As crypto trading volumes collapse in South Korea, retail investors are flocking to the stock market, fueling a state-backed AI-driven rally that’s replaced altcoin mania with semiconductor fever.
The price of Ethereum appears to be recovering nicely over the weekend after a period of investor uncertainty. The “king of altcoins”, following what looked like an aggressive return above the $4,200 level earlier this week, is now lagging under the psychological $4,000 mark. While the Ethereum price has been building some positive momentum over the past day, the shadows of the October 10 downturn still seem to be weighing on investor sentiment. A market phenomenon known as the “Kimchi Premium” suggests a few tedious weeks ahead for the second-largest cryptocurrency. What Happened Last Time Kimchi Premium Saw A Similar Surge In a recent post on the social media platform X, market analyst CryptoOnchain revealed that the Kimchi Premium has been on the rise over the past weeks. This observation is based on the movement of the on-chain indicator Korea Premium Index, which measures the price difference between South Korean exchanges and other global exchanges. Related Reading: More Pain Ahead? Bitcoin Trendline Breach Sparks Talk Of Corrective Wave In Play This metric, or the “Kimchi Premium,” shows how much extra Korean traders are willing to pay for a particular cryptocurrency (Ethereum, in this case). When the index is positive, it means that Korean retailers are willing to pay a premium for the crypto assets. Meanwhile, a negative Korean Premium Index signals that the retailers are only willing to buy the cryptocurrency at a discount. According to CryptoOnchain, the Korea Premium Index for Ethereum recently saw a notable surge to around 8.2%, its second-highest level this year. The market analyst noted that this level of Kimchi Premium is a troubling sign, as it historically suggests extreme retail FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) and a potential price top. Typically, whales tend to take advantage of the price gap by selling on Korean exchanges when the Korea Premium Index is on the rise. Due to increased selling pressure, the Ethereum price now faces a greater risk of correction. For instance, the last time ETH saw a Kimchi Premium this high was in January, coinciding with the price fall to around $1,500. With this in mind, investors might want to tread with caution, as the odds of a sustained downward trend are significantly higher. Ethereum Price At A Glance As of this writing, the price of ETH stands at around $3,875, reflecting no significant change in the past 24 hours. In what was expected to be a bullish period for the cryptocurrency market, “Uptober” has not particularly lived up to the expectations of investors. After a positive start to the month, the Ethereum price is currently down by almost 10%. Related Reading: Analyst Predicts XRP Price Will Hit $1,200 With 50,000% Run Driven By These Factors Featured image from DelishGlobe, chart from TradingView
For almost as long as Bitcoin has been trading, Korea’s “kimchi premium” has been one of the market’s favorite ghost signals. When spot prices in South Korea climb faster than those in the US, traders interpret this as a sign of retail demand surging, capital trapped, and liquidity tilting East. When the spread collapses, the […]
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Trading volumes on Korean exchanges Bithumb and Upbit have dropped significantly in the past week, indicating a drop in retail trading activity.
The Bitcoin (BTC) ‘kimchi premium’ has returned to South Korea’s cryptocurrency market as the country grapples with political instability. This has led to a weakened Korean won (KRW) and a higher price for the leading cryptocurrency. Bitcoin Kimchi Premium Surges In South Korea According to CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju, the KRW-USD trading pair has […]
The South Korean won hit the lowest level against the dollar since March 2009.
The Kimchi premium has seen a definite rebound after Christmas, recovering to 3.83% on Dec. 27. While this is still significantly lower than the 5.26% recorded on Dec. 22, it still represents a significant difference in Bitcoin prices between South Korea and global markets. The current rebound comes amidst political and economic turmoil in South […]
The post Kimchi premium recovers as KRWUSD drops to 15-year low appeared first on CryptoSlate.
BTC price performance is slowly making market observers more bullish on Bitcoin on short timeframes.
Bitcoin price cooled off at the start of December, but several bullish catalysts support investors' belief that $100,000 BTC is around the corner.
