Bullish's October exchange report provides a more revealing market-infrastructure signal than a single record trading day. The institutional crypto venue reported $37.7 billion in matched trading volume for October 2026, compared with $48.6 billion in September. That is a decline of $10.9 billion, or 22.4% using the published rounded totals. It is also below the $80.5 billion reported for October 2025, a year-on-year fall of approximately 53.2%. The exchange published the figures on 5 November and explicitly described the latest-quarter metrics as preliminary and unaudited.[1][2]
The movement was not evenly spread across products. Spot volume fell from $42.2 billion in September to $34.6 billion in October, down about 18.0%. Options volume dropped from $4.1 billion to $1.2 billion, roughly 70.7%, while perpetual-futures volume declined from $2.3 billion to $1.9 billion, around 17.4%. The much sharper options fall is a concrete change in traded-product mix. It would be incorrect to say that every class of institutional digital-asset trading contracted at the same rate, or to infer exchange-wide client withdrawals from matched notional figures alone.[1][2]
Verified record, scope and limitations
| Item | Evidence |
|---|---|
| Total traded notional, October | $37.7bn versus September $48.6bn |
| Total month-on-month | -$10.9bn, or about -22.4% |
| October 2025 total | $80.5bn; about -53.2% year on year |
| Spot notional | $34.6bn versus $42.2bn, around -18.0% |
| Options notional | $1.2bn versus $4.1bn, around -70.7% |
| Perpetual futures | $1.9bn versus $2.3bn, around -17.4% |
| Issuer qualification | Latest quarter data preliminary and unaudited |
| Average trading spread | Company-defined commission/volume metric; not a quoted bid–ask spread |
The derivatives mix reveals more than the headline decline
The spot components show a further distinction. Bitcoin spot trades were $17.6 billion in October compared with $19.9 billion in September, while ether spot trading was $3.9 billion compared with $4.5 billion. The exchange's stablecoin spot category fell to $8.2 billion from $9.5 billion. Other spot assets declined from $8.4 billion to $4.9 billion. These are matched traded dollar values, not balances held in custody, deposits or a count of unique customers.[1][2]
Bullish also reports a metric called average trading spread. Despite the name, the issuer's definition ties it to commissions earned relative to trading volume, with derivative fair-value changes and rebates included in how management uses the measure. It should not be displayed as the instantaneous executable bid–ask spread a client would see for a Bitcoin order. A broker comparing liquidity sources therefore needs both the venue's economic take-rate measure and separately observed execution prices, sizes, rejections and settlement conditions.[1][2]
The apparent decline is important to prime brokers, market makers and technology vendors because high-volume derivatives activity can drive collateral, margin and routing demand. But there are limits to the conclusion. A monthly report cannot by itself identify why participants traded less, attribute the changes to a particular policy or prove that market depth deteriorated. Nor is notional traded value the same as exchange revenue or profit. The significance of the new October release is precisely that its product-level data permits a defensible comparison while remaining candid about the measurements it does not provide.[1][2]
Sources & further reading
- Bullish releases October 2026 monthly metrics Bullish Investor Relations · 5 Nov 2026 · Accessed 6 Nov 2026
- Bullish releases October 2026 monthly metrics and definitions Bullish · 5 Nov 2026 · Accessed 6 Nov 2026