enhances the overall stability of the market, laying a foundation for the mature and healthy development of the crypto market.
In 2024, the trading volume of crypto derivatives accounted for a significant share of the total trading volume, and the market distribution among major exchanges also showed distinct 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 cryptocurrencies reaching $14.69 trillion in 2024, far exceeding its competitors, demonstrating its unparalleled advantage in the crypto derivatives trading field. OKX ranked second globally with a trading volume of $7.06 trillion, also showcasing its core position in the global derivatives market. OKX's user base is mainly concentrated in the top 5 cryptocurrencies, including BTC, ETH, SOL, DOGE, and PEPE, further consolidating its market dominance in these high-demand coins.
Although Bitget and Bybit ranked third and fourth respectively, their performance was also impressive, but the trading volume gap between them and Binance and OKX remains significant, indicating that the global market competition landscape is still relatively concentrated.
The competitive landscape among different exchanges has shown more distinct differentiation. Platforms like OKX and Binance have solidified 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 cryptocurrencies.
In 2024, the BTC price broke through the $100,000 mark, driving a significant growth in the BTC options market. As the Bitcoin price soared, the activity in the options trading market 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 liquid asset in the crypto 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 mark 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. The data shows that some exchanges' market share in the leading platforms exceeded 10%, indicating the active deployment of competitors in this field.
Spot Trading Volume
In 2024, the cryptocurrency spot trading market showed a trend of centralization, with the market share gap between the major exchanges 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 showing certain competitive advantages in the mid-sized market.
Coinbase and OKX ranked fourth and fifth 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 small 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.
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 defects exacerbated the risk of asset loss, severely damaging the credibility of the industry and greatly 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 encryption technologies such as zk-STARK, allowing users to independently verify asset status and balance transparency and 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.
In addition, the transparency of exchanges is inseparable from a clear and quantifiable indicator system. According to defillama data, "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 been recorded on the Bitcoin chain, so it will not be counted repeatedly.
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 been widely scrutinized by the market 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 shows 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 the high financial security and liquidity of the platform.
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.
Trading Fee Rate Indicators
(I) Spot Trading Fee Rates
With the intensification of competition in the spot trading market, major exchanges are attracting users through fee rate optimization, user threshold adjustments, and 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 VIP user level, 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%, outperforming Binance's 0.011% Maker and 0.023% Taker fees for top-tier users. Bybit's fee rate structure is relatively conservative, with a Taker fee of 0.015% and a Maker fee of 0.005%, which, although overall higher than the other two exchanges, still has certain market competitiveness.
In terms of the trading volume thresholds required to reach these preferential fee rates, OKX has the highest requirement, needing a 30-day trading volume of over $5 billion. Binance's requirement is over $4 billion, while Bybit's threshold is the lowest at $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 the 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 the basic fee rate layer. 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%) while slightly adjusting the Taker fee rate to 0.0550%, reflecting its strategy in revenue structure.
At the VIP user level, the competitive landscape is more intense and the differentiation is more obvious. OKX stands out with the most aggressive fee rate strategy, offering 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, offering VIP users a Maker fee of 0.0000% and a Taker fee of 0.0170%, reflecting its stable position as a market leader. Bybit's fee rate strategy (Maker 0.0000%, Taker 0.0180%) is close to 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, showing its strategic intention to expand market share.
This differentiated threshold setting not only reflects the market positions of the platforms, but also embodies their different philosophies in user screening 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 difference between platforms will become an important factor influencing user choice.
(III) Futures Funding Rates
Funding rates, as the core mechanism of perpetual contracts, periodically exchange fees between long and short positions to maintain the balance between contract prices and spot prices. A positive funding rate means that longs pay fees to shorts, and vice versa. This indicator not only reflects market sentiment, but is also an important reference for measuring market leverage preferences. (Note: The analysis in this article is based on 8-hour rate data, with the annualized calculation method being: 8-hour rate × 3 × 365. For example, an 8-hour rate of 0.01% is approximately equivalent to an annualized rate of 10.95%.)
The overall crypto market maintained an optimistic sentiment in 2024, as evidenced by the funding rate data. Binance had 322 days of positive funding rates throughout the year, followed closely by Bybit with 320 days and OKX with 291 days (based on daily 0:00 BTC-USDT Coinglass contract data). This sustained positive funding rate indicates that the bullish market sentiment dominated for most of 2024.
In 2024, the funding rates of major exchanges fluctuated with the changing market conditions.
First quarter: A period of euphoria driven by ETFs
At the beginning of 2024, the 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 in line with the significant 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 about 85.41%.
Second quarter to third quarter: A period of rational return
From April to August, the market entered a calm period. 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.
Fourth quarter: A 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 the 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 improved the utilization efficiency of user funds, but also provided 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 Bit currency 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.
Coinglass Exchange Scoring
As an authoritative data analysis platform for the Bit currency market, Coinglass has established a comprehensive exchange scoring system, comprehensively evaluating the world's major Bit currency exchanges from dimensions such as 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 layered effect. According to Coinglass data statistics, Binance leads the market with an average daily mainstream contract trading volume of $40 billion, and an average daily mainstream spot trading volume of a staggering $6 billion. The performance of OKX, which is closely following, is also impressive, with an average daily mainstream contract trading volume of $19 billion, showing strong market vitality. 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 coverage of users on social media platforms of the major platforms 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 platforms 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 in 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 Bit currency trading market: trading scale is no longer the only standard for measuring platform strength, asset transparency and security are increasingly becoming 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.
Summary
The Bit currency 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 pattern, the competition among the leading exchanges has shifted from simple scale expansion to a comprehensive strength competition in multiple dimensions. Binance, relying on its powerful ecosystem and an annual mainstream spot trading volume of $2.15 trillion, continues to lead the market, while OKX has established a unique advantage among professional trading communities 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 competition pattern 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 the market's risk management tools are becoming increasingly sophisticated, and the infrastructure for institutional-level trading is gradually maturing.
From the perspective of industry development trends, asset transparency and platform security have become the core factors of market competition. The widespread adoption of the Proof of Reserve (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's 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.
