Q2 2026 has given signs that have indicated the stability of the crypto exchange market and has moved past the deleveraging phase. In total, trading volume fell by about 8 percent QoQ to $16.5 trillion, which is down from the Q3 2025 record high of $31.0 trillion. The mix underpinning the market declined, however, according to the data from TokenInsight.
The spot activity stands strong but the volume is weak
Trading on the spot markets jumped from $3.3 trillion to $4.5 trillion. Derivatives trading declined from $14.6 trillion to $12.0 trillion. Derivatives comprised 73 percent of total volume compared to 82 percent in Q1.
Bitcoin’s struggle to hold support at $60,000 throughout June was responsible for driving most of this spot activity. This took place even during each intraday dip to $58,000 before a reversal took place. Futures open interest reached an average of $80 billion and this figure represents a drop from the high of $170 billion that was recorded back in Q3 2025.
Binance is holding the top spot but MEXC is narrowing the gap
The overall volume traded on Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume, was around $5.85 trillion, a trading volume that also caused its market share to climb from 32.77 to 35.34 percent, making it the exchange that increased its market share by the largest percentage in any quarter. The derivatives market was commanded by Binance at 36.48 percent, OKX at 16.42 percent, Bybit at 10.05 percent, and MEXC at 9.51 percent in fourth place. These four exchanges are now representing 72 percent of the derivatives volume among them.
The exchange generated around $1.412 trillion in volumes for the quarter and captured a market share of 8.53 percent, an increase of 1.36 percentage points from 7.17 percent. This gain represents itself as the second largest of any of the tracked exchanges.
MEXC has moved up to the third place supported by open interest
MEXC’s average open interest share climbed from 8.62 percent to 9.21 percent, moving it into third place globally, up from fourth in Q1. KuCoin posted the single largest open interest gain in the report, up 3.97 percentage points, surging from 2.23 percent to 6.20 percent as its overall share more than doubled.
Bitget also expanded its position, rising from 7.81 percent to 8.58 percent, a 0.77 percentage point gain that kept it just ahead of MEXC in the rankings. Binance still led the open interest market outright, extending its share to 26.35 percent, a smaller gain of 0.40 percentage points but enough to hold the top spot comfortably. Gate moved the other way, posting the sharpest decline in the report at 3.58 percentage points, while Hyperliquid and Bybit also gave up modest ground.
This picture has remained the same through a series of changes in individual rankings: the concentration of leverage in a few exchanges has continued, and the gains by the largest four or five exchanges have come at the cost of the smaller venues, not themselves.
The real growth is being depicted by TradFi perpetuals
Across the industry, monthly volume in TradFi perps jumped from $52 billion to $268 billion between Jan and June. Equity perps displaced commodities as the top performer for perps, growing from $45 billion in May to $141 billion in June. TradFi perps at times accounted for more than 15 percent of derivatives trading volumes on some exchanges.
The second place has been secured by MEXC’s commodity perpetuals
MEXC’s TradFi perpetuals volume was $68.8 billion, and that is accounting for 10.85 percent, coming in fourth behind Binance, Bitget, and OKX. Commodities are up 4.1 percentage points to 14.7 percent. This is highlighting the largest increase in share by any of the six made for the second position for commodity perpetuals globally. Binance equity perps are in first place with 63.0 percent.
MEXC is now scaling into the traditional markets
The cryptocurrency exchange unveiled two new offerings in the second quarter: the “RealStocks” service for direct U.S. stock access and the “SpaceX Pre-IPO Launchpad” to grant users exposure to the pre-IPO markets. The additions complement existing products that focus on gold, oil, and equity perpetuals, expanding MEXC’s offerings past crypto.
