LSK surges to $0.37 riding on Upbit spot trading, Binance derivatives market

$LSK was among the breakout tokens for the past day, rising by over 70%. The token rallied after years of an ongoing downward slide, and is now attempting a comeback.

Lisk, one of the legacy chains, is attempting to make a comeback. Its native asset, $LSK, rallied by up to 79% in the past day, going vertical after months of sliding. Despite the lack of an altcoin market, events like the $LSK breakout are affecting some older tokens, reawakening them with derivative trading.

$LSK traded at $0.37, bouncing at the bottom of a long slide for the past year. In late 2024, $LSK had a bigger breakout to $1.40, when it first announced its comeback. The current rally is yet to show its sustainability, and whether the Lisk team is closer to its goals.

$LSK broke out, boosted by Upbit trading against the South Korean won. | Source: Coingecko

The Lisk project is also trying to make a comeback with expanded Web3 apps. As of November 2025, the sluggish altcoin market left $LSK with minimal mindshare, based on Messari data. The dinosaur chain, which existed for a long time with hardly any apps, also failed to draw attention to itself during meme season.

Lisk attempted to break out as an L1 with side chains and a JavaScript SDK to attract app teams. Currently, Lisk has migrated to an OP stack chain, joining the Superchain along with Base and Optimism. The chain secures just $9.1M in value locked, with a version of Morpho and Velodrome DEX.

$LSK open interest reaches all-time peak

The $LSK breakout provided enough direction for the derivative market. Open interest rose to an all-time high of over $22M.

During previous bull markets, $LSK mostly relied on spot trading and lost its position to other hotter assets.

The $LSK asset also underwent a full transformation. During its ICO stage, $LSK was an Ethereum-based token. Later, $LSK migrated to its native chain, powered by 100 validators. That chain saw relatively low usage during two bear markets, leading the Lisk team to come back to Ethereum.

$LSK now trades in its tokenized form, with Binance as one of its main markets. For now, $LSK has not seen any Hyperliquid activity.

$LSK trading rises on Upbit activity

Trading volumes for $LSK shifted to Upbit, one of the leading South Korean markets. The token is an anomaly, with over 81% of its volumes against the South Korean won.

Despite the recent slowdown of South Korean markets, $LSK benefited from its legacy market. The token lined up among the top 5 most traded assets on Upbit, even surpassing Solana trading activity.

The $LSK spot market is further supported by Binance’s derivative trading. Around $13.7M in $LSK open interest has accumulated on Binance, with the rest on Bybit. Based on the liquidation heatmap, the hike to $0.37 liquidated all short positions available and was followed by an almost immediate downturn to $0.35.

In the past day, the rally was also due to a short squeeze, with $1.4M in short liquidations and only around $370K in long liquidations. $LSK positions are roughly balanced after the liquidations.