Crypto exchange BitMEX accelerated its delisting of derivative contracts and trading pairs in July due to “insufficient trading interest,” offering a glimpse at declining activity on the platform surrounding its decision to wind down the exchange.
BitMEX’s website shows that in early July, it delisted 21 derivative contracts; two weeks later, BitMEX delisted nine spot pairs for lack of trading interest. On Thursday, BitMEX added another 35 derivative contracts to the queue for delisting, totaling 65 delistings in July.
“We’ve decided to delist these contracts due to insufficient trading interest in these contracts and the closure of the BitMEX exchange,” it said in a statement.
Cointelegraph’s analysis of BitMEX’s delisting announcements over the past year shows that 65 crypto instruments are set to be delisted in July, compared to 19 in the first half of the year.
BitMEX announced Thursday that it will cease exchange services on Sept. 23, 2026, at 4:00 am UTC, but did not give a specific reason for the closure, saying only that it followed a “strategic review of the business and the broader crypto industry.”
Speaking to Cointelegraph, restructuring adviser Roshan Dharia said the exchange’s demise reflects structural pressures facing mid-sized centralized exchanges, where liquidity has increasingly concentrated among the industry’s largest players and regulatory compliance costs continue to rise.