Crypto exchange trading tops $1 trillion for first time since 2022

With the anticipation of an approval of the first spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF), trading on cryptocurrency exchanges has picked up the pace, surpassing the monthly volume of $1 trillion for the first time since September 2022.

Indeed, December 2023 witnessed a massive uptick in crypto trading on exchanges, with the volume reaching $1.1 trillion, a level last achieved over a year before, according to the information shared by the crypto market monitoring platform on January 2.

December 2023 vs. September 2022

As it happens, back in September, monthly trading volume for crypto exchanges crossed the $1 trillion mark, registering a total of $1.03 trillion. It is also worth noting that the recent figures set the highest monthly mark since May 2022, when trading volume hit $1.35 trillion, the platform said.

Notably, Binance was the top crypto trading platform of choice in December, during which it occupied nearly 40% of the total crypto exchange volume at $432 billion, followed by Upbit in the second spot at 8.3% or $92 billion, and OKX at 8% or $87.5 billion, as the analytics platform’s data indicates.

Commenting on such high numbers in what is usually a slow month, Steven Zheng, Director of Research at The Block, explained that they were likely due to the enthusiasm present in the crypto sector regarding the possible approval of the first spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund:

“Given the holiday season, December is historically a slow month for trading in crypto. (…) The fact that monthly spot volumes cracked $1 trillion for the first time in over a year really speaks to the optimism the industry has on the forthcoming spot Bitcoin ETF approval and rebirth of a bull market.”

At the same time, this optimism has allowed the flagship decentralized finance (DeFi) asset to rally this past weekend and briefly trade above the important level at $45,000 before returning below it and changing hands at the price of $43,389.

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