Set Your Alarms: Most Bitcoin Is Now Traded During These Hours

Bitcoin (BTC) traders are changing their habits in 2020 — but volatility is still dominated by the start of New York stock market trading.

According to data currently circulating on social media, volatility for the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization is highly correlated with the opening of United States markets.

U.S. stock markets spike BTC volatility

By comparison, London and Asia stock market opens have considerably less of an impact on Bitcoin price volatility. 

“Can we just halt $BTC trading during Asia + Euro hours,” major trader Hsaka quipped, uploading the findings, which relate to the previous few days on U.S. exchange Coinbase.

BTC/USD chart showing volatility at stock market opens. Source: Hsaka/ Twitter

Further data from on-chain analyst Skew confirms the trend. At present, around 4 pm UTC marks the most intense time of day for Bitcoin trading. 

Again using Coinbase, in addition to Binance, Skew finds that midweek is also more intense than the start or end of the working week. Weekends, as is often noted, are quieter still.

Bitcoin trading volume one-month summary. Source: Skew

As an example, over the past 30 days, Coinbase saw an average of $6.5 million in volume between 3 pm and 4 pm UTC. The quietest hour, 9 am, saw just $2 million.

Those times correspond to around 12 pm EST, or 2.5 hours after New York markets officially open. 

The changing face of Bitcoin trading

The data may have unearthed changing tendencies among Bitcoin traders, possibly due to the increasing prevalence of institutions within the market.

Last year, Cointelegraph reported on research that indicated that at the time, the most active trading time in terms of volume was 1 am UTC.

Taken from a 2017–2019 average, the research suggested that at the time, Asian traders had a noticeable impact. 

Since then, the composition of the Bitcoin trading arena has undergone a metamorphosis, with bigger players and more capital entering. As was recently covered by Cointelegraph, Bitcoin derivatives markets continue to set volume and open interest records in 2020.