Investment Warning
Warning designation · Trading warning
A label a Korean exchange puts on a coin it sees as high-risk while it reviews whether to keep supporting trading in it.
Simple explanation
Background: Korean exchanges put a coin under this warning before most delistings. They call it 유의 종목, 투자유의 종목 or 거래유의 종목 (Bithumb and Coinone use the last), but the idea is the same.
It means the exchange has decided it must re-examine whether the coin should stay listed. A warning label appears on the trading screen and a notice goes up, and the review ends with the label lifted or the coin delisted.
Typical reasons: missing or false disclosures by the project, more tokens in circulation than its plan said, a hack, security or network problem, legal or regulatory concerns, a project that may not survive, or market cap and trading volume below the exchange's standards. Each exchange decides against standards that Korea's won-market exchanges drew up together through their alliance, DAXA.
The notice states the reason and the review period. During it the exchange hears the project's explanation, then lifts the warning, extends the review or decides to delist. Review periods differ by exchange and case and can be extended, so check the dates in the notice.
Trading does not stop when a coin is designated. Some exchanges, Upbit among them, close deposits of the coin at the same time, so nobody can bring it in from abroad. Withdrawals often stay open, but when the reason is a hack or a network problem they can be suspended too.
Prices often fall sharply on the news. Yet on an exchange with deposits closed, only the coins already there can trade, so the Korean price can shoot up regardless of the overseas price. The kimchi premium can reach tens of percent with no arbitrage to close it, and the spike often collapses soon after.
Warnings are sometimes lifted after the project explains itself, but many designated coins end up delisted. Several exchanges can designate the same coin together and still decide differently: one may delist it while another lifts the warning.
Do not confuse it with the short-lived "caution" badge (a market alert). That badge appears on the trading screen for a set time (usually about a day) when a coin's price swings sharply in a short time, its trading volume or deposits surge, its Korean price drifts far from global prices (a large kimchi or reverse premium), or trading is concentrated in a few accounts. It is a separate system from the warning designation, which is a delisting review.
Example
Before the designation: Korean price ₩1,000, overseas price in won ₩1,000 → kimchi premium 0.00%
Right after the warning notice: Korean price ₩650 → someone who bought at ₩1,000 is at -35.00%
With deposits closed, buying piles up inside Korea only: Korean price ₩1,300, overseas ₩700 → kimchi premium = 1,300 ÷ 700 − 1 = +85.71%
No coins can come in from abroad, so the gap does not close
The review ends in a delisting decision and the Korean price drops to ₩600 → someone who bought at ₩1,300 is at -53.85%
※ Example numbers, for illustration only
See it on CoinGaja
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