ข้อมูลล่าสุดเกี่ยวกับตลาดสัญญา perpetual ของคริปโตในปี 2026: มูลค่าเปิดสถานะ (Open Interest) ลดลงอย่างมาก ขณะที่ DEX เติบโตอย่างมั่นคง

Original article by: CoinGecko

Original translation by: Chopper, Foresight News

The perpetual contract exchange landscape is undergoing a structural transformation. Since BitMEX pioneered the perpetual contract trading model in 2016, centralized perpetual exchanges have consistently served as the core liquidity hubs in the crypto market, with total annual trading volume reaching a staggering $85.3 trillion in 2025.

Driven by rapid product iteration and a significant surge in on-chain trading activity, decentralized perpetual exchanges have evolved from niche protocols into highly competitive market participants. CoinGecko has released its 2026 Crypto Perpetual Trading Market Report, with the core highlights summarized below:

• From January 2025 to April 2026, MEXC and BingX led the industry in the number of new perpetual contracts listed, with 879 and 565 contracts respectively.
• The average monthly trading volume of the top 11 centralized perpetual exchanges in 2026 fell to $4.7 trillion, compared to $7.1 trillion in 2025.
• The average monthly trading volume of the top 12 decentralized perpetual exchanges rose to $611.57 billion in 2026, up from $531.65 billion in 2025.
• Driven by Hyperliquid, the trading volume of decentralized perpetual contracts grew substantially in 2025, with its peak share of centralized contract trading volume reaching 13%.
• The open interest share of decentralized perpetual exchanges has been consistently rising in 2025, currently standing at 13.5%, with Hyperliquid holding the top position.

Diverging Pace of New Contract Listings: Smaller Platforms More Aggressive

From January 2025 to date, MEXC and BingX have ranked first and second in the number of new perpetual contracts listed, adding 879 and 565 contracts respectively, with average monthly new listings of 55 and 35 contracts. These two platforms primarily focus on long-tail token contracts.

Among the top 11 exchanges, six listed fewer than 20 new contracts per month on average, reflecting a more conservative strategy. Crypto.com listed the fewest new contracts, with just 2 new contracts in December 2025, and a peak of only 13 new contracts in April 2026.

Large exchanges generally prioritize listing perpetual contracts over new spot trading pairs. Over the past 16 months, Binance added 305 new perpetual trading pairs compared to just 125 spot trading pairs, with the new contracts predominantly focused on meme coins and AI-related tokens.

Major contract listing platforms like MEXC, BingX, and Gate have also been aggressive in their spot token listings. Leveraged trading demand for niche tokens tends to be lower, accompanied by a higher risk tolerance threshold among their user base.

Due to compliance requirements, the listing process for perpetual contracts is longer than for spot trading, and trading activity for specific niche tokens is also relatively limited. Since January 2025, CoinGecko has tracked a total of 7,803 newly added tokens, but only 1,030 of these tokens were listed for perpetual trading on the top 11 centralized exchanges.

Centralized Exchange Contract Trading Volume Declines Year-on-Year

The average monthly trading volume of the top 11 centralized perpetual exchanges in the first four months of 2026 was $4.69 trillion, a 34% decrease from $7.11 trillion in 2025.

BingX has bucked the trend this year, increasing its market share from 3% in 2025 to 5%, temporarily ranking seventh in the industry. Bitget's trading volume has declined, with average monthly trading volume falling from $740.62 billion to $287.08 billion, yet it still ranks sixth with a 6% market share.

Binance and OKX have solidified their leading positions, with their market shares increasing slightly. In the first four months of 2026, they commanded 33% and 15% of the market share, respectively.

Decentralized Contract Scale Steadily Rises, New Platforms Rapidly Break Out

The trading volume of decentralized contracts reached $751.59 billion in January 2026, then declined month by month to $481.84 billion in April, which is still far above the level of less than $300 billion seen in the same period in 2025.

The total annual trading volume of decentralized perpetual contracts in 2025 was $6.38 trillion, a multiple-fold increase from $1.5 trillion in 2024. Even with pressure on the overall market, the industry's trading volume in 2026 is expected to at least match or even surpass last year's level.

The market share of new decentralized contract platforms like Pacifica, Extended, and Variational continues to expand. All three platforms have launched points programs, with a high likelihood of subsequent airdrops. In April, their respective market shares were 4%, 4%, and 3%, with their scale already surpassing established platforms like Jupiter and dYdX.

Decentralized Contract Share Peaked Then Declined; Top Projects Dominate in Scale

The ratio of decentralized to centralized perpetual contract trading volume continued to climb throughout 2025, starting at just 3% at the beginning of the year and peaking at 13% towards the end. This ratio has since declined in 2026, falling to 10% in April, as centralized exchanges regained over 90% market dominance, marking the first time this structure has returned since October 2025.

Hyperliquid captured the majority of trading volume for decentralized contracts, recording $190.28 billion in trading volume in April. This accounted for 3.9% of the total industry contract volume, ranking ninth, slightly below BingX's $196.81 billion and ahead of KuCoin's $83.71 billion.

Currently, the growth rate of decentralized contracts has temporarily slowed. However, new players like Pacifica are attracting capital based on expectations of point airdrops, suggesting potential for a rebound in their market share going forward.

Overall Open Interest Shrinks, Decentralized Contract Position Share Significantly Increases

The total open interest in the crypto market fell from $120.35 billion at the start of 2025 to $99.09 billion at the end of April 2026, more than halving from the all-time high of $210.02 billion recorded just before the liquidation event on October 7, 2025.

Centralized exchanges still hold the vast majority of open interest, but their share has declined from 96.4% at the start of 2025 to 86.5% at the end of April 2026. Since October 2025, the position share of decentralized contracts has consistently remained above 10%.

Furthermore, the implementation of Real World Asset (RWA) businesses on-chain is driving the development of decentralized contracts. Crypto users can participate in trading traditional financial market instruments through these platforms without having to liquidate their positions and exit. However, centralized exchanges are also proactively keeping pace with this trend, successively launching RWA-related perpetual contracts, thereby further intensifying competition in this sector.