Centralized crypto exchanges are seeing a sharp rise in activity tied to traditional financial assets across Asia, driven by strong demand for stock futures and other instruments. Data from a recent industry study show that average daily stock futures volume among MEXC users in the region climbed 3,308 percent quarter over quarter in the second quarter of 2026.

The findings come from The Cross Asset Shift, a report prepared by Blockworks Research and commissioned by MEXC Ventures. Researchers combined exchange market figures, MEXC platform data from Asia, and a survey of the exchange’s users. The study points to futures as the main channel for this cross-asset activity.

Sharp Growth in Stock Futures Across Asia

Beyond the overall volume increase, the average daily number of stock futures traders on MEXC in Asia rose 386 percent from the first quarter. Growth was even steeper in Southeast Asia, where average daily volume advanced 6,648 percent and the user count climbed 399 percent. East Asia recorded a 1,957 percent rise in volume and a 465 percent increase in traders over the same period.

Momentum carried into the third quarter. Through August, average daily stock futures volume across Asia had advanced another 102 percent from the second quarter, while the number of users grew 51 percent. East Asian volume increased 186 percent in that span, compared with a 50 percent gain in Southeast Asia.

Spot stock trading also expanded, though from a smaller base. In Southeast Asia, the average daily number of MEXC users trading spot stocks rose 153 percent in the second quarter, with volume up 348 percent. Through August in the third quarter, those figures increased a further 159 percent and 87 percent respectively.

Futures Lead as TradFi Share Expands

Futures dominate cross-asset trading on centralized exchanges. Real-world assets, foreign exchange, and tokenized stocks make up less than 2 percent of monthly spot volume but more than 12 percent of futures volume. In July, futures linked to these categories generated close to 400 billion dollars, the highest monthly total in the period examined.

Tokenized stock contracts accounted for most of the recent expansion. Binance led the segment, while MEXC and BingX each held roughly 20 percent of the volume. MEXC itself processed 427 million dollars in spot tokenized-stock volume during July, ranking behind Bybit, Gate, and Binance. Combined spot trading across tokenized stocks, foreign exchange, and real-world assets reached about 9.5 billion dollars that month, down from more than 30 billion dollars in October 2025.

The disparity shows that traders largely favor leveraged contracts over spot holdings. Perpetual futures allow long or short positions without expiry, though leverage raises the risk of larger losses and liquidation.

Earlier data from CoinGecko placed MEXC second in TradFi perpetual futures volume, with 323.86 billion dollars recorded between January 2025 and May 2026. The exchange ranked first for product coverage in that review, listing 199 real-world-asset spot products and 159 TradFi perpetual contracts for a total of 358 offerings.

Precious Metals Give Way to Stock Momentum

Among crypto-native Asian survey respondents, 62.6 percent said they primarily traded precious metals through centralized exchanges, the highest share of any region surveyed. Gold was among the first traditional assets to scale on these platforms. World Gold Council figures cited in the report showed Asian gold exchange-traded funds added 215 metric tons in the first quarter of 2026 and attracted 25 billion dollars in net inflows.

On MEXC, average daily gold futures volume in Southeast Asia rose 18 percent quarter over quarter. The number of daily users trading spot gold increased 42 percent, outpacing growth in East and South Asia. Precious-metals futures open interest peaked at 1.98 billion dollars in May before easing to 1.69 billion dollars at the end of June, still representing 36.2 percent of all open positions in TradFi perpetual futures.

U.S. stock futures overtook precious metals by open interest in June as interest broadened to equity-linked contracts. Demand for artificial intelligence and memory-chip names helped draw traders who had previously focused on cryptocurrency markets. Spot gold came closer to balance between cash and leveraged trading: MEXC’s PAXG markets handled 2.02 billion dollars in spot volume and 2.03 billion dollars in futures volume from January through July 2026, with the monthly futures-to-spot ratio ranging between 0.8 and 1.6.

Drivers of the Shift to Centralized Platforms

Survey responses point to practical advantages of crypto platforms. About 61.5 percent of Asian respondents described traditional brokerage trading hours as limited, and 75.1 percent said they had faced a major market event while conventional markets were closed. Another 79 percent indicated they would consider a crypto platform for gold or crude oil under similar conditions. High fees were cited by 53.8 percent, and complex account-opening procedures by 42.6 percent.

Existing crypto infrastructure supports the move. On-chain value received across Asia-Pacific rose 69 percent year over year in the twelve months ending June 2025, the fastest rate among regions compared. Monthly on-chain value in the region grew from about 80 billion dollars in July 2022 to almost 245 billion dollars in late 2024, remaining between 185 billion and 230 billion dollars in the first half of 2025. Asia accounted for roughly 30 percent of worldwide stablecoin activity in 2025, according to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development research.

A user holding stablecoins such as USDT on an exchange can switch between Bitcoin, stocks, gold, and indices without transferring funds to a bank or opening a separate brokerage account. In the MEXC survey, 83.9 percent of Asian respondents already relied primarily on centralized exchanges for their cryptocurrency trading.

Relative performance may also have played a role. From the start of 2025 through the report’s measurement window, Bitcoin declined 32 percent, while gold advanced 64 percent, the Nasdaq-100 tracking fund rose 42 percent, and the S&P 500 tracking fund gained 32 percent.

Requirements for Sustained Expansion

The report notes that continued growth will depend on deeper spot-market liquidity, stronger user education, more robust safeguards for leveraged trading, and improved price transparency and liquidity when traditional markets are closed. MEXC Ventures stated it is targeting investment opportunities in tokenization, trading infrastructure, custody, and settlement to support further development of these markets.

Both survey results and platform data indicate a clear move among Asian users toward multi-asset trading on centralized exchanges. As product offerings, liquidity, and risk controls advance, the region stands positioned as a significant market for these services.