The ‘Listing Beam’ That Cooled Down in 27 Hours… Data Reveals the True Face of Domestic Exchanges

[By Myung Jeong-seon, Block Media] In the domestic digital asset (virtual asset) market, the phenomenon of explosive price and trading volume increases immediately after a new listing is commonly referred to as 'listing beam.' However, how long does this dazzling firework last? Can it be considered a movement created solely by the market's spontaneous interest?

On the 4th, Block Media's MarketLab analyzed all 1162 snapshots of the 'Top 10 trading volumes in the last 24 hours' aggregated every 8 hours from March 28 to August 3, 2026, across major domestic won exchanges such as Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, and Korbit. The results were clear. Altcoins that briefly appeared in the top trading volume rankings shared a common trajectory of rapidly surging, peaking, and quickly being pushed out of interest, resembling a so-called 'pump and dump.'

Among them, tracking five coins—PROS, SPK, IRYS, RED, and LAYER—that saw a significant surge in trading volume revealed that they reached their peak trading volume share on average 27 hours after entering the Top 10, and subsequently disappeared from the top ranks within a few days to at most 1-2 weeks.

The 27-Hour Rule... Pump-Dump Status of 5 Altcoins with 'Listing Beam'

Market with 67% Decrease in Trading Volume... 'Liquidity Drought' Intensifies the Listing Beam

The surge in trading of these five coins was concentrated in April to June, a period when liquidity in the domestic virtual asset market was rapidly shrinking.

According to Block Media's MarketLab, the average daily trading volume of domestic won exchanges decreased from 4.21 trillion won in January to 1.38 trillion won in July, a drop of 67.1%. During the same period, the price of Bitcoin fell by 25.5%, and Bitcoin's trading volume also decreased by 25.3%. The fact that the overall decrease in trading volume in the market was much larger than that of Bitcoin suggests that the contraction in altcoin trading may have led to the market's shrinkage.

Market sentiment also cooled rapidly. In June, out of 30 days, 23 days were recorded as a reverse premium (Reverse·Outflow) for the won. The fact that domestic prices were lower than overseas prices for most trading days indicates that there was a prevailing flow of funds leaving domestic exchanges for overseas exchanges or external wallets.

In an environment where overall market trading has decreased, if short-term funds concentrate on specific coins, the trading volume share can rise much faster than usual. In fact, at its peak, PROS accounted for 18.42% of the total market trading with a trading volume of 517.66 billion won, while SPK, IRYS, RED, and LAYER also effectively monopolized the top trading volume for a short period. As the overall trading scale shrank, the concentration of trading on a few coins further amplified the rise in their share.

Trading Created by Exchanges... 88% Collapse in 24 Hours After Event Ends

Tracing the background of the explosive trading of individual coins reveals that the upward momentum can be categorized into three main types. The first is the 'event-type' where exchanges directly set the stage.

A representative example is Paros (PROS). Upbit announced the listing of PROS on May 8 at 6:30 PM, and about 20 minutes later, Bithumb also announced its listing on the won market. Along with the listing, both exchanges initiated events to encourage trading participation. Upbit held a TOP trading event worth a total of 500,000 PROS (approximately 680 million won), while Bithumb conducted an airdrop event worth 100 million won to encourage trading participation.

Data reacted immediately. PROS entered the Top 10 for the first time on May 9 with a trading volume share of 7.14% (2nd place), and the next day, on May 10, it reached 18.42% with a trading volume of 517.66 billion won, ranking first overall. However, exactly 24 hours after peaking, on May 11, its share plummeted to 2.16%. In just one day, the trading proportion decreased by 88.3% compared to its peak.

The fact that the timing of the trading volume event's conclusion coincided with the sharp decline in trading proportion suggests that a significant portion of the increase in trading at that time may have stemmed from short-term trading for event participation rather than a reassessment of the project's value.

Iris (IRYS) also showed a similar trend. Upbit announced a TOP trading event offering a total of 4.7 million IRYS immediately after trading commenced, and IRYS recorded a trading volume share of 10.97% on May 16 before briefly pausing and then peaking again at 11.95% on May 17. The two instances of increased trading volume largely coincided with the event schedule.

While the AI and DePIN themes were garnering market interest at that time, it is noteworthy that, similar to PROS, the period of the exchanges conducting events to induce trading volume competition coincided with the surge in trading.

