South Korea’s FSS: API-based crypto trading accounts for 30% of market volume; abnormal automated trading activities to be strictly investigated

According to Cointelegraph, South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) stated that API-based cryptocurrency trading currently accounts for approximately 30% of market buy/sell volume. The FSS noted that some traders are using automated tools to inflate trading volumes and manipulate prices—for example, by repeatedly submitting small orders to create a false impression of market activity or placing high-limit buy orders to artificially boost prices. The regulator announced it would launch a targeted investigation into accounts suspected of abnormal API trading and urged investors to remain vigilant toward assets exhibiting sudden, unexplained spikes in price and trading volume. Previously, South Korea mandated that exchanges reconcile asset balances every five minutes and has been continuously tightening anti-fraud regulations; however, certain regulatory measures remain constrained by an incomplete legal framework.