Stellar's XLM Token Surges to $2.20 on Upbit Amid Price Glitch

A sudden price spike pushed Stellar’s XLM token above $2 on South Korea’s Upbit exchange following the asset’s recent rally.

The unusual market activity reignited speculation about XLM’s long-term growth potential, especially as the network continues to gain momentum through major institutional developments.

• Stellar’s native token briefly surged to $2.20 on South Korean crypto exchange Upbit.
• Although the spike corrected almost immediately, enthusiasts are wondering whether XLM can attain the milestone in the future.
• XLM currently trades at $0.2652 on Upbit, boasting a 24-hour volume of $147.81 million.
• May 2026 represented one of Stellar’s strongest monthly performances, driven mainly by strong institutional interest from players like DTCC.

Yesterday, XLM experienced an unusual market event after briefly surging to $2.20 on South Korean crypto exchange Upbit, despite trading near $0.25 on most global platforms at the time.

Although the price corrected almost immediately, the event attracted widespread attention from traders and analysts throughout the crypto community. While many market participants expressed surprise, others began speculating about whether Stellar could eventually “fill the wick,” meaning the asset could organically revisit the $2.20 level during a future market cycle.

For context, extreme wick movements like this occur when liquidity becomes thin or when large buy orders temporarily overwhelm available sell pressure on an exchange. In addition, order books on regional trading platforms often differ significantly from broader global markets, allowing sudden price dislocations to emerge before quickly correcting.

Meanwhile, XLM currently trades at $0.2652 on Upbit, while the exchange’s 24-hour trading volume for the token has climbed to $147.81 million. At the same time, the latest development comes as XLM continues to post strong price gains over the past week.

Notably, XLM delivered one of its strongest monthly performances in May 2026 as several institutional and ecosystem developments strengthened investor confidence and fueled the token’s rally.

Earlier in the month, Mesh integrated with Stellar as a settlement layer, while the blockchain’s development team activated Protocol 26, also known as Yardstick. Shortly afterward, Circle launched its Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) on Stellar mainnet.

However, Stellar’s most significant milestone arrived on May 27, when DTCC announced plans to connect its tokenization infrastructure to the Stellar network.

Through the initiative, DTCC-custodied assets, including equities, ETFs, and U.S. Treasuries, could become available on Stellar in tokenized form by 2027. Since DTCC oversees more than $100 trillion in assets, the announcement marked one of Stellar’s largest institutional breakthroughs to date.

Following the news, XLM surged from $0.1469 to $0.2966, representing a gain of more than 101% within three days. Although the token has since retraced part of those gains and now trades around $0.26, market sentiment surrounding Stellar remains elevated.