Crypto Derivatives Shakeout: Market Records Lowest Trading Volume in December 2025
The crypto market has produced one of the most disappointing performances in the last half of 2025, with many major assets ending the year in the red. Although the prices failed to make any marks in the last few months of the year, the lack of money also continued to exit the market.
According to the latest on-chain data, the crypto derivatives market posted its lowest trading volume of 2025 in December. This decline in activity reflects a change in the risk appetite of investors, especially with prices remaining low in the last few months of the year.
Signs of Risk-Free Rising Down Market Activities: An Analyst
In a Quicktake article on the CryptoQuant platform, anonymous analyst Darkfost revealed that December was the lowest trading month in the crypto derivatives market in 2025. According to an on-chain pundit, this decline in derivatives market activity reflects the dismissal of active traders.
Using a chart showing the trading values of the top 10 coins combined on several major exchanges, Darkfost highlighted the currency’s broad decline. The broad nature of this decline in leverage ensures that lower trading volume is spread throughout the derivatives market.
Source: CryptoQuant
As noted in the chart above, the Binance exchange dominates the crypto futures market with approximately $1.19 billion in trading volume in December. However, this figure is very low – its weakest trading activity in the last year – compared to the performance of other months in 2025. In context, Binance has almost doubled its trading volume in August 2025.
A similar trend of decreasing liquidity can be seen in other capital markets. For example, OKX recorded only $581 billion in trading volume, while Bybit was limited to $421 billion. “These rates also ensure a significant reduction in capital in the derivative markets, automatically reducing appetite and energy consumption,” added Darkfost.
In addition, the crypto analyst noted that this decrease in trading volume shows how investors behave in a negative market situation.
Darkfost said:
Increased liquidation, combined with a period of heightened market uncertainty and an unclear direction, has strengthened risk aversion. In such cases, market participants clearly prioritize financial preservation over performance.
Darkfost concluded that this level of decline in derivatives historically tends to coincide with transition phases, when the market releases a lot of energy before forming a strong and healthy trend.
Total Crypto Market Capitalization At $3.17 Trillion
As of this writing, the total cryptocurrency market stands at about $3.17 trillion, showing a jump of 0.3% in the last 24 hours, according to CoinGecko data.
The total cryptocurrency market capitalization on the daily timeframe | TOTAL chart on TradingView
Featured image from Shutterstock, chart from TradingView
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