Upbit’s XRP (XRP) Tops Weekly Volume at 3.63T KRW

XRP’s 48% Weekly Surge Dominates Upbit

Upbit’s weekly Data Lab report shows Ripple’s XRP (XRP) led the exchange’s trading volume at 3.63 trillion KRW during Aug. 17–23, after the token climbed 48.15% for the week. Total turnover on the South Korean platform reached 15.12 trillion KRW, up 210.02% week-over-week and more than three times the previous week’s activity. XRP’s volume was nearly double that of second-ranked Tether (USDT), which recorded 1.82 trillion KRW, while Bitcoin (BTC) followed at 1.29 trillion KRW. The advance also lifted Upbit’s Composite Index (UBCI) by 18.25% to 10,924.4 and pushed its Fear & Greed Index up 25 points to 74, moving from “neutral” into “greed” territory. The UBCI uses Oct. 1, 2017, as its base date with a starting value of 1,000, and the Fear & Greed gauge is recalculated every five minutes from 24-hour fill prices and volume. Ethereum (ETH) added 27.19% and Bitcoin rose 19.70% over the same window, a sign the bid was broad rather than confined to one token. Smaller names moved even harder: Ethena (ENA) surged 89.74%, PumpFun’s PUMP gained 89.68%, and Stacks (STX) advanced 85.06%. Sector data showed stablecoin-linked assets up 49.01%, decentralized-exchange tokens up 46.77% — a segment driven by automated market maker protocols — and interoperability and bridge tokens up 39.61%. Cash-like assets diverged, with USDT and USDC down 3.11% and 3.38%, respectively. Upbit Data Lab, operated by Dunamu, excludes stablecoin-related assets from its official sector index calculations. Even the weakest tracked group, real-world assets, finished the week up 5.29%, showing the rally reached every corner of the market. Trading activity across the exchange expanded much faster than prices, pointing to fresh capital entering the market rather than simple mark-to-market gains. The obvious risk in the report is overheating: with the exchange’s Fear & Greed gauge at 74 and several altcoins up more than 80% in a single week, chasing the move carries rising volatility risk.

$1.35 Support Key After Overbought Rally

From a technical standpoint, XRP is now trading near $1.49 after briefly spiking to about $1.70 following one of its largest daily moves of the year. The XRP/USDT chart on TradingView shows the breakout has cleared the entire cluster of major moving averages, including the long-term average near $1.35 that marked the last significant dynamic resistance. Holding above $1.35 would represent a structural improvement rather than a short-lived volatility spike, while losing that level would increase the odds that the advance was an exhaustion event. Daily RSI is extremely overbought at roughly 86, and the long upper wick left near $1.70 shows that sellers responded aggressively at higher prices. Immediate resistance sits at $1.50–$1.55; a daily close above that area could reopen the path toward $1.60 and eventually a retest of $1.70. Above that, the chart shows relatively little overhead supply before the $1.80–$2.00 range. On the downside, the breakout area near $1.35 is the first meaningful support, while shorter-term moving averages are grouped around $1.10–$1.18, underscoring how extended the move has become. Trading volume has remained elevated since the breakout, signaling real participation rather than a low-liquidity drift. A pullback would not automatically negate the bullish case unless $1.35 gives way; a close below it would open a return to the broader bear-market structure that preceded the rally. Until the RSI cools below 70, further upside is likely to stay vulnerable to profit-taking, and the most constructive outcome would be a period of high-level consolidation that allows the moving averages to catch up to price. For the rally to continue without a deeper pullback, XRP will need to defend the breakout zone on the first retest, ideally allowing RSI to reset through a sideways session rather than a sharp drop. In the near term, the path of least resistance appears to be trading between support and the overhead supply zone while the market digests the 48% weekly gain.

$1.4753 Support in Focus After Overbought Run

Fresh exchange data shows Korean platforms now dominate global XRP trading: Upbit and Bithumb's combined volume reached 2.0399 trillion won on Aug. 22, a 36-fold jump in five sessions, lifting their aggregate share of worldwide XRP turnover to 22.81% as of Aug. 24 morning — above Binance's 19.98%. Upbit alone ranked second globally at $421.2 million (14.52%), ahead of Coinbase Exchange's $350.2 million. The catalyst traces to the U.S. Treasury's plan to repurchase more than $4 billion in long-dated bonds from Sept. 9 through Nov. 4, doubling its earlier ceiling; traders read the move as de facto yield-curve control, and XRP touched a 51% weekly gain. Coinglass data shows nearly $2 billion in shorts liquidated across the crypto market. Korean activity then cooled, with combined volume sliding to 625.06 billion won on Aug. 23 even as XRP closed at 2,083 won.

New data from 21Shares, published Aug. 19, highlights a fundamental headwind beneath XRP’s price surge: the token’s circulating supply rose 5.5% year-over-year, driven by monthly net escrow releases of roughly 272 million XRP that exceed re-locked amounts. At current fee levels, the report estimates holders face an annual net drag of 5.5%, with transaction-fee burns far too small to offset the dilution—revenue would need to climb about 12,700 times to neutralize a year’s new supply. Meanwhile, XRPL’s reported income plunged 81.6% year-over-year to $1.18 million in H1 2026, as AMM pool fees dropped 80.3% and NFT royalties fell 69%. Traditional transaction fees declined 66.3% to $90,800. Even record U.S. spot XRP ETP buying absorbed only 14.8% of H1 supply growth, with net outflows in two months, underscoring the gap between price momentum and underlying tokenomics.

The capital rotation on South Korean exchanges is intensifying, with XRP now commanding an unprecedented share of Upbit’s daily turnover. Fresh data shows the XRP/KRW pair alone accounted for $319 million, or 21.86% of all activity on the exchange on Aug. 24, far outpacing Tether ($179 million), Bitcoin ($125.33 million) and Ethereum ($92 million). Notably, Seoul prices are trading roughly in line with global markets, with the “Kimchi premium” stuck at around -0.5%, confirming that Korean volume is now driving the worldwide price rather than creating a local premium. The sustained surge has pushed XRP to $1.51, with the token decisively clearing the long-term downtrend that had capped prices since July 2025, though exchange revenues remain vulnerable should this aggressive retail pace slow.

(as of 20:16 UTC) COINOTAG’s proprietary 42-indicator composite S/R scoring engine rates immediate support at $1.4255 at 78/100 (STRONG), underpinned by Fibo 0.382, LVN, S2, and ATR Lower, while the first resistance at $1.4997 scores 50/100 on BB Upper, Pivot Point, RSI OB, and Fibo 0.236 signals. Derivatives data shows perp funding at 0.0043%, open interest of $1.07 billion and a long/short account ratio of 2.85 (74.1% long), indicating crowded longs. With the Fear & Greed Index at 73/100 (Greed) and daily RSI at 79.82, momentum remains stretched. A defended $1.4255 floor opens a push through $1.4997 toward $1.6184, while a daily close below $1.4255 would invalidate the bullish setup. With XRP still far from its all-time high, the near-term support battle is the immediate test.