Crypto Exchange 2023 Annual Report: Binance Leads by a Clear Margin Across Multiple Metrics
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Crypto Exchange 2023 Annual Report: Binance Leads by a Clear Margin Across Multiple Metrics
As one of the most critical components in the cryptocurrency industry, changes in exchanges' trading volume and market share directly reflect the industry's rise and fall.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: TokenInsight
2023 was a year of recovery and蓄势待发 for the crypto industry. From mid-2022 to early 2023, we truly experienced a wave of despair during a bear market. However, numerous positive developments followed—such as the completion of Ethereum's Shapella upgrade, the launch of BRC-20 Ordinals, and BlackRock’s filing for a spot Bitcoin ETF—which rejuvenated traders’ sentiment like spring rain, leading to a gradual market recovery. As one of the most critical components of the cryptocurrency ecosystem, exchange trading volumes and market share shifts directly reflect the overall health of the industry.
As a rating and research firm in the crypto space, TokenInsight has continuously tracked data on tokens and exchanges. We have compiled performance data from the exchange sector over the past year, selecting the top ten centralized and decentralized exchanges (CEXs and DEXs), aiming to understand annual trends and competitive dynamics through data analysis.
The following data represents aggregated figures from the top ten exchanges selected by TokenInsight and does not include total trading volume across all exchanges. This approach is based on two main reasons:
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There are far too many cryptocurrency exchanges; collecting data from every single one is nearly impossible
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The top ten exchanges we selected account for over 95% of the market share, thus offering a reliable representation of overall market conditions
Top 10 Exchanges' Annual Trading Volume in 2023 Reached $34.26 Trillion, Down ~16% Year-on-Year
At the beginning of 2023, the broader crypto market began to recover, with Bitcoin prices slowly rising. Daily trading volume surged from $50 billion to approximately $150 billion—a near tripling within one month. The peak daily volume in Q1 occurred on March 14, approaching $250 billion. On that day, Bitcoin price spiked 16.6% within 24 hours, jumping from $20,000 to above $26,000.
Q2 and Q3 saw relative market stability with slight declines. Positive catalysts such as the successful Ethereum Shapella upgrade, the emergence of Ordinals, and BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF application rekindled investor enthusiasm, briefly pushing Bitcoin above $30,000 in late June. Peak daily volume hit $208.6 billion on July 14. However, as excitement around Ordinals and the Bitcoin ETF cooled, Bitcoin retreated to $26,000 in August, and daily volume declined accordingly, bottoming out at around $20 billion on September 24.
In October, with the deadline for the final decision on the spot Bitcoin ETF application approaching, traders grew increasingly confident about approval, driving high market engagement. Both trading volume and Bitcoin price rose sharply in Q4. The highest daily volume occurred on November 10, surpassing $230 billion after news broke that BlackRock had filed for a spot Ethereum ETF. Fueled by accumulated positive sentiment, Bitcoin finally broke above $40,000 on December 4—the first time in 19 months—reaching its highest level since mid-2022.
Binance's Market Share Dropped from 54.2% to 48.7%, Falling Over 5% Yet Maintaining Dominance
During the first half of 2023, Binance maintained relatively stable market share, fluctuating between 52% and 60%. However, after Binance ended its zero-fee Bitcoin trading promotion in March and the SEC filed a 27-page lawsuit against Binance in June, its market share began to decline. Three months later, it fell below 50%.
On November 22, when Binance CEO Zhao Changpeng publicly announced his resignation, Binance’s market position briefly suffered a shock, dropping to 32% on November 24. However, it quickly stabilized and gradually recovered to above 45%. By year-end, Binance’s market share settled around 48%. Despite this 5% drop—better than expected—and with regulators not raising concerns about user asset safety, market and user confidence in Binance remained strong.
Among all players in the evolving exchange landscape, OKX and Bybit benefited the most, increasing their shares by 4.3% and 2.2%, respectively.
