Market data reveals a significant deterioration in liquidity within the cryptocurrency derivatives market in December 2025. This month recorded the lowest trading volumes of the year, with decreased activity spanning all key assets and platforms.
Overall Decline in Cryptocurrency Derivatives Market Liquidity
The liquidity reduction in December is systemic: activity dropped simultaneously across most platforms and major instruments. This indicates that the cause is not isolated technical issues on exchanges but a broader phase of market cooling. Supporting this view, signs of liquidity decline have been observed in related capital flows; see signs of liquidity decline and associated asset movements.
Trading Volumes on Leading Exchanges
Binance maintained its leadership but posted weak monthly results: derivatives trading volume on the exchange was approximately $1.19 trillion in December 2025. For comparison, OKX recorded about $581 billion, and Bybit $421 billion, reflecting the overall drop in activity on major platforms.
Comparison with Previous Periods
Binance’s trading volume in December 2025 was nearly half of the levels seen in August 2025, highlighting the scale of the decline. A similar pattern is evident on other major platforms, where monthly figures fall significantly below annual averages and previously recorded peaks. Details on the futures market, including individual instruments, are discussed in the article on bitcoin futures volume.
Causes and Consequences of Liquidity Decline
Traders have widely reduced leveraged trading, opting to wait out the period of uncertainty, which directly lowered volumes and market depth. The presence of cascade liquidations in prior periods has increased participant caution, leading the market to shed excess leverage and weak positions.
As a result, reduced liquidity makes leverage less attractive and raises potential losses during sharp price moves. Since the derivatives market often reacts first to shifts in sentiment, the liquidity withdrawal is seen as an indicator of declining risk appetite among traders.
Why This Matters
For miners operating 1–1000 devices, the liquidity drop does not directly affect equipment operation but impacts the market environment where mined coins are sold or held. Lower derivatives market activity means large trade orders can have a stronger price impact, and leverage use becomes riskier.
If you regularly sell part of your mined coins or hedge positions, it’s important now to consider wider spreads and possible slippage. Without aggressive demand for leverage, spot market volatility may persist, and liquidity recovery will be uneven across different instruments.
What to Do?
- Reassess your leverage strategy: reduce or temporarily avoid borrowed leverage to lower the risk of cascade liquidations.
- Increase liquidity buffers: keep some funds in reserve to cover unexpected costs and potential price drops when selling coins.
- Plan sales carefully: break up large orders and check spreads across multiple platforms to minimize slippage.
- Monitor the derivatives market and related liquidity flows to promptly detect changes in participant sentiment.
- If needed, use hedging tools considering higher costs and reduced market depth.