According to the latest market data, Ethereum set an annual record for speculative trading activity in 2025. Below are the amounts traded on the ETH derivatives market over the past year.
Ethereum futures trading hits new annual record
In a Dec. 26 post on social media platform
Dirkforst emphasized that derivatives trading volume continues to dominate the overall cryptocurrency market this year. However, Ethereum recorded an increase in activity in the derivatives market in 2025, setting a new record for futures trading for the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.
As expected, Binance remains the dominant platform in terms of derivatives trading volume, and the numbers put things even further into perspective. According to data highlighted by Darkhost, the volume of ETH futures traded on Binance last year exceeded $6.74 trillion, which is almost twice as much as in 2024, already a historic record.
Source: @Darkfost_Coc on X
However, this trend is not limited to Binance; similar phenomena have been observed on other major exchanges. In terms of breakdown, OKX set a new record of $4.28 trillion, Bybit recorded $2.15 trillion, and Bitget recorded $1.95 trillion in ETH futures trading volume.
Dirkforst concluded:
Therefore, all major exchanges converge towards the same conclusion. Ethereum will become one of the world’s most traded assets in derivatives markets in 2025, highlighting just how strong the speculative appetite is.
What does derivatives market dominance mean for prices?
Going a step further, Darkforst has put into perspective how much futures have dominated the market over the past year. On-chain analysts revealed that ETH had futures trading at $5 per dollar in spot trades, which is a yearly record in the derivatives market.
Source: @Darkfost_Coc on X
As seen in the chart above, the annual spot-to-futures ratio is approximately 0.2, reflecting the market’s heavy tilt toward leverage. According to Dirkforst, this trend explains the extreme speculation witnessed in the Ethereum market throughout 2025.
Dirkforst noted that markets driven primarily by derivatives tend to be more volatile and less predictable. “Moves tend to be amplified, chaotic, and heavily dependent on liquidations, ultimately resulting in ETH only marginally hitting new all-time highs by just a few dollars,” the analyst added.
As of this writing, the price of ETH is around $2,932, reflecting a decline of over 1% over the past 24 hours. While performance has been mixed this year, altcoins are currently down more than 40% from their all-time highs.
The price of ETH on the daily timeframe | Source: ETHUSDT chart on TradingView
Featured image from iStock, chart from TradingView
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