TradFi perpetual volume on crypto exchanges ran more than eight times above spot RWA trading in the first five months of 2026, according to CoinGecko’s TradFi on Crypto Exchanges 2026 report. The report said most growth in traditional asset trading came through perpetual products, not tokenised spot listings. As a result, exchange activity has moved away from the industry’s focus on tokenised stocks as the main path into traditional markets.
CoinGecko tracked selected centralised and decentralised exchanges from January 2025 to May 2026. Over that span, monthly TradFi perpetual volume jumped 1,472-fold from $230 million. Meanwhile, the exchanges handled more than $1.32 trillion in 2026 through May, versus $104.21 billion in all of 2025.
TradFi Perpetual Volume Leads Market Shift
Perpetual trading first moved ahead of spot RWA activity in November 2025. By May 2026, Binance, MEXC and Hyperliquid led the segment. CoinGecko said exchanges are extending their perpetual futures model into equities, commodities, foreign exchange and pre-IPO assets.
That approach gives crypto-native traders access to traditional markets through a format they already use in digital assets. Therefore, exchanges appear to be building on existing derivatives systems instead of copying standard stock-market structures on-chain. A separate TokenInsight study, cited by Finance Magnates, showed a similar trend.
Listings and Equity Products Show the Same Trend
TokenInsight found that TradFi perpetual volume nearly quintupled between January and June. However, overall crypto exchange trading volume fell 8% quarter on quarter in that period. CoinGecko also found an average of 75 TradFi perpetual listings per exchange, compared with 37 spot RWAs.
Hyperliquid and Aster listed traditional assets only through perpetuals. Meanwhile, Binance, Coinbase, Crypto.com, HTX and OKX had just one or two spot RWA listings each during the study period. Monthly volume in equity-linked perpetuals across 13 exchanges climbed from $831.17 million in July 2025 to $34 billion in May 2026.
Even with that rise, CoinGecko estimated the activity stayed below 1% of trading volume in the related traditional stock markets. The report added that tokenised securities still matter to broader platform plans, even as current trading shows stronger demand for derivatives-based access.
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Source: Finance Magnates
