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The won-dollar exchange rate surged into the 1,420 range as South Korea’s daily FX trading volume hit a record $82.8 billion in the third quarter. / Source: Yonhap News

South Korea’s average daily foreign exchange (FX) trading volume reached an all-time high of $82.8 billion in the third quarter, boosted by extended trading hours and rising foreign investment in local assets, the Bank of Korea (BOK) said Monday.

According to the BOK’s report on “Foreign Exchange Bank Transactions in the Third Quarter of 2025,” daily FX trading averaged $82.84 billion (about 118.5 trillion won), up $680 million from the previous quarter’s $82.16 billion — the highest quarterly figure since the data series began after a statistical revision in 2008.

Foreign investors’ average monthly trading in Korean securities jumped from 285 trillion won in the second quarter to 351 trillion won in the July–August period, an increase of 66 trillion won.

By product type, spot trading rose sharply, averaging $34.86 billion per day, up $2.09 billion from the previous quarter, while FX derivatives trading edged down $1.41 billion to $47.98 billion per day.

Among banks, domestic institutions saw their trading volume increase by $2.22 billion to $39.49 billion, whereas foreign bank branches, which have a higher share of derivatives, recorded a decline of $1.54 billion to $43.35 billion.

A Bank of Korea official said, “Although the increase in total trading slowed due to reduced volatility in exchange rates, the volume of spot transactions has continued to grow following the extension of FX market trading hours.”