One command, /ether, returns the live ETH price and the spread between a Singapore and a Korean exchange — the "Kimchi premium" at a glance.
PublishedDecember 2018
ByMark Bala
FieldPython
EtherPriceBot(SG-KR) answering a /ether request.
In 2017–18, Ether often traded at noticeably different prices on Korean exchanges than on the rest of the world — the so-called "Kimchi premium." I wanted to watch that gap without opening two exchanges, so I built a Telegram bot to do it in one message.
What it does
Send /ether to the bot and it replies with the current ETH price on Coinhako (Singapore) in SGD.
Alongside it, the bot quotes Korbit (Korea) and reports the percentage spread between the two.
A negative spread means Singapore is trading below Korea — the Kimchi premium — and the reply frames it as a quick "buy here, sell there" read.
Example reply
Buy ETH on Coinhako S$ at 276.99 -1.00% spread to Korbit, which trades at 274.23
How it works
Written for Python 3, using only standard libraries plus requests for the HTTP calls.
On each /ether, it pulls the latest quote from both exchange APIs, computes the spread, and formats a single human-readable line.
It talks to Telegram through a bot token from BotFather, polling for new messages and replying inline.
An optional proxy line lets it run from behind a proxy when an exchange endpoint is geo-restricted.
Running it yourself
pip install requests before running the script.
Create a bot with BotFather (/newbot), then drop the token into the script.
Run it — and message your bot /ether.
The Kimchi premium has long since closed, so this one's a period piece — but the bot still runs.
