CoinWOW Data Methodology
The goal is not merely to display a neat number, but to explain which data qualifies, which data is withheld and why.
Kimchi Premium calculation
domestic KRW / (global USDT × USDT/USD × USD/KRW) - 1
USDT itself is compared against USDT/USD × USD/KRW. Korean USDT/KRW is never used as the FX denominator for another asset.
Korean price sources
CoinWOW exposes public KRW spot tickers from Upbit, Bithumb and Coinone as separate Korean venues. It does not blend them into one synthetic domestic price; users switch the venue directly.
Two Premium Lenses
The default USD/KRW lens measures how far the Korean market sits from a global USD-based reference. The optional local-USDT lens uses that Korean venue’s USDT/KRW price as the denominator to inspect the additional coin-specific gap after the local Tether premium is removed. The two lenses answer different questions and are not substitutes.
Global spot consensus
CoinWOW checks currently active SPOT instruments and usable fresh tickers from Binance, Bybit, Bitget and OKX. A non-USDT asset requires at least two independent sources to agree, then uses the median of agreeing prices.
FX and outlier guards
USD/KRW is cross-checked between Coinbase and the ECB reference. If deviation exceeds 1.25%, ECB is used. Calculated premiums beyond ±20% are withheld from the main table and summary because symbol-only identity is not sufficient to trust such an extreme cross-market match.
WOW Index
The WOW Index starts from 25, adds weighted representative premium, Korean USDT premium, positive-premium breadth and the share above 3%, subtracts reverse-premium breadth, then clamps the result to 0–100. It is a visual snapshot, not a historically backtested market regime index.
Listing radar
Official public APIs are preferred, with limited best-effort use of public exchange notice/configuration data where necessary. The radar is DB-less and request-time, so upstream changes or delays can temporarily omit events.