A sharp decline was witnessed in crypto trading volumes on global exchanges in December 2025; this was the lowest level in the last 15 months. Total trading on global spot exchanges was seen to have fallen dramatically due to minimal volatility and year-end seasonality effects, which indicated that traders were cautious as 2025 came to a close.
CEX Volume Dips Sharply in December
Market data reveals a slump in centralized exchange (CEX) trading activity in terms of spot trading to a level that is 32% below November levels, with total trading activity dropping to around $1.13 trillion, which is the weakest level recorded monthly since late 2024, approximately a 15-month low that reflects a deceleration in engagement with the market.
Several reasons were identified for this decline, including typical holiday season inactive markets, limited price actions, and traders resorting to a ‘hold’ approach instead of engaging in active trade. Less active price actions in major markets led to a loss of incentives for frequent buying and selling in major trading pairs.
DEX Activity Also Slows
The volume shrinkage was not limited to the centralized platforms. Statistics indicate that there was a corresponding shrinkage in the volume of activity for the decentralized exchanges (DEXs), which declined by 20% in December from the previous month to an estimated total monthly volume of $245 billion.
Although platforms like Uniswap retained their leading status in the decentralized exchange space, the involvement of traders in automated market makers as well was softened, as was the case with the entire market.
Why Trading Activity Slowed
There were several factors that contributed to the decline in exchange volumes. Holiday periods are usually associated with fewer participants as traders withdraw from markets and inventional liquidity is lower compared to the activity levels in mid-year periods. With major currencies moving within tight ranges in the last year of the cycle, it appears that the breakout trades had little enticement. Traders exhibited a more conservative attitude in their participation.
This trend of smaller volume was in line with the on-chain data that indicated a lack of activity among Bitcoin, Ethereum, and the major altcoins towards the end of 2025, with a note from Santiment that there were low engagement levels compared to those of the previous year.
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