CME Crypto Trading Volume Slumped to 2-Year Low in December
Poor market sentiment and an extreme lack of volatility were the likely culprits behind the declines.
Jan 5, 2023 at 5:51 p.m. UTC:format(webp)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/coindesk/3UFBJXRWG5DVVBNUSGLUZG7RUM)
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Derivatives giant Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s (CME) crypto-related trading volumes suffered a steep falloff in the last month of 2022.
Total crypto derivatives volume plunged 49.2% to $14.2 billion, according to CryptoCompare, the weakest since October 2020. Bitcoin futures volume was down 48.3% to $13.2 billion, with ether futures volume off 55.3% to $481 million.
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The slump was in line with spot trading volumes across the industry, according to the report. That amount fell 48.4% to $544 billion, the lowest figure since December 2019.
“[The fall] coincides with the loss of users’ trust in centralized exchanges following the collapse of FTX in November, leading investors to take a cautious stance amid concerns over further contagion," the report's authors wrote.
Also at issue was a startling lack of volatility, with bitcoin (BTC) essentially flatlining during most of the month in the mid-$16,000 area.
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Lyllah Ledesma is a CoinDesk Markets reporter currently based in Europe. She holds bitcoin, ether and small amounts of other crypto assets.