Bitcoin (BTC) has seen a violent drop in South Korean exchanges amid the growing political crisis in the country. Following a recent announcement by the country’s President, the flagship crypto and other crypto assets saw a brief sell-off that plunged their prices by over 30%. Related Reading: Solana (SOL) Could See A Correction Despite Historic Monthly Close, $400 Still On Sight? South Korea Declares First Martial Law In 44 Years On Tuesday night, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared an “emergency martial law” for the first time in 44 years, causing panic among Koreans and kickstarting a massive sell-off of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The Korean JoongAng Daily explains that a declaration of martial law replaces civilian government with military rule and suspends civilian legal processes for military powers. Additionally, it allows measures like “restricting freedom of speech, publication, assembly and association, special changes to the authority of governments or courts, and a warrant system by the provisions of related laws.” Nonetheless, if the parliament requests the lifting of martial law, with the consent of a majority of its members, the president must do so. In a televised briefing, Yoon stated that the measure was taken to “eradicate pro-North Korean forces and protect the constitutional democratic order.” The President accused the country’s opposition of sympathizing with North Korea and anti-state activities. It’s worth noting that the opposition Democratic Party has a majority in the South Korean parliament, which has seemingly complicated Yoon’s efforts to push his agenda. In his statement, the Korean President didn’t announce specific measures but cited the opposition’s motion to impeach top prosecutors and reject the government’s budget proposal. Through this martial law, I will rebuild and protect the free Republic of Korea, which is falling into the depths of national ruin. I will eliminate anti-state forces as quickly as possible and normalize the country. Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-Myung announced they would attempt to nullify Yoon’s order but expressed concern that the military forces would act against the parliament members. Bitcoin And XRP See Negative Kimchi Premium Following the news, the price of Bitcoin saw a sharp correction against its South Korean Won (KRW) pair in local exchanges, dropping 27% on Upbit, Korea’s largest crypto platform. The flagship cryptocurrency fell from the 132 million KRW mark, worth around $92,000, to as low as 88.26 million KRW, around $62,000. However, it has since recovered from the nosedive, trading again above the pre-crash levels. At the same time, Bitcoin recorded a price drop on global exchanges, falling momentarily below the $94,000 support before jumping back to the $95,000-$96,000 range on platforms like Binance, ByBit, and OKX. Similarly, XRP saw its price retrace 60% from the 4,000 KRW mark to as low as 1,623 KRW, worth around $1.23. The cryptocurrency has recovered from the fall in the last hour, trading at 3,600 KRW, valued at $2.52. Related Reading: Cardano Next In Line After XRP? ADA Price Targets $4.88 In Epic Breakout According to Wu Blockchain, the reason behind the negative “Kimchi Premium” is that Korean exchanges do not allow institutional market makers. This, alongside the excessive traffic, “caused prices to be unable to synchronize in a short period of time.” Ultimately, the latest reports revealed that the Parliament passed the vote to nullify the martial law, ending it after three hours. As of this writing, Bitcoin is trading at 133.2 million KWR in Upbit. Featured Image from Unsplash.com, Chart from TradingView.com
Dogecoin (DOGE) continues to lead the crypto market with its 116% surge over the last week. The memecoin’s frenzy has outperformed most to 100 cryptocurrencies and even made DOGE’s price in South Korean exchanges briefly rise higher than global exchanges like Binance. Related Reading: Solana (SOL) Records 3-Year High As Price Hits $220, Is $260 Next? ‘Kimchi Premium’ Returns Amid Dogecoin Rally Trump’s victory sparked a massive crypto market rally, creating a craze around the leading memecoin Dogecoin. The token’s trading volume increased 157% in the last seven days, driving DOGE’s price from trading below the $0.20 mark to above the $0.40 range. This week, the Dogecoin frenzy arrived in South Korea, eclipsing a significant share of the Korean market. Web3 analyst Bradley Park highlighted that the memecoin had a remarkable $10.6 billion 24-hour trading volume on the Korean exchange Upbit. Based on CryptoQuant data, the analyst pointed out that Dogecoin was the local crypto exchange’s top-traded token, with 32.4% of the total volume as of Wednesday, surpassing Bitcoin (BTC). Moreover, on Tuesday, Dogecoin saw a spike in volume globally, reaching $22 billion in a single day. Upbit accounted for 20.7% of DOGE’s global trading volume, falling second to Binance’s 41.5% share. The memecoin’s spike in Korean demand sparked DOGE’s “Kimchi Premium” on Korean top crypto exchanges. “Kimchi Premium” refers to the price gap of a cryptocurrency between South Korean and global exchanges. On Tuesday, the DOGE/KRW trading pair on Upbit and Bithumb briefly surpassed the DOGE/USDT pair on Binance by 1.5%, recording the largest premium in three months. At the time of writing, Upbit’s DOGE/USDT trading pair is trading at $0.433, 1.6% above Binance’s $0.426 trading price. DOGE About To Reach The Moon? Dogecoin’s performance has sparked a bullish sentiment among investors. According to crypto analyst Kaleo, the memecoin is “in the process of making the massive impulse move to the new all-time Highs at the early stages of a new bull market that it is known for.” The analyst details that the cryptocurrency makes “swift moves with massive multiples” around 200 days after the Bitcoin Halving, with timing between previous ATHs and the beginning of each move having a “similar cadence.” Related Reading: Market ‘Pricing In A Higher Fair Value’ For Bitcoin As Price Discovery Continues The analyst noted that Dogecoin still has “a lot of room to run up” if history repeats itself. He explained that the last time DOGE moved up from its current levels, it surged 65% to above the $0.7 mark in 24 hours. Moreover, he highlighted that the last time the memecoin registered a breakout like this from its BTC pair, it had a remarkable 175% pump toward its previous ATH. Based on this, the analyst forecasted that the long-awaited $1 target for the memecoin will be reached soon. Dogecoin is trading at $0.42, a 9.7% and 114% surge in the daily and weekly timeframes. Featured Image from Unsplash.com, Chart from TradingView.com