Offshore crypto derivatives tied to South Korean shares generated 307 trillion won in cumulative trading volume between February and August 2026, far exceeding activity on the country’s largest domestic crypto platforms and creating an around-the-clock market for exposure to companies such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, according to Tiger Research.
The research firm said turnover in Korean-stock-linked perpetual contracts reached 166 trillion won in August alone. That compared with 42 trillion won in trading volume across South Korea’s five largest domestic digital-asset venues during the same month. The comparison captures how quickly perpetual-contract platforms have become a separate channel for trading price movements in familiar listed companies, rather than solely crypto tokens.
Perpetual contracts differ from conventional futures because they have no expiry date and do not require delivery of an underlying asset. That structure lets platforms offer leveraged exposure to equities, exchange-traded funds, commodities and indexes without operating the custody, settlement and market-hours infrastructure used by securities exchanges.
Korean shares trade after the domestic market closes
Tiger Research found that perpetual products referencing traditional assets accounted for a growing share of trading on Hyperliquid through 2026, accompanied by an increase in the number of users trading these instruments.
Korean equity-linked contracts have become a prominent part of that expansion. Perpetuals tied to Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix and other Korean bellwethers can trade overnight and through weekends, when the Korea Exchange is shut. The arrangement gives traders a way to express views on Korean stocks during global news events or earnings-related developments that occur outside Seoul trading hours.
That continuous availability creates a parallel market rather than replacing the domestic cash market. Shares are still listed and settled through South Korea’s established securities system, but perpetual venues can absorb demand for price exposure when local markets are unavailable. The growing volume suggests that a meaningful portion of that demand is now occurring offshore.
The difference is particularly clear in instruments linked to leveraged ETFs. In August, perpetual contracts tied to the U.S.-listed Direxion Daily South Korea Bull 3X Shares ETF, which trades under the ticker KORU, recorded about $24.1 billion in turnover, Tiger Research said. KORU itself traded roughly $8.9 billion over the same period, placing perpetual turnover at about 2.7 times the volume of the referenced ETF.
Derivatives flows can reach the underlying market
High perpetual volume does not necessarily mean all activity remains contained within crypto-native venues. Tiger Research outlined how liquidity providers that take the other side of perpetual trades may hedge their risk through purchases or sales of related shares, ETFs or other instruments in traditional markets.
Those hedges can connect offshore derivatives positioning to the spot market. If demand for a Korean equity perpetual becomes heavily one-sided, market makers may need to adjust hedges in the referenced asset or a close proxy. The effect would depend on the size of hedging flows, the availability of suitable instruments and overall liquidity in the cash market, but the mechanism places perpetual markets closer to conventional price formation than their token-based format might imply.
Trading-cost estimates cited by Tiger Research indicate that liquidity has improved in some of the most actively traded Korean-stock contracts. Using a 15-day average, the report found that a $1 million transaction in an SK Hynix perpetual contract produced slippage in the single-digit basis-point range. Low slippage persisted even outside South Korean stock-market hours, suggesting that traders can enter and exit sizeable positions without the cost spikes usually associated with thin overnight markets.
That liquidity is central to the model’s appeal. A perpetual market with wide spreads or unreliable execution would offer limited value as an after-hours proxy for equities. Tighter execution conditions allow more frequent trading, while also making it easier for professional firms to manage positions across multiple markets.
Listings are expanding beyond accessible public stocks
The same structure is being applied to a wider range of Asian equities, regional indexes and assets that are difficult to trade through conventional channels. Tiger Research pointed to perpetual listings tied to Anthropic, an unlisted artificial-intelligence company, and ChangXin Memory Technologies, or CXMT, China’s memory-chip maker.
These products do not grant ownership rights in the companies they reference. Rather, they provide a contract linked to a price benchmark. That distinction leaves traders exposed to the reliability of the index or pricing method used by the platform, particularly for unlisted companies where transparent, continuously traded market prices may be scarce.
The move toward stock and commodity perpetuals is also drawing larger accounts, according to Tiger Research’s account-level review of Hyperliquid activity. Accounts holding more than $10 million increased the share of their trading devoted to stock- and commodity-linked products. The report also cited separate coverage indicating that Wall Street professionals have used perpetuals outside regular market hours and during weekends.
Tokenized Treasuries move into the margin system
Collateral is evolving alongside the contracts themselves. Tiger Research said tokenized U.S. Treasury products, including BlackRock’s BUIDL and Hashnote’s USYC, are increasingly being accepted as collateral on some trading platforms.
Using tokenized Treasuries as margin could give traders a collateral asset designed to generate yield rather than leaving all capital in non-yielding stablecoins. Tiger Research estimated that transfers of USYC into trading platforms totaled about $2.75 billion over the past year, while cautioning that the full amount cannot be assumed to have been posted as derivatives margin.
For South Korea, the rise of offshore equity perpetuals creates a policy question that extends beyond crypto trading volumes. Tiger Research argued that domestic infrastructure would need clearer rules for derivatives products, broader corporate access to digital-asset venues and won-based settlement tools, potentially including a won stablecoin, to compete for activity now building abroad.
Without domestic channels for regulated, liquid trading in these products, price exposure to Korean companies may continue to migrate to venues operating beyond Korean market hours and outside the country’s existing securities-market framework.
Want deeper context on perpetuals and stock-linked tokens? Explore our guide on tokenized equities and Korean-style equity exposure.
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