BlockBeats report: On July 22, trading volumes on South Korea’s major cryptocurrency exchanges declined significantly over the past year, while the Korean stock market continued to rise, indicating that some retail speculative capital is shifting from the crypto market to the stock market.
Data shows a significant decline in trading activity on South Korea’s five major won-based exchanges: Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit, and Gopax. Comparing seven-day trading data from July 2025 to the same period in July 2026, the average daily trading volume across the five platforms decreased by approximately 77% year-over-year.
By total trading volume, the average daily trading volume of the five exchanges dropped from approximately $2.82 billion a year ago to about $305 million, a decline of approximately 89%. Korean media ZDNet Korea previously reported that, as of July 20, the daily trading volume of South Korea’s five major exchanges decreased by approximately 88% year-over-year.
Meanwhile, the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) has risen approximately 114% over the past year, and despite a pullback from its peak in June, the strong stock market performance has attracted significant attention from retail investors.
South Korea has long been one of the world’s most active crypto retail markets, with trading platforms heavily reliant on transaction fee income. As trading volumes have declined, some platforms have faced revenue pressure; Korbit previously sold a portion of its crypto assets, including 15 BTC and 60 ETH, raising approximately 1.6 billion Korean won (about $1 million).
Research firm Tiger Research believes that the cooling of South Korea’s crypto market stems not only from price factors but also from investor fatigue with repetitive narratives and unfulfilled projects. Meanwhile, the rise in the KOSPI has provided retail investors with new speculative outlets.
However, the institution noted that Korean investors have not entirely lost interest in crypto assets; rather, the market is undergoing a structural shift: retail participation is declining, while institutional capital is moving into areas such as KRW-stablecoins, tokenization of real-world assets (RWA), and platform investments.
Analysts believe that if the Korean stock market continues to attract capital inflows, it may further weaken liquidity in the crypto market in the short term and intensify operational pressures on smaller and medium-sized exchanges.