December was one of the slowest months for crypto exchange volume, as attention shifted to stocks and precious metals. Exchanges saw inflows of stablecoins, but activity slowed down to its lowest level in one year due to trader fears and the year-end holiday period.
Crypto exchange activity for spot markets slowed down in December, extending the trend from the last quarter of 2025. The last month of 2025 was one of the slowest for the entire year, with between $990M and $1.13B in trading volume, according to different accounts.
Most of the traffic shifted to Binance, which also held the biggest share of available liquidity. Despite this, major assets like BTC and ETH saw outflows of activity, while altcoins continued to trade with thin volumes.
The slowdown of centralized exchanges followed a shift of activity to prediction markets. The newly emerging platforms posted new peaks of activity, taking away traffic from both centralized and decentralized markets.
Spot exchange volume diminished
Spot exchange volume diminished after a brief initial spike following the October 11 liquidation. Spot volumes did not offset the shrinking derivative market, as both retail and whales disengaged in the last month of 2025.
For the past year, January and October were the best months for crypto activity, coinciding with price rallies and overall enthusiasm. Exchange volume spikes coincide with positive crypto sentiment, based on the crypto fear and greed index.
For the past month, market sentiment shifted between fear and extreme fear, coinciding with a reluctance to trade.
DEX volumes end the year with gains
Decentralized exchanges remained robust in 2025, with net gains compared to January. Decentralized trading evolved based on the expansion of wallet apps. For most of 2025, DEX made up between 17% and 21% of centralized market activity.
DEX volumes rose at the end of the year, though still below their peak in October. The growth came from increased DeFi usage, lending, as well as the influence of the Solana ecosystem.
Over the course of 2025, PancakeSwap emerged as one of the most active DEXs. The market and its multi-chain representation passed Uniswap to become the leader in DEX volumes.
PancakeSwap increased its market share against Uniswap in 2025, ending the year with increased activity compared to January, though still down from the Q3 peak. | Source: Dune Analytics
DEX volumes were also more reactive to trends and incentives, with record activity on Aerodrome in September. Unlike centralized markets, DEXs remained more robust despite the signs of a bear market, allowing for riskier trades with higher upside.
Overall activity on DEXs also replaced an all-out altcoin season, with many smaller assets producing short-term rallies. Centralized markets rarely offered similar pumps, and in fact mostly led to losses for altcoins and tokens.
Activity on DEXs also reflected the recent growth in stablecoin usage, with easier on-chain settlement and arbitrage potential.
