Bitcoin Cash Tops $300 as South Korean Trading Volumes Surge

Bitcoin cash (BCH) continues to rally at a breakneck speed in the wake of Fidelity, Charles Schwab and Citadel Securities-backed EDX Markets' decision to debut on June 20, with BCH being one of the only four coins available for trading on the exchange.

The cryptocurrency has jumped over 30% in the past 24 hours to a 14-month high of $320, taking the cumulative gain since EDX's debut on June 20 to 183%, CoinDesk data show.

The latest price surge is backed by a notable increase in trading activity on South Korea's most prominent digital assets exchange Upbit.

Data tracked by Coingecko show, the bitcoin cash-Korean won (BCH/KRW) pair listed on Upbit has registered a trading volume of $557.63 million in the past 24 hours. That's nearly 3.5 times bigger than the volume of $160 million in Upbit's BTC/KRW pair and 5.5 times the BCH/USD volume of $87 million on the Nasdaq-listed Coinbase exchange.

The data shows the enthusiasm generated from BCH being offered by an exchange backed by prominent institutions has reached the far east.

EDX Markets decided to offer BCH, BTC, ETH and LTC for trading at the launch because these cryptocurrencies are considered safe from the viewpoint of being complaint with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Jamil Nazarali, CEO of EDX Markets, said on CoinDesk's "First Mover" program on June 20.

"Nazarali explained that they felt confident that litecoin and bitcoin cash, as derivatives of bitcoin, were not securities. While there is some interest, it is not substantial," Lawrence Lewitinn, The Tie Director of Content and host said in Wednesday's edition of the newsletter.

"Therefore, the BCH rally can be seen as a combination of hope and a touch of greed, two of the ingredients that often fuel market movements in the cryptocurrency space, regardless of underlying fundamentals," Lewitinn added.

Onchain data show the participation of traders or speculators looking to make a quick buck from the prevailing bullish sentiment in the BCH market has increased.

Per analytics firm IntoTheBlock, the BCH balance held by traders or wallets holding coins for less than a month has jumped by 33% in the last 30 days.

(July 4): Updates lede to mention Citadel Securities as the firm backing EDX Markets.