Retail Crypto Traders Pull Back as Spot Volumes Fall 30% Across Exchanges

Consumer spot trading volume on Coinbase dropped 35% to $36 billion in the three months ended March 31, compared with the previous quarter, even as institutional spot trading volume declined just 6% to $202 billion over the same period, highlighting a growing divergence between retail and professional participation in digital asset markets.

The figures illustrate how the volatility that once drew individual traders to crypto has been muted as institutional investors have come to dominate order flow. Cole, a 34-year-old U.S.-based crypto trader, told Decrypt that members of his Discord-based trading group have increasingly complained about less engaging price action. "It's been shitty for a lot longer than the last few months," he said. "Most of the people I know who are trading crypto still are dabbling heavily in stocks as well, or real-world assets, [...] and we're having better success."

Beyond Coinbase, spot trading volumes across all exchanges have fallen roughly 30% over the past half-year, dropping to around $900 billion monthly from $1.3 trillion, according to Laurens Fraussen, a research analyst at crypto analytics firm Kaiko. "We've also noticed an aggressive decrease in volume in Korean markets in the past couple of months, and in Korea 85% of volume is altcoin-driven, which highlights once more the disinterest from retail," he said in an email.

The pullback has coincided with traders rotating into traditional assets. Frank Chaparro, head of content and special projects at crypto market maker GSR, posted on X about a mobile price alert from Coinbase flagging silver's latest outsized swings, calling the rotation "so bad for the coins." Gerry O'Shea, head of global market insights at crypto asset manager Hashdex, said individual traders are typically drawn to volatility, and that crypto has lost some of its luster as institutional investors have incrementally dominated the tape. O'Shea added that retail traders have historically favored altcoins, which are prone to steeper drawdowns than $BTC, and that some participants who expected outsized returns remain "still very much underwater."

Meme coins, which thrived throughout 2024, have also lost momentum, with recent data indicating the trend has stalled on consumer-facing networks such as Base, the Coinbase-incubated Ethereum layer-2 scaling network.