Bithumb Market Share Dips After Fee-Free Trading Ends as Upbit Rebounds

Bithumb’s market share dips to about 27% after a week-long zero-fee promotion ends, while Upbit regains momentum toward the 60% range. The impact of promotions on exchange dominance.

Rich by Coin

2026-02-19

Bithumb’s market share of the domestic cryptocurrency exchange market fell from around 30% to around 20% after the end of the fee-free promotion. Meanwhile, Upbit’s share rose from the 50% range to the 60% range. According to CoinGecko on the 19th, Bithumb’s domestic exchange market share was about 27%. This figure had fallen from around 30% on the 17th.

Bithumb’s share temporarily rose due to the Bitcoin mispayment incident on the 6th. The share, which was around 28% on the 6th, gradually rose and settled in the 30% range by the 9th. It is interpreted that Bithumb started a one-week zero-fee event across all trading categories from that day as compensation for the mispayment incident. However, as the zero-fee event ended, the share fell back to the 20% range.

During this period, Upbit ceded some share to Bithumb and briefly fell into the low 50% range. Up to the 17th, it remained in the low-50% range, but recovered to around 60% after Bithumb’s event ended. Korbit’s share also rose to 5%. Korbit said that the USDC trading fee-free event that began on the 22nd of last month helped push up its share.

After the USDC fee-free event, daily trading value rose from about 70–80 billion won to as high as 500 billion won. Industry observers say fee-free promotions are an effective marketing tool for expanding market share, but their effects are unlikely to be sustained long-term. In fact, Bithumb previously reached around 40% during a similar promotion last year, but after the event ended it fell back to the 20% range. Bithumb’s domestic market share slid to about 27% on the 19th, following the end of a week-long zero-fee trading event.

CoinGecko data show the figure down from around 30% on the 17th. The earlier uptick had been driven by a Bitcoin mispayment incident on the 6th, with Bithumb’s share climbing into the 30% range by the 9th, aided by the promotional period. During the same period, Upbit saw its share dip into the 50s before rebounding to the 60% level as the fee-free promo ended. Upbit had hovered in the low-50% range through the 17th, and the promo conclusion enabled it to move back above 60%.

Korbit’s share rose to about 5%, aided by a separate USDC trading fee-free event started on the 22nd of last month. The USDC event boosted daily trading value from about 70–80 billion won to as high as 500 billion won. Industry observers say fee-free promotions are an effective marketing tool for expanding market share but are not sustainable long-term. Bithumb previously reached around 40% during a similar promotion last year, before dropping to the 20% range after the event ended.