Key Takeaways
- Upbit’s XRP-KRW pair logged $350M (₩481B) on Sept. 21, against $225.8M (₩308B) for BTC-KRW.
- XRP climbed about 19% on Upbit, from $1.28 (₩1,749) on Sept. 15 to $1.52 (₩2,078) by Sept. 21.
- Upbit showed no XRP-specific kimchi premium on Sept. 22, so traders are watching for a price gap to open.
The Numbers
On Monday night, onchain data showed that XRP was “dominating Upbit,” with the asset’s numbers showing $203.9 million in 24-hour volume against $143 million for bitcoin and $119 million for ether.
Moreover, Upbit’s candle data shows XRP out-traded bitcoin in won terms on every day from Aug. 23 through Sept. 21, 30 for 30, and it led again in the first hours of Sept. 22.
The margins were sometimes huge because on Aug. 23, XRP drew $418M (₩571B) to bitcoin’s $93.1M (₩127B), a 4.5x lead. On Sept. 15, the day the CLARITY Act failed its Senate cloture vote, XRP churned $368M (₩502B) as its Upbit price sank to $1.28 (₩1,749), more than three times bitcoin’s $118M (₩161B). Korean traders didn’t step away when XRP fell 10%. They traded it harder.
Venue consideration is important as well, since a recent Kaiko Research document found that Upbit handled about 70% of South Korea’s crypto volume through 2025. Not only that, Upbit is also one of XRP’s largest custodians, appearing 11 times among the top 40 XRP wallets with a combined 6.424 billion XRP in July.
Who Is Doing the Buying?
Korean retail, and the bid seemingly moved the numbers. XRP climbed about 19% on Upbit from $1.28 (₩1,749) on Sept. 15 to $1.52 (₩2,078) at the Sept. 21 close, touching $1.53 (₩2,084) intraday.
Globally, XRP is trading at $1.52 at press time, up 6% in 24 hours, following an 8.7% jump that Peter Brandt tied to a $5.40 chart target.
The wider market helped as well, with a short squeeze lifting bitcoin’s price above $87,000 before easing to about $85,270. XRP rode the same wave, but Korean traders were leaning into XRP far harder than into BTC itself.
Where Is the ‘Kimchi Premium ‘?
There is a twist in all of this math because when Korean demand runs hot, won prices usually trade above global prices, a gap known as the kimchi premium. This has not happened this time.
Currently, XRP sits at $1.519 (₩2,080) on Upbit, a touch under the $1.52 global price. Bitcoin showed a roughly 2% discount today, a number that is sometimes much larger.
With both assets marked down by just a shade, the gap reflects the won, not an XRP-specific frenzy.
Lastly, heavy volume with no premium right now seems to imply that Koreans are flipping XRP back and forth in size, not queuing to buy it at any price. That is a more durable kind of activity than a premium-fueled spike, albeit a less explosive one. Interesting week ahead!
