[Korea crypto watch] ONDO's Korean trading share runs 31.1 times its overseas share

BTC had the largest Korean trading share among non-stablecoin assets, while ONDO showed the strongest concentration in Korea relative to overseas markets. WLD combined a weekly price gain with increased trading activity, and PEPE recorded the largest trading surge.

ONDO's share of Korean trading was 31.1 times its overseas share, the widest gap in the comparison. NEAR led the domestic interest index, while WLD ranked second and also featured among the tokens with the strongest increases in trading activity.

In the October 21 snapshot, NEAR topped the domestic interest index at 85 points. It accounted for 4.97% of Korean trading.

WLD ranked second with 83.2 points, followed by ENA at 82 points. Their Korean trading shares were 8.53% and 2.91%, respectively. Korean trading turnover was 59.38 billion won for NEAR, 101.95 billion won for WLD and 34.76 billion won for ENA.

The comparison covered 57 tokens traded on both Korean and overseas exchanges. The remaining tokens in the top 10 by interest score were ONDO, XRP, DOGE, ARB, RLUSD, ADA and SUI.

ONDO accounted for 3.00% of Korean trading against 0.10% overseas. Its Korean-to-overseas share ratio of 31.1 was followed by WLD at 20.5, SHIB at 13.9 and XRP at 12.3.

Other tokens had a larger presence overseas. USDG accounted for 0.43% of overseas trading but 0.01% in Korea. BNB's shares were 0.58% overseas and 0.02% in Korea; USDC's were 14.61% and 2.55%; and XAUT's were 0.14% and 0.03%.

PEPE recorded the strongest increase in trading activity relative to its usual level, alongside a 7.72% daily price gain. ARB and WLD also saw increased activity, with WLD up 16.53% over the week. JST, PYTH and FIL recorded weaker trading activity.

DOGE had the highest kimchi premium—the price difference between Korean and overseas markets—at 0.51%. CC followed at 0.29% and ZRO at 0.28%. At the other end, SKY traded at a 1.24% discount in Korea, followed by CAKE at 0.57% and JST at 0.39%.

[Editor's note] This column tracks Korean crypto-market activity through an interest index covering tokens traded on both Korean and overseas exchanges. The index combines domestic trading share, overseas trading share, the kimchi premium and recent trading surges. It focuses on actual trading turnover. Domestic share measures a token's proportion of Korean exchange trading, while overseas share measures its proportion of overseas trading. A higher domestic-to-overseas ratio indicates a stronger concentration of trading in Korea.