CoinGecko reported that cryptocurrency market value rose 39.6% in the third quarter of 2026 even as trading volume fell from Q2, separating rising valuations from the pace of transactions.
By the end of September, the market’s total value stood at $2.96 trillion. CoinGecko’s industry report described the quarterly increase as the largest since the fourth quarter of 2024. Capitalization measures value at a point in time; volume totals transactions over a period.
Average daily trading volume across the crypto market was $73.3 billion for the quarter, down 8.6% from Q2. Activity rose within Q3, however: the daily average increased from $57.7 billion in July to $94.8 billion in September. The quarterly decline does not mean trading slowed throughout the period.
At the 10 largest centralized spot exchanges, trades totaled $1.65 trillion in Q3, 14.2% less than in Q2. The August figure was $712.3 billion, up from $443.6 billion in July, as EconoTimes previously reported on exchange turnover. The increase between those months did not lift the full-quarter total above Q2.
Binance’s share of trading among those exchanges increased to 42.7% from 38.7% in Q2 as their combined volume fell. It was the only exchange in the group with a double-digit share.
CoinGecko linked an August market rally to a U.S. Treasury buyback announcement and inflows into spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds.
Meanwhile, the top 10 centralized perpetual futures exchanges ended September with open interest above $100 billion, up 40.6% for the quarter. KuCoin and Deribit recorded declines in open interest, so the aggregate increase did not extend to every exchange in the group.
Open interest counts futures contracts that remain outstanding, whereas spot volume measures completed trades. The increase in open interest does not establish how much perpetual futures trading took place during Q3.
