The volume spike occurred at 05:00 UTC, coinciding with sharp downward price wicks across Bitcoin, XRP, and other major assets. According to CoinGlass data, the broader market rout triggered $523 million in liquidations within that single hour, with long positions accounting for $448 million of the total. While the sudden sell-off forced widespread closures, it also pushed Upbit’s rolling 24-hour volume to $3.818 billion, significantly outpacing competitors like Bithumb, which recorded $1.954 billion.
XRP dominated the trading floor, capturing 32.20% of Upbit’s volume during the surge. The TRUMP token followed at 10.93%, while Tether accounted for 8.39%. This distribution highlights a divergence from traditional Bitcoin-led activity, even as the broader market rally on August 21 initially fueled the retail interest. Despite the intensity of the crash, evidence points to a systemic deleveraging event rather than a technical failure at the exchange itself.
This burst of activity arrives after a sluggish first half of 2026, during which trading across South Korea’s five won-based exchanges fell by 54.6%. Although Upbit maintained a 67.4% market share in July, the sustainability of this current volume remains uncertain. Market participants are now watching to see if trading levels hold or if the volatility was merely a temporary artifact of forced liquidations and rapid hedging.
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