In traditional finance, asset turnover is generally used to measure the efficiency of asset utilization, and then to evaluate sales, conversion rates, and so on; but what would happen if we applied the same metric to the cryptocurrency field?
You will discover a completely new perspective. This article is a companion piece to the NVIDIA financial statement analysis (https://x.com/agintender/status/1991890344653570186?s=20), aiming to demonstrate to practitioners the diversity of data and the application of "financial techniques" in the crypto world.
This article is 4500 words long. If you're too lazy to read the main text, just look at the table below:
Disclaimer: This article draws its conclusions from publicly available information and is based on the author's own estimations. The conclusions are bound to contain errors and may even be incorrect; please do not rely on this information as a basis for your research. This article is for academic exchange purposes only.
I. Theory
From the perspective of business supply, the size of assets held in custody by an exchange should be positively correlated with its trading volume.
Liquidity supply: Assets held in custody on exchanges (especially those held by market makers) are deployed to the order book to facilitate trading. More assets typically mean a deeper order book and higher trading volume capacity.
User activity: Users deposit funds into CEXs primarily for trading. While some users use CEXs as wallets (HODLing), in active exchanges, the velocity of money means that a portion of reserves are turned over daily.
Trust magnetism: High trading volume attracts liquidity, which in turn demands deposits. Conversely, high deposit amounts signal active traders.
In addition, there is an urban legend circulating in the industry that the current period's exchange revenue = current period's assets x 20-30% (commonly known as asset accumulation).
II. Metric: Definition of "Crypto Asset Turnover Rate" (CATR)
For horizontal comparison, the Crypto Exchange Asset Turnover Ratio (CATR) is as follows:
CATR = Monthly Trading Volume (Contracts + Spot) / User Assets (POR Value)
From a traditional accounting perspective, asset turnover measures how quickly a company generates sales revenue from its total assets within a given period. It is typically calculated by dividing "net sales revenue" by "average total assets." A higher ratio indicates higher asset utilization efficiency, stronger conversion capabilities, better sales performance, and higher table turnover rate.
However, on cryptocurrency exchanges, while the turnover rate also represents asset utilization efficiency, its meaning is completely different. This money belongs to the users, and a higher turnover rate means higher user willingness (and enthusiasm?) to trade, resulting in higher unit efficiency for more transactions.
Generally speaking, market makers have high requirements for capital efficiency (arbitrage, market making, and other transactions), while retail investors have lower capital efficiency.
Low turnover efficiency may mean that the exchange is primarily used for custody and deposits, or that user engagement is extremely low.
High turnover efficiency indicates an extreme speed of capital flow. This is typically seen on platforms that primarily use contracts (high leverage), indicating strong user trading intentions and high execution efficiency for market makers.
However, extreme turnover efficiency may indicate wash trading or wash trading.
This article is intended merely to spark discussion and hopefully inspire readers to explore more interesting and efficient metrics and data dimensions. It's not that the crypto market is too difficult, but rather that we haven't taken a systematic approach to it.
III. Data Explanation
Samples: Binance, OKX, Bybit, Bitget, Gate, MEXC, and HTX
Data source:
Sources of exchange's October monthly trading volume:
https://data.coindesk.com/reports/exchange-review-november
https://www.scribd.com/document/831768086/CCdata-crypto-exchange-review-12-24
Based on the data sources above, estimate the spot and contract trading volumes of each exchange.
POR data source: Disclosures from various exchanges.
https://www.binance.com/en/proof-of-reserves
https://www.okx.com/en-sg/proof-of-reserves
https://www.bybit.com/app/user/proof-of-reserve
https://www.mexc.com/proof-of-reserve
https://www.bitget.com/support/articles/12560603840435
https://www.gate.com/proof-of-reserves
https://www.htx.com/en-us/proof-of-reserve
Note: The core assets of POR users in this article are only BTC, ETH, USDT and USDC, so there may be differences from the total asset data actually disclosed by the exchange.
