Indian Crypto Exchanges See 70–80% Volume From Perp Futures

Indian traders are betting big—and they're doing it with leverage.

Market Dynamics Shift

Perpetual futures now dominate trading volumes across major Indian exchanges, capturing 70-80% of all activity. Retail and institutional players alike are flocking to derivatives products that never expire—bypassing traditional settlement cycles and margin requirements that plague conventional markets.

Regulatory Gray Zone

The surge comes despite ongoing regulatory uncertainty surrounding crypto derivatives in India. Exchanges operate in a delicate dance with authorities—offering products that technically fall outside traditional securities definitions while maintaining voluntary compliance frameworks. Because nothing says 'financial innovation' like operating in legal limbo while moving billions.

Global Pattern, Local Flavor

This mirrors the global derivatives boom but with distinct Indian characteristics: higher leverage ratios, unique rupee hedging strategies, and trading volumes that spike during traditional market off-hours. Local traders are effectively building 24/7 risk management systems that traditional finance took decades to develop—and they're doing it with smartphone apps.

The trend reveals more than just speculative fever—it shows how quickly markets adapt when traditional finance fails to provide adequate tools. Though if history teaches anything, it's that leverage works both ways—just ask anyone who's ever met a margin call.

Crypto F&O Gains Momentum in India, Outpacing Spot Trading

Patel shared that “The trading volumes for futures is 4-5X higher than spot trading on Mudrex. Even globally for platforms like Binance, Bitcoin futures is 10X larger than Bitcoin spot trades.”

He stressed that avoiding TDS (tax deducted at source) is not the main reason for the popularity of crypto futures. Instead, lower trading costs and the ability to bet on price rises or falls across many tokens via perpetual futures are the key drivers. He noted that on Mudrex, spot traders and futures traders are usually different groups.

Vikram Subburaj, Co-Founder and CEO of Giottus, which started futures trading last month, said futures and options (F&O) are a natural next step for trading. Initially, most trading volume on exchanges came from spot trading. As the spot market has grown more established, the derivatives market, like futures, has gained traction.

Over the past two years, interest in crypto futures has been steadily increasing and is now picking up strong momentum. “Giottus has just started with the offering, so we are testing with 10X leverage for now. Overall, for most exchanges, if you see volumes, 70–80 percent of that is coming from crypto futures,” he told Moneycontrol.

Kashif Raza, Founder of education site Bitinning, also attributed much of the buzz and scale to stock influencers and major players, who bring large followings into crypto after SEBI’s F&O curbs. Exchanges lure them with perks like overseas excursions to expand user bases, Raza explained. In the stock market, brokers like Zerodha, Groww, Angel One, Upstox, and Dhan earn most of their revenue from derivatives trading, such as futures and options.

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