The platform’s 2026 delisting pace has already produced its highest annual spot-removal total since 2022, with 42 tokens removed through Aug. 11 and a further seven spot pairs, including AIXBT and DOLO, scheduled for deletion on Sept. 25. The pattern points to a more active pruning cycle in which older spot assets and recently introduced perpetual contracts face different forms of pressure.
Official delisting notices and market data covering Feb. 17, 2022 through Aug. 11, 2026 recorded 144 spot delistings and 150 derivatives delistings. Spot removals have risen particularly quickly this year: the 42 tokens removed by Aug. 11 exceeded the spot total for every previous full or partial year in the period reviewed.
The exchange also removed 28 USD-margined perpetual contracts over the same 2026 period. While the contract total remained below the spot figure, the split between the two markets shows that the platform is applying different filters to established tokens and newer derivatives products.
Delisting rounds have become more frequent
Delisting rounds arrived every 28 days on average in 2026, compared with an average interval of 52 days in 2025. Eight rounds were spaced between eight and 44 days apart, and each round removed more than five tokens on average.
Two April announcements illustrate the compressed schedule. Delisting rounds on April 9 and April 17 removed a combined nine tokens, concentrating a substantial share of the year’s removals into a single month.
The latest notices extend that pattern beyond the original review period. Seven spot pairs, including AIXBT and DOLO, are due to be removed on Sept. 25. The company has also set Sept. 24 as the deadline to halt all trading in Pax Dollar, after removing five cross-margin pairs on Sept. 18.
Frequent rounds can complicate liquidity for affected assets well before the final trading deadline. Market makers and traders often reduce activity as a removal date approaches, leaving holders with fewer venues and potentially thinner order books.
Older spot tokens face removal while newer contracts disappear quickly
The age profile of removed assets differs sharply between the spot and derivatives markets. Median lifespan at the time of spot removal increased from 4.1 years in 2022 to 5.1 years in 2026, according to the listing-history analysis. For perpetual contracts, the median fell from 1.3 years to 0.8 years.
Of the 42 spot tokens removed in 2026, 31 were first listed in 2021 or earlier. PIVX, FUN and LRC had each been listed for about 8.6 years before their removal. Twenty of the 42 removed spot tokens also dated from the 2020-21 listing period, when many projects associated with earlier market cycles gained exchange access.
Perpetual-contract removals tell a different story. All 28 contracts removed in 2026 were listed after 2024, including 23 that arrived in 2025. Eleven lasted less than six months.
That contrast places mature, lower-priority spot assets alongside a derivatives lineup where recently launched contracts appear to be tested quickly for sustained demand. A token can retain enough market recognition to trade on spot for years while failing to meet the standards for a long-lived futures market. Conversely, a newly issued token may attract enough early attention for a perpetual listing but lose open interest rapidly after its initial trading phase.
Spot and derivatives listings increasingly follow separate paths
The platform listed 1,114 assets across its history in the data set: 284 listed only on spot, 474 listed on both spot and contracts, and 356 listed only on contracts.
In 2026, 93% of tokens removed from perpetual contracts had never been listed on spot. That structure helps explain why derivatives removals skew toward recently introduced assets: many are products designed for contract trading rather than candidates for the main spot market.
The more common one-venue removal was a spot delisting while contracts remained available. There were 35 such cases, compared with 18 cases in which contracts were removed but spot trading continued. Another 43 assets were removed from both venues.
Keeping a perpetual contract while withdrawing spot support can preserve a trading instrument for market participants willing to use derivatives, though it removes the direct token-purchase route on the platform. The opposite arrangement, in which spot remains but a contract disappears, generally reflects a decision to retain basic token access without maintaining a leveraged product.
DeFi led spot removals, while infrastructure dominated contracts
DeFi accounted for 16 of the 42 spot removals in 2026, or 38% of the total. Gaming and NFT-related tokens followed with nine removals, or 21%, while infrastructure, Layer 1 and Layer 2 projects accounted for eight. DePIN and data-related assets accounted for five.
Together, DeFi and Gaming/NFT tokens represented nearly 60% of spot removals. The result reflects both the large number of projects launched across those sectors during earlier cycles and the challenge of sustaining exchange activity years after their original narratives faded.
The derivatives list leaned more heavily toward newer infrastructure themes. Infra/L1/L2 contracts accounted for 10 of the 28 removals, while DeFi and meme-token contracts each accounted for four. Since nearly all of these contracts were introduced after 2024, the category mix tracks recent listing activity rather than an established group of aging assets.
Issuance-linked routes also appeared frequently among removals. Binance Alpha Spotlight accounted for 63% of removed perpetual-contract tokens in 2026, while 11 of the 42 removed spot tokens, or 26%, had arrived through Launchpool or Launchpad. A2Z, for example, was listed on spot in July 2025 and removed in April 2026 after roughly eight months.
Valuation and open interest were stronger warning signals than volume
For 2026 spot listings, fully diluted valuation showed a closer relationship with removal rates than average daily trading value. Tokens with FDV below $10 million had a 49% removal rate, while the rate was zero for tokens above $100 million.
The median FDV of removed spot tokens was $10.53 million, compared with $56.88 million for those that remained listed, a gap of about 5.4 times. Trading activity showed a smaller divide: removed tokens had median spot trading value of $650,000, against $1.19 million for tokens that stayed listed.
The $1 million-to-$3 million daily trading-value band still recorded a 10.6% spot removal rate, indicating that moderate turnover alone did not assure continued support.
For USD-margined perpetuals, open interest provided the clearer dividing line. Contracts with less than $1 million in open interest had a 31% removal rate, while none of those above $20 million were removed. Median open interest was $1.21 million for removed contracts and $3.13 million for those that remained.
High derivatives trading volume offered less protection. The removal rate remained 2.8% even for contracts with more than $100 million in average daily trading value. COMMON and RVV were both removed despite average daily volumes of $29.35 million and $2.854 million, respectively, before their delisting announcements.
The 2026 data suggests the platform is placing greater weight on an asset’s durable market depth—measured through valuation on spot and committed open interest in perpetuals—than on short-term bursts of trading activity.
Concerned about rising delistings and market risk? Learn how crypto derivatives work before opening your next position.
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