- Korean exchange Upbit had an altcoin dominance of 87% in its total trading volume in January.
- Investors also showed interest in Bitcoin and Ethereum.
The South Korean market has shown strong demand for cryptocurrencies over the years and has often been the main driver behind the rising trading volume of altcoins.
Korean stock markets are driving up altcoin volumes
According to on-chain analyst and CEO of CryptoQuant Ki Young Juthe country’s largest exchange, Upbit, had an altcoin dominance of 87% in its total trading volume in January.
Further research showed that altcoins continued to account for a significant portion of trading volumes in 2023.
By comparison, Coinbase, the largest crypto trading platform in the US, only had 45% of its trading activity dominated by altcoins.
Source: CryptoQuant
For the uninitiated: the Korean The market is largely made up of private investors due to regulations against institutional investors.
On the other hand, Coinbase is considered the gateway for institutional investors to purchase cryptos. Most of their focus has historically been around Bitcoin [BTC] and ether [ETH].
As a result, these two leading assets controlled a significant slice of the volume pie.
Korean investors show interest in Bitcoin, Ethereum
Historically, Korean exchanges have witnessed higher prices of popular tokens compared to foreign exchanges. This phenomenon is called Kimchi Premium and is driven by high demand for cryptos in the country.
However, interest was not limited to altcoins. Lately, Korean retail investors have also shown a willingness to buy Bitcoins.
According to AMBCrypto’s analysis of CryptoQuant data, the index, which measures the percentage difference between the market price of Bitcoin on Korean exchanges and other exchanges, has risen dramatically.
This implied that more investors were willing to pay a premium for the purchase.
Source: CryptoQuant
A similar trend was observed for Ethereum demand in the Korean market.
The Korean crypto market punches above its weight
According to data from Ki Young Ju, trading volume on Korean exchanges was about 31% of that of Binance, the world’s largest crypto trading platform. This is despite the fact that Korean stock exchanges have only 12% of the global influence.
Source: CryptoQuant