Solana

Hedera

Ethereum Name Service

Retail trading volumes for crypto assets in South Korea surged to $18 billion in the last 24 hours, outperforming the country’s stock market by 22%, according to 10x Research.&nbsp;
In a Dec. 2 <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://mail.10xresearch.co/p/this-altcoin-is-breaking-out-catching-the-next-wave" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">report</a>, 10x Research founder Markus Thielen said retail crypto trading volumes reached their second-highest level of the year on Dec. 2, with South Korean traders in a frenzy over a series of “high momentum” altcoins.&nbsp;
Ripple’s XRP token (<a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/xrp-price-index" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">XRP</a>) witnessed over $6.3 billion in volume on the day in South Korea. Dogecoin (<a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/doge-price-index" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">DOGE</a>) came in second at $1.6 billion, followed by Stellar (<a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/stellar-price-index" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">XLM</a>) at $1.3 billion, Ethereum Name Service (<a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/ethereum-name-service-price-index" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">ENS</a>) at $900 million and Hedera (<a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/hedera-hbar-price-index" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">HBAR</a>) at $800 million.
<blockquote>
 “These high-momentum cryptocurrencies are being driven predominantly by retail traders, capitalizing on and reinforcing momentum-driven trends.”
</blockquote>
XRP, ENS, and HBAR — which belong to a category of older tokens colloquially called “dino coins” by crypto natives — have all been major outperformers when compared with the rest of the crypto market, each respectively gaining 90%, 73%, and 168% in the last week.
Thielen noted that Bitcoin’s <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/learn/articles/funding-rates-in-crypto-markets#:~:text=Funding%20rates%20are%20payments%20that,prices%20going%20up%20or%20down." rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">funding rate</a> — an indicator of perps activity — was “relatively mild” at just 15% on an annualized basis.&nbsp;
<figure>
 <img alt="Dogecoin, Ripple, XRP, Hedera" src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2024-12/01938b03-5e6f-7213-bee1-71ee33592f33" title="">
 <figcaption style="text-align: center;">
 Bitcoin’s funding rate is sitting at a “mild” 15% while interest in altcoins skyrockets. Source:&nbsp;10x Research
 </figcaption>
</figure>
When combined with a recent uptick in trading activity for <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/learn/what-is-an-altcoin-a-beginners-guide-to-cryptocurrencies-beyond-bitcoin" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">altcoins</a>, Thielen said this was a surefire sign that an “altseason” is underway.
Related: <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/analyst-warns-leverage-driven-xrp-pump-as-price-skyrockets" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">Analyst warns of ‘leverage driven’ XRP pump as token flips Tether</a>
“We are seeing one of the largest divergences recorded between a relatively mild Bitcoin funding rate at 15% annualized while retail trading volumes in Korea have ramped up to $18bn.”
“The action is clearly in the altcoin market and everybody needs to have a strategy to catch these waves but still remain disciplined,” he added.&nbsp;
Ripple’s XRP has been staging a historic rally over the last month, surging from a price of $0.50 to a new yearly high of $2.80 on Dec. 2, per TradingView <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://www.tradingview.com/symbols/XRPUSDT/?exchange=BINANCE" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">data</a>.
<figure>
 <img alt="Dogecoin, Ripple, XRP, Hedera" src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2024-12/01938b03-a058-7c1d-b252-5ebf2f904219" title="">
 <figcaption style="text-align: center;">
 XRP has rallied over 436% in the last month. Source: TradingView
 </figcaption>
</figure>
The startling run-up has <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/ripple-xrp-flips-solana-market-capitalization" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">seen the token</a> eclipse both Solana (<a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/solana-price-index" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">SOL</a>) and Tether (<a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/tether-price-index" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">USDT</a>) in terms of market cap, making it <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/xrp-returns-third-largest-crypto-sec-battle" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">the third-largest crypto asset</a> by total value at the time of publication.&nbsp;
Magazine: <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/crypto-four-years-grow-cant-be-shut-down-kain-warwick-infinex/" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">Crypto has 4 years to grow so big ‘no one can shut it down’ — Kain Warwick, Infinex</a>

South Korea retail crypto trading hits $18B, beating local stock market

Cointelegraph

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