Preview
18 Jan 2022
Trading activity in bitcoin far higher during U.S. trading hours
So far in 2022, bitcoin’s trading volume has been substantially higher during U.S. trading hours.
We’ve frequently highlighted the high correlation between bitcoin and the S&P 500 lately. When examining the trading volumes, it’s also clear that bitcoin’s trading volume tends to be
substantially higher during the U.S. market open.
When examining the hourly trading volume from the largest spot markets since November 1st,
we find that, on average, 36% of the bitcoin trading volume occurred during the U.S. stock market opening hours.
So far in 2022, the trend is even more telling. Since Jan 1st, 43% of bitcoin’s trading volume occurred during U.S. stock market opening hours. Trading activity tend to immediately pick up as the U.S. stock market opens, with bitcoins performance being tightly correlated to that of the
S&P 500.
These charts include weekend trading activity. In the next slide, we zoom in on the day-by-day volumes and the volume share during U.S. market hours. The U.S. trading hours dominate the bitcoin trading volume, even on weekends.
In the last three weeks, bitcoin’s trade volume has seen a large share of its trading volume being pushed during U.S market hours.
On average, in the last three Mondays and Tuesdays, 48% and 50% of the bitcoin trading volume occurred during U.S. market hours.
The U.S. market hour dominance then muted somewhat over the following days, ranging at around 40%, which is still high considering that the U.S market hours combined accounts for less than 30% of
the day.
Interestingly, while volumes have been lower during the weekends than the weekdays, U.S. market hours still account for 40% of the BTC trading volume.
This illustrates that bitcoin is getting most of its activity from American traders while also showing the considerable impact of the U.S. stock market on bitcoins performance lately.