BitMEX Has Shut Down: Where Do Its Traders Go Now?
After 11 years, the exchange that invented the perpetual swap contract has gone dark, leaving its remaining traders scrambling and a $495 million lawsuit from Celsius's bankruptcy estate casting a long shadow over its founders.
BitMEX, the exchange that popularized cryptocurrency’s perpetual swap contracts, has officially ceased operations after 11 years, leaving its last customers scrambling to find new trading platforms. Although BitMEX no longer accepts trading or deposits after the shutdown, withdrawals will remain available through the website.
On July 23, 2026, HDR Global Trading, BitMEX’s parent company, announced the exchange’s closure and halted new position openings on August 26. During the final month, the exchange allowed traders to close out their positions. However, many traders had already left the platform years prior, raising the more pressing question of where they migrated.
BitMEX Built the Perpetual Swap Market and Then Lost It
BitMEX introduced its perpetual swap in May 2016, a trading product without an expiration date that lets traders hold positions indefinitely. This flexibility, paired with up to 100x leverage, meant the exchange lent traders up to 100 times the capital they put down.
At its peak in 2018 and 2019, BitMEX was responsible for about 57% of all crypto derivatives trading. However, the narrative shifted in October 2020 when the Justice Department and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) charged the exchange and its founders for facilitating trades with U.S. customers without proper registration. Although the founders eventually pleaded guilty and received pardons from President Trump in March 2025, the damage was done.
By the time of the closure, BitMEX’s share of derivatives trading plummeted to around 0.08%, with daily trading volume dwindling to approximately $400,000. The BMEX token fell nearly 90% after the shutdown announcement.
BitMEX Blames a Strategic Review, and Celsius Sued 11 Days Earlier
BitMEX has attributed its shutdown to a strategic review of its business and the broader crypto market, asserting that the decision was not linked to any legal issues. However, the bankruptcy estate of Celsius, the crypto lending platform that collapsed in 2022, offers a different perspective through a lawsuit filed on September 12 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.
This lawsuit names several companies connected to BitMEX and seeks approximately 6,360 BTC, valued at around $495 million. The estate claims BitMEX wrongfully liquidated and seized Bitcoin during the March 2020 market crash, taking 1,326 BTC from Celsius and an additional 5,034 BTC from a fund called JST, which later transferred its claim to Celsius.
The estate argues that BitMEX controlled the systems responsible for these liquidations as well as the insurance fund that grew from those actions. The court has yet to rule on these claims.
International Exchanges, Onchain Protocols and U.S. Desks Took BitMEX’s Traders
With BitMEX’s exit from the market, traders now have several options to continue trading. Most have moved to international exchanges such as Binance, OKX, and Bybit, which together manage over 60% of crypto derivatives volume for users outside the U.S.
On-chain exchanges are also picking up the slack, with platforms like Hyperliquid, dYdX, GMX, and Drift offering perpetual markets that let traders keep control of their assets directly from their wallets—reducing the risk of a centralized exchange freezing or unexpectedly closing operations.
For those based in the U.S., alternatives include the CME Group (NASDAQ:CME | CME Price Prediction), which offers crypto futures, and Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) Derivatives, which provides perpetual contracts for eligible U.S. customers. Additionally, Kraken’s parent company is working to launch perpetual futures on its regulated exchange, Bitnomial.
Where Do BitMEX Traders Go After the Shutdown?
Most BitMEX users had already moved to platforms like Binance, OKX, and Bybit long before the exchange’s closure. Those who remained until the end are now following suit. The perpetual swap product has outlasted the exchange that introduced it, with BitMEX’s daily volume hovering around $400,000—too low to significantly influence the Bitcoin market.
Customers who leave their balances on BitMEX will incur an annual fee of around 1% on their remaining funds. Withdrawals through the API will cease on September 28, after which users must rely solely on the website. Furthermore, the ongoing Celsius lawsuit could affect whether BitMEX’s owners are held accountable for the $495 million the estate seeks, meaning the exchange may remain in the news even after officially shutting down.
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Sam Daodu is a crypto analyst who's spent nearly a decade making blockchain understandable—no easy task when most whitepapers read like fever dreams. He writes for 24/7 Wall St., covering Bitcoin, altcoins, and crypto market analysis for investors. Before crypto, he was a tech writer (back when explaining "the cloud" was peak innovation). Since 2018, he's written for CoinTelegraph, Yahoo Finance, The Block, Cryptonews, Zypto, Rain, and more—basically anywhere people want crypto news without the headache. Sam runs MacLabs Marketing, a content agency for crypto brands tired of sounding like AI wrote their website. He also publishes free crypto education on his site for Web3 enthusiasts who think "gas fees" is a typo. When he's not writing or staring at charts, Sam's either: - Watching anime (currently convinced One Piece has better tokenomics than most altcoins) - At the gym sculpting himself into a Greek god - Listening to the music your mum warned you only bad boys listen to Connect: LinkedIn | Email | MacLabs Marketing
