Crypto platform Bullish ( BLSH ), which operates an institutional-only crypto exchange, climbed into the top three centralized crypto exchanges by spot trading volume for the first time in February, overtaking Coinbase ( COIN ) as trading activity across the industry slowed, according to CoinDesk Data’s February Exchange Review.
Spot trading volume on Bullish, the parent company of CoinDesk, rose 62.6% month-over-month to $76 billion, the exchange’s highest monthly total since October 2025. The increase lifted Bullish’s market share to 5.06%, up 2.04 percentage points, making it the third-largest centralized exchange by spot trading.
The rise pushed Bullish, which listed on the New York Stock Exchange last year, ahead of Coinbase (COIN), which had a 4.59% share of the spot market during the month.
The milestone comes even as overall activity on centralized exchanges fell. Combined spot and derivatives trading fell 2.41% in February to $5.61 trillion, the lowest level recorded since October 2024, the report said.
The slowdown coincided with subdued volatility in major cryptocurrencies. Despite great volatility in the first and last weeks of February, bitcoin spent most of the month trading in a tight range between $60,000 and $70,000, limiting speculative activity that often drives higher trading volumes.
Spot trading accounted for $1.50 trillion of the total, down 3.01% from January. Derivatives trading fell 2.41% to $4.11 trillion but remained the dominant force, accounting for 73.2% of all trading on centralized exchanges, the report said.
While Binance remained the dominant exchange by a wide margin, recording $331 billion in spot trading volume during February, representing around 22% market share, its dominance fell to the lowest monthly level since October 2020, suggesting that trading activity is becoming more spread across competing platforms.
Bullish’s rise in the rankings highlights changing dynamics among centralized exchanges amid heightened competition. Exchanges increasingly compete on liquidity, trading incentives and new product offerings to attract traders during periods of slower market activity. Some have partnered with major US exchanges to offer tokenized securities or have launched trading with predictive markets.
