Crypto exchange volume saw a major recovery in July, as traffic returned to levels not seen since February. Overall, centralized markets saw $1.7T in volumes for the past month, marked by active BTC and ETH trading and the beginnings of an altcoin market.
Centralized crypto exchanges carried a total of $1.77T in volumes for July, recovering to levels not seen since February. Market activity peaked around July 24, close to the days of some of the biggest rallies for BTC and ETH. As with previous months, overall CEX activity mostly depended on sentiment, benefitting from the bullish performance of most assets.
The market also responded to a potential altcoin recovery, boosting volumes for XRP and other previously forgotten assets. During peak trading times, both DEX and CEX were firing on all cylinders. Since the end of July, the share of DEXs fell to 23.5% as assets moved down from their peak.
Centralized exchanges got a boost following an active month for stablecoins. The dollar-denominated tokens were mostly used in centralized trading pairs, followed by their utility on DEX.
Exchanges were a key venue for buying spot BTC. In July, market operators still registered peak outflows, with reserves going to multi-year levels. Spot exchanges held only 934K BTC, while derivative markets held 1.43M.
Demand for coins came from a mix of ETF buying and additional treasury expansion, in addition to whale accumulation. On Binance, however, deposits increased the reserves from 538K BTC to over 562K.
Binance leads the pack with over $700B in July
Binance remained the leader in centralized exchange activity, with $706B in total monthly activity. In the year to date, Binance saw its highest activity in January, as the market was still driven by the momentum of December’s price records. The exchange reached a peak of over $146B in trading volumes on July 18.
The exchange also got a boost from the series of records of the BNB token. The asset peaked at $858.34, boosting volumes and trading demand. The exchange kept its position following a successful Q2, as previously reported by Cryptopolitan.
Despite the inflow of volumes, driven by whales and derivative trading, the Binance.com site took a step back. The site fell by six positions in the finance category, ranked 30th worldwide, while losing 64 positions in its overall ranking.
The exchange also gained over 14% of its traffic from India, followed by 7.7% from the USA. In the past month, US-based traffic diminished the most, as traders shifted to other platforms.
Ethereum drove the crypto exchange volume expansion on Binance
Despite this, Binance remains a staple of crypto activity, as it connects its centralized and decentralized trading. The exchange tapped the month’s stellar performance, but the markets still failed to reach peak exuberance levels.
Binance’s derivative trading was among the major factors for the exchange’s performance. In July, open interest on the exchange rose from $28B to over $36B.
For that period, the ETH perpetual futures had the biggest share, surpassing even BTC.
The ETH/USDT market pair made up over 25% of all derivative trades, with around 19.5% for BTC. USDT was the key crypto token boosting derivative activity, with over 79% of total volumes.
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