- Crypto spot volumes hit a daily record in January
- On January 11, $122 billion was traded in crypto spots, the highest ever recorded in a single day
- Binance was the largest derivatives exchange by monthly trading volume in January
- In the first full month of 2021, a total of $2.9 trillion in crypto-based derivative products were traded across major exchanges
Although an emerging niche, crypto spot trading is one of the most basic types of investments available to traders. Spot trading essentially involves buying a digital asset and holding it until the value increases or using it to buy other altcoins that you believe may rise in value.
Spot Trading Hits Daily High in January
According to the blockchain research firm,  CryptoCompare, this emerging market hit a daily record of over $122 billion on January 11, after which a bullish resurgence will see Bitcoin peak at over $40k in January. Previously, the all-time high for daily spot volume was $72.5 billion and it was recorded on March 13, 2020.
Crypto-Based Derivative Products Set New Records
In the first full month of 2021, trading volumes of crypto-based derivative products more than doubled from the previous month.
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A total of $2.9 trillion in crypto-based derivative products were traded across major exchanges – a new all-time high. The previous record of $1.43 trillion was set in December 2020.
In January 2021, crypto spot volumes rose by 97 percent, compared to the previous month, coming in at $2.3 trillion. The previous high was also set in December 2020 when a record of $1.9 trillion was traded across major exchanges.
On the Flipside
- Regardless of the overall uptrend, trading of options contracts on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) dropped in January
- The CME which focuses on institutional investors witnessed a 43 percent drop in its trade numbers
- In January 2021, with only 1,700 contracts traded on the CME
Breakdown of the Record
According to the data, the BTC/USDT pair represented the majority of Bitcoins traded into fiat or stablecoin at 57 percent. However, it is down from the previous month when it contributed 63 percent.
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The next major pair was the BTC/USD, holding a market share that commanded almost 20 percent of Bitcoin volumes traded in January.
Binance represented the largest derivatives exchange by monthly trading volume in January. A total of $890 billion was traded on the exchange, representing a 97 percent increase from December when the exchange handled $451 billion transactions.
Behind Binance was OKEx, which traded approximately $582 billion, up by 102 percent from the previous month. Huobi followed, an 86 percent increase in monthly trade volume meant that it traded $499 billion. Bybit notably saw its derivatives volume surge 139 percent from the previous month to trade $318 billion.
