Understanding What Drives Bitcoin Trading Activities

Abstract: Cryptocurrencies have gained tremendous popularity over the past few years. The purpose of this study is to try to understand the factors that are driving cryptocurrency-related trading activities. Focusing on the well-established cryptocurrency called Bitcoin, we find that online search popularity and the volume of trade in unrelated stock markets positively and negatively, respectively, influence Bitcoin trading volume. We also find no statistical evidence that the underlying sentiment behind relevant financial news influence Bitcoin trading volume. We believe these results might be of great value to investors interested in cryptocurrencies and might instigate further research on this topic.