Summary
Between July 20 and August 7, six major U.S. technology companies reported their quarterly earnings, but trading activity on MEXC did not significantly rotate toward these earnings names.
The combined share of individual Stock Futures trading volume from the six companies increased only slightly from 2.6% to 2.7%, while memory and storage stocks increased from 57.5% to 67.3%.
MEXC data highlights three key trends during the earnings season:
First, trading activity became increasingly concentrated around established industry themes rather than individual earnings events.
Second, one company’s earnings report could influence a broader group of related assets by reshaping expectations around demand, pricing, and supply conditions.
Third, peak trading activity did not always occur on earnings release dates. Trading windows often extended into subsequent industry events and periods when traditional markets were closed.
1. Trading Activity Concentrated Further in Memory Stocks
The analysis compares two 19-day periods before and after July 20. Stock Futures trading volume on MEXC is categorized as follows, with each asset assigned to exactly one group.
Note: The six major technology companies refer to Alphabet, Tesla, Meta, Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon, which reported earnings between July 20 and August 7. NVIDIA is included in the chip design and manufacturing category because it had not yet released earnings during this period and will be analyzed separately in the next report based on post-earnings trading data.
During the earnings-heavy period, memory and storage stocks accounted for nearly 25 times the trading share of the six major technology companies combined.
Meanwhile, the combined trading share of these six companies remained largely unchanged, and the chip design and manufacturing category also showed limited movement. The main structural shift occurred between memory stocks and other individual stocks.
The data suggests strong theme persistence in trading activity. Memory stocks had already represented the dominant trading theme before earnings season began, and activity became further concentrated as the earnings period progressed rather than being evenly distributed across different earnings names.
2. Why Can One Company’s Earnings Drive Trading Across Related Assets?
Memory manufacturers are influenced by common industry variables, including AI server demand, product pricing, supply-demand conditions, and capacity allocation.
Taking the DRAM market as an example, Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron held revenue shares of 39%, 26%, and 25%, respectively, in Q2 2026, representing approximately 90% of the market combined.
In such a concentrated industry, demand outlook, pricing trends, and supply information disclosed by one leading manufacturer can become a reference point for evaluating other companies across the sector.
On July 29, SK Hynix reported second-quarter revenue growth of 257% year over year and operating profit growth of 557%. The company attributed growth to AI server-related high-value products, rising memory prices, and long-term supply agreements.
These disclosures updated market expectations not only for SK Hynix itself, but also for broader industry demand, pricing, and supply conditions.
The trading volume changes across related assets around the two earnings dates were as follows:
On July 29, SK Hynix, Samsung, Micron, and the DRAM ETF all saw significant increases in trading volume, with the impact also extending to KORU and SOXL.
Since Samsung was scheduled to report earnings the following day, its trading activity may have included pre-earnings positioning. By comparison, Micron, which did not report earnings that day, saw a 140% increase in trading volume, while the DRAM ETF rose 110%, providing a clearer indication that industry information had spread to peer companies and thematic ETFs.
On July 30, Samsung reported earnings and highlighted expectations for accelerating demand growth in server DRAM, enterprise SSDs, and HBM, for the second half of the year, while indicating that supply conditions could remain tight.
Following the report, Micron, SanDisk, KORU, and SOXL continued to see higher trading volume, while SK Hynix and the DRAM ETF, which had already experienced significant volume increases the previous day, pulled back.
Across the two earnings events, trading activity followed a broader transmission pattern. The first earnings report expanded market attention from the reporting company to peers, sector ETFs, and related assets. After the second earnings report further confirmed industry trends, trading shifted from broad-based activity to more selective positioning.
Micron, KORU, and SOXL all recorded higher trading volume around both earnings events. Micron did not report earnings on either day, while KORU and SOXL are ETFs representing the broader Korean equity and U.S. semiconductor markets, respectively. Their repeated response suggests that the July 29 spillover was not an isolated event.
3. Trading Peaks Follow a Sequence of Market Events Rather Than Earnings Dates Alone
Among 10 key assets, consisting of the six major U.S. technology companies as well as Intel, SanDisk, SK Hynix, and Samsung, the distribution of peak trading volume during the observation period was as follows:
In other words, 60% of the assets did not reach their peak trading volume on the earnings date itself. Post-earnings periods were more likely to generate elevated trading activity, as new industry information continued to reshape market expectations.
