The Good Tech Companies - Inside Bybit's Trading Infrastructure: How to Handle Billions in Volume During Market Spikes

Starting point is 00:00:00 This audio is presented by Hacker Noon, where anyone can learn anything about any technology. Inside Bybitt's trading infrastructure, how to handle billions in volume during market spikes, by Ashan Pondy. Greater than Bybit closed out 2025 with a statement making achievement. On December 22nd, the greater than exchange claimed the top spot and 24-hour spot trading volume among centralized greater than exchanges, processing over $9. 2 billion in transactions, the milestone, driven, largely by explosive interest in the night, USDT trading pair, demonstrated the exchange's capacity

Starting point is 00:00:35 to handle massive surges without disruption. I spoke with Emily BOW, head of spot at Biobit, about what it takes to build infrastructure capable of capturing such moments, the strategic decisions behind Bibit's liquidity positioning, and how the exchange plans to carry this momentum into 2026. A'Shaun Pondi, hi Emily, welcome to our behind the startup series. Could you tell us about your journey in the crypto industry? and what drew you to lead spot trading operations at Bybit. Emily Bow. My work in Crypto has always focused on how markets function across different conditions, and over time that led me into roles centered on trading products, liquidity structure, and market operations. Bybit is well known for

Starting point is 00:01:16 its derivatives' routes, but like any mature centralized exchange, spot trading is foundational and taken very seriously. What stood out to me was how much emphasis the team places on execution quality, liquidity, and THE overall trading experience on spot, not just on growth metrics. Alongside leading spot at Bybid, I also spend time on ecosystem work as a mantle advisor and on-chain initiatives like Byriel. Having exposure across centralized and on-chain environments reinforces the same lesson for me. Strongspot foundations remain essential, even as trading environments and user behavior continue to evolve. Ashan Pondi, Bybid just achieved the number one position in 24-hour spot trading volume. Walk us through what that day

Starting point is 00:01:59 looked like operationally. How does your team prepare for and respond to these high-intensity trading moments? Emily Bow. The day itself was intense, but it wasn't unexpected. When we see activity building in certain markets, preparation starts early. We've experienced periods of elevated trading activity before. For example, in August 2024, Bybit reported a record daily trading volume exceeding $107 billion across all product types, which reinforced the importance of being prepared for sudden shifts in market participation. What made the night USD-T moment different was not just the scale, but how early signals began to converge. We saw a growing interest across community channels, early liquidity formation, and increasing trader attention before volumes fully accelerated.

Starting point is 00:02:46 That Allodore teams across engineering, liquidity, risk, and operations to align early and the market could scale smoothly as demand increased. This kind of preparation is less about reacting to a spike and more about recognizing when multiple indicators point in the same direction. During periods like this, our focus is on maintaining stable trading conditions and consistent execution from a user's perspective. These are baseline infrastructure expectations for mature centralized exchanges. Ultimately, the volume number is a result.

Starting point is 00:03:17 The priority is making sure traders can continue to place and manage orders normally, even when activity concentrates into a short window. Ashon Pondi, the Knight USD-T pair drove significant activity, with bibecommanding over 77% of the tokens network-wide trading volume. What goes into the decision-making process for supporting emerging assets and how do you identify which tokens will resonate with traders? Emily Bough. With emerging assets, we look beyond short-term attention and try to evaluate a matrix of factors with the information we have at the time, such as S liquidity behavior, trading demand, community sentiment, and whether there is sustained interest rather than purely reactive volume. Like many skills in crypto, resources and data are no longer exclusive

Starting point is 00:04:01 to professional traders and analysts. Bybit offers an AI-powered insights product, trade GPT, that assists users in their research journey. It's free, and anyone can try it out to research their tokens of interest and dive into the driving factors of a token's performance. In the case of night, USDT, trading activity concentrated quickly, and traders gravitated toward venues where they could trade efficiently during peak demand. Our role is to make sure that we are ready to support the surges in demand when interest accelerates. Supporting an asset is not just about listing it, but about making sure the surrounding trading conditions meet trader expectations.

Starting point is 00:04:39 Ashon Pondi, processing billions in volume requires strong infrastructure. Can you share insight into how Bibit approaches system-rockets? reliability and liquidity during demand spikes. Emily Bow. At scale, the priority is consistency. We plan for periods of elevated activity and focus on maintaining predictable execution behavior when markets move quickly. This requires robust infrastructure, deep liquidity, four-spot trading, a powerful matching engine that can handle the upper limits OFTPS, and something people overlook, security guardrails. On the liquidity side, we emphasize depth, diversification, and continuous monitoring of market conditions. The goal is not to optimize for calm markets,

Starting point is 00:05:22 but to ensure that trading remains stable when participation increases rapidly. From a trader's point of view, the experience should remain familiar and smooth. An imperfect metaphor would be, when your Tesla speeds up, you should be able to experience the velocity without hearing the engine roar. Ashan Pondi, Bibit positions itself as a trader's house, bringing together spot, derivatives, and other products. How does it this integrated approach shape by bits spot offering emily bow most active traders operate across products rather than within a single category when traders have access to spot derivatives and at by bit trad phi and earn products and even bespoke wealth management solutions they can manage exposure and capital

Starting point is 00:06:05 more efficiently without unnecessary friction this integration also benefits spot markets directly cross product activity contributes to healthier liquidity and more consistent price formation off treating products as isolated verticals, we focus on how they work together to support real trading strategies. Ashan Pondi liquidity is often described as the main competitive battleground for exchanges. What has bibed done to support liquidity quality, especially during volatile conditions, Emily Bough, liquidity is built over time. It depends on both retail and institutional participation, incentive structures that encourage consistency and systems that maximize reliability and security. In addition, in order to build meaningful relationships with institutional investors,

Starting point is 00:06:52 exchanges like Bybit have to introduce the necessary guardrails and achieve certain levels of compliance and regulatory capacities. We also think carefully about how assets are used within the platform. Expanding trading pairs, supporting fee utility, and aligning incentives all contribute to healthier market behavior. During volatile periods, the focus is on keeping trading conditions stable so that both traders and liquidity providers can operate with confidence. Ashon Pondi, looking ahead to 2026, what developments can traders expect from BybitSpot? Emily Bow. Our focus is on continuing to strengthen the core spot experience. That includes improving execution consistency, expanding high-quality markets, and refining tools that active traders rely on. We will also

Starting point is 00:07:38 continue to explore ways to connect spot trading with on-chain opportunities in a way that feels practical and familiar to users. The direction is straightforward, build reliable infrastructure, support real trading needs, and make sure spot markets remain a strong foundation as the broader ecosystem evolves. This interview is part of Hackernoons behind the startup series, exploring the stories and insights of leaders building the future of technology. Thank you for listening to this Hackernoon story, read by artificial intelligence. Visit hackernoon.com to read, write, learn and publish.

The Good Tech Companies - Inside Bybit's Trading Infrastructure: How to Handle Billions in Volume During Market Spikes

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