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April 2020 Exchange Review

EXCHANGE REVIEW

April 2020

1

April 2020 Exchange Review

About

CryptoCompare’s Exchange Review aims to capture the key developments within the

cryptocurrency exchange market. Our review focuses on analyses that relate to exchange volumes,

which include those related to crypto derivatives trading, market segmentation by exchange fee

models, and crypto to crypto vs fiat to crypto volumes.

We also conduct an analysis of bitcoin trading into various fiats and stablecoins, an additional

overview of top crypto exchange rankings by spot trading volume, as well as a focus on how

volumes have developed historically for the top trans-fee mining and decentralized exchanges.

CryptoCompare’s Exchange Review is conducted on a monthly basis and caters to both the

crypto-enthusiast interested in a broad overview of the crypto exchange market, as well as

investors, analysts and regulators interested in more specific analyses.

For questions related to our research or any potential requests, feel free to contact our research

department at research@cryptocompare.com.

For those interested in accessing CryptoCompare’s data for their own purposes, including

cryptocurrency trade data, order book data, blockchain data, social data or historical data across

thousands of cryptocurrencies and 200+ exchanges, please take a look at CryptoCompare’s API

here: https://min-api.cryptocompare.com

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April 2020 Exchange Review

Contents

About 1

Executive Summary 3

April Exchange News 4

Exchange Benchmark Analysis 5

Macro Analysis and Market Segmentation 7

Derivatives 12

Options 15

CME Institutional Volume 16

3

April 2020 Exchange Review

Executive Summary

April 30th Saw Historic Volumes Ahead of Bitcoin Halving

In April, crypto spot markets saw another historic daily volume record, totalling $66.2bn

on April 30th - as Bitcoin soared above $9,000. While this doesn’t match the daily

volumes seen on March 13th ($75.9bn), it still represents the second highest volumes

experienced on record.

The majority of this figure came from Lower Tier exchanges ($48.3bn), with volume from

Top Tier exchanges totalling $17.9bn. This figure once again represents one of the

highest volume trading days in history for Top Tier exchanges.

Binance the Only Exchange to See Derivatives Growth in April

In contrast to all other derivatives exchanges, Binance’s derivatives market volumes

increased 11.6% in April, to $108bn. Binance overtook BitMEX, which traded $69.3bn, a

decrease of almost 40% since March.

Huobi was the largest derivatives exchange in April, and traded $133bn (down 10.5%

since March). OKEx followed with $113bn (down 31.4%)

Top Tier Volumes Surged as Bitcoin Dipped Below $9K on the 30th April

As Bitcoin dipped below $9,000 on the morning of the 30th of April, Binance

represented the majority of trading volume (BTC/USDT market), trading a total of

$15mn at 11am BST. At this moment, it represented approximately 50% of trading

volume among 7 of the largest top-tier exchanges.

Binance and OKEx Remained Top Players in terms of Volume

Binance and OKEx remained the top players in terms of volume in April relative to other

Top Tier exchanges, capitalising once again on the volatility seen on the 29th and 30th. On

the 30th, Binance and OKEx traded $3.6bn and $2.5bn respectively while the next largest

exchange (Coinbase) traded $818mn.

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April 2020 Exchange Review

April Exchange News

COMPANY STORY DATE

Huobi Huobi Launches Perpetual Swaps Apr 1

Binance Binance Launches an OTC Trading Portal Apr 2

Bitfinex Bitfinex Launches Staking Rewards Program Apr 7

Binance Binance Launches Bitcoin Options on Its Futures Trading

Platform

Apr 13

Coinbase Coinbase Launches a Signed Price Feed Sourced From

Coinbase Pro

Apr 23

BitMEX BitMEX Launches an ETHUSD Quanto Futures Contract Apr 24

Binance Binance Launches a Cryptocurrency Mining Platform Apr 27

Bitfinex Bitfinex Launches a Social Network for Traders Apr 27

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April 2020 Exchange Review

Exchange Benchmark Analysis

CryptoCompare’s Exchange Benchmark aims to serve investors, regulators and crypto enthusiasts

by scoring exchanges in terms of transparency, operational quality, regulatory standing, data

provision, management team, and their ability to monitor trades and illicit activity effectively.

Rather than drawing attention specifically to bad actors, we instead highlight those that behave

in a manner that is conducive to maintaining an efficient and fair market, ensuring greater safety

of investors. We have hence introduced the notion of “Top Tier” vs “Lower Tier” volumes.

In April, Top Tier volumes decreased 15% to $244bn, while Lower Tier volumes decreased

only 4% to $857bn.

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Historical Monthly Top Tier vs Lower Tier Volume

Lower Tier Top Tier

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% Change March/April

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April 2020 Exchange Review

In April, spot markets saw another boost in daily volume totalling $66.2bn in a single day (30th

April). While this doesn’t match the daily volumes seen on March 13th ($75.9bn), it still represents

the second highest volumes experienced on record.

The majority of this figure came from Lower Tier exchanges ($48.3bn), with volume from Top Tier

exchanges totalling $17.9bn. This figure once again represents one of the highest volume trading

days in history.

Categorising exchanges by tier level based on our rigorous Exchange Benchmark methodology

helps capture a more representative picture of where the market has moved.

