NEO and GAS recorded 13% and 30% daily gains as of press time, respectively, fueled by trading activity with Korean won (KRW) pairs on Upbit. 

According to market data, NEO posted $54.4 million in volume on its KRW pair, while GAS registered $134.6 million, ranking both assets among the day’s top movers across digital asset platforms.

The price hike follows a steep 44% decline for NEO between March 24 and April 2 and a 32% decrease for GAS in the same period, reversing the crash and surprising market observers.

Neo Bond program

The surge coincides with the recent launch of the Neo Bond program, a market stabilization initiative launched by the Neo Foundation. 

The Neo Bond program opened for participation on April 5 with a seven-day deposit window. The initiative allows NEO holders to lock their tokens for 30 days in return for a 50% annualized yield and a $5 price guarantee at maturity.

Structured as a fixed-term vault, the Neo Bond is designed to support market stability through voluntary token lockups and confidence incentives. Participation requires sending NEO from personal Neo N3 wallets, and funds are returned automatically to the same address after the term, including interest and any compensation if the token price falls below the $5 threshold.

The Neo Foundation pre-funded the bond with 1 million NEO in a multi-signature wallet to ensure liquidity and guarantee payout capability. The address manages all publicly verifiable bond funds. 

Korean retail flows

Market data from Upbit shows intense KRW trading activity in both NEO and GAS. The KRW-denominated demand contributed to a sharp uptick in price for both assets, although price action outside of Korean markets remained more muted. 

On April 9, the NEO/KRW pair accounted for over 60% of the token’s global trading volume, while GAS/KRW approached 70% of the total volume, indicating regional concentration.

The relative surge in GAS volume suggests either derivative hedging or retail interest fueled by the Neo Bond program’s promotional visibility.

While GAS is only used to pay fees for operations on the Neo blockchain, its price is highly correlated with NEO. On the Pearson Correlation Coefficient, over the 1-year timeframe, GAS shows a 0.94 positive correlation with NEO, rising to 0.96 in the 1-month timeframe.

The Pearson Correlation Coefficient estimates the relation between two variables, ranging from a total lack of correlation (-1) to a complete correlation (1).

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