Annual Spot Trading Volume Leaders: Binance, Upbit, OKX; Derivatives Leaders: Binance, OKX, Bybit
Breaking down annual trading volume into spot and derivatives, Binance held a commanding lead with 53.7% market share across both segments. Notably, this figure stood at 60.1% in 2022, indicating a drop of nearly 6.5%. Despite facing several major disruptions, Binance still maintains a strong absolute advantage compared to other exchanges.
OKX and Bybit ranked second and third with 15.7% and 11.6% market share, respectively. OKX made it into the top three for both spot and derivatives trading volume. Upbit ranked second in spot volume but did not appear on the overall leaderboard due to minimal derivatives activity. Similarly, Coinbase ranked fourth in spot trading volume, but its negligible derivatives volume relegated it to eighth place in total volume rankings.
Bybit, Bitget, KuCoin, Gate, Kraken, and Bitfinex all made it into the top ten in both categories. Upbit and Coinbase only entered the top ten in spot trading, while BitMEX and Deribit were limited to the derivatives top ten.
Coinbase Stock Rose Far More Sharply Than Its Trading Volume Fluctuated
Coinbase’s stock price climbed from $33.6 at the start of 2023 to $173.9 by year-end—an increase of approximately 418%. In comparison, the S&P 500 rose 22.46% and the Nasdaq increased by 42.03% in the same period. Benefiting from the crypto market rebound, COIN significantly outperformed most equities.
Meanwhile, Coinbase’s trading volume remained generally stable throughout 2023. Although there was a slight dip in Q2 and Q3, volume rebounded toward year-end with renewed investor interest, slightly exceeding early-year levels.
In 2023, Gate Listed 362 New Tokens, Bringing Total Listings to 1,871—Far Outpacing Other CEXs
In 2023, Gate added 362 new tokens. The weekly number of newly listed tokens closely followed Bitcoin price movements. During Q1 and Q2, as the market recovered, many new crypto assets emerged, peaking in the week of May 14 with 21 new listings.
Gate’s new token listings dropped significantly in Q3 but rebounded in Q4 amid the explosive growth of the BRC20 ecosystem, which brought forth numerous BRC20 assets and led to higher listing rates once again.
Bybit, Bitget, and OKX Are Derivatives-Focused, With Over 90% of Volume Coming From Derivatives; Kraken Is Spot-Focused
The chart above shows the ratio of spot to derivatives trading across exchanges. In 2023, Bybit, Bitget, and OKX were among the top ten exchanges most focused on derivatives, with approximately 91% of their trading volume coming from derivatives.
While Binance and KuCoin were less dependent on derivatives, they still derived the majority of volume from them—around 70% to 80%.
Gate, Huobi, and Crypto.com occupied a middle ground, with spot trading contributing 30% to 40% of total volume. In contrast, Bitfinex and Kraken relied more heavily on spot trading. Kraken, in particular, generated over 80% of its trading volume from spot markets in 2023.
It should be noted that Coinbase Derivatives currently offers limited products with very low trading volume, so we excluded Coinbase from this calculation.
Binance Maintains Dominance with 50.4% Share; OKX Rises to 19.4%
In derivatives trading, Binance’s share declined from 55.9% at the start of the year to 50.4% by year-end, yet remained robust. Despite undergoing its most significant regulatory crisis to date, its market share only decreased by 5.5%, performing better than expected.
By year-end, OKX reached a 19.4% market share, up about 4% from the beginning of the year. At the start of the year, Bybit trailed OKX by just 2%, but by year-end, the gap had widened to 4.4%. Following closely behind is Bitget, whose share fluctuated around 9% throughout the year.
Gate and KuCoin maintained steady performance throughout the year, with shares hovering between 2% and 3%.
Open Interest Doubled Alongside Bitcoin Price, Reaching $350 Billion—Up 60% From Start of Year
By the end of 2023, the total daily open interest across the top ten exchanges had increased by 60% compared to January 1, closely tracking Bitcoin’s price movements.
The lowest daily open interest occurred on March 11 (BTC price: $20,631), reaching $193.7 billion. The highest was recorded on December 28 (BTC price: $42,605), peaking at $351.6 billion—an 81.5% surge (compared to BTC’s 107% rise).
