The recent price surge of XRP aimed at the $3 mark is primarily driven by active trading in South Korea. Existing data shows that Upbit, the leading exchange in the country, plays a key role in this growth.
On July 12, analyst Dom emphasized that the net buying pressure of 45 million XRP in the spot market has driven the price to fluctuate between $2.60 and $3.00.
Upbit drives the surge of XRP as the retail frenzy spreads throughout South Korea.
According to him, 70% of this volume comes from Upbit alone, accounting for 32 million XRP. Other exchanges, including Coinbase (11%), Kraken (9%), and Bitstamp (6%), play a smaller role.
In contrast, Binance, often a key player in spot market volatility, has recorded negative net volume, highlighting the concentrated nature of this price surge in the South Korean market.
Data from CoinGecko aligns with this observation, showing that XRP trading volume on Upbit has reached nearly $500 million in the past 24 hours. This figure surpasses the total trading volume of both Bitcoin and Ethereum on the platform.
This level of activity highlights the dominance of South Korean retail investors in driving growth momentum for altcoins like XRP.
Notably, South Korean traders have previously driven strong price increases in the crypto market.
According to Bloomberg, over 7 million South Koreans, about 15% of the population, are currently registered to use domestic exchanges.
Many of these traders, after missing the initial growth of Bitcoin, have turned to altcoins like XRP, which now accounts for a large portion of cryptocurrency trading volume in South Korea.
Some in the crypto community have expressed concerns about the sustainability of price movements driven by retail investors.
However, Dom believes that such moves reflect the developmental nature of regional markets.
"They really only have a significant impact on XRP… when they attract more interest at some point compared to other markets," Dom explains.
Meanwhile, the focus on XRP comes as the ecosystem of this altcoin continues to undergo rapid expansion.
In the past month, the XRP Ledger has thrived by integrating new updates and introducing new products, such as the USDC stablecoin, into the network's operations.
Furthermore, speculation about the potential launch of an XRP spot ETF continues to circulate. This potential development could further bolster the token's presence in traditional financial markets.
Additionally, the legal battle between Ripple Labs and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) seems to be nearing its end.
Recently, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse announced that the company would withdraw its cross-appeal in the lawsuit.
These combined factors, along with the current optimistic market sentiment, have contributed to the continuous upward trajectory of XRP in recent weeks.
