September Spot Trading Rose at Both Centralized and Decentralized Exchanges

Centralized exchanges (CEXs) and decentralized exchanges (DEXs) both recorded higher spot-trading volume in September, with $1.13 trillion on CEXs and $279 billion on DEXs, giving DEXs 19.8% of the combined total.

CEX spot volume increased 27.3% during the month, while DEX spot volume also rose. Together, the two venue types recorded $1.409 trillion in spot volume, the denominator used for the combined-market share.

The 19.8% figure compares the $279 billion DEX total with all $1.409 trillion in CEX and DEX volume. That makes it a share of combined activity. The calculation does not use CEX volume alone.

Using CEX volume as the comparison base produces a different result. DEX volume was about 24.7% of the $1.13 trillion CEX figure, which rounds to roughly 25%. The two percentages describe the same September volumes but answer different questions: one measures DEXs’ portion of the combined market, and the other compares DEX volume with CEX volume.

The two percentages use different denominators: about 25% compares DEX volume with CEX volume, while 19.8% measures DEXs’ share of combined volume. A ratio near 25% means DEX spot volume was about one-quarter of CEX spot volume; it does not mean DEXs handled one-quarter of their combined volume. On the combined-volume basis, DEXs accounted for just under one-fifth.

A separate rolling measure put DEX volume at $212.521 billion for the 30 days through Oct. 31. That is a trading-activity total, not a market share. It covers a different window from September’s full-month figures, and by itself does not show DEXs’ share without a matching CEX volume measure.

All of these figures cover spot trading. Perpetual-futures volume measures a different market, so a change in its DEX share would not establish a similar change in spot trading. TokenPost previously examined DEX shares across spot and perpetual markets.

September’s totals predate the Oct. 29 Binance hot-wallet incident. Binance said its hot wallets had been compromised that day, but the September data cannot show whether the incident later shifted trading toward DEXs.