Crypto Spot Trading Drops 22% in Q2 Despite Bitcoin Rally

The global crypto market has seen a surprising downturn in spot trading in the Q2 of 2025. According to the report published by crypto analytics firm TokenInsight, the trading volumes are dropping by 22% despite the fact that Bitcoin (BTC) price has surged. The report has highlighted that spot trading volumes on major centralized exchanges (CEXs) dropped from $4.6 trillion in Q1 to $3.6 trillion in Q2.

In Q4 of 2024, crypto spot trading saw a high of $5.3 trillion; after that, this is the second consecutive quarter of decline. The downward trend comes amid declining interest in altcoin trading and shrinking liquidity across the spot market. “Traders maintained their Q1 preference for high-frequency derivatives trading amid market uncertainty, aiming to hedge risks and leverage volatility,” TokenInsight’s research team noted.

MEXC Defies the Trend with Spot Trading Growth

The overall spot trading landscape saw a downward trend, although a few platforms went against the trend. MEXC, a new centralized exchange, saw the biggest rise in spot trading volume in Q2, rising 2.7%.Bitget also went up by a small 0.7%.

The average daily spot trading volume across CEXs fell from $52 billion in the first quarter to $40 billion in the second quarter, albeit there were several exceptions. TokenInsight expects this downward trajectory to persist into Q3, projecting spot trading volumes to hover between $3 trillion and $3.5 trillion.

“Due to ongoing economic uncertainty, as well as limited liquidity and weak trading activity in the altcoin spot market, spot trading volume in Q3 2025 is projected to remain subdued,” the report stated.

In comparison to the sharp decline in spot activity, the crypto derivatives markets demonstrated better stability. Derivatives trading volumes fell only slightly, down 3.6% from $20.9 trillion in Q1 to $20.2 trillion in Q2.

“Although market sentiment was briefly lifted in early April by the Federal Reserve’s decision to pause rate hikes, concerns over global economic slowdown and geopolitical tensions continued to dominate investor behavior,” the report added. TokenInsight attributed the relatively strong performance of derivatives markets to traders’ need for risk hedging and speculative tools during uncertain times.

Despite the CEX struggles, Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) surged in popularity. BlackRock, one of the leading issuers, reported a staggering 370% increase in ETF inflows in Q2. According to CoinShares data, global crypto ETPs drew $17.8 billion in inflows during the first half of 2025, with BlackRock accounting for $15 billion of that figure.

CoinGecko says that this ETF-driven momentum helped Bitcoin rise 25% in the second quarter, after falling 12% in the first quarter. TokenInsight came to the conclusion that exchange tokens will probably keep doing poorly in Q3 since liquidity pressures and platform activity are still going down.

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