After suffering the largest hack in crypto history, Bybit has begun to recover swiftly, regaining nearly double its lost market share. The key? A retail-focused strategy that keeps individual investors front and center.

Bybit’s Market Collapse and Quick Rebound

From Disaster to Recovery in Just Weeks

In early 2025, Bybit was rocked by a catastrophic $1.6 billion hack—the biggest in crypto history. The immediate fallout was brutal: market share plummeted from 10% in January to just 4%. Trading volumes dropped sharply, and liquidity concerns mounted.

Yet just weeks later, Bybit saw a turnaround. A Block Scholes report revealed that its market share rebounded to 7%, with trading activity and order book depth stabilizing. Notably, the bid-ask spread—an essential metric for market efficiency—remained stable. This signaled continued activity from market makers even amid the chaos.

Retail Traders at the Heart of the Comeback

RPI Orders Empower Individual Investors

Bybit’s recovery isn’t just luck—it’s strategy. The platform introduced Retail Price Improvement (RPI) orders, exclusive to individual traders on the mobile app. Unlike traditional orders accessible to institutions and bots, RPI orders help level the playing field.

According to Bybit’s own data, RPI orders posted significantly higher 3-stall liquidity—liquidity close to the market price—than standard orders. This meant tighter spreads and better prices for retail users, encouraging more manual trading activity at a time when confidence was fragile.

Liquidity Remains a Core Strength

Bid-Ask Spreads Stay Resilient Across Major Tokens

Even during its sharpest decline in volume, Bybit maintained relatively tight bid-ask spreads, especially in BTC and ETH markets. This helped prevent a total market freeze and signaled internal market resilience. The Block Scholes report emphasized that such tight spreads were unusual during high-stress events and pointed to strong liquidity protocols.

This resilience was a critical component in restoring user trust. Despite the hack, the exchange demonstrated operational integrity in maintaining a functioning trading environment for its core users.

A Data-Driven Recovery Strategy

Analytics and Custom Features Drive Market Confidence

Bybit didn’t simply ride a wave of market recovery. It actively commissioned analysis and tailored features to bolster user confidence. The decision to publish research via Block Scholes gave transparency to its performance metrics and recovery timeline.

More importantly, the combination of technical data and new user-centric features such as RPI created a positive feedback loop—retail engagement increased, which improved liquidity, which then attracted more users back to the platform.

What’s Next for Bybit?

Rebuilding Trust One Trade at a Time

Bybit’s comeback is still a work in progress, but its retail-first approach is paying off. With the exchange pushing beyond its post-hack low, the next challenge is to sustain this growth and regain its former 10%+ market share.