This month, bitcoin rocketed past $120,000 to a record high, making spot and derivatives markets buzz with action. Binance stole the spotlight, leading the charge in both Bitcoin and altcoin trades, CryptoQuant figures reveal.
Bitcoin’s All-Time High Fuels Exchange Competition; Binance Leads
Spot trading really heated up on July 13 and July 14 as bitcoin neared and then smashed its previous peak. Binance’s bitcoin spot volume shot up from $3.1 billion to $8.4 billion, nearly tripling. Other exchanges saw their volumes climb too, moving from $5 billion to $12.7 billion, a jump of 2.6 times, according to Julio Moreno, the head of research at cryptoquant.com.
Altcoins joined the party with similar energy. Binance’s altcoin spot volume ballooned from $11.5 billion on Jul. 13 to $20.4 billion on July 14—that’s a 77% pop. Meanwhile, combined altcoin volumes on other centralized platforms rose from $22.3 billion to $33.6 billion, a solid 51% gain.
Binance didn’t just grow more; extra market share was gobbled up by it. Its slice of the total bitcoin spot pie grew from 39% to 48% the day after the record high. Similarly, Binance’s share of altcoin trading volume jumped from 34% to 47% over those same two exciting days.
By July 18, Binance commanded 52.6% of all Bitcoin spot trading, firmly in the lead. Similarly, for altcoins, it captured 49.41% of the action. Consequently, these levels left rivals in the dust: Bybit (11.67% Bitcoin, 8.11% altcoin), OKX (6.9% Bitcoin, 7.88% altcoin), and MEXC (2.98% Bitcoin, 10.4% altcoin).
The excitement wasn’t confined to spot markets. When Bitcoin hit its high, a fresh peak of $43 billion in open interest (OI) in perpetual futures across centralized platforms occurred, as CryptoQuant research shows. Binance topped the list with $14.1 billion in open interest, chased by Bybit and Gate.io, each hovering near $9 billion.
In the 30 days before the peak, Binance racked up the biggest cumulative open interest rise, a massive $3.6 billion. Gate.io and Bybit trailed with increases of $2.3 billion and $2.5 billion, respectively. This jump in open interest pointed to more money flowing into derivatives, likely as traders piled in, betting big on even higher prices.
Binance kept its foot on the gas even after bitcoin cleared $120,000. On July 15, its 24-hour bitcoin spot volume hit $8.8 billion. Others, however, saw a 25% dip, falling to $9.5 billion.hints
Beyond Binance, MEXC took second place in altcoin spot volume with 10.4%, followed by Bybit, OKX, and HTX at 8.11%, 7.88%, and 7.35%. CryptoQuant’s data shows trading focused heavily on a few big exchanges as participants chased liquidity in this whirlwind of volatility.
