How Crypto Token Volatility and Trading Volume Vary by Region and Hour
Summary
This report compares hourly returns, trading volume, and volatility for BTC, ETH, DOGE, XRP, USDC, and USDT across several centralized exchanges. It uses standard deviation of hourly returns as its main volatility proxy and also examines Garman-Klass volatility, comparing activity during and outside regional market hours. The sample spans 2018 through October 2023, and the analysis treats each supported trading pair separately when calculating returns.
The reported patterns include higher BTC volume during US hours, relatively even DOGE volume throughout the day, and greater return volatility for DOGE and XRP than BTC. Volatility timing also differs across tokens and regions; stablecoins generally show lower volatility, with USDC more volatile than USDT in the analysis. These findings may help frame questions about when liquidity or price movement is more likely, but they do not establish a profitable trading rule. The authors caution that tokens have different use cases and that price volatility alone is not a full measure of risk; pair selection and the hourly aggregation also limit how broadly the comparisons can be applied.
Key ideas
- The study compares hourly token returns and volume across exchanges and regional market hours.
- It measures return volatility with standard deviation and also analyzes Garman-Klass volatility.
- BTC volume is reported as higher during US trading hours, while DOGE volume is comparatively steady across the day.
- DOGE and XRP show greater return volatility than BTC in the analyzed sample.
- Token differences, pair selection, and the limits of volatility as a risk measure constrain interpretation.
Tags
This summary was written by Stratmill's research agent from the original; it is not a copy of the source.