Coin That Jumped 880% Overseas Listed Late... 13.89% of Circulation Released at Unlock

The second type is cases where trading concentrated ahead of a large-scale token unlock (release of lock-up). Redstone (RED) and Solayer (LAYER) are representative examples.

Redstone (RED) is the case that most closely aligns with the concerns raised consistently by the investor community regarding "listing coins that have already surged significantly overseas late on domestic exchanges."

Redstone (RED) had already experienced a significant surge in the overseas market before its listing on Upbit (April 6). According to Gate.io data, RED surged 880% from $0.0997 on February 28 to $0.9771 on March 3 in just three days. By the time the domestic won market listing occurred, the first surge had already ended.

Additionally, the schedule for a large-scale token unlock coincided. According to token unlock tracking data, on the listing day, April 6, an initial investor quantity of 26.4 million was released, and the next day, April 7, an additional 40.85 million, corresponding to 13.89% of the circulation, was scheduled to be released into the market.

Actual trading was concentrated during this period. RED first entered the Top 10 in trading volume on April 6, and on April 7 at 9 PM, it recorded a trading volume of 280.7 billion won and a share of 9.91%, peaking at the same time as the large-scale unlock schedule.

Token unlocks are generally perceived as a factor that increases selling pressure due to the increase in circulation. Nevertheless, various interpretations emerged regarding the background of the surge in trading just before the unlock. The investor community suggested that it "induced personal buying power to absorb the quantity that would enter the market after the lock-up release" or that "the listing and unlock coincided, concentrating short-term liquidity." However, it is difficult to definitively attribute the cause of the trading increase to a specific factor based on this analysis alone.

Solayer (LAYER) also exhibited a similar trend. Ahead of a large-scale unlock on May 16, a short squeeze and altcoin rotation coincided, leading to a peak trading volume share of 8.49% just 5 hours and 42 minutes after its first appearance. Subsequently, trading rapidly decreased, and it was pushed out of the top ranks within a day.

SPK Stood Out... The Only Case Where Domestic Listing Created a New High

Among the five coins, Spark (SPK) was the only one that experienced a surge in trading without any artificial events from exchanges or imminent large-scale token unlocks.

SPK peaked at a trading volume share of 13.32% (476.71 billion won) the day after its listing on the Upbit KRW market on April 23, buoyed by news that the Spark Protocol secured approximately $1.3 billion in funding from the DeFi platform Aave. Since there were no large-scale unlocks or prize events, its decline was the most gradual, maintaining its Top 10 position for six days. It followed a curve that was relatively closer to fundamentals among the five cases.

Disastrous Results After Brief Trading... As of August, No Coins Have Recovered Their Highs

While the backgrounds leading to the surges were varied, the outcomes were uniformly the same. All five coins rapidly decreased in trading volume after being pushed out of the Top 10, and as of August 3, 2026, none had recovered their previous highs. In particular, RED and LAYER, which saw explosive trading volumes ahead of large-scale unlocks, sank to levels lower than before their surges.

Shrinking Trading Volume and Departing Investors... The Remaining Task is 'Trust'

The repeated pattern of 'brief surges followed by high point traps' is cited as one of the factors weakening investor trust in domestic exchanges.

Of course, the decrease in trading volume on won exchanges cannot be explained solely by new listing policies or event-driven trading. This is due to the interplay of various factors, including the global macro environment, the restructuring of the market centered around Bitcoin, and an overall decline in investment sentiment. However, the concerns expressed by investors about "listing coins that have already surged significantly overseas late" and "entering with the hope of a listing beam only to be trapped at high points" were confirmed in some cases identified in this analysis.

As overall market trading decreases, competition among exchanges has intensified. While Upbit's trading volume share decreased from 71.2% to 63.6%, Bithumb expanded from 24.5% to 29.6%. Even as the entire market shrinks, exchanges continued to compete for limited liquidity, and the backdrop of successive new listings and trading events is also interpreted as being related to this.

Changes in Coinone are also noticeable. Its share increased from 4% to 6%, but the proportion of stablecoins among the top 5 trading volume coins reached 57%. This suggests a shift towards the role of a conduit for overseas capital movement and currency exchange rather than an altcoin market.

Exchange events can quickly boost trading volumes in a short time. However, they do not create long-term market trust. Establishing listings and a sustainable trading environment that investors can accept is the remaining task for domestic won exchanges.