Crypto leverage over 50% below October peak; DEXs gain
CoinGecko reports open interest fell from $210B on Oct. 7, 2025 to $99.09B by April 2026, more than 50% below the peak; perpetual DEXs held 13.5% of open interest in April 2026.
CoinGecko’s State of Crypto Perpetuals Report 2026 shows total open interest across crypto derivatives fell from $210 billion on Oct. 7, 2025 to $99.09 billion by April 2026, more than 50% below the peak following market-wide liquidations on Oct. 10, 2025.
Centralized perpetual exchanges continued to account for most derivatives trading in early 2026. The top 11 centralized perpetual venues averaged $7.11 trillion in monthly trading volume in 2025; that figure dropped to $4.69 trillion across the first four months of 2026, a 34% decline. Binance held about 33% of the perpetual CEX market share in early 2026 and OKX about 15%.
Perpetual decentralized exchanges recorded higher volume in 2025 compared with 2024. Perp DEXs handled $6.38 trillion in trading volume in 2025, up from $1.50 trillion in 2024. The top 12 perp DEXs averaged $611.57 billion in monthly volume in 2026, compared with $531.65 billion in 2025.
One decentralized platform, Hyperliquid, processed $190.28 billion in April 2026 volume, a level comparable with some larger centralized venues.
Open interest on perpetual DEXs rose alongside trading volume. By the end of April 2026, perpetual DEXs held 13.5% of total open interest, while centralized exchanges’ share fell from 96.4% at the start of 2025 to 86.5% by April 2026.
Centralized exchanges added large numbers of new perpetual contracts between January 2025 and April 2026. MEXC listed 879 new perp contracts over that period and BingX listed 565.
Newer decentralized platforms including Pacifica, Extended and Variational increased their market share during 2025 and early 2026, supported in part by points programs aimed at traders who follow airdrops and rewards.
Perpetual contracts allow traders to take leveraged positions without a fixed expiry date. Open interest measures the dollar value of active leveraged positions. Large liquidations can force leveraged positions to close quickly, producing spikes in volatility and reductions in open interest. CoinGecko compiled exchange-level volume and open interest statistics through April 2026 to assess shifts between centralized and decentralized perpetual markets.
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