Korea Crypto Arbitrage Tracker (Kimchi Premium)

Real-time price comparison between Korean crypto exchanges (Upbit, Bithumb) and Binance — calculates the Kimchi Premium % for 170+ KRW-listed tokens automatically.

If you trade crypto and want to know whether Korean exchanges are pricing assets higher or lower than global markets, this Actor gives you a full snapshot in seconds — no API key required.

What is the Kimchi Premium?

The Kimchi Premium is the price difference between South Korean crypto exchanges and global ones. Korean retail demand, capital controls, and limited arbitrage pathways cause BTC, ETH, and altcoins to trade at a persistent premium (or occasional discount) on Upbit and Bithumb compared to Binance.

Traders and quants track this metric to:

• Detect arbitrage opportunities before they close
• Gauge Korean retail sentiment (high premium = FOMO, low/negative = fear)
• Monitor cross-exchange inefficiencies for specific tokens
• Build trading signals based on premium divergence

Features

• 170+ tokens tracked — auto-detects all KRW-listed coins on Upbit, no manual list needed
• Upbit + Bithumb — both major Korean exchanges in one run
• Binance comparison — with CoinGecko fallback if Binance is rate-limited
• USD/KRW rate — auto-fetched from open.er-api.com with fallback
• Reverse premium detection — flags tokens where Korean price is below global (rare, high signal)
• Upbit-Bithumb spread — internal Korean exchange comparison
• Threshold filter — show only tokens above a minimum premium %
• Sort options — by premium (high/low) or alphabetically
• No API key needed — all public APIs

Input

Field	Type	Default	Description
autoDetectAll	boolean	true	Track all KRW-listed coins on Upbit automatically
symbols	string[]	[]	Specific tokens only (used when autoDetectAll is off)
includeUpbit	boolean	true	Include Upbit exchange
includeBithumb	boolean	true	Include Bithumb exchange
premiumThreshold	number	0	Minimum absolute premium % to include in results
sortBy	string	premium_desc	premium_desc, premium_asc, or symbol_asc

Minimal input (track everything):

{}

Custom input (only show tokens with 2%+ premium, sorted):

{
  "premiumThreshold": 2.0,
  "sortBy": "premium_desc"
}

Output

Each item in the dataset:

{
    "symbol": "BERA",
    "binance_usdt": 0.404,
    "binance_krw_equivalent": 610,
    "upbit_krw": 687.0,
    "upbit_premium_pct": 12.61,
    "upbit_is_reverse": false,
    "bithumb_krw": 616.0,
    "bithumb_premium_pct": 0.98,
    "bithumb_is_reverse": false,
    "upbit_bithumb_spread_pct": 11.53,
    "usd_krw_rate": 1510.03,
    "timestamp": "2026-04-05T05:53:50Z"
}

A SUMMARY record is also saved to the Key-Value Store with aggregate stats:

{
    "total_tokens": 177,
    "avg_upbit_premium_pct": 0.43,
    "tokens_with_premium": 112,
    "tokens_with_reverse": 24,
    "top_5_upbit": ["BERA", "STX", "STRAX", "BREV", "BONK"],
    "usd_krw_rate": 1510.03,
    "timestamp": "2026-04-05T05:53:50Z"
}

Real Sample Output (April 2026)

Token	Upbit (KRW)	Binance (USD)	Upbit Premium	Bithumb Premium
BERA	₩687	$0.404	+12.61%	+0.98%
STX	₩328	$0.2121	+2.41%	+0.54%
STRAX	₩20.1	$0.01307	+1.84%	+0.73%
BTC	₩119,700,000	$79,300	+0.12%	-0.04%
ETH	₩1,870,000	$1,240	+0.08%	+0.21%

Data from live run, April 5, 2026. USD/KRW rate: 1,510

Use Cases

1. Arbitrage Signal Detection

Run every 10-15 minutes via Apify Scheduler. When upbit_premium_pct spikes above your threshold, it may indicate a cross-exchange opportunity.

2. Korean Market Sentiment Index

The average Kimchi Premium across all tokens is a well-known leading indicator of Korean retail activity. When it rises sharply, a local pump often follows.

3. Token-Specific Monitoring

Some tokens show persistent Korean premiums (strong local demand). Others show reverse premiums (local selling pressure). Use premiumThreshold + sortBy to isolate these.

4. Quantitative Research & Backtesting

Combine with historical price data to test whether premium spikes predict short-term price movements.

5. Alert System

Pipe the dataset output into a Telegram/Slack webhook to get alerted when premium crosses a threshold.

Pricing

Pay-Per-Event (PPE):

• $0.003 per token tracked (~$0.51 per full run of 170 tokens)
• Apify platform usage included free

Cheaper than any crypto data API for this specific use case.

API Access

You can also query the Actor output via Apify API after each run:

$curl "https://api.apify.com/v2/datasets/{datasetId}/items?token=YOUR_TOKEN"

Or trigger runs programmatically:

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/gochujang~kimchi-premium-tracker/runs?token=YOUR_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"premiumThreshold": 1.5}'

Schedule Example

Run every 15 minutes automatically via Apify Scheduler:

*/15 * * * *

Notes

• Bithumb maintenance: KST 01:00–08:00 daily. Bithumb data will be missing during this window.
• Tokens with premium > ±15% are excluded (likely symbol mismatches, e.g., different assets with same ticker)
• Exchange rate updated at runtime from open.er-api.com (fallback: exchangerate-api.com)
• All APIs are public — no keys required to run

Disclaimer

Unofficial. Not affiliated with Upbit, Bithumb, or Binance. For informational purposes only. Not financial advice.