IV. CATR data from various exchanges
4.1 Binance
4.1.1 Proof of Asset (PoR) Analysis
Snapshot data as of October 2025:
BTC: 593,851
ETH: 4,095,663
USDT: 34.7 billion (collateralization ratio 107.45%)
USDC: 7.8 billion (collateralization ratio as high as 133.79%)
The user's core total assets are estimated at US$115 billion.
4.1.2 Transaction Volume Analysis
In October 2025, activity on centralized exchanges surged. CCData data shows that total spot and futures trading volume on global CEXs climbed to $10.3 trillion. Binance typically holds approximately 40%-50% of the market share.
Spot trading: Data indicates that Binance's monthly trading volume in October was approximately $810.4 billion.
Contract trading: Contracts are typically 3-4 times the volume of spot trading. According to data from TokenInsight and CryptoQuant, Binance's quarterly trading volume reached $8.39 trillion, equivalent to approximately $2.8 trillion per month.
Overall estimates: Binance's total trading volume (spot + contracts) in October is conservatively estimated at around $3.6 trillion.
4.1.3 Calculation of Crypto Asset Turnover Rate (CATR)
36000 / 1150 = 31.304x
4.2 OKX
4.2.1 Proof of Asset (PoR) Analysis
Snapshot data as of October 2025:
BTC: 133,087 (collateralization ratio 105%)
ETH: 1,622,674
USDT: 10 billion (collateralization ratio of 106%)
USDC: 120 million
The user's core total assets are estimated at US$30 billion.
4.2.2 Transaction Volume Analysis
According to a CCData report, OKX's spot trading volume in November was $163 billion (similar to October's figure). OKX's contract business has historically been strong, typically 4-5 times that of spot trading.
Overall estimates: If the spot market is worth $163 billion, the contract market is estimated at $700-800 billion. The total monthly trading volume is approximately $1 trillion.
4.2.3 Calculation of Crypto Asset Turnover Rate (CATR)
10000 / 290 = 34.48x
4.3 Bybit
4.3.1 Proof of Asset (PoR) Analysis
Data as of October 22, 2025:
USDT: User assets are 5.8 billion, and wallet balance is 6.38 billion (110%).
USDC: User assets: $600 million. Wallet balance: $680 million (135%)
BTC: 61,976 BTC (approximately $5.6 billion).
ETH: 532,000 ETH (approximately $1.5 billion).
Total assets estimated at approximately US$13.5 billion.
4.3.2 Transaction Volume Analysis
Bybit's growth has been extremely rapid, with CCData data showing that its spot trading volume reached $208 billion in November. Considering that Bybit is a contract-first platform, its contract trading volume is typically 3-4 times that of spot trading.
Overall estimate: Spot market value of 200 billion + Contract value of 800 billion ≈ 1 trillion USD.
Given that Bybit counts each buy and sell transaction as one, the transaction volume should be divided by 2, which is $500 billion.
4.3.3 Calculation of Crypto Asset Turnover Rate (CATR)
5000 / 135 = 37.31x
4.4 Bitget
4.4.1 Proof of Asset (PoR) Analysis
October 2025 data:
BTC: Users hold 10,275 BTC, and the platform has 31,556 BTC (fun fact: Bitget's BTC reserve ratio is as high as 307%, is this to show that it has abundant funds?!).
ETH: The platform has nearly 300,000 ETH, with users holding 134,000 (the ETH reserve ratio has reached a staggering 224%).
USDT: 1.78 billion + USDC: 110 million
Total user assets estimated at approximately $3.2 billion. (Platform assets estimated at $5.2 billion)
4.4.2 Transaction Volume Analysis
Bitget reported that its US stock futures trading volume surpassed $200 million in October. While the absolute value is not large, it demonstrates the company's product diversification. CCData shows its spot trading volume is approximately $80.2 billion. Regarding contracts, Bitget previously reported monthly futures trading volume of $92 billion, which could be even higher in a bull market.
