Trading Volumes Plunge Across Crypto Exchanges in March

In March, trading volumes across both centralized exchanges (CEX) and decentralized exchanges (DEX) experienced a significant decline amid macroeconomic turmoil.

DEX trading volume dropped 35% to $242 billion in March from $373 billion in February, marking the lowest level since October, according to DeFiLlama. The majority of March’s trading volume came from platforms like Uniswap, PancakeSwap, and Orca.

Meanwhile, combined spot and derivatives trading volume on CEXs fell by 6.24%, reaching $6.79 trillion, also the lowest since October. Specifically, spot trading fell 14.1% to $1.98 trillion, and derivatives fell 2.56% to $4.81 trillion, according to a new report by CoinDesk.

The report highlighted that digital assets hit fresh lows in March, with Bitcoin and Ethereum dropping to $76,700 and $1,750, respectively. Researchers at CoinDesk identified ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty, mainly driven by tariff tensions between the U.S. and its global counterparts, as the key factor behind the declines.

The DEX vs. CEX dominance ratio currently stands at 28.34%, according to DeFiLlama.

Ongoing Macroeconomic Concerns

Since President Donald Trump renewed discussions about tariffs earlier this year, both traditional financial markets and cryptocurrency markets have faced headwinds.

In Q1 2025, crypto trading activity recorded a significant decline of 40.65%, while the overall cryptocurrency market capitalization dropped by 17%, reaching $2.71 trillion.

The decentralized finance (DeFi) sector was particularly affected, with the total value locked (TVL) in DeFi decreasing by 18%, falling from $120 billion to $99 billion, according to DeFiLlama.