South Korean investors abandon crypto, back stocks after Trump tariff tirade

South Korean crypto trading volumes have plummeted after US President Donald Trump announced 25% tariffs on the East Asian nation, with investors instead turning their attention to the stock market.

Trump took to Truth Social on January 26 to announce a rise from 15% to 25% in car, pharmaceutical, and lumber industry tariffs. He slammed his South Korean counterpart, Lee Jae-myung, accusing him of failing to “live up to” a $350 billion investment bill agreed upon in July 2025.

South Korean stocks took an initial hit on the news, but have since rebounded. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose by almost 3% to reach a record high of over 5,000 index points for the first time ever.

By contrast, trading volumes on crypto exchanges fell rapidly: trades on Upbit and Bithumb fell by 51% and 35% respectively, CoinGecko data shows.

“The gap between the traditional stock market and the crypto market has been widening of late,” Ryan Yoon, a research analyst at the crypto analytics firm Tiger Research, told DL News. “Investors are increasingly feeling exhausted by the volatility. They’re shifting their fear of missing out away from crypto and toward the soaring KOSPI.”

South Korea’s case is indicative of a wider trend. Last year, experts in the US said there was evidence that stock and crypto markets were “decoupling.”

While that seems to be true in South Korea over the past 24 hours, Bitcoin and the crypto market at large tend to trend in tandem with riskier assets like tech stocks in the US.

Frozen into inaction

Retail crypto investors say their inaction is driven by fear.

“A lot of fellow traders are telling me they’re just going to hold on to see what happens before making any big moves,” Cho, a Seoul-based crypto trader, told DL News. She asked for partial anonymity to speak freely on sensitive matters. “I get the sense everyone’s frozen at the moment, waiting to see where the herd will go.”

Despite the retail market’s worries, there’s no sign that institutional investors are deserting the market. So-called “crypto stocks,” shares in South Korean companies that hold minority stakes in domestic exchanges, soared.

These include the likes of the Upbit backers, Woori Technology Investment and Hanwha Investment & Securities, which saw their share prices rise respectively by over 4% and 7%.

Yoon said that while the stock market appears to have shrugged off Trump’s announcement, the same headlines have “sensitively impacted” the crypto market.

The KOSPI’s record-breaking day did not go off without a hitch. Hyundai Motor share prices dropped by almost 5% shortly after Trump’s post went live. But they have since rebounded, ending the day 1% lower than at the close of trading on Monday.

Tim Alper is a News Correspondent at DL News. Got a tip? Email him at tdalper@dlnews.com.