Recent market volatility has seen a major boost in the global derivatives market, with volumes expected to hit record levels in 2025, a report by Coalition Greenwich has revealed. 
As tariffs and trading uncertainty have taken prominence in industry debates, derivatives volumes such as options, futures and swaps have increased significantly. According to a study conducted by Coalition Greenwich in January 2025, 70% of derivatives professionals have predicted that trading volumes will increase this year.
Out of all the derivatives market participants and experts surveyed, none of the buy-side anticipated volumes to decrease, with 69% of them expecting growth.
Similarly, 73% of participants working at clearing houses and trading venues predicted an increase, and similar consensus was seen across both Europe and America, with growth expected by 77% of European and 70% of American respondents.
Additionally, the overarching opinion from participants indicated that while growth would be global, India would be a significant driver as a top region for growth, with the Middle East also standing out as a notable area.
Moreover, Coalition Greenwich noted crypto assets as an emerging opportunity for the derivatives industry, with research indicating that 65% of the buy-side now trades some form of crypto derivatives, such as futures, options and perpetual futures.
Adapting to volume surges
While derivatives growth presents opportunities, the report also pointed towards potential capacity challenges if volumes rise as predicted.
“As volumes grow and new regions become more integral to the derivatives market structure, operational risk increases, and capacity challenges become more pronounced,” said Stephen Bruel, senior analyst on the market structure and technology team at Coalition Greenwich.
“The industry will need new solutions to help manage this rapid growth.”
Technologies such as the use of generative AI are expected to help increase capacity, and the tool has gained significant traction in recent years as firms begin to look into its capabilities in trading.
The report revealed that over a five-year time horizon, 35% of industry leaders are more optimistic about generative AI’s potential, while 43% of the buy-side highlighting the tool as a possible “game changer”.
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Bruel continued: “Derivatives workflows can be notoriously complex, and AI applied to processes such as reconciliations could alleviate some of the burdens.”
Opinions on AI are not universal, however, with 32% of the sell-side turning towards tokenisation in collateral management as a tool with greater possible impact on improving capacity.
Coalition Greenwich interviewed 263 derivatives market participants and experts to collate the report, with respondents mostly from North America, as well as Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Middle East.