Both Crypto Derivatives and Spot Markets Post Record Volume in March

CryptoCompare has published its monthly report analyzing the trade activity on crypto exchanges.

The record-breaking crash of March 12 and 13 drove new all-time volume highs in both the spot and derivatives markets.

March 13 sets record for daily spot trades

The report states that March 13 produced the single greatest volume in the history of crypto assets — with all exchanges and markets producing $75.9 billion in trade activity over 24 hours.

$54.3 billion of 71.5% of trades came from ‘Lower Tier’ exchanges, while ‘Top Tier’ exchanges generated $21.6 billion in volume.

Despite Binance and OKEx representing the largest share of volume throughout the crash generally, the majority of trades throughout the first 60 minutes of the crash occurred on Bitfinex, followed by Coinbase, OKEx, and Bitstamp.

Monthly crypto derivatives volumes tag $600 billion

Crypto derivatives produced a new all-time high of $600 billion in monthly trade during March — a monthly gain of 5%.

The combined volumes of OKEx, BitMEX, Huobi, and Binance’s derivatives markets totaled $514 billion or 86% of the entire market.

The report notes significant growth from newer entrants derivatives platforms, with Binance and FTX growing from 14% of total trade in January to 22% last month.

Stablecoin volume see large gains amid crash

The record crash unsurprisingly drove record demand for stablecoins — fulfilling their original promise of providing a semi-orderly means through which traders can exit crypto without causing bank runs on crypto exchanges during periods of wild volatility.

Monthly Bitcoin (BTC) conversions into Tether (USDT) tripled during March, while Bitcoin trades for USD Coin (USDC) rose by 71%.

Trade between BTC and Paxos Standard Token (PAX) grew by a whopping 1,550%. Bitcoin trade volume for USDC and PAX now exceeds that of Euro and Korean won pairings respectively.

Bitcoin trade into USD and JPY grew by 170%, and 130% respectively

While exchanges specializing in both spot and derivatives for crypto assets saw record trade during March, institutional trade fell by almost half.

Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME)’s futures saw a 44% drop in monthly volume from $13.1 billion in February to $7.36 billion in March.