Retail cryptocurrency trading in South Korea has reached new heights, surpassing the country’s stock market by $4 billion in just 24 hours.
The increase was driven by major trading activity in several altcoins, including Ripple’s XRP, Dogecoin (DOGE), Stellar (XLM), Ethereum Name Service (ENS), and Hedera (HBAR).
South Korea’s Retail Crypto Trading Hits $18 Billion
According to a 10x Research report, South Korea’s retail crypto trading volumes surged to $18 billion on December 2, marking the second-highest level of the year.
Ripple’s XRP led the charge with over $6.3 billion in trading volume. DOGE followed with $1.6 billion, while XLM recorded $1.3 billion. Other notable altcoins included ENS at $900 million and HBAR at $800 million.
Markus Thielen, founder of 10x Research, explained that this has resulted in one of the largest recorded divergences.
“These high-momentum cryptocurrencies are being driven predominantly by retail traders, capitalizing on and reinforcing momentum-driven trends.”
He highlighted that Bitcoin’s funding rate, which is relatively low at just 15% annually, combined with the recent increase in altcoin trading, clearly signals the start of an altcoin season. The expert also advised traders to remain disciplined while seizing these opportunities.
Ripple XRP’s Gains
XRP has been staging a historic rally over the past month, crossing the $2.80 mark for the first time in nearly seven years. As of this writing, CoinGecko data shows that the token is trading at $2.67, just 21.3% below its all-time high of $3.40 in January 2018.
This price surge has propelled XRP to become the third-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, overtaking Solana (SOL) and Tether (USDT).
South Korea has been a major contributor to this surge, with XRP/KRW trading volume on Upbit, the country’s largest crypto exchange, hitting $3.8 billion on December 2. According to blockchain analytics firm Scopescan, this figure was 11 times higher than Bitcoin’s trading volume on the platform.
Thielen’s report also highlighted the global shift towards more crypto-friendly policies. Trading activity has changed since the Trump election, and with the new U.S. administration expected to support cryptocurrency, he believes this momentum will likely persist.
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse also recently discussed the impact of Trump’s triumph, noting that U.S.-based crypto companies have benefited from his win due to the Democrats’ hostile stance on the industry. This has been proven true, with XRP seeing impressive gains since then.
Thielen added that South Korea and other countries are also adopting a more favorable approach to crypto, which he believes could lead to expanded global opportunities for digital asset trading.
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