Upbit's SHIB Spot Trading Volume Reaches $5.11 Million, Comparable to Binance

Upbit's Shibainu (SHIB) spot trading volume has reportedly risen to a level comparable to global exchange Binance. However, it is difficult to conclude that domestic demand has surpassed global liquidity due to differences in trading times and product specifications.

U.Today reported based on CoinGlass liquidity heatmap data that Upbit's SHIB/KRW spot trading volume reached $5.29 million (approximately 72 billion KRW) daily, similar to Binance. The same data showed OKX at $2.63 million (36 billion KRW) and Bybit at $1.65 million (22 billion KRW). Public exchange data also confirmed that trading volumes between the two exchanges were in a comparable range.

As of 11:56 AM on September 16, Upbit's SHIB/KRW volume stood at approximately $5.11 million (69 billion KRW), while Binance's SHIB/USDT spot trading volume was about $497,000 (68 billion KRW). However, Binance separately lists a 1000SHIB/USDT product, making direct comparison challenging. Differences in data collection times, spot vs. derivative products, and included products between CoinGlass and public exchange data were not confirmed.

Upbit's ranking for SHIB volume places it around 30th among all trading pairs, indicating that Shibainu's trading scale does not represent the overall market. The phenomenon appears to reflect concentrated domestic trading of a specific meme coin rather than increased liquidity across Upbit as a whole.

The rise in trading volume is linked to price discrepancies and capital movement within the domestic market. U.Today noted that the domestic premium for SHIB during the first half of September ranged between 0.53% and 1.50%, though it's unclear if this specifically applied to SHIB alone.

SHIB's concentration in Upbit coincided with on-chain movements, including a transfer of approximately 36.1 billion SHIB from Coinone to a single wallet on September 10, followed by small test transfers to Upbit and Korbit. The purpose of these transfers remains unclear, as they could be for selling or internal exchange operations.

Trading volume reflects the sum of executed buy and sell orders, so higher volume alone does not indicate stronger buying pressure or price movement. It is necessary to consider liquidity depth and order book spread alongside trading volume. The data merely shows that at a specific point in time, Upbit and Binance's SHIB volumes were similar.

Given the different metrics used for each exchange, $5.29 million, $5.11 million, and $497,000 should not be interpreted as equivalent figures. The data only demonstrates that trading of a specific meme coin can become concentrated on one domestic exchange's trading pair.