Despite a mixed year for altcoins, Ethereum’s derivatives market surged to record highs. Darkost, a contributor to CryptoQuant, noted that Ethereum derivatives trading clearly dominated the market this year.
Trading activity across major exchanges reflected the trend: Binance reported Ethereum futures volume exceeding $6.74 trillion, nearly double the 2024 high. OKX posted $4.28 trillion, while Bybit and BitGet reached about $2.15 trillion and $1.95 trillion, respectively.
Darkost noted that all major exchanges pointed to the same conclusion: Ethereum traded heavily on a global derivatives market. The spot-to-futures ratio for Ethereum on Binance averaged around 0.2, implying roughly $5 of futures for every $1 of spot.
Even with record volumes, Ethereum only narrowly surpassed previous highs due to excessive leverage and market instability. Darkost argued that derivative-driven markets are inherently volatile and unpredictable, as price moves can be amplified and liquidations cause price swings.
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