Summary of this article
Women traders used lower leverage, held longer trades, preferred Bitcoin and XRP assets.
Crypto Futures volumes grew as smaller cities contributed significantly to participation.
Retail traders dominated Futures activity, with peak trading during evening hours.
Women crypto traders followed different trading patterns in the futures market, according to a report by crypto exchange Giottus based on trading activity between September 2025 and May 2026. The study found that women accounted for around one in eight crypto futures traders on the platform.
How Women And Men Approach Crypto Futures Trading
The report also found differences in how women and men traded in the crypto futures market particularly in their use of leverage. In crypto futures, leverage lets traders use borrowed funds from an exchange to trade with more money than they actually invest. For instance, 5x leverage means a trader can take a position worth five times their own investment.
Women also held their futures trades open for an average of eight hours longer than men. The difference was more pronounced at the trade level, with nearly 80 per cent of women’s trades using 5x leverage, while nearly 80 per cent of men’s trades were placed at 20x leverage.
The report also found differences in the assets preferred by women traders. Around 60 per cent of women held either Bitcoin or XRP, while 24 per cent held both. Their portfolios also showed a preference for gold-linked assets.
“We should resist turning this into a simple claim that women are cautious and men are aggressive. The report records behaviour and not its causes. Financial objectives, trading experience, risk perception and the time available to monitor markets can all influence these choices,” said Vikram Subburaj, CEO of Giottus.
Beyond gender-based trading patterns, the report showed that crypto futures accounted for 57.22 per cent of Giottus’ total trading volume during the study period, compared with 42.78 per cent from spot trading. However, only 24 per cent of the platform’s active users traded in futures, suggesting that a relatively small group of users generated more than half of the platform’s trading volume.
Crypto Futures Participation Expands Beyond Metro Cities
The report also highlighted the growing role of smaller cities in crypto derivatives trading. Nearly 48 per cent of futures participants came from tier-2 cities, compared with 31 per cent from tier-1 cities and 21 per cent from other locations.
Tamil Nadu emerged as the largest contributor to futures trading, accounting for 46.60 per cent of futures traders and 59.26 per cent of the platform’s futures trading volume. Kerala contributed another 10.23 per cent of the trading volume.
Bitcoin and Ethereum together accounted for only 15.35 per cent of futures trading volume during the review period. Ethereum contributed 7.07 per cent, followed by Solana at 5.76 per cent and XRP at 5.24 per cent, indicating that traders are increasingly participating beyond the two largest cryptocurrencies.
The report also found that 66.28 per cent of futures participants were retail traders, while larger traders accounted for the remaining 33.72 per cent. Trading activity was highest between 7 pm and 10 pm while the lowest activity was recorded between 3 am and 6 am.
