Top 4 Highlights of CoinGecko’s Spot CEX Report 2026

Since the advent of the crypto market, centralized exchanges (CEX) have played a key role in providing liquidity to both retail and institutional users. In 2025 alone, the top 12 CEXs processed nearly $21 trillion in volume across spot markets. As the industry matures, the focus has shifted toward the sustainability of spot trading activity and the health of the underlying reserves that support these massive volumes.

The landscape of centralized exchanges is shifting. While USDT and USDC dominate trading pairs, listing performance remains a challenge for new tokens. With total reserves hitting $225.4 billion in 2026, capital is migrating from institutional giants toward high-velocity, retail-driven platforms. Here is a breakdown of the current market state.

We’ve summarized the key highlights, but be sure to dig into the full 21 slides in the full report.

1. USDT and USDC Are the Main Stablecoin Base Assets, Accounting for 66.6% of All Trading Pairs on the Top 12 CEXs

The majority of spot trading volume on the top 12 CEXs are done via stablecoin pairs such as USDT, and USDC.

Of the 9,870 stablecoin pairs on the 12 CEXs, 9,646 are either USDT or USDC pairs. This accounts for 97.7% of stablecoin trading pairs.

Meanwhile, there are a total of 4,615 non-stablecoin pairs, which make up 31.9% of the 14,485 trading pairs.

Despite this, the share of non-stablecoin pairs doesn’t correspond to its share of trading volume. At its peak in November 2024, non-stablecoin pair volume made up only 23% of market share.

2. Only Around 32% of Newly-Listed Tokens Record Positive Price Action Immediately Post-Listing Across the Top 12 CEXes

Of the Top 12 exchanges, Upbit has by far the best immediate post-listing price performance, with 67% of newly listed tokens in the green 30 days after listing. However, it has one of the lowest listing rates. This is followed by Binance and OKX at 50%.

There is a large variance in the Top 12 exchanges’ immediate (0-29 days) post-listing price performance. However, the range compresses significantly after the first 30 days. On average, only 25% of newly listed tokens remain in the green after 30 – 59 days. 

Across longer time frames, this percentage declines somewhat linearly across all exchanges. The only exception is Coinbase, whose listed coins catch a second wind after the half-year mark of being listed on the exchange.

By the end of the 12 months, less than 10% of listed tokens on most top exchanges still remain above their initial listing price. Notably, listings on Upbit, which start off the best, also decline fastest, as all newly-listed tokens go underwater by the 300 – 329 day mark.

3. Value of Underlying Assets Across The Top 12 CEXs Has Increased From $152.1B to $225.4B Between 2024 to 2026

Despite the price appreciation of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) reserves across most exchanges, price volatility and increased regulation are driving users to reallocate funds from larger exchanges to other platforms.

The value of underlying assets across the top 12 centralized exchanges has risen by an average of 69.6% from $152.1 billion at the start of 2024 to $225.4 billion at the end of February 2026. 

Eight exchanges recorded net reserve value growth during this period, with Binance as the clear leader. Its reserves doubled from $46.7 billion to $93.4 billion in the past two years. 

Meanwhile, Coinbase holds the largest BTC reserves, with over 800K BTC. This is closely followed by Binance with 669K. Despite the increase in reserve value, it’s worth noting that Coinbase has recorded significant outflows of -20% and -41% from its BTC and ETH reserves.

Some of these outflows have been redeposited into smaller exchanges such as Bitget and MEXC, which have recorded significant spikes in their reserve values, of +262.0% and +274.6%, respectively. 

4. Retail Driven Exchanges See Higher Utilization of Reserves as Compared to Ones Favored by Institutions

While centralized exchanges hold significant reserves of various crypto assets, there is a stark difference in how user deposits are used across platforms. 

More regulated centralized exchanges such as Coinbase, Binance, and Kraken, have lower volume : reserve ratios, sitting around 0.1. This is potentially due to their more institutional client-base, which relies on these platforms more for custody rather than trading. 

Meanwhile, exchanges such as Bybit and Bitget feature high trading volumes paired with sizeable deposits, recording average ratios of 0.3 and 0.5, respectively, from January 2024 to February 2026. 

On the other hand, centralized exchanges with smaller reserves such as MEXC, HTX, and KuCoin showed a larger asset velocity range from 1.44 to 2.04, indicating that most users are actively trading significantly higher volumes compared to these exchanges’ reserves.