Volume Monitor
Live crypto data · 8 exchanges

Kimchi Premium: Korean Exchange Prices vs Binance

The kimchi premium is how much more (or less) a coin costs on Korean exchanges than abroad. Here it is the Upbit and Bithumb KRW price, converted to USDT at the Korean USDT/KRW price, compared with the Binance USDT price of the same coin: premium vs USDT, BTC and ETH first.

Korean exchange prices are still loading; the table fills in within a minute.

0 coinsMin ₩500.0M 24h per venueSources: Upbit, Bithumb, Binance

BTC premium vs Binance
—
loading
ETH premium vs Binance
—
loading
Market-wide premium volume-weighted
—
Upbit — · 0 coinsBithumb — · 0 coins
USDT in Korea
—
conversion rate loading

Kimchi premium by coin

0 coins · premium vs USDT · BTC and ETH first, then by KRW volume
Coin Upbit premium Bithumb premium Binance price KRW 24h volume
Korean exchange prices are still loading; reload in a minute.

Method. Premium = Korean KRW price ÷ USDT/KRW price ÷ Binance USDT price − 1. The USDT/KRW rate is Upbit's own KRW-USDT market (Bithumb's when Upbit is unreachable), so this is the premium vs USDT, not vs the bank dollar rate. A venue's premium is shown when it traded at least ₩500.0M of the coin in 24 hours, and a coin's headline premium (the BTC and ETH cards, richest and cheapest) is the average of the venues shown; coins with no Binance USDT market are left out. Green means Korea pays more than Binance, red less.

Data: Upbit and Bithumb public ticker APIs, and Binance prices from this site's live feed, refreshed about once a minute. Compare with the perp vs spot basis and funding rates. Not financial advice.

Kimchi premium FAQ

What is the kimchi premium?

The kimchi premium is the gap between a coin's price on South Korean exchanges and its price elsewhere. Korean capital controls make it hard to move won abroad to arbitrage the difference, so during local buying frenzies Korean prices can run several percent (in 2018 and 2021, 20% or more) above the rest of the world; in quiet or fearful markets the premium shrinks or turns into a discount.

How is the premium calculated here?

For each coin listed on Upbit or Bithumb and on Binance: the Korean KRW price is divided by the Korean USDT price in KRW (Upbit's KRW-USDT market, or Bithumb's when Upbit is unreachable) and compared with the Binance USDT price, spot where Binance lists it, else its USDT perpetual. Premium = KRW price / USDT-in-KRW / Binance price - 1. Prices refresh about once a minute.

Why premium vs USDT and not vs the dollar?

This page uses exchange public APIs only and no foreign-exchange feed. Converting at the Korean USDT price removes the part of the premium that is really a premium on USDT itself in Korea, so the number shown is how much more a coin costs than the stablecoin you could swap it for. Compare the USDT/KRW price at the top of the page with the bank USD/KRW rate to see that part.

Why are some coins missing?

A venue's premium is shown only when it traded at least ₩500.0M of the coin in the last 24 hours, and the coin must also trade against USDT on Binance. A premium beyond ±30% almost always means two different tokens share a ticker, or a market is being delisted, so those coins are listed as excluded instead. Nothing here is financial advice.