I just noticed a very interesting report that CoinGecko recently released about the crypto market in Q1 2026. The numbers show a very different scenario from the optimism we had at the end of 2025.

Basically, the entire sector shrank considerably. The total market capitalization fell 20.4% this quarter, closing around $2.4 trillion. Compared to the peak in October of last year, we're talking about a nearly 45% drop. The average daily volume also plummeted 27.2% compared to the previous quarter, reaching $117.8 billion. According to CoinGecko's analysis, this was influenced both by the bearish momentum at the end of 2025 and by the ongoing global geopolitical instability.

What stands out is that Bitcoin dropped 22% during this period, while oil surged 76.9% due to tensions between the US and Iran. Compared to traditional indices, the Nasdaq fell 7.1% and the S&P 500 only 4.8%, so crypto took a much bigger hit.

In stablecoins, the story is a bit different. USDT recorded its first decline since mid-2022, with a reduction of 1.6%, while USDC grew 2.4% and now circulates around $77 billion. The total market cap of stablecoins remained relatively stable at $309.9 billion.

What interested me most in the CoinGecko report was the highlight on commodity perpetuals. Solana maintained leadership in on-chain volume with a 30.6% quarterly share, but was surpassed by Ethereum in March. There's also Monad, which entered the top ten. Hyperliquid gained traction after the HIP-3 update that supports perpetual commodity contracts, and these contracts already account for about 30% of the total open positions there. There's more: oil perpetual contracts on the tradeXYZ platform reached daily volumes above $4 billion on April 9, surpassing Bitcoin's daily volume on Hyperliquid for the first time. That's a very significant move.

In spot trading on the main CEXs, volume fell 39.1% compared to the previous quarter, totaling $2.7 trillion. March was especially weak, with only $0.8 trillion recorded, the lowest level since November 2023.

Basically, CoinGecko is showing a market that has undergone significant compression, but with some emerging areas gaining strength, especially these commodity derivatives that are growing quite a lot.