XRP’s Rapid Rebound : The Role Of Korean Traders Explained

The crypto market has always been marked by periods of extreme volatility, where panic and opportunities intersect in an instant. Indeed, the recent crash on February 3rd highlighted this reality once again. While XRP suddenly dropped to $1.78, some investors, far from succumbing to panic, seized the opportunity to massively strengthen their positions. Among them, Korean traders played a key role. They purchased large volumes, allowing XRP to rebound above $2 in a record time frame. But is this sudden influx of liquidity a lasting bullish signal or simply a fleeting reaction from Asian markets?

Korean Investors in Action : A Massive Accumulation Below $2

As the correction on February 3rd caused the XRP to plunge from $3.08 to $1.78, a wave of purchases quickly emerged across several trading platforms. According to an anonymous analyst known by the pseudonym Itrd, Korean traders were particularly active. They took advantage of this drop to accumulate massive amounts of XRP and BTC, while neglecting their positions in ETH. “They did not wait for a signal of recovery. They bought continually throughout the drop,” he explained in a post on the social network X (formerly Twitter) on February 5, 2025.

The data from the Cumulative Volume Delta (CVD) confirms this trend, with a sudden increase in buyer volumes between 2:00 and 3:00 UTC on Upbit and Bybit. During this window, XRP, after hitting a low of $1.78, quickly regained $2.15, highlighting the determination of Asian investors to defend this psychological threshold. This momentum, in the short term, has allowed XRP to avoid a deeper decline and stabilize in a key zone.

Whales Pulling Back and the Market Clean-Up of Derivatives

While individual traders have strengthened their positions in XRP, large market entities have adopted a more cautious stance. The CryptoQuant data reveals a significant increase in XRP transfers to Binance, with more than 180 million tokens sent by whales in the last 24 hours. This is the largest volume of transactions observed since January 8th, suggesting a potential profit-taking after this rapid rebound.

Meanwhile, the derivatives market has been strongly impacted by this sudden volatility. The XRP open interest (OI), which measured $6.35 billion on February 1st, was halved in just a few days, dropping to $3.55 billion. This 44 % decline marks a massive liquidation of leveraged positions, forcing many traders to exit the market with a complete reset of the funding rate. Such a scenario suggests a return to a phase of gradual accumulation, where only the strongest buyers maintain their positions.

The rebound of XRP, driven by aggressive purchases from Korean investors, demonstrates notable resilience in the crypto market after the storm. However, the trend remains uncertain: the 50 and 100-day moving averages still act as technical resistances, trapping XRP in a descending channel. If the key level of $2.20 to $2.33 turns into a sustainable support, then a new bullish momentum could emerge. Otherwise, a return to $2 seems inevitable, or even another correction.

As the crypto market continues to evolve in an unpredictable atmosphere, one question remains: will the massive purchases by Korean traders be enough to keep XRP above $2, or are we simply witnessing a fleeting reaction before another downturn? The answer will depend on the upcoming liquidity trends and the appetite of crypto investors for this iconic token.