According to the most recent market information, Ethereum has seen an annual report of speculative buying and selling exercise in 2025. Below is how a lot was traded within the ETH derivatives market prior to now yr.
Ethereum Futures Trading Hits New Yearly Record
In a December 26 submit on social media platform X, pseudonymous analyst Darkfost revealed that Ethereum stood out in a single regard regardless of the combined efficiency of altcoins in 2025.
Darkfost highlighted that derivatives buying and selling volumes continued to dominate the complete crypto market this yr. However, Ethereum recorded elevated exercise within the spinoff markets in 2025, setting a brand new report when it comes to futures buying and selling for the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap.
As anticipated, Binance remained the dominant platform when it comes to derivatives buying and selling quantity, with its determine additional placing issues into perspective. According to information highlighted by Darkfost, over $6.74 trillion in ETH futures quantity was traded on Binance prior to now yr, virtually double that of 2024, which was already a historic report.
Source: @Darkfost_Coc on X
However, this pattern was not restricted to Binance, as other major exchanges additionally noticed an identical phenomenon. Breaking issues down, OKX noticed a brand new report of $4.28 trillion, whereas Bybit registered $2.15 trillion, and Bitget recorded $1.95T in ETH futures quantity.
Darkfost concluded:
All main exchanges due to this fact converge towards the identical conclusion. Ethereum was some of the traded property on this planet on spinoff markets in 2025, highlighting simply how sturdy speculative urge for food has been.
What Derivatives Market Dominance Means For Price?
Going additional, Darkfost put into perspective the magnitude of futures dominance out there over the previous yr. The on-chain analyst revealed that ETH noticed $5 in futures buying and selling for each greenback in spot buying and selling, an annual report within the derivatives market.
Source: @Darkfost_Coc on X
As noticed within the chart above, a spot-to-futures ratio round 0.2 over the yr displays a market closely tilted towards leverage. According to Darkfost, this pattern explains the acute hypothesis witnessed within the Ethereum market all through 2025.
Darkfost famous {that a} market primarily pushed by derivatives tends to be extra unstable and fewer 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 worth of ETH stands at round $2,932, reflecting an over 1% decline prior to now 24 hours. After a combined efficiency this yr, the altcoin is currently down from its all-time excessive by greater than 40%.
The worth of ETH on the each day timeframe | Source: ETHUSDT chart on TradingView
Featured picture from iStock, chart from TradingView
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