December 2025 Crypto Derivatives Shakeout: Trading Volume Hits Rock Bottom
Crypto derivatives just hit their quietest month on record—December 2025 volume collapsed to its lowest point.
What's behind the freeze?
Markets are catching their breath. After a wild year of leveraged bets and parabolic moves, traders are stepping back. Some call it consolidation; others see a warning sign. The usual holiday slowdown hit harder—much harder.
A market in reset mode
Exchanges aren't panicking—yet. They're tweaking fee structures, rolling out new perpetual contracts, and whispering about institutional pipelines. But retail interest? It's cooled. Open interest dipped, funding rates flattened, and the once-frantic options flow turned sluggish.
The regulatory overhang
Watchdogs globally are circling. From the FSA to the SEC, everyone wants a piece of the derivatives pie—usually via stricter rules. That uncertainty keeps big players on the sidelines. Who wants to deploy capital when the rulebook could change overnight?
Not all doom and gloom
Quiet markets can be healthy. They flush out excess leverage, reduce systemic risk, and set the stage for smarter, more sustainable growth. This isn't a crash—it's a recalibration. The infrastructure's still there, waiting for the next catalyst.
What comes next?
Keep an eye on volatility. When it returns, so will the volume. Until then, enjoy the calm—and maybe question why traditional finance still thinks a 2% bond yield is exciting. Derivatives will roar back. They always do.
Low Market Activity Signals Rising Risk Aversion: Analyst
In a Quicktake post on the CryptoQuant platform, pseudonymous analyst Darkfost revealed that December was the lowest trading month for the crypto derivatives market in 2025. According to the on-chain pundit, this decline of derivatives market activity signals a disengagement of Leveraged traders.
Using a chart showing the trading volumes of the top 10 coins aggregated across several major exchanges, Darkfost highlighted a broad decline in liquidity. The broad nature of this liquidity decline confirms that the low trading volume trend is spread across the entire derivatives market.
As observed in the chart above, the Binance exchange dominates the crypto futures market with approximately $1.19 trillion in trading volume in December. However, this figure is relatively low—its weakest trading activity in the past year—compared to its performance in other months in 2025. For context, Binance recorded almost double that trading volume in August 2025.
A similar trend of liquidity decline can be seen across other major exchanges. For instance, OKX recorded only $581 billion in trading volume, while Bybit was limited to $421 billion. “These levels further confirm a significant liquidity contraction in the derivatives markets, mechanically reducing risk appetite and the use of leverage,” Darkfost added.
Furthermore, the crypto analyst noted that this fall in trading volume shows how investors behave in an unfavorable market condition.
Darkfost said:
The increase in liquidations, combined with a period of heightened market uncertainty and unclear directionality, has reinforced risk aversion. In such conditions, market participants clearly prioritize capital preservation over performance.
Darkfost concluded that this level of decline in derivatives has historically often aligned with transitional phases, where the market flushes out excess leverage ahead of building a stronger and healthier trend.
Total Crypto Market Capitalization At $3.17 Trillion
As of this writing, the total cryptocurrency market stands at about $3.17 trillion, reflecting a 0.3% jump in the past 24 hours, according to CoinGecko data.
