heres the reason for korean prices across coins to be higher...

heres  the reason for korean prices across coins to be higher than the rest of the world  basically arbitrage is almost impossible because its easy to transfer money into korea and very hard to transfer it out

January 7, 2018

Why Bithumb Prices Are So Much Higher and Possibly Inaccurately Skewing the Entire Crypto Market​

Bithumb is a South Korean Exchange that is trading coins at a dramatically higher rate than any of the other exchanges around the world. At the time of this writing the price of Bitcoin on Bithumb is right around $22,800.00 and Bitstamp Apx $15900.00 for a difference of $6900.00 Higher. Traditionally this would be an arbitrage dream so why is it not happening. For those unfamiliar with Arbitrage it is when traders buy and sell between exchanges to capitalize on the difference in price. The net effect of this generally leaves all exchanges and all prices within only a few percentage points of one another. Of course sending coins around takes time which can lead to greater gaps but NOTHING like what were seeing from Bithumb. From the outside it looks like a huge mystery and there MUST be a reason.
And like any good mystery. There IS a reason. It seems like black and white that a person would be able to buy a Bitcoin on Bitstamp for 15 thousand bucks and send it to Bithumb and sell it for 22 thousand making a tidy profit. The problem is. BIthumb caters to the South Korean market and South Korea has STRICT money transfer laws. Its not too hard to get money sent TO South Korea but good luck ever getting it out. So unless you intend to take a long vacation in South Korea? You best not cash anything out there. The only recourse would be to purchase another coin that you can send out. That is exactly what people are doing. That’s why all the other coin prices are being inflated as well. Of course that’s not the only reason. South Koreans too are purchasing other coins such as BCC, Dash and LTC. No matter who is buying them. The prices are just as inflated as Bitcoin which eliminates effective Arbitrage.
Here’s the rub. Depending on the tools you use to track prices? You could be getting a weighted average between all exchanges. If the average includes Bithumb? They will be sharply higher than the reality on other exchanges. I decided to sit down and write this because after I looked at the prices this morning? I was ready to shut AltcoinToday down and buy a massive yacht and sail into the sunset while drinking margaritas.

Of course the trend for crypto is still very bullish and its not unlikely the prices on Bithumb might be a reality everywhere else sooner than later worldwide.
AltcoinToday is not going anywhere even WHEN they do. Mainly because I get sea sick.
One other thing to note is significantly or routinely higher prices on an exchange? Could be a sign there are problems IN the exchange itself. Anytime there is not a free flow of money both in AND out. Things get out of balance. We saw this most glaringly with MTGox Collapse.
(There was lot more at play than MtGox funding alone that caused BTC to Spike to $1300 in 2014 the following is an example only)
Went something like this. BTC price $400.00. MtGox slowed down the Fiat funding cash outs to banks the price rose to $600.00 because the only way to get money off their exchange was in BTC. Next MtGox stopped Fiat funding altogether which caused a rush on their exchange to get BTC and cash out as quickly as possible. Prices on Gox were sometimes $75 to $150 higher. The prices on other exchanges followed suite as people rushed to send BTC into MtGox to capitalize on their inflated prices. This new flow of BTC allowed Gox to continue to fund BTC withdrawals. Then the news coverage on Bitcoin started which brought MORE dead money to Gox leading to the great spike. Like any ponzi funding old debt with new money? The second the trend reversed? They collapsed.
Again. I am NOT saying Bithumb is in any danger of collapse or Bitcoin is  Ponzi. I am only pointing out that any time there is a imbalance to the flow of money in and out? Prices can become skewed. These skews can lead to other markets being affected.
The coin tracker we use is provided by Cryptocompare and do not include Bithumb. One of the oldest and most popular Market Cap sites is Coinmarketcap.com. They DO include Bithumb. There are several other Market Cap sites. Make sure you look to see if they are including Bithumb before you make your buying or stop loss positions.