ORCA surges over 200% after Upbit listing announcement

ORCA skyrockets more than 210%, reaching its highest peak this year after Upbit announced its listing on March 21.

According to data from CoinGecko, the killer-whale themed token was able to breakthrough the $5 threshold for the first time this year. At press time, the Solana ( SOL )-based coin has gone up nearly 215% in the past 24 hours of trading. The token is currently trading hands at $5.07. The last time it reached that level was in December 2024.

Throughout the past month, the token has remained somewhat stagnant, fluctuating only around the $1 mark, never quite managing to reach above $2. The surge in price came shortly after Upbit , the largest South Korean crypto exchange by trading volume, announced that it will be listing ORCA on its platform starting from March 21 at 17:00 KST.

According to the notice, the token will be available to trade with Bitcoin ( BTC ), Tether ( USDT ) and Korean won pairs.

Price chart for ORCA shortly after Upbit announced its listing on the platform, March 21, 2025 | Source: CoinGecko

Users can begin depositing and withdrawing the token two hours after the notice was posted, which is around one hour before the platform starts providing trading support.

Buy orders for ORCA will be restricted for five minutes after Upbit begins trading support. Meanwhile, all types of orders, with the exception of limit orders, will be restricted for one hour after trading support starts.

In addition, sell order prices will be capped at a minimum of 10% less than the previous day’s closing price. Based on the notice, the previous day’s closing price for ORCA is capped at 2,349 Korean won or around $1.60, which is nearly 70% below the current price it has jumped to.

ORCA is the native token of the decentralized exchange and automated market maker protocol of the same name. Orca is a project built on the Solana blockchain which provides users with tools to create tokens without needing to code. ORCA is used as a governance token for the protocol. Holders of the token are able to propose agendas and vote on decisions regarding the protocol.

Earlier today, Upbit denied accusations that projects need to pay a brokerage fee if they wish to have their tokens listed on the platform. The South Korean exchange claimed that all listings go through an internal review process without asking for financial compensation.

The allegations came from Wu Blockchain, which claimed that several projects had to pay intermediary fees ranging from 3% to 5% of their total token supply.