Crypto leverage remains sharply below its 2025 peak months after October’s market-wide liquidation shock, according to CoinGecko’s State of Crypto Perpetuals Report 2026.

Total crypto open interest fell from a peak of $210 billion on October 7, 2025, just before the October 10 liquidation event, to $99.09 billion by April 2026. That leaves market-wide open interest more than 50% below its high, showing that traders have not rebuilt leverage at the same pace.

Open Interest Remains More Than 50% Below Its Peak

The decline comes as centralized perpetual exchanges continue to dominate crypto derivatives trading. However, their activity has weakened in 2026.

The top 11 perpetual CEXs averaged $7.11 trillion in monthly…