The Landscape of CEXs and DEXs in 2025

The past year has been transformative for both Centralized Exchanges (CEXs) and Decentralized Exchanges (DEXs). The crypto space has witnessed a shift in momentum from CEXs, reliant on trust and compliance, to DEXs, promising transparency and self-custody. Despite reports of a CEX resurgence, a deeper analysis reveals a more nuanced picture.

A Detailed Look at the CEX vs. DEX Battle

2025 appears to be a year of recovery for CEXs after nearly two years of confidence decline and liquidity shrinkage. Prior to 2022, CEXs averaged over $1.5 trillion in monthly trading volume. However, the period that followed saw a significant drop, with monthly volume only once surpassing the trillion-dollar mark. In contrast, DEXs experienced remarkable growth, with spot trading volume quadrupling in 18 months to over $540 billion.

Derivatives Dynamics and the Impact of Perpetual Swaps

Perpetual contracts are a key driver of activity on DEXs. Before 2024, on-chain perpetual contracts were a niche product with limited monthly trading volume. However, by the end of 2025, these platforms rivaled the entire DEX spot market. Perpetual contract trading volume experienced significant growth, exceeding $1 trillion in October alone, more than double the size of the DEX spot market.

The Future of Trading Platforms: Towards Decentralization

While CEXs still dominate the market, DEXs are gaining rapid traction, especially in derivatives. The steady rise in the DEX-to-CEX derivatives trading ratio suggests that DEXs offer features that CEXs cannot replicate. Although the absolute number of on-chain traders may still be small, their demands and preferred features send a clear message to crypto developers about priorities in developing trading platforms.


Risk Warning: this article represents only the author’s views and is for reference only. It does not constitute investment advice or financial guidance, nor does it represent the stance of the Markets.com platform.When considering shares, indices, forex (foreign exchange) and commodities for trading and price predictions, remember that trading CFDs involves a significant degree of risk and could result in capital loss.Past performance is not indicative of any future results. This information is provided for informative purposes only and should not be construed to be investment advice. Trading cryptocurrency CFDs and spread bets is restricted for all UK retail clients. 

Latest news

Wednesday, 1 April 2026

Indices

Gold Price Today, April 2: XAU/USD Drops Over 1.5% to $4,686 After Hitting Recent Highs

Wednesday, 1 April 2026

Indices

Stock Market Today: Dow, S&P 500 & Nasdaq Futures Rise as Trump Issues Strong Iran Warning

Tuesday, 31 March 2026

Indices

Forex Market Today: Japanese Yen Recovers, USD/JPY Drops to 158.70 as Middle East Tensions Ease

Tuesday, 31 March 2026

Indices

Gold Price Today, April 1: XAU/USD Surges to $4,718 as Momentum Builds

Monday, 30 March 2026

Indices

Gold price today, March 31: Gold price (XAU/USD) climbs to $4,558 amid market rally

Monday, 30 March 2026

Indices

XRP news today: XRP price hovers at $1.32, Ripple reports record Q1 growth

Sunday, 29 March 2026

Indices

BTC News Today: Bitcoin Recovers to $67,400 After Sharp Dip Below $65,000

Sunday, 29 March 2026

Indices

Gold price today, March 30: Gold market is currently in a corrective phase, XAU/USD rises to $4,568.50

Tuesday, 24 March 2026

Indices

NVIDIA GTC 2026 Keynote Highlights: Jensen Huang Predicts $1 Trillion AI Demand Through 2027

Tuesday, 24 March 2026

Indices

Top performing cryptos today: Siren (SIREN), Bittensor (TAO), Stellar (XLM)