Retail-focused exchanges use a larger share of their reserves for trading than platforms with a stronger institutional footprint. Exchanges with a stronger institutional focus, including Coinbase, Binance, and Kraken, maintain relatively low volume-to-reserve ratios of around 0.1, indicating that deposits are largely held rather than actively traded. According to CoinGecko’s latest report, platforms that serve more retail traders, including Bybit and Bitget, record higher ratios of 0.3 and 0.5 on average between January 2024 and February 2026, reflecting greater trading activity. Crypto exchanges with smaller reserve bases, such as MEXC, HTX, and KuCoin, show high asset velocity ranging from 1.44 to 2.04, which points to heavier trading volumes relative to available reserves.
Eight exchanges recorded net growth during this period, and Binance led the charts as its reserves doubled. At the same time, Coinbase continues to hold the largest Bitcoin reserves of more than 800,000 BTC, followed by Binance. Despite this, Coinbase has witnessed significant outflows in both Bitcoin and Ethereum. Part of these funds appears to have moved to smaller platforms, as Bitget and MEXC recorded sharp increases in reserve value.
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