Cryptocurrency trading in 2025 was increasingly driven by institutional behavior rather than retail speculation, according to data released by Bitget, highlighting a broader structural change in how centralized exchanges are being used.
Bitget reported $8.17 trillion in derivatives trading volume for the year.
More revealing than headline volume, however, was the change in participation.
Institutional spot trading accounted for 82% of volume by December, up from 39.4% at the start of the year, suggesting professional capital now dominates activity on the exchange.
Institutional Capital Reshapes Liquidity Dynamics
The growing institutional share coincided with deeper order books, tighter spreads, and more consistent liquidity during periods of volatility, according to the exchange’s disclosures.
These characteristics align with broader market trends seen in 2025, as crypto markets became more concentrated and increasingly derivatives-led.
Options and futures activity reflected a shift away from purely directional trading toward risk-managed strategies such as hedging, yield generation, and structured exposure.
That evolution mirrors behavior in traditional capital markets and indicates that crypto trading is increasingly being treated as part of broader portfolio management rather than a standalone speculative activity.
Tokenized Assets Move From Experiment To Usage
Tokenized traditional assets emerged as a material contributor to trading activity.
Bitget reported more than $15 billion in cumulative trading volume for tokenized stock futures in 2025, with daily trading in tokenized equities and other TradFi instruments exceeding $2 billion shortly after launch.
Demand was driven largely by synthetic exposure to U.S. equities during non-market hours and from jurisdictions with limited direct market access.
The scale of activity suggests tokenization is shifting from proof-of-concept toward functional use, particularly during periods of heightened macro sensitivity.
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On-chain Access And Reserve Flows Signal Trust Shift
On-chain trading also gained traction.
Since launching its on-chain access layer in April, Bitget generated more than $2.4 billion in cumulative on-chain trading volume by year-end, enabling users to trade assets across multiple blockchains from a single account.
Rather than displacing centralized trading, on-chain access appears to be operating as a complementary liquidity layer.
Reserve data referenced by the exchange, drawing on third-party analytics from CryptoQuant and Lookonchain, showed Bitget’s Bitcoin (BTC) reserves increased during 2025, even as total BTC balances across centralized exchanges declined industry-wide.
At several points, the platform ranked among exchanges with the highest net bitcoin inflows, a signal often associated with custodial trust during volatile markets.
Retail behavior also evolved.
While trading volumes skewed institutional, consumer usage increasingly centered on payments and yield products, with the exchange reporting a sharp rise in card spending and stablecoin-based earning activity.
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