Crypto Leverage Still Down 50% After October’s Black Friday Crash, CoinGecko Shows
Crypto leverage stays sharply beneath its 2025 peak months after October’s market-wide liquidation shock, in accordance with CoinGecko’s State of Crypto Perpetuals Report 2026.
Total crypto open curiosity fell from a peak of $210 billion on October 7, 2025, simply earlier than the October 10 liquidation event, to $99.09 billion by April 2026. That leaves market-wide open curiosity greater than 50% beneath its high, exhibiting that merchants haven’t rebuilt leverage on the identical tempo.
Open Interest Remains More Than 50% Below Its Peak
The decline comes as centralized perpetual exchanges proceed to dominate crypto derivatives buying and selling. However, their exercise has weakened in 2026.
The high 11 perpetual CEXs averaged $7.11 trillion in month-to-month buying and selling quantity in 2025. That fell to $4.69 trillion throughout the primary 4 months of 2026, a 34% drop.
Binance and OKX stay the most important venues. In early 2026, Binance held 33% of perp CEX market share, whereas OKX held 15%.
Perp DEXs Gain Ground Despite CEX Dominance
Still, the market shift towards on-chain derivatives stays seen. Perp DEXs recorded $6.38 trillion in buying and selling quantity in 2025, up from $1.50 trillion in 2024.
Their momentum has cooled this yr, however volumes stay effectively above early 2025 ranges. The high 12 perp DEXs averaged $611.57 billion in month-to-month quantity in 2026, in contrast with $531.65 billion in 2025.
Hyperliquid remains the clearest example of the shift. The platform processed $190.28 billion in April quantity, inserting it near BingX and effectively forward of KuCoin.
Perp DEXs have additionally gained floor in open curiosity. Their share rose to 13.5% by the tip of April 2026, whereas CEX share fell from 96.4% in the beginning of 2025 to 86.5%.
Meanwhile, CEXs proceed to compete via aggressive listings. MEXC added 879 new perp contracts from January 2025 to April 2026, whereas BingX added 565.
Newer DEXs are additionally gaining consideration. Pacifica, Extended, and Variational have taken share from older platforms, helped by factors applications that will hold airdrop-driven merchants energetic.
The knowledge suggests leverage has reset after October. CEXs nonetheless management many of the market, however DEXs now maintain sufficient quantity and open curiosity to form the subsequent section of crypto derivatives buying and selling.
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