Coinbase has suspended non-$80 trading pairs to improve liquidity

US-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase is removing dozens of trading pairs to improve liquidity on its platform.

Coinbase has banned 80 non-US dollar trading pairs, including cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC), fiat currencies like Tether (USDT) and the Euro.

Announcing the news on Oct. 16, Coinbase said the removal of trading pairs was aimed at “improving overall market health and strengthening liquidity.” Trading pairs were removed from the Coinbase exchange and as Advanced Trade and Coinbase Prime at 19:30 UTC on October 16.

The latest removal of trading pairs on Coinbase is in line with the exchange's plans to block the markets announced in early October. Coinbase emphasized that users of affected platforms can still use the exchange's USD Coin (USDC) balances to trade the markets with “more liquid USD order books.”

“Please note that these markets are immaterial to Coinbase Exchange's total trading volume,” the exchange said.

@CoinbaseExch regularly monitors markets on our exchange. To improve overall market health and strengthen liquidity, we are removing several non-US dollar trading pairs for certain supported assets.

— Coinbase Exchange ️ (@CoinbaseExch) October 2, 2023

Coinbase has been blocking trading pairs across platforms for some time to improve liquidity. The exchange removed 41 other non-US dollar markets in mid-September, citing similar reasons. While Coinbase removed several trading pairs containing USDT, none of the blocked markets included USDC, the stablecoin jointly developed by Coinbase and Circle.

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Coinbase's continued moves to improve the exchange come amid record trading volume for the exchange this year. According to cryptocurrency market data provider CCData, Coinbase's spot trading volume fell 52 percent for the third quarter of 2022.

Other major cryptocurrency exchanges such as Binance have also seen their spot market share fall this year. According to CCData, Binance's spot market share declined for the seventh consecutive month in September 2023, from 55% in early 2023 to 34% in September 2023.

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