South Korea Hits $18B in Crypto Trading, Beats Stocks

Cryptocurrency trading volumes in South Korea rose to $18 billion on Dec. 2, exceeding exchange volumes by 22%, according to 10x Research.

South Korea’s crypto trading activity has outpaced the exchange, which recorded 539.6 billion won ($385 million) in foreign inflows on Dec. 2, Bloomberg reports. This increase is owed to retail enthusiasm in senior tokens such as Hedera (HBAR), Dogecoin (DOGE), Stellar (XLM) and Ripple (XRP), 10x Research reported.

The Kospi Index recorded the highest daily foreign inflow since August, with net imports exceeding 539.6 billion won ($385 million) on December 2, driven by improving US economic indicators. Source: Bloomberg

In contrast, the South Korean stock market remained active with the largest foreign fund inflow in three months. Global funds bought $385 million worth of Kospi Index shares on December 2, resulting in the benchmark index gaining 1.9% after two days of declines. Seo Sang-young, a strategist at Mirae Asset Securities Co., said the inflows were driven by improving U.S. economic indicators, including the ISM manufacturing new orders gauge, which entered expansion territory for the first time in eight months. Confidence in South Korea’s export-oriented economy has increased again.

Altcoins in action

XRP dominated trading activity, recording inflows of $6.3 billion, followed by DOGE, which recorded inflows of $1.6 billion, and XLM, at $1.3 billion. Ethereum Name Service (ENS) and HBAR also saw significant trading activity, indicating that altcoins are a significant contributor to the flow of trading activity. XRP reached a yearly high of $2.80 and overtook Tether (USDT) to become the third-largest cryptocurrency after global trading volume reached $42.65 billion in the last 24 hours.

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Markus Thielen, founder and CEO of 10x Research, observed that altcoin trading volumes continue to dominate the market. In contrast, Bitcoin funding rates remain steady at 15%, stating, “The action is clearly in the altcoin market.” This is further supported by CoinMarketCap’s Altcoin season index, which shows altcoins’ dominance over Bitcoin at 83%.