Going into the weekend, Bitcoin price was unable to maintain the bullish momentum displayed earlier last week. Since Friday, January 16, the world’s leading cryptocurrency, repudiated by the price resistance above, is now trading within a tight consolidation range. Interestingly, this period of silence was deemed transitory, as recent on-chain data suggests an exciting period ahead for the BTC price.
Kimchi Premium Turns Positive as Local Demand Sees Piling Up
In a January 17 post on Platform
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This assumption is based on the Bitcoin Kimchi Premium indicator. This measures the percentage difference between the price of a cryptocurrency (in this case, Bitcoin) on South Korean exchanges and its price on global exchanges. Simply put, this shows how much Korean traders are willing to pay for Bitcoin.
When Kimchi Premium gradually rises from low or negative levels to exceed historically significant levels, this is generally considered a long signal from the metric. This interpretation is because the rise in Premium Kimchi reflects growing local demand in South Korea, generally often influenced by retail buyers.
Essentially, Korean buyers are willing to pay more for Bitcoin, thereby overwhelming the available supply and thereby driving up prices.
In the post on X, XWIN Finance highlighted that this long signal was seen on the indicator. History also attests to the bullish significance of this signal; there have been significant upward price movements following sustained increases in the Kimchi premium.
An example is the last observation of the long signal in October 2023, where the index crossed a major threshold, as shown in the chart above. The price of Bitcoin saw a 370% increase after this signal was triggered in 2023.
According to XWIN Research, this same pattern appears to be repeating itself in 2026. Therefore, if Kimchi Premium completes its long signal formation, it could be a sign that buyers are in favorable positions for an uptrend.
If history repeats itself, the price of Bitcoin could be about to experience another exciting journey, with the flagship cryptocurrency potentially seeing a rise of over 300% during the next cycle.
However, it should be noted that macroeconomic conditions, institutional demand and derivatives activity would play their role in increasing the plausibility of the trend, as it should not be taken as a standalone bullish sign.
Bitcoin Price at a Glance
At the time of writing, the BTC price stands at around $95,280, reflecting no significant change over the past 24 hours.
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Featured image from iStock, chart from TradingView