Three representative cases illustrate this pattern:
Intel released its earnings after the U.S. market close on July 23 Eastern Time, corresponding to July 24 Beijing Time, with its trading volume peak occurring on July 30. SanDisk released its earnings after the U.S. market close on August 5 Eastern Time, corresponding to August 6 Beijing Time, but its trading volume peak occurred earlier, on July 31. Both peaks fell within the same event window, coinciding with Samsung’s earnings release on July 30 and broader trading activity across the sector that day.
SK hynix reached its post-earnings peak trading volume on August 11 Beijing Time. Prior to that, the company announced approximately KRW 54 trillion in investments on August 7 to expand DRAM and NAND production capacity.
These findings suggest that earnings-related trading activity is better understood as a sequence of market events rather than a single earnings date. Earnings reports provide the initial signal, while subsequent updates on demand outlook, pricing trends, supply constraints, and capital expenditure plans continue to reshape industry expectations and may create new trading peaks. The timing of key industry developments, rather than earnings dates alone, is what ultimately drives trading activity.
4. Trading Windows Can Extend Into Traditional Market Closures
Traditional U.S. stock markets currently offer extended trading sessions mainly during weekdays, leaving a gap on weekends.
A global user survey conducted by MEXC and CoinGecko found that 69.2% of respondents had previously been unable to react to major macro events occurring during weekends or holidays, while 73.3% said they would use exchange-based Futures to establish positions before traditional markets reopen. Although the survey primarily focused on commodity trading scenarios, it provides a reference for how users respond to market events during traditional market closures.
MEXC Stock Futures data showed a similar pattern. Average Sunday trading volume was equivalent to 25.4% of the average daily level from Tuesday to Friday. On Sunday, August 9, overall Stock Futures trading volume declined 40.3% compared with the previous day, while SK Hynix-related Futures tracking Korean stocks increased approximately 228% following the announcement of its new facility investment plans.
This suggests that while market closure periods are not the primary trading window, new industry developments can still trigger identifiable trading activity in related assets.
5. Conclusion: Trading Activity Followed Industry Variables, Not Just Earnings Calendars
During this earnings season, MEXC data revealed three major trading patterns:
- Trading became increasingly concentrated around established industry themes. Memory and storage stocks increased their share of Stock Futures trading volume from 57.5% to 67.3%, while the six major technology companies remained largely unchanged.
- Earnings information from one company could spill over across the broader industry chain. Following SK Hynix and Samsung earnings releases, related companies and sector ETFs without earnings announcements also experienced higher trading volume.
- Trading peaks occurred across multiple industry events beyond earnings dates. Among 10 key assets, 60% reached their peak trading volume outside of earnings days, with some market reactions extending into traditional market closure periods.
Data and Methodology:
- Data covers July 1 to August 11, 2026, with dates calculated according to Beijing Time. Contracts on the same underlying quoted in different currencies are consolidated. Stock Futures tracking SK Hynix’s Korea-listed shares and U.S.-listed ADRs are analyzed separately.
- This analysis examines the relationship between trading structure and industry events during the same period. Identifying individual account capital flows would require additional account-level transaction data. The products discussed are Futures and do not represent direct ownership of the underlying companies. These products have no official partnership or endorsement relationship with the companies mentioned and do not constitute investment advice.
Sources:
- AI 수요 급증으로 재편된 2026년 2분기 DRAM 시장, 삼성 39% 점유율로 선두 유지, 마이크론은 SK 하이닉스를 1% 격차로 뒤쫓아: https://korea.counterpointresearch.com/samsung-dram-market-share-q2-2026/
- SK Hynix FY2026 Q2 Earnings Results: https://www.skhynix.com/ir/UI-FR-IR01/
- Samsung Electronics 2Q 2026 Earnings Call: https://images.samsung.com/is/content/samsung/assets/global/ir/docs/2026_2Q_conference_eng.pdf
- SK Hynix Invests 54 Trillion Won in Yongin Y2 and Cheongju M17 to Secure Mid-to-Long-Term Production Base for AI Memory Demand: https://news.skhynix.com/en/fab-facility-investment-2026
- Exchanges Reshaping Traditional Asset Trading Report 2026: https://www.coingecko.com/research/publications/exchanges-reshaping-tradfi-trading
