XRP Tops Trading Volume on South Korea’s Upbit and Bithumb as KOSPI Slumps

XRP surged to the top of trading volume on South Korea’s major centralized exchanges, with Upbit recording about $110.9 million in 24-hour XRP volume versus bitcoin’s $88.6 million and ether’s $67 million, and Bithumb showing about $41 million for XRP, second only to USDT.

“On Upbit, XRP recorded approximately $110.9 million in 24-hour trading volume”

CryptoRank

CoinDesk analytics said XRP/KRW was the most traded pair on Upbit and second on Bithumb, while XRP’s price stayed modestly around $1.44 to $1.45 and repeatedly failed to break through the $1.49 to $1.50 resistance zone since February.

@coindesk

The surge in XRP volume was tied to a downturn in South Korea’s KOSPI index after a presidential policy adviser suggested that companies benefiting from artificial intelligence should return some of their profits to the public.

Bloomingbit also pointed to CoinDesk’s framing that XRP has historically experienced increased volatility when trading near resistance levels amid rising volume in South Korea, even as price moves remained limited.

Moomoo similarly reported that XRP traded near $1.44 to $1.45 across the two exchanges, up roughly 3% on the week, while XRP continued to battle the $1.49 to $1.50 zone that had repeatedly rejected upside attempts since February.

Traders and market writeups focused on the $1.49 to $1.50 resistance zone, with CoinDesk analytics saying XRP was “still battling the $1.49 to $1.50 zone,” an area that had repeatedly rejected upside attempts since February.

CoinDesk also described the setup as pressure building under a level the market had not been able to clear, while noting that XRP continued to compress below that resistance while holding higher lows above the broader $1.40 support floor.

bloomingbit

Bloomingbit said the $1.49 to $1.50 range was a key resistance zone and that if selling pressure near $1.50 is absorbed, the pace of gains could accelerate after a breakout.

Cryptonews.net framed the volume rotation into XRP/KRW as an indicator of risk appetite among local investors, adding that volatility tends to increase when XRP trades near resistance levels as trading volume in South Korea increases.

Moomoo cautioned that high volume does not guarantee upside and can also mark aggressive selling or late positioning near resistance, even as it said a sustained move through $1.50 could accelerate faster if sellers are absorbed.

Beyond the immediate volume lead, the CoinDesk-linked coverage said the XRP flow mattered against a choppier local macro backdrop, with South Korea’s Kospi falling sharply Tuesday after comments from a presidential policy aide raised questions over how the government could return part of the country’s AI-driven corporate gains to citizens through tax revenue.

“South Korea’s Kospi fell sharply Tuesday after comments from a presidential policy aide”

@coindesk

CoinDesk analytics said the token’s structure—compressing below resistance while holding higher lows above $1.40—tends to matter when volume starts rotating in, and it argued that repeated tests can weaken resistance.

Cryptonews.net added that XRP’s 24-hour trading volume on Upbit reached approximately $110.9 million, surpassing $BTC and $ETH, and that the increase in XRP transactions among South Koreans was noteworthy as they focused on one of the most familiar altcoins to them.

99Bitcoins framed the next technical milestone as a $1.50 ceiling, saying the XRP price was trading at $1.46 and asking whether it could break $1.50 and target $2.10.

The same 99Bitcoins writeup also tied potential triggers to dates, saying Ripple’s Q2 earnings on May 20 or the Bitcoin ETF decisions on May 15 could provide the trigger for XRP’s next major move.