Crypto Derivatives Volumes Rise to Record $712 Billion in August

Crypto trading volumes experienced a historic surge in activity last month as crypto-based derivative products hit all-time highs in August, according to a new report by Cryptocompare.

CryptoCompare today published its monthly Exchange Review, which offers widely-quoted insights into the cryptocurrency exchange industry as well as changes to exchanges' metrics that make up the data provider’s price indices.

Key findings from the August review show that volume on crypto derivatives exchanges rose by 58 percent compared to the previous month. In August, monthly volume hit $712 billion, which was just enough to top the previous record of $602 billion set back in May 2020.

The bulk of derivative trading happened on exchanges considered by Cryptocompare as Top-Tier.

“Huobi (up 44.7 percent), OKEx (up 69.1 percent) and Binance (up 74.0 percent) led with $208.5bn, $190.8bn and $184.6 billion traded respectively. BitMEX traded $72.5bn (up 43.6 percent) in August,” explains the London-based data analytics firm.

Crypto spot volumes also increased by 50 percent to $945 billion in August. This figure includes $529 billion in transactions that exchanged hands at top venues, which account for over 64 percent of all volume such as Binance ($124.9 billion, up 83 percent). This was followed by Huobi Global trading $65.0 billion (up 176 percent), while OKEx traded $64.7 billion (up 47 percent).

Options Volumes on CME Also Rise

Spot volumes at what CryptoCompare calls 'Lower-Tier' exchanges also soared to $291 billion, up 30 percent on a monthly basis, possibly driven by the hype that accompanied Bitcoin ’s rally to $12,000.

In August, derivatives share of the cryptocurrency market rose to just over 40 percent while spot volumes have continued to represent the majority (60 percent) of total market turnover.

Trading of options contracts on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, which focuses on institutional investors, increased 8.4 percent in August with 2,704 contracts traded within the month.

However, this figure was three times lower than the record monthly high set in June at 8,444 contracts. The regulated exchange said futures volumes, as measured by the number of contracts, jumped 36 percent from July levels to reach 203,867 in August, with trading volume also up 55 percent to $12.0 billion.