The cryptocurrency market in 2024 witnessed significant shifts in trading volumes among centralized exchanges (CEXs), as detailed in CoinGecko’s latest research report, “Largest Centralized Crypto Exchanges, 2020 – 2024.”
The research study, analyzing spot trading volumes from the time period between January 1 to December 31, 2024, highlights Binance’s continued dominance, Crypto.com’s meteoric rise, and evolving market dynamics among the top 15 platforms.
Binance solidified its position as the largest CEX in 2024, commanding a 39.0% market share among the top 15 exchanges, “with an annual spot trading volume of $7.35 trillion.”
This figure represents a substantial increase from 2023’s $3.03 trillion, reflecting a market rebound.
Despite a slight decline in market share from 44.1% at the start of the year to below 40% since September, Binance’s volume surpassed the combined total of the next five largest exchanges ($6.6 trillion).
December alone saw Binance hit $1.0 trillion in trading volume, up “2.3% from November’s $979.1 billion, underscoring its resilience amid growing competition.”
The main story of 2024 was Crypto.com, which emerged as the fastest-growing CEX, with its trading volume surging “by 969.7%.”
From $120.6 billion in 2023, it soared to $1.29 trillion in 2024, securing a 6.8% market share and third place overall.
December marked a peak, with “$322.3 billion in volume—a 12.7% increase from November’s $286.1 billion—making it the only exchange besides Binance to exceed a 10% market share (11.2%) that month.”
Crypto.com’s Q4 volume of $757.8 billion far exceeded the “$539.8 billion from the year’s first three quarters, reflecting its aggressive expansion and appeal to traders.”
Bybit claimed second place with a “9.3% market share and $1.75 trillion in annual volume, a 397.8% jump from $351.2 billion in 2023.”
This growth propelled it past the $1 trillion mark for the first time.
Upbit followed in third for December with a “9.8% share and $282.7 billion, up 22.0% month-on-month,” while Gate.io, with “$1.01 trillion annually (a 241.5% increase), rounded out the notable gainers.”
Other top exchanges like Coinbase, OKX, and HTX held smaller shares, collectively accounting for “44.3% of December’s volume among the top 10.”
The top 15 CEXs recorded “$18.83 trillion in 2024, a 134.0% surge from 2023’s $8.05 trillion, though still below 2021’s bull market peak of $25.21 trillion.”
This resurgence aligns with a “97.7% rise in total crypto market capitalization, reaching $3.91 trillion by mid-December.”
However, exchanges like OKX, HTX, and MEXC saw their market shares erode since 2020, when they reportedly held 16.3%, 16.0%, and 16.6%, respectively, highlighting a consolidation of dominance among fewer players.
The 2024 CEX landscape reveals a market in flux: Binance remains the decisive leader, but Crypto.com’s steady growth signals shifting investor and trader preferences for certain types of digital assets services.
With Bybit and others also gaining ground, competition is intensifying. However, certain challenges remain including incidents such as the massive ByBit hack leading to losses of over $1.5 billion.
But as the crypto and web3 ecosystem begins to serve more users, many of these issues may be addressed.
Methodology
The study examined the annual cumulative spot trading volume of the top 15 centralized exchanges by market share, using CoinGecko data from Jan 1, 2020, to December 31, 2024.
The top 15 centralized exchanges are: Binance, Bybit, Crypto.com, Upbit, OKX, Coinbase, Gate.io, HTX, MEXC, Bitget, KuCoin, Bithumb, Kraken, BingX, and Bitfinex. Market share was based on total annual spot trading volume.