Bybit Replaces CME as No. 2 Bitcoin Futures Exchange by Open Interest
One trader cites Bybit's higher leverage limit, but other factors may at play, too, analysts say.
Bybit, a cryptocurrency exchange with more than 2 million registered users, has overtaken the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) as the second-largest bitcoin futures exchange by open interest (OI), according to data from Skew.
Open interest is the total number of outstanding derivative contracts, such as options or futures held by market participants at the end of a day. Open interest measures the total level of activity in the futures market.
Bybit now has $2.48 billion in BTC futures open interest, whereas CME has $2.3 billion, according to Skew. Binance is still No. 1.
“Both retail and institutional investors tend to choose Bybit for its high liquidity, low spread and outstanding reliability when the battle between longs and shorts heat up,” a Bybit representative wrote in an email to CoinDesk.
More leverage, more risk
Mike Schwitalla, a senior trader at Crypto Finance AG, said one reason Bybit surpassed CME is that Bybit’s leverage limits are much higher than CME's.
Matthew Dibb, Stack Funds' co-founder and chief operating officer, said that Bybit has become the go-to venue for high leverage trading of bitcoin futures.
“When Bybit's OI is increasing, it generally means that retail traders are using heavy margin to directionally trade,” Dibb said in an interview with CoinDesk.
“The other side of this is that in the event that there is a substantial liquidation day, Bybit usually has the highest number of traders and value liquidations of any exchange,” he added.
Buffeted by speculation – and possibly a few hot trades
Joshua Lim, head of derivatives trading at Genesis Global Trading, said there’s been a lot of speculation among traders over Bybit flipping CME in terms of open interest. (Genesis is a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which also owns CoinDesk.)
There was a large spike in BTC September futures that occurred on April 7, which has been unwound, according to Lim.
Open interest on the September futures got as high as $1.9 billion, but now sits at $677 million.
“Some traders were speculating that it was related to an exchange update that was rolled out to algo (algorithmic) market makers, and others were speculating that it was related to some kind of basis trade being executed,” Lim said in a Telegram conversation.
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Exchange Review - March 2025
CoinDesk Data's monthly Exchange Review captures the key developments within the cryptocurrency exchange market. The report includes analyses that relate to exchange volumes, crypto derivatives trading, market segmentation by fees, fiat trading, and more.
What to know:
Trading activity softened in March as market uncertainty grew amid escalating tariff tensions between the U.S. and global trading partners. Centralized exchanges recorded their lowest combined trading volume since October, declining 6.24% to $6.79tn. This marked the third consecutive monthly decline across both market segments, with spot trading volume falling 14.1% to $1.98tn and derivatives trading slipping 2.56% to $4.81tn.
- Trading Volumes Decline for Third Consecutive Month: Combined spot and derivatives trading volume on centralized exchanges fell by 6.24% to $6.79tn in March 2025, reaching the lowest level since October. Both spot and derivatives markets recorded their third consecutive monthly decline, falling 14.1% and 2.56% to $1.98tn and $4.81tn respectively.
- Institutional Crypto Trading Volume on CME Falls 23.5%: In March, total derivatives trading volume on the CME exchange fell by 23.5% to $175bn, the lowest monthly volume since October 2024. CME's market share among derivatives exchanges dropped from 4.63% to 3.64%, suggesting declining institutional interest amid current macroeconomic conditions.
- Bybit Spot Market Share Slides in March: Spot trading volume on Bybit fell by 52.1% to $81.1bn in March, coinciding with decreased trading activity following the hack of the exchange's cold wallets in February. Bybit's spot market share dropped from 7.35% to 4.10%, its lowest since July 2023.
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