XRP surged more than 17% today and over 40% this week, crossing $3.60 and leading a strong rally in U.S.-based cryptocurrencies. The move came after the U.S. House passed the Genius Act, Clarity Act, and Anti-CBDC Act – a legislative trio expected to provide clearer ground rules for digital assets.
With this rally, some crypto outlets and data services reported that XRP broke its all-time high. According to CoinGecko and TradingView, XRP’s previous peak was around $3.40, set in early 2018. But on CoinMarketCap, the ATH is listed as $3.84. This has caused confusion among traders and analysts: which figure is correct?
Why ATH Numbers Don’t Always Match
Unlike traditional markets, cryptocurrencies are traded across hundreds of centralized exchanges worldwide, with prices quoted in different currencies. This creates natural price variations, especially during high-volume periods or on exchanges with less liquidity.
To track prices, aggregators like CoinGecko, CoinMarketCap, and TradingView rely on their own systems and sets of data sources. These systems use different weighting methods and exchange selections, which can lead to discrepancies in prices, including all-time highs.
In most cases, these differences are minor. For example, Bitcoin’s ATH ranges by just a few hundred dollars depending on the source. But in XRP’s case, the gap between $3.40 and $3.84 is significant and requires a closer look.
Read also: 6 Reasons Why Crypto Is More Volatile Than Other Assets
The Role of the Kimchi Premium
The $3.84 figure listed on CoinMarketCap dates back to January 4, 2018, during a time when XRP was trading at unusually high prices on South Korean exchanges. This phenomenon, commonly referred to as the “Kimchi Premium”, resulted from strong domestic demand, capital controls, and limited arbitrage between Korean markets and the rest of the world.
During that period, XRP prices in Korean won were converted to USD using official exchange rates, which may not have reflected what traders outside Korea could achieve. As a result, some analysts argue that the $3.84 price, while technically correct for Korean markets, was not globally accessible.
This has led many data providers to treat the $3.40 level as the more representative global ATH. CoinGecko and TradingView, for example, exclude the Korean exchange data responsible for the higher figure.
So Which ATH Is the Right One?
Both values are technically accurate, depending on the methodology and market coverage used. CoinMarketCap includes the historical data from Korean exchanges in its calculations, resulting in a higher ATH. CoinGecko and TradingView exclude this data, favoring a price more reflective of broader global markets at the time.
The recent price surge past $3.60 does exceed the $3.40 high used by most global exchanges, but it remains below the $3.84 figure that includes Korean market data. That said, with XRP now just 5.5% below it, the debate over which all-time high to use may soon be irrelevant – if the current momentum continues, a new definitive record could be set.
