A QUICK LOOK AT 2026 ENCRYPTED CONTRACT MARKETS FOR PERPETUITY: A SUBSTANTIAL REDUCTION IN THE VOLUME OF HOLD AND THE STEADY RISE OF DEX

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Structural changes are taking place in the industry landscape of the sustainable contract exchange. Since 2016, when BitMEX was the first to create a permanent contract trading model, the CSE has been the core liquidity hub of the encrypted market, with a volume of 85.3 trillion dollars in transactions throughout 2025。

With the rapid iterativeity of products and the significant increase in chain trading activity, decentrization of the sustainable contract exchange grew from small-scale agreements to strong competitive market participants. CoinGecko published a 2026 encrypted market report for contract renewal, which draws on the following core points:

• Between January 2025 and April 2026, the number of new and lasting contracts on MEXC and BingX was 879 and 565 respectively
• The average monthly turnover fell to $4.7 trillion in 2026 and $7.1 trillion in 2025
• The average monthly turnover rose to $61.57 billion in 2026 and $531.65 billion in 2025
• Hypperliquid led to a significant increase in the volume of transactions with LC contracts in 2025, peaking at 13%
• The share of the unsettled stock of the Decentralised Endurance Exchange continued to rise in 2025 and now stands at 13.5 per cent, with Hyperliquid at the top

New rhythms on contracts, more radical small and medium platforms

From January 2025 to the present, MEXC and BingX entered the second largest number of new and lasting contracts in the industry, adding 879 new contracts and 565 new contracts, respectively, with an average of 55 new contracts per month, 35 new contracts and two long tailings contracts。

Of the 11 exchanges in the head, 6 have a monthly average of 20 new contracts and have a conservative layout. Crypto.com has the lowest number of new contracts, with only 2 contracts on line in December 2025 and only 13 in April 2026。

large exchanges generally give priority to the renewal of contracts over time, with new currencies. in the last 16 months, the netting of coins was only 125, and most of the new contracts focused on meme and artificial intelligence-related tokens。

The newest households on the MEXC, BingX, Gate, etc., are equally radical in their current currency configuration. The demand for small-currency leverage transactions is low, and the risk-based threshold for the audience is higher。

Subject to compliance requirements, the rollover process for the renewal of contracts is longer than on-the-shelf, and there is relatively limited heat for the trade in subdivisions. Since January 2025, CoinGecko has recorded a total of 7803 new tokens, but the 11 centralized exchanges in the head have opened only 1030 permanent contracts。

Centralized contract transactions are shrinking

The average monthly turnover in the head of 11 CEX was $4.69 trillion in the first four months of 2026, down 34 per cent from $7.11 trillion in 2025。

BingX's performance has been strong this year, with the market share rising from 3% in 2025 to 5% in the seventh sector. Bitget transactions fell, and the average monthly transactions fell from $7.462 billion to $287.08 billion, still sixth in 6 per cent。

CHEONAN, OKX SOLID HEAD POSITION, SMALL INCREASE IN MARKET SHARE, 33% AND 15% RESPECTIVELY IN APRIL 2026。

The contract to centralize is steadily rising, and the Shinkuku platform is breaking fast

De-centreized contract transactions in January 2026 amounted to $75,599 million, followed by a monthly fall of $48,184 million in April, still well above the level of less than $30 billion for the same period in 2025。

The annual turnover of DMC contracts in 2025 was $6.38 trillion, several times higher than the $1.5 trillion in 2024. Even with overall market pressure, the size of the trade in 2026 is expected to be even or even higher than last year。

The market share of newly promoted centralized contracting platforms, such as Pacifica, Extended, Variational, has continued to expand, with all three platforms launching points, with an approximate subsequent launch rate. In April, the three markets accounted for 4 per cent, 4 per cent and 3 per cent, respectively, and had surpassed old platforms like Jupiter and dYdX。

Go to the center of the contract and fall back

In 2025, the turnover ratio of de-centreization and WCLT contracts continued to climb, reaching only 3 per cent at the beginning of the year and rising to 13 per cent at the end of the year. This percentage fell in 2026 to 10 per cent in April, and the Centralized Exchange regained more than 90 per cent of market ownership, the first time since October 2025。

The Hyperliquid packaged most of the transactions of the centralized contracts, with $190.28 billion in transactions in April, representing 3.9 per cent of the total industry-wide contracts, ranked ninth, slightly below the 1968.11 billion in BingX, leading KuCoin by $83.71 billion。

The rate of expansion of the decentrization contract is currently slowing temporarily, but new-supplied air drops, such as Pacifica, are expected to attract funds, with subsequent market share in rebounding space。

The overall stock position is shrunk and the percentage of uncentralized contracts is significantly increased

The overall unsettled position of the encrypted market fell from $12,355 million at the beginning of 2025 to $99,090 million at the end of April 2026, more than half the historical high of $21,022 million before the liquidation on 7 October 2025。

The Centralized Exchange continues to hold the vast majority of the open positions, but its share has declined from 96.4 per cent at the beginning of 2025 to 86.5 per cent at the end of April 2026. Since October 2025, the percentage of decentralised contracts held has been maintained at more than 10 per cent。

IN ADDITION, THE OPERATIONALIZATION OF THE RWA BUSINESS LEADS TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF DECENTRIZATION CONTRACTS THROUGH WHICH ENCRYPTED USERS CAN PARTICIPATE IN TRADITIONAL FINANCIAL MARKET TRANSACTIONS WITHOUT HAVING TO LEAVE THE FIELD. HOWEVER, THE CENTRALIZED EXCHANGE HAS ALSO FOLLOWED SUIT, MOVING ON TO A PERMANENT CONTRACT FOR REAL ASSETS AND FURTHER INCREASING COMPETITION IN THE TRACKS。