Crypto spot trading recovered for a second consecutive month in September, with activity on centralized exchanges expanding to $973 billion as both retail and whale orders returned to the market. Spot volumes track direct purchases of digital assets, as opposed to leveraged derivative positions, making them a common reference point for gauging direct demand for crypto.

The rebound follows gains in August, which marked the first month of recovery for spot volumes and coincided with the early recovery of BTC and ETH, based on Cryptorank data. The growth applies to centralized venues; Cryptopolitan has separately reported a pickup in decentralized exchange activity for RWA spot markets.

Binance retained the largest share of September's spot volume, processing $695 billion. The exchange lifted its market share to 27.9%, up from 25.4% in Q2, while other top-10 centralized exchanges saw minimal changes in their market share — concentrating more of the quarter's activity at the single largest venue.

The spot recovery also coincided with a rise in new crypto listings, which climbed 47% in Q3 compared with the previous quarter, totaling 517 new assets for the period. Activity on MEXC and OKX indicated traders still had an appetite for new tokens, while tokenized assets also drove new listings.

Quarterly picture remains weak

The monthly rebound contrasts with the broader Q3 trend. Spot trading fell 14% for the quarter compared with Q2, and volumes have now declined across the past four quarters, interrupted only by occasional monthly recoveries. September's results are viewed as a potential early signal of a trend reversal, although two months of gains have yet to offset a full quarter of decline.

Year to date, spot activity remains below the levels recorded in 2025. Among the reasons cited are a clear shift toward perpetual futures trading and a migration of some spot activity from centralized markets to decentralized exchanges. As of October 6, roughly 24.6% of spot trading takes place on decentralized markets — a sign that demand for spot trading persists, even some crypto users stay away from centralized exchanges.

Centralized exchanges lean into futures

Centralized exchanges have captured much of the recovery in perpetual futures trading — leveraged contracts without expiry dates that have become the sector's most heavily traded instruments. September perpetual futures volumes totaled $4.56 trillion, up 3% from August and still far above spot volumes — nearly five times the month's $973 billion spot total — marking the third consecutive month of expansion. Growth was led by Gate and MEXC, while Binance added 4% to its futures volumes, retaining roughly 36% of the market.

The shift toward centralized venues pulled volume away from perpetual futures DEXs, where volumes fell to $1.71 trillion, down 7% from Q2. For the full quarter, perpetual futures DEX markets posted another net decline, losing around 23% of volumes. Even so, compared with spot or centralized futures markets, perpetual futures DEXs recorded the smallest slowdown in Q3. The resilience of Hyperliquid showed traders were prepared to stay active even during periods of weak crypto sentiment.

One driver of perpetual futures volumes was expanding RWA trading, including highly active contracts on equities, oil, and precious metals — a tokenization theme that also appeared among the quarter's new listings.

Hyperliquid remained dominant in the segment, carrying $621 billion of quarterly traffic for a market share of around 36%. Binance's Aster held about 9% of perpetual futures trading, with Lighter third at 8%. No smaller exchanges have managed to challenge Hyperliquid's leading position.

On a monthly basis, perpetual futures volume rose 13% month-on-month — the third consecutive month of gains, driven by Hyperliquid's growth and challengers such as Aster and Lighter — once again serving as a signal of crypto market recovery. The next checkpoint is whether October sustains both trends: a third consecutive month of spot growth and continued expansion in futures.