The market trading U.S. stocks and gold 24/7 with high leverage like cryptocurrencies is growing rapidly. More than 98% of traditional asset-linked transactions on global crypto exchanges turned out to be perpetual futures, not actual asset trading.
According to the “Traditional Assets on Crypto Exchanges Report 2026” jointly published by crypto information firm CoinGecko and global crypto exchange MEXC, the transaction volume of traditional asset-linked products across six exchanges—Binance, OKX, Bybit, Bitget, Gate, and MEXC—surpassed $1.45 trillion (approx. KRW2,100 trillion) in the first half of this year. This is more than 10 times last year's total transaction volume of $135.47 billion.
As of June, perpetual futures accounted for $387.39 billion, or 98.5% of the total transaction volume. Transaction volume for spot-type products such as tokenized stocks reached only $5.75 billion, representing 1.5%.
Perpetual futures are derivative financial products without an expiration date. Investors bet on the price rise and fall of the relevant asset without buying actual stocks or gold. Although larger amounts can be traded with a small margin, if prices move opposite to expectations, losses increase and positions can be forcibly liquidated.
Investors do not hold actual stocks either. They have no voting rights or direct dividend claims as shareholders. Profit and loss are determined according to index prices calculated by exchanges and liquidation standards. Crypto exchanges are effectively building a separate derivatives market trading stock price volatility outside the regular market, rather than circulating stocks like brokerage firms.
Market expansion was led by U.S. stock-linked products. The monthly transaction volume of U.S. stock-linked products increased by 337.4% in just one month from $43.4 billion in May to $189.84 billion in June. In the same month, it surpassed transaction volumes of precious metal-linked products such as “gold and silver,” which stood at $122.59 billion, for the first time.
The report analyzed that price volatility in semiconductor-related stocks such as Micron and SanDisk, along with expectations for SpaceX's initial public offering, drove the increase in trading. Crypto investors have begun trading not only Bitcoin and altcoins, but also stock market investment themes such as artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductors, and the space industry in the same manner.
The trading increase was not limited to short-term trading. Open interest for traditional asset-linked perpetual futures across the surveyed exchanges grew 77-fold from $60 million at the beginning of last year to $4.67 billion at the end of June this year. Open interest refers to the size of contracts that have not yet been settled after trading, meaning investors continue to maintain positions on stock and gold prices.
Open interest for U.S. stock-linked products reached $2.01 billion at the end of June, accounting for 43.1% of the total. Precious metal products accounted for $1.69 billion, or 36.2%. With U.S. stocks outpacing gold not only in transaction volume but also in maintained investment positions, it shows that the traditional asset derivatives market on crypto exchanges is reorganizing around stocks.
Stock-linked products are expanding beyond the U.S. stock market to South Korean stocks. Global exchanges have recently launched a series of perpetual futures tracking stock prices of Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Hyundai Motor Company.
Foreign investors can invest in the price rises and falls of leading domestic stocks using Tether (USDT), a stablecoin, as collateral without opening a South Korean brokerage account or exchanging currency into KRW. Trading continues 24 hours a day, even at night and on weekends when the Korea Exchange is closed.
Crypto investors have begun trading stocks as well, and existing stock investors are using crypto exchanges, changing investment patterns. CoinGecko stated, “Demand to trade traditional assets on crypto exchanges continues to increase,” adding, “This is not a short-term change in investment behavior.”