Looking at individual exchanges, Bitfinex, Kraken, Deribit, and Bybit all achieved open interest growth exceeding 100%. Kraken led with a staggering 185% increase, growing from $0.76 billion to $2.2 billion.
In contrast, although Gate and KuCoin saw more modest gains of 33% and 28% respectively, their performance still stands out positively compared to Bitget and BitMEX, where open interest declined.
Top 10 DEXes Recorded $977.5 Billion in Annual Trading Volume, With Orca Showing Strongest Growth
With SOL’s price surge toward year-end, the Solana ecosystem regained market attention. Orca and Raydium, as leading DEXes on Solana, benefited significantly, gaining market share to varying degrees. Orca reached a 9.22% market share by year-end.
In April 2023, PancakeSwap V3 launched, enhancing functionality. By Q4, V3’s average daily trading volume exceeded four times that of V2, enabling PancakeSwap to grow its market share by 5.1% over the year.
In contrast, GMX and dYdX underperformed in 2023. While both gained substantial market share in 2022 (GMX +28.4%, dYdX +6.7%), GMX barely maintained its position in 2023, while dYdX lost nearly 10%—a disappointing outcome.
DEXes Held Stable 2.83% Market Share Throughout 2023
DEXes demonstrated stable performance in trading volume and market share in 2023, maintaining an aggregate share of approximately 2.83%.
Q1 saw the highest DEX share at 2.98%, coinciding with the strongest quarterly volume. However, both volume and share gradually declined over the next two quarters. Though both improved in Q4 with market recovery, the overall proportion remained largely unchanged.
The trend suggests that despite ongoing regulatory challenges faced by Binance and Zhao Changpeng’s resignation over these issues, traders did not lose confidence in centralized exchanges. Especially after settling with multiple U.S. regulators, Binance retained its leadership position, holding a 32.6% lead over the second-place exchange. These events did not disrupt the market structure as dramatically as the 2022 FTX collapse. Traders continue to favor established centralized exchanges perceived as safer.
Exchange Platform Tokens: FTT, MX, BGB All Gained Over 200%; CET and HT Declined, With HT Down 50%
As the market gradually recovered, most centralized exchange platform tokens posted notable gains. FTT, MX, and BGB each rose over 200%, outperforming Bitcoin’s 166% gain during the same period.
Notably, FTT surged 270%. This was primarily driven by a November statement from SEC Chair Gary Gensler suggesting “FTX could potentially restart if operating within legal boundaries.” Following this announcement, FTT jumped over 240% within two weeks. Subsequently, further gains followed as FTX debtors reached a settlement with official joint administrators.
Looking at trading volume/market cap ratios—a proxy for liquidity—lower ratios indicate lower liquidity and higher slippage. MX, GT, OKB, and CET all had ratios <0.01, suggesting low liquidity. Although HT had a favorable ratio of just 0.033—indicating high liquidity—its price still fell by about 50%, signaling that traders are actively selling off HT holdings. This presents a negative signal for HTX.
Among DEX Platform Tokens, JOE Led With Over 300% Gain; Only BSW Declined
Similar to CEX tokens, DEX platform tokens also saw varied price increases in 2023, except for BSW. Trader Joe performed exceptionally well, with JOE surging nearly 400% over the past year. In contrast, industry leader UNI rose only 45%, underwhelming by comparison. Despite Uniswap Labs proposing a draft for V4 in June, it failed to generate market excitement or boost UNI’s price as anticipated.
In terms of trading volume/market cap ratios, all DEX platform tokens exhibited high liquidity. This indicates that traders tend to prefer trading DEX-native tokens over CEX platform tokens—even though returns may not necessarily be higher.
It should be noted that dYdX uses off-chain order books and matching engines but settles trades on-chain, meaning it is not fully decentralized. Osmosis operates as a Cosmos app-chain with independent nodes, whereas other projects are DApps (smart contracts) deployed on public blockchains.
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