Crypto market researcher Dom (@traderview2) claims to have identified what appears to be a persistent, algorithmic seller of XRP on South Korea’s Upbit exchange. By his estimates, this seller has offloaded roughly 3.3 billion XRP into the XRP/KRW market over the past 10 months. If accurate, this analysis suggests Upbit’s XRP flow is a venue-specific issue rather than a simple reflection of broader market sentiment.
Dom analyzed 82 million trades on Upbit’s XRP/KRW pair, mapping their net imbalance over time. His main finding was “a $5 billion one-directional selling pipeline running 24/7 for almost a year.” He began this investigation after noticing extreme intraday activity. “It started with yesterday’s price action: -57M XRP in CVD over 17 hours. It looked insane,” he wrote. “So I ran forensic queries—bot fingerprinting, iceberg detection, wash trade checks. The selling was real. Algorithmic. 61% of trades fired within 10ms. A single bot ran for 17 hours straight with only one 33-second pause.”
Instead of treating that -57 million XRP cumulative volume delta as an anomaly, Dom zoomed out and found it fit a longer-term pattern. “-57M isn’t an anomaly,” he wrote. “Upbit XRP/KRW has been net negative every single month for 10 months,” citing months with heavy net selling like April (-165M), July (-197M), October (-382M), and January (-370M). In total, he put the figure at “3.3 BILLION XRP in net selling. ~$5B.”
He also noted the flow is unusually consistent. “Only 1 week out of 46 was positive. One,” Dom wrote, adding there is “no weekday/weekend distinction” and “no time of day where buying outweighs selling in aggregate.” This persistence led him to describe it as “infrastructure” rather than discretionary trading.
A key part of his analysis involves comparing venues. Dom said Binance’s XRP/USDT market showed significantly less sell pressure during the same periods—”2-5x less sell pressure on the same coin.” He pointed to a stretch in June where “Binance was net positive while Upbit bled -218M.” He also noted a weak correlation between the two venues’ hourly flows, at just 0.37, implying Upbit’s selling is driven by local factors rather than mirroring global trends.
Dom’s pricing observations added another layer. He said that from April through September, XRP on Upbit traded “3-6% BELOW Binance,” calling it a “reverse Kimchi discount.” This suggests the seller was willing to accept consistently worse prices than available elsewhere. “The sellers were accepting 6% worse fills than available on global markets, for many months,” Dom wrote. “They don’t care about the price. They need KRW, are mandated to use Upbit, and/or are Korean holders taking profit…”
He then highlighted a structural shift around October 10. “Korean retail went insane. The premium flipped from -0.07% to +2.4% in a single day. Trades increased 5x to 832K,” Dom wrote, adding the premium “has only briefly gone negative since.” Despite this shift, the seller did not retreat—in fact, the pace accelerated. “And the sellers? They doubled their daily rate. From -6.3M/day to -11.2M/day.”
Dom also categorized days by XRP’s performance on Binance, finding that Upbit’s flow skews heavily negative on down days, especially during crashes. He summarized the dynamic as a feedback loop between systematic selling and retail behavior: “On moon days, Korean retail buys…”He noted that the market has shifted to a net buying position, with investors accumulating assets. On days when prices crash, selling pressure is eight times heavier, as systematic sellers and retail panic reinforce each other. Meanwhile, Korean retail investors buy on every price surge, while the pipeline sells into all of this activity.
To illustrate the “machine versus retail” dynamic, Dom compared order patterns on both sides. He observed that sell orders often came in round-number batches—like 10, 50, 100, 500, or 1,000 XRP—with 57-60% of trades executing within 10 milliseconds. In contrast, buy orders frequently showed small, fractional amounts, such as 2.535, 3.679, or 2.681 XRP. He suggested this pattern aligns with retail trades denominated in Korean won, where investors buy a fixed amount of won worth of XRP. “One side looks like retail,” he wrote. “The other looks like a machine.”
The scale of the activity helped the thread gain traction. Dom highlighted that “3.3 billion XRP”—representing 5.4% of XRP’s circulating supply—moved through a single trading pair on one exchange over 10 months. He stressed that his analysis was based on detailed trade data, citing “82 million Upbit trades and 444 million Binance trades” that he collected.
Dom did not identify a specific entity behind the selling but raised a key question for further investigation: Who could sustain selling $300–400 million worth per month for a year straight, appear indifferent to 6% price discounts, and specifically need Korean won or be restricted to using Upbit?
At the time of reporting, XRP was trading at $1.45.
Frequently Asked Questions
Of course Here is a list of FAQs about the Korean XRP exchange data that has the community buzzing designed to be helpful for both beginners and experienced participants
Beginner General Questions
1 What exactly is this Korean XRP data everyone is talking about
It refers to trading data from major South Korean cryptocurrency exchanges that shows XRP is consistently the mosttraded or one of the mosttraded cryptocurrencies in the country often surpassing even Bitcoin in daily trading volume
2 Why is this data such a big deal
Its a big deal because South Korea has one of the worlds most active and passionate retail crypto markets When trading volume is concentrated there it can significantly influence XRPs global price and market sentiment showing strong localized demand
3 What is the Kimchi Premium and does it apply to XRP
The Kimchi Premium is the phenomenon where cryptocurrencies often trade at a higher price on Korean exchanges compared to global exchanges due to high domestic demand and capital controls XRP frequently exhibits this premium which highlights its intense popularity in Korea
4 Im new to crypto Why is XRP so popular in Korea specifically
The reasons are complex but key factors include early listing on major Korean exchanges strong marketing by Ripple Labs in the AsiaPacific region partnerships with Korean financial institutions and a cultural affinity for altcoin trading among Korean retail investors
Advanced MarketFocused Questions
5 Does high Korean volume mean the price will go up globally
Not necessarily While it indicates strong regional demand and can cause shortterm price spikes global price is determined by worldwide supply and demand However sustained high volume is generally seen as a bullish indicator
6 Whats the difference between trading volume and dominance in this context
Trading Volume The total value of XRP bought and sold on Korean exchanges in a given period High volume means lots of activity
Dominance XRPs share of the total crypto trading volume on those exchanges If XRP dominance is 40 it means 40 of all money traded on that exchange that day was for XRP pairs