South Korea's XRP trading volume dwarfs Bitcoin and Ethereum on Upbit

A capital rotation in South Korea's crypto market intensified Monday into an extreme trading imbalance, with XRP absorbing more volume on Upbit than Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Tether combined, U.Today reported.

Daily trading volume in the XRP/KRW pair sits firmly in first place at $319 million, according to the latest Upbit data via CoinMarketCap, accounting for 21.86% of all activity on the exchange. Bitcoin trails at $125.33 million, Tether at $179 million, and Ethereum at $92 million, keeping the industry's three biggest names below XRP in the top five. Upbit and Bithumb are South Korea's two largest crypto exchanges, and together they handle the bulk of the country's retail trading volume, a market regulators have flagged as one of the most active in the world relative to population size.

The imbalance traces back to how Korean traders spent the first half of 2026. With crypto in a prolonged downturn, they kept their money in the KOSPI stock market, buying Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix shares on the back of the global AI boom. An altcoin revival that began ahead of last weekend triggered what local traders are calling a great rotation, and it intensified Monday as investors locked in tech-stock profits and redirected billions of dollars back to crypto exchanges.

Upbit's daily turnover surged 250% to $1.8 billion on Friday, while Bithumb's jumped 132%. XRP alone attracted more than $418 million in retail inflows at its peak, extending a stretch in which the token already erased a death cross and led the top 10 with a 14% jump earlier this week.

The buying pushed XRP to $1.51, around 2,073 won, breaking decisively above the long-term downtrend it had stagnated in since July last year. What stands out is the Kimchi premium, the usual gap between Korean and global crypto prices: it remains firmly negative at around -0.5%. Seoul prices are trading roughly in line with global markets rather than at the usual local premium, which suggests Korean volume itself is functioning as a main engine pushing XRP's worldwide price higher, not merely riding a global move from the sidelines.

• XRP/KRW daily volume on Upbit: $319 million, 21.86% of exchange activity
• Bitcoin, Tether, Ethereum volume on Upbit: $125.33 million, $179 million, $92 million respectively
• Upbit daily turnover: up 250% to $1.8 billion Friday; Bithumb up 132%
• XRP retail inflows at peak: more than $418 million
• XRP price: $1.51 (around 2,073 won), Kimchi premium around -0.5%

The rotation lines up with a broader run of bullish catalysts for XRP this month, including growing ETF demand and steady whale accumulation that pushed the token above $1.15 earlier in August, even before this Korean-driven leg higher.

The rally's durability is an open question. Korean exchange revenues nearly halved after the capital outflows earlier this year, and whether this pace holds depends on whether Korean traders keep rotating money out of tech stocks rather than back into them once the AI trade cools or crypto stalls again. For now, XRP is the clearest beneficiary of that rotation, and Upbit's order books are the clearest evidence of it.

Nothing here should be taken as financial advice — just information to consider.