[Bitcoin Now] March Trading Volume Fails to Reach Half of Last Year's Level

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Jung-yoon] The trading volume of the representative cryptocurrency Bitcoin is steadily decreasing. The average daily trading volume in March this year was confirmed to be less than half compared to the same month last year.

Analyzing data from the cryptocurrency market tracking site CoinGecko on the 20th, the average daily trading volume of Bitcoin in March this year was $23.18454 billion (approximately 28.7372 trillion KRW). Compared to March last year, which was $57.85462 billion (approximately 71.7108 trillion KRW), this is about 40% of that level. For this month, the average daily trading volume up to the 19th was $24.310716076 billion, showing an increase compared to last month.

Bitcoin's average daily trading volume has shown a weakening trend over time. It decreased from $65.27678 billion (approximately 80.9106 trillion KRW) in January last year to $60.95775 billion in April. However, in May, it recorded the highest value last year at $67.43343 billion, during which Bitcoin's price plummeted from around $58,700 (approximately 72.8 million KRW) to about $35,700 (approximately 44.28 million KRW). After that, the trading volume sharply dropped to $37.94939 billion in June and further decreased to $29.17167 billion in December. This year, it recorded the highest value of $26.68638 billion in January and then declined to a level between $20 billion and $24 billion. Upbit, Korea's leading cryptocurrency exchange, also saw its average daily Bitcoin trading volume increase to $38.29539 billion on May 7 last year but decreased to $2.51520 billion as of 9:10 AM on that day.

Professor Hong Ki-hoon of Hongik University's Department of Business Administration explained, "Since Bitcoin prices are showing a downward trend, it is a situation where trading does not generate profits, so new investment inflows are decreasing and trading volume is declining."

Additionally, there is a claim that 'whales,' who are large-scale cryptocurrency investors, buying Bitcoin also affect the decrease in trading volume. They mainly accumulate Bitcoin for holding purposes rather than trading. Previously, the U.S. software company MicroStrategy announced plans to purchase additional Bitcoin, having already acquired 129,218 coins. Terraform Labs, the developer of the cryptocurrencies Terra and Luna, also purchased more than $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin this year and is reportedly planning to buy an additional $10 billion.

Meanwhile, according to the global cryptocurrency market tracking site CoinMarketCap, as of 10:50 AM on the day, the price of Bitcoin was $41,344 (approximately 51.27 million KRW), up 1.11% compared to the previous day.

Bitcoin prices rose due to the upward trend of the U.S. Nasdaq index, which shows a synchronization phenomenon. On the 19th (local time), the Nasdaq index closed at 13,619.66, up 287.30 points (2.15%) due to expectations for the earnings of major technology stocks. Netflix rose 3.18%. Microsoft (1.70%) and Tesla (2.38%) also recorded gains.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.