Bullish overtakes Coinbase to become the third-largest crypto exchange by spot trading volume

Crypto platform Bullish moved into the top three centralized cryptocurrency exchanges by spot trading volume in February, overtaking Coinbase as trading activity across the industry slowed, according to CoinDesk Data’s latest Exchange Review.

The institutional-focused exchange recorded a sharp rise in spot trading during the month. Bullish’s spot volume climbed 62.6% from January to reach $76 billion, marking the platform’s strongest monthly performance since October 2025. The increase pushed its share of the global spot market to 5.06%, an improvement of more than two percentage points.

The growth allowed Bullish — which went public on the New York Stock Exchange last year — to move ahead of Coinbase, which held a 4.59% share of spot trading volume in February.

The milestone came despite a broader slowdown in activity across centralized crypto exchanges. According to the report, total spot and derivatives trading volume declined 2.41% during the month to $5.61 trillion, the lowest level recorded since October 2024.

Part of the slowdown reflected calmer price action in major cryptocurrencies. Although markets experienced bursts of volatility at the beginning and end of February, Bitcoin spent much of the month trading within a relatively tight band between $60,000 and $70,000. The limited price swings reduced speculative trading activity that often fuels higher exchange volumes.

Spot trading accounted for roughly $1.50 trillion of total exchange activity in February, representing a 3.01% decline compared with January. Derivatives trading also slipped, falling 2.41% to $4.11 trillion, though it remained the dominant segment, making up about 73% of overall centralized exchange trading.

Meanwhile, Binance maintained its position as the largest exchange by a wide margin. The platform recorded approximately $331 billion in spot trading volume during February, giving it about a 22% share of the global market. However, its dominance slipped to the lowest level since October 2020, suggesting trading activity is becoming more distributed across competing platforms.

Bullish’s climb in the rankings underscores shifting dynamics among centralized exchanges as competition intensifies. Platforms are increasingly competing through deeper liquidity, trading incentives and new product offerings to attract users during periods of slower market momentum. Some exchanges have also begun partnering with major U.S. stock exchanges to introduce tokenized securities or expanding into prediction market trading to broaden their appeal.