Bitcoin’s Korea Premium Recovers to 1%, Longest Positive Streak Since May
Forecast Trend Report by Period
The so-called kimchi premium, where Bitcoin trades at a higher price in South Korea than on overseas exchanges, has reappeared. The move is seen as a sign that buying appetite among Korean retail investors has partly recovered alongside Bitcoin’s recent rebound.
Bloomberg reported that Bitcoin on Upbit was trading at about a 1% premium to Binance on Sept. 1, comparing Upbit’s won-denominated price with Binance’s dollar price. The premium has stayed positive for the past week, the longest such stretch since early May.
Rachael Lucas, an analyst at BTC Markets, said Korean retail investors tend to buy aggressively during risk-on periods. Bitcoin has in the past posted stronger returns after the kimchi premium turned positive from negative, she added.
Bitcoin briefly climbed above $80,000 last month, supported by expanded US Treasury buybacks of long-term bonds and improving sentiment toward digital assets. It was recently trading near $79,000. Inflows into US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds have also picked up again since mid-August.
Still, some analysts caution against reading the rebound in the kimchi premium as the start of a broader rally. Markus Thielen, head of research at 10x Research, said spot trading volumes did not increase alongside the return to positive premiums. That suggests the Korean market is unlikely to be a major driver in the early stage of Bitcoin’s rebound.
Lucas said the latest move looks less like a new bout of FOMO, or fear of missing out, and more like a small sign that selling pressure in South Korea has eased. US institutions and ETF flows are still driving price moves.