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)Total Spot Volume - Lower Tier vs Top Tier Exchanges

Top Tier Spot Lower Tier Spot BTC Price

$75.9bn

13 March

$66.2bn

30 April

22/12/2017

$24.2bn

16/07/2019

$27.5bn13/03/2020

$21.6bn

30/04/2020

$18bn

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Total Spot Volume - Top Tier Exchanges

Top Tier Spot BTC Price

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April 2020 Exchange Review

Macro Analysis and Market Segmentation

Exchanges that charge traditional taker fees represented 78.1% of total exchange volume

in April, while those that implement trans-fee mining (TFM) represented less than 22%. Last

month, fee charging exchanges represented 80% of total spot volume.

Fee-charging exchanges traded a total of $860bn in April (down 9% since March), while those

that implement TFM models traded $236bn (up 6% since March).

In April, volume from many of the largest Top Tier exchanges decreased 26% on average (vs

March).

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Binance OKEX Coinbase Liquid Bitstamp Bitfinex

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April 2020 Exchange Review

Binance was the largest Top Tier exchange by volume in April, trading $48.4bn (down 24%). This

was followed by OKEx trading $41.4bn (down 13%), and Coinbase trading $9.1bn (down 31%).

Binance and OKEx remained the top players in terms of volume in April relative to other Top Tier

exchanges, capitalising once again on the volatility seen on the 29th and 30th. On the 30th, Binance

and OKEx traded $3.6bn and $2.5bn respectively while the next largest exchange (Coinbase)

traded $818mn.

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Daily Trading Volume Among Top Tier Exchanges

Binance OKEX Gemini Coinbase Kraken Bitstamp Bitfinex

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April 2020 Exchange Review

Top Tier Volumes Surge as Bitcoin Dips Below $9K on the 30th April

As Bitcoin dipped below $9,000 on the morning of the 30th of April, Binance represented the

majority of trading volume (BTC/USDT market), trading a total of $15mn at 11am BST. At this

moment, it represented approximately 50% of trading volume among 7 of the largest top-tier

exchanges.

Bitfinex traded $6.1mn on its BTC/USD market (~20%), followed by OKEx at $3.2mn (~10%) on its

BTC/USDT market.

Binance: $15mn

Bitfinex: $6.1mn

OKEx: $3.2mn

Gemini: $2.5mn

Coinbase: $1.5mn

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Top Tier Volumes on the 30th April as BTC Dips Below $9K - BTC/USD and BTC/USDT markets

Coinbase Bitfinex Gemini Kraken Bitstamp Binance OKEx close

11:00am

Total: $30.1m

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April 2020 Exchange Review

Bitcoin to Fiat Volumes

BTC trading into USDT decreased 26% in April to 16.1mn BTC vs 21.6mn BTC in March.

Trading into USD and JPY also dropped to 1.8mn BTC (down 35%) and 1.2mn BTC (down

35%) respectively. The BTC/USDT market now represents 74% of total BTC traded into fiat

or stablecoin.

Stablecoins PAX and USDC followed in terms of total volume traded into BTC. BTC/PAX and

BTC/USDC markets traded 0.85mn BTC (up 27%) and 0.82mn BTC (down 39%) respectively in

April, beating the BTC/EUR and BTC/KRW markets in terms of volume.

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April 2020 Exchange Review

USDC and PAX have maintained popularity in recent months, with both now representing

approximately ~4% of BTC volume into stablecoins. Despite their growth, the BTC/USDT

pair still represents the majority of BTC traded into stablecoins at ~90%.

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Monthly Bitcoin Volume

Traded into Stablecoin Only

USDT PAX USDC TUSD NGN

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April 2020 Exchange Review

Derivatives

Derivatives volume decreased 25% in April 2020, totalling $456bn. Meanwhile, total spot

volumes have only decreased 13%. As a result, derivatives represented 27% of the market in April

(vs 30% in March).

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Huobi FTX OKEx BitMEX Binance Deribit CME

13

April 2020 Exchange Review

Huobi was the largest derivatives exchange in April, and traded $133bn (down 10.5% since March).

OKEx followed with $113bn (down 31.4%)

In contrast to all other derivatives exchanges, Binance’s derivatives market volumes increased

11.6% in April, to $108bn. Binance overtook BitMEX, which traded $69.3bn, a decrease of almost

40% since March.

Institutional player CME saw futures volumes decline 11.1% to $4.5bn.

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OKEx

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BitMEX

FTX

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% Change Mar/April

14

April 2020 Exchange Review

On the 30h of April, daily derivatives trading volume totalled $39.1bn. On this day, OKEx traded

the greatest amount at $10.9bn followed by Binance with $10.3bn.

Binance has quickly become a major derivatives player in a short space of time, with volumes

increasing steadily since the start of the year. The derivatives space has gradually developed in

terms of the number of products available across all market players.

In terms of total futures products, OKEx led in April with an average of 97 products with positive

volume, followed by FTX with 72 products. Huobi added perpetual swaps at the end of March and

traded the third greatest number of products on average in April, at 35 products.

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Binance Huobi Deribit BitMEX OKEx

FTX CME bitFlyer BTC Price

Total: $53bn

12 March 2020

$39.1bn

30 April 2020

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April 2020 Exchange Review

Options

Derivatives exchange Deribit traded $168mn in options on the 30th of April. This represents the

second highest volume of options traded since the BTC price crash on the 13th of March.

Despite the volume surge on the 30th of April, Deribit’s options volumes continued to decrease to

$1.47bn in April overall (down 29% since March).

$188mn

13th March $168mn

30th April

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April 2020 Exchange Review

CME Institutional Volume

CME futures volumes have continued to decrease since the March 13th price crash. They have

decreased a further 11.1% to $4.5bn in April.

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