Over the past 30 days, Tether (USDT) daily trading volume is up—specifically, it’s up 31% in 30 days. Here’s what the leading stablecoin’s trading volume could indicate for the cryptocurrency on the whole.

The following is not investment advice.

What Is Trading Volume?

Trading volume is how many people are buying and selling an asset, whether that’s a stock or cryptocurrency. High volume for typically indicates a favorable market and future price increases for coins like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH).

However, volume operates a little differently for stablecoins.

Tether (USDT) Trading Volume

Daily Trading Volume

Tether (USDT) daily trading volume went from $2,094,040,000 on October 20 to 3,037,000,000 on November 19. On October 27, it dipped to 1,671,750,000, the lowest in the past 30 days.

30 Day Trading Volume

With a trading volume that exceeds $75,100,000,000 between October 19 and November 18, 2018, Tether (USDT) has the second highest in the cryptocurrency market. Only Bitcoin (BTC) experienced higher, at over $122,570,000,000.

By contrast, Ethereum (ETH) came in third place at $44,800,000,000.

What Tether (USDT) Volume Means

So what does it mean that Tether volume is up? More broadly, what does stablecoin volume mean for the cryptocurrency market on the whole?

Typically, this stablecoin’s volume suggests two different things:

A bull market: Investor interest in cryptocurrency is up. In other words, the market is doing well and people are converting USDT to other cryptocurrencies on exchanges that do not support USD deposits, hence driving volume up. A bear market : Investors are wary, and are trading their cryptocurrency to USDT in preparation for a downward market. Again, this drives up volume.

Stablecoins Appeal to Investors

Unlike Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), Tether is a stablecoin, meaning that it’s “pegged” to the US Dollar, in this case. Theoretically, this means that every USDT is backed by $1 USD held in a bank. In other words:

1 USDT = 1 USD

In theory, this keeps Tether’s price stable. Unlike Bitcoin and Ethereum, which technically aren’t backed by anything, it has a more traditional asset behind it.

By proving that cryptocurrency can be less volatile, stablecoins presumably attract more institutional investors. And by bridging the gap between conventional financial services and cryptocurrency, stablecoins have proven increasingly popular.

Tether (USDT) Broke Its Peg

However, just because 1 USDT = 1 USD in practice doesn’t mean that this is always the case. Recently, the Winklevoss’ new stablecoin (GUSD) climbed in price while Tether plummeted, breaking its peg. The cryptocurrency hit its 18-month low and circulating supply dwindled.

This triggered a lot of anxiety and de-investment, from which the cryptocurrency took some time to recover. Currently, Tether has regained its peg after it leading the crypto market with a 7-day price increase.

Which Market Trend Does Tether Volume Indicate?

In the past 7 days, here’s where market leaders stand:

Ethereum (ETH) price is down 5.5%

Bitcoin (BTC) is down 13%

Ripple (XRP) is up 14%

Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is down 38% following the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) hard fork

Though Ripple (XRP) has experienced some upward momentum, the other four market cap leaders do not. Some speculate that investors are bearish about crypto or focused on the BCHSV and BCHABC fork. This trend extends back the past 30 days—as indicated by Tether (USDT) volume.

Tether and Bitcoin Volume

However, Bitcoin (BTC) volume is up, too. In fact, Bitcoin volume is up significantly in the past 30 days, though the price is down. This suggests the opposite: There is increasing interest in the cryptocurrency market.