While XRP’s price isn’t performing as well as Bitcoin and is currently trending downwards, trading activity in South Korea tells a different story. Korean traders are selling off Bitcoin at a much faster rate than XRP.
The key takeaway is the recent division. XRP’s price continues to largely follow Bitcoin’s, meaning it still relies on Bitcoin’s performance. However, the reduced selling pressure from Korea suggests that XRP investors are holding on to their coins.
XRP Still Moves With Bitcoin, Just Weaker
For the last month, XRP and Bitcoin have largely followed the same price trends, showing a strong connection—their daily returns were correlated at 0.88. Therefore, recent suggestions that XRP is becoming independent from Bitcoin aren’t accurate; it continues to move with whatever Bitcoin does.
The main difference isn’t *which* way these cryptocurrencies are moving, but *how much*. While Bitcoin stayed relatively stable over the past month, XRP decreased in value by about 5%, causing its price compared to Bitcoin to also drop around 5%. Essentially, XRP tends to fall when Bitcoin falls, but doesn’t rise as much when Bitcoin goes up – and this pattern is typical of the entire crypto market.
XRP has underperformed compared to other major cryptocurrencies globally this month. While Ethereum’s value increased, XRP decreased, meaning it’s falling behind not only Bitcoin but also other competing tokens.
The One Place XRP Is Holding Up Is Korea
Here’s a surprising development: Bitcoin is actually trading at a slight discount—over 1% cheaper—on exchanges in Korea. This is measured by the Korea Premium Index, which is currently around -1.18%.
That significant discount suggests local retailers are being careful and prioritizing sales rather than trying to maximize profits. Unlike this, XRP trading on Upbit is currently in line with its price on international markets.
This difference is important because South Korea is a major market for XRP. While XRP isn’t performing as well worldwide, Korean investors seem much less likely to sell it compared to Bitcoin, suggesting a degree of confidence in the cryptocurrency.
As an analyst, I keep a close eye on the ‘kimchi premium,’ which essentially shows me how crypto prices on Korean exchanges compare to the global average. If it’s positive, it tells me that buyers in Korea are willing to pay more than the rest of the world. Conversely, a negative premium indicates they’re selling at a lower price, or at a discount.
Fading Sellers and a Ripple Catalyst
There are a couple of positive signs for XRP right now. Firstly, while the price has gone down recently, the amount of XRP being sold has actually decreased, hinting that the selling pressure might be weakening.
Ripple has recently become a member of the Linux Foundation’s x402 group, aiming to enable AI-powered payments using XRP and RLUSD on the XRP Ledger. This move focuses on ‘agentic payments’ – a growing trend in the crypto world where software can automatically pay for services without human intervention.
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The strong link between XRP and Bitcoin is a key issue. For XRP to truly recover, Bitcoin likely needs to rise in value as well – it can’t happen on its own. Recent data from early July suggests that buying interest in XRP is decreasing, meaning there isn’t much demand supporting its price.
XRP Price Levels to Watch
Currently, XRP is trading around $1.09, moving within a downward channel. Whether recent positive signs – like consistent buying from Korea, decreasing selling pressure, and the x402 update – will lead to increased demand will depend on what happens as the price approaches the lower edge of this channel.
XRP needs to close above $1.11 each day to start moving upwards again. This price point is a key resistance level and also aligns with a Fibonacci retracement area. Breaking through $1.11 would suggest buyers are taking control, potentially leading to a rise towards $1.18 or even higher. However, because XRP’s price is closely linked to Bitcoin (around 0.88 correlation), it likely needs Bitcoin to increase in value as well for this upward trend to happen.
If the price falls below $1.07, it suggests recent positive factors like Korean support and Ripple news weren’t strong enough to sustain the increase. This could pull XRP down with Bitcoin, potentially leading to drops towards $1.04 and then $1.00, with a risk of falling even further. Therefore, whether XRP genuinely recovers or continues to decline hinges on maintaining its price above $1.16.
2026-07-20 10:37