CoinGecko has published its Spot CEX Report 2026, which examines trading pairs, token listings and reserves across the top 12 centralised crypto exchanges.
The study found that these exchanges processed nearly USD $21 trillion in spot market volume in 2025. Total underlying reserves across the group rose to USD $225.4 billion by the end of February 2026, up from USD $152.1 billion at the start of 2024.
Stablecoin shift
Stablecoins remained the main base assets for spot trading pairs on the largest exchanges in the study. USDT and USDC accounted for 66.6% of all trading pairs across the top 12 exchanges.
Of the 9,870 stablecoin pairs identified, 9,646 were either USDT or USDC, equal to 97.7% of all stablecoin trading pairs. By contrast, the study tracked 4,615 non-stablecoin pairs, or 31.9% of the 14,485 total trading pairs.
However, the presence of non-stablecoin pairs did not translate into a similar share of trading activity. At their peak in November 2024, non-stablecoin pairs accounted for only 23% of market volume.
Listings struggle
The data also showed weak performance for many newly listed tokens. Across the top 12 exchanges, only about 32% posted positive price action in the first 30 days after listing.
Upbit recorded the strongest immediate post-listing performance, with 67% of newly listed tokens still in the green after 30 days, although it also had one of the lowest listing rates in the group. Binance and OKX followed at 50%.
That early strength faded over time. On average, only 25% of newly listed tokens remained above their listing price after 30 to 59 days. By the end of 12 months, fewer than 10% on most leading exchanges were still trading above their initial listing price.
Coinbase was one exception, with listed tokens showing stronger performance after the six-month mark. Upbit, despite leading early, saw the fastest decline, with all newly listed tokens falling below their initial listing price by days 300 to 329.
Reserve growth
Reserve values increased across most of the exchanges studied, helped by gains in Bitcoin and Ethereum prices. Eight exchanges recorded net reserve value growth between the start of 2024 and the end of February 2026.
Binance remained the largest holder in absolute reserve growth. Its reserves rose from USD $46.7 billion to USD $93.4 billion over the period.
Coinbase held the largest Bitcoin reserves, with more than 800,000 BTC, followed by Binance with 669,000 BTC. Despite that, Coinbase recorded outflows of 20% from its Bitcoin reserves and 41% from its Ethereum reserves.
Some of those outflows appeared to move to smaller exchanges. Bitget and MEXC posted reserve value increases of 262.0% and 274.6%, respectively.
Retail activity
The report drew a distinction between exchanges used more heavily by institutions and those driven more by retail activity. Platforms such as Coinbase, Binance and Kraken had lower volume-to-reserve ratios, averaging around 0.1, which suggests users were more likely to hold assets there for custody than for active trading.
By contrast, Bybit and Bitget recorded average ratios of 0.3 and 0.5, respectively, from January 2024 to February 2026. Exchanges with smaller reserves, including MEXC, HTX and KuCoin, showed much higher asset velocity, with ratios ranging from 1.44 to 2.04.
These figures suggest a larger share of deposited assets is being turned over in trading on smaller, more retail-focused platforms. The pattern also points to capital shifting away from larger exchanges towards venues with faster trading activity relative to the reserves they hold.
Overall, the findings add to a broader picture of a maturing centralised exchange market in which stablecoins dominate spot trading infrastructure, reserve balances are becoming more unevenly distributed, and newly listed tokens rarely sustain gains for long. After 12 months, fewer than 10% of tokens listed on most major exchanges remained above their initial listing price.