Shiba Inu rose 36% as buying activity from South Korean retail traders helped drive a sharp move in SHIB. The rally pushed the token’s price into a range between $0.0000043 and $0.000005.

South Korean Trading Activity in SHIB

Upbit, South Korea’s dominant crypto exchange, recorded about $4.25 million in SHIB trading volume in March 2026. That total was close to Binance’s $4.36 million in SHIB volume over the same period, underscoring how regional retail demand can become a meaningful source of liquidity for globally traded tokens.

South Korean retail investors have historically shown strong interest in meme-based tokens, at times generating liquidity spikes that can affect global markets. Retail traders in the country have also been active participants in traditional stock markets, where they are collectively known as “ants” because of their swarming trading behavior. SHIB has a circulating supply of 585 trillion tokens.

Factors Behind the Latest Move

SHIB had already recorded a notable 25% increase around July 25, indicating that the 36% advance followed a broader momentum move rather than appearing as an isolated one-day event.

A similar 36% rally took place in November 2024 and was correlated with a golden cross pattern, a technical setup in which a short-term moving average crosses above a long-term moving average. Such patterns are widely watched by technical traders, though they do not by themselves establish whether a move will continue.

On-chain data has shown significant whale accumulation in recent weeks. At the same time, the Shibarium layer-2 network has continued development in the background, giving traders another project-specific metric to monitor alongside exchange volume and large-holder activity.

Wider Market Context

The broader picture for memecoins remains more complex. Memecoins’ overall market share relative to Bitcoin has been declining throughout 2026, suggesting that a wider group of investors has been rotating toward assets viewed as more fundamentally sound.

Variable exchange inflows also complicate the market backdrop. Shifting deposit and withdrawal patterns suggest traders are acting more tactically than in previous cycles, showing willingness to participate in a surge while also moving more quickly to take profits.

The regional concentration of trading volume presents another structural risk. When a significant share of a token’s liquidity depends on enthusiasm from traders in one country, regulatory changes or shifts in local market sentiment can unwind positions faster than global fundamentals would justify. South Korean regulators have previously shown a willingness to intervene in crypto markets.