Upbit (@Official_Upbit), South Korea's largest crypto exchange, recorded weekly trading volume of 8.35 trillion won (about $6.28 billion) for the week ending October 18, a 15.5% decrease from
Upbit (@Official_Upbit), South Korea's largest crypto exchange, recorded weekly trading volume of 8.35 trillion won (about $6.28 billion) for the week ending October 18, a 15.5% decrease from the prior week. $XRP was the most actively traded asset on the platform, finishing ahead of both Bitcoin and USDT.
Even as overall activity slowed, Korean traders kept concentrating on XRP. According to Crypto Briefing, XRP topped the volume table, with Bitcoin in second and the stablecoin USDT in third. The report also noted that heavy USDT trading can reflect traders moving between risk assets and something closer to cash.
The lead was also visible on a daily basis earlier in the week. According to Bitcoin(.)com News, XRP led Upbit spot volume at $145.6 million on Oct. 15, ahead of BTC at $126.5 million. The following day, XRP still topped Upbit on Oct. 16 with $108.3 million traded.
The latest weekly figure is also soft relative to recent weeks. Citing MarsBit, KuCoin's news desk said the platform's weekly transaction volume is now at its lowest level in recent weeks.
The drop is not limited to Upbit. Crypto Briefing said volume across major South Korean platforms fell by 19.56% in a preceding week, pointing to a broader pullback rather than a problem specific to one venue. That figure refers to the week to October 2, when, according to data from Digital Asset, the combined weekly trading volume of South Korea's top five crypto exchanges was 20.5 trillion won, down 19.56% from the previous week. Measured against that, Upbit's latest 15.5% decline looks somewhat milder.
In that earlier period, Upbit remained firmly in first place with a 64.04% share, down 3.3 percentage points from the previous week, while Bithumb's share rose 1.893 percentage points to 26.66%, according to PANews. The slowdown also follows a weak first half of the year: the Korea Financial Intelligence Unit reported that average daily exchange volume fell 44% in the first half of 2026 versus the prior six months, per Cointelegraph.
For traders, lower volume has practical effects. Lower volume generally means thinner order books, which can make prices more sensitive to large buy or sell orders. Crypto Briefing said the key signals will be whether weekly volume stabilizes near the 8.35 trillion won level or keeps sliding, and whether XRP keeps its spot at the top of the table.
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