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According to the latest market data, Ethereum has seen an annual record of speculative trading activity in 2025. Below is how much was traded in the ETH derivatives market in the past year.
In a December 26 post on social media platform X, pseudonymous analyst Darkfost revealed that Ethereum stood out in one regard despite the mixed performance of altcoins in 2025.
Darkfost highlighted that derivatives trading volumes continued to dominate the entire crypto market this year. However, Ethereum recorded increased activity in the derivative markets in 2025, setting a new record in terms of futures trading for the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap.
As expected, Binance remained the dominant platform in terms of derivatives trading volume, with its figure further putting things into perspective. According to data highlighted by Darkfost, over $6.74 trillion in ETH futures volume was traded on Binance in the past year, almost double that of 2024, which was already a historical record.
However, this trend was not limited to Binance, as other major exchanges also observed a similar phenomenon. Breaking things down, OKX saw a new record of $4.28 trillion, while Bybit registered $2.15 trillion, and Bitget recorded $1.95T in ETH futures volume.
Darkfost concluded:
All major exchanges therefore converge toward the same conclusion. Ethereum was one of the most traded assets in the world on derivative markets in 2025, highlighting just how strong speculative appetite has been.
Going further, Darkfost put into perspective the magnitude of futures dominance in the market over the past year. The on-chain analyst revealed that ETH saw $5 in futures trading for every dollar in spot trading, an annual record in the derivatives market.
As observed in the chart above, a spot-to-futures ratio around 0.2 over the year reflects a market heavily tilted toward leverage. According to Darkfost, this trend explains the extreme speculation witnessed in the Ethereum market throughout 2025.
Darkfost noted that a market primarily driven by derivatives tends to be more unstable and less predictable. “Movements tend to be amplified, disorderly, and highly dependent on liquidations, ultimately allowing ETH to register only a marginal new all-time high by just a handful of dollars,” the analyst added.
As of this writing, the price of ETH stands at around $2,932, reflecting an over 1% decline in the past 24 hours. After a mixed performance this year, the altcoin is currently down from its all-time high by more than 40%.
