Tanker forward freight agreement (FFA) volumes jumped 20% in 2018, according to Baltic Exchange figures.
Derivative volumes hit 321,962 lots last year, it said, while the bulker figure was up 1.4% at 1,196,929 lots, the most since 2008.
Dry options volumes rose by 44% to 268,976 lots - similar levels to 2016.
A lot is defined as a day's hire of a vessel or 1,000 metric tonnes of cargo.
Panamax bulker volumes grew by 10% and now account for 48% of all dry FFA trades. Capesize volumes were down slightly on 2017, dropping 4.5% to 481,725 lots.
For tankers, dirty trade volumes were up 53% on the previous year at 191,224 lots.
The Baltic said much of this growth took place in the final quarter of 2018, when an average of 5,691 lots were traded each week.
Clean volumes for the year were down 10% at 130,738 lots.