Overall estimate: Spot market value of 80 billion + Contract value of 320 billion ≈ 400 billion USD.
Given that Bitget counts each buy and sell transaction as one transaction, the transaction volume should be divided by 2, which is $200 billion.
4.4.3 Calculation of Crypto Asset Turnover Rate (CATR)
2000 / 32 = 62.5x
4.5 Gate.io:
4.5.1 Proof of Asset (PoR) Analysis
As of October 28, Gate.io reported a total reserve value of $11.676 billion, with a reserve ratio of 124%.
Interestingly, Gate's core asset collateralization ratios all far exceed 100%, meaning the platform's asset content > user assets.
The user's core assets are as follows:
BTC 18,536 (collateralization ratio 133.96%)
ETH 332,801
USDT 1.332 billion
USDC 0.67 billion (collateralization ratio nearly 250%)
Total user core assets: approximately US$4 billion; platform assets: US$6.3 billion.
4.5.2 Transaction Volume Analysis
Gate.io's spot trading volume surged 39.1% in October, reaching a record high of $163 billion. On the futures front, May's figure was $264 billion, with October's estimated at around $400 billion. (https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2025/06/23/3103369/0/en/Gate-s-Nearly-70-MoM-Growth-in-Derivatives-Volume-Tops-Global-Charts-Featured-in-CoinDesk-s-Latest-Report.html)
Overall estimate: Spot market value of 163 billion + Contract value of 400 billion ≈ 560 billion USD.
Given that each transaction on the Gate is counted as one buy and one sell, the transaction volume should be divided by 2, which is $280 billion.
4.5.3 Calculation of Crypto Asset Turnover Rate (CATR)
2800 / 40 = 70x
4.6 MEXC
4.6.1 User Core Asset Data
USDT: User assets total $1.723 billion (platform assets $2.245 billion, collateralization ratio 130%)
BTC: User assets 3,555 BTC (approximately $300 million).
ETH: User assets total 54,357 ETH (approximately $160 million)
USDC: Around 100 million
Total assets estimated at: approximately US$2.3 billion
4.6.2 Transaction Volume Analysis
According to Coingecko's spot data, the average daily trading volume over the past 30 days was 3.3 billion, with an estimated monthly trading volume of 100 billion; the average daily trading volume for contracts was 45 billion, with an estimated monthly trading volume of 1.35 trillion. (I really couldn't find a reliable data source, so please bear with me.)
Given that MEXC counts buy and sell transactions as one transaction each, the trading volume should be divided by 2, resulting in $675 billion.
Interestingly, a TokenInsight report states that MEXC ranks second globally in spot trading, with a market share of approximately 9% (https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2025/10/30/3177141/0/en/TokenInsight-MEXC-Ranks-Second-in-Global-Spot-Trading-Capturing-11-of-Market-Share-in-Q3-2025.html).
4.6.3 Calculation of Crypto Asset Turnover Rate (CATR)
6750 / 23 = 293.48x
4.7 HTX
4.7.1 User Core Asset Data
According to HTX's disclosure in October, user assets are as follows:
19,867 BTC
115,278 ETH
USDT 1.35 billion
USDC 37 million
Total user core assets are estimated at $3.5 billion.
4.7.2 Transaction Volume Analysis
According to Coingecko data, HTX's average daily contract trading volume is $8.5 billion, and its 30-day volume is $255 billion; the average daily spot trading volume is around $4 billion, and its 30-day volume is $120 billion.
Overall estimate: Monthly transaction volume is approximately US$337.5 billion.
Given that HTX counts each buy and sell transaction as one transaction, the trading volume should be calculated as 3750/2, or $187.5 billion.
4.7.3 Calculation of Asset Turnover Ratio (ATR)
1875 / 35 = 53.57x
This article is intended merely to spark discussion and hopefully inspire readers to explore more interesting and efficient metrics and data dimensions. It's not that the crypto market is too difficult, but rather that we haven't taken a systematic approach to it.
