ENA, an Emerging Altcoin, Defies Market Expectations With a 17% Price Surge

ENA, an emerging altcoin in the cryptocurrency space, has recently defied market expectations with a 17% price surge over the past 24 hours.

Emerging altcoin ENA has defied market expectations with a 17% price surge over the past 24 hours, even as spot traders and whales sold a combined $3.72 million worth of the token.

ENA price up 17% despite sell-off by spot traders and whales

According to data from crypto derivatives platform Glassnode, Open Interest for ENA on futures exchanges surged by 12.86% to reach $373.14 million. Additionally, the long-to-short ratio, which tracks the balance between long and short positions in the market, also rose to 1.0194.

A reading of above 1 indicates that buyers are currently in control, while a reading below 1 suggests that sellers have the upper hand.

Image: TradingView

The increase in Open Interest signals an influx of new positions and an increase in overall trading activity. This activity is largely driven by derivative traders, who typically trade leveraged products such as futures and options.

Relative Strength Index (RSI) also soared by 10.68% in the past 24 hours, further indicating strong bullish momentum in the market.

The large investors, also known as whales, liquidated 4.18 million ENA, valued at $1.42 million, while spot traders sold $2.26 million worth of the altcoin.

One might expect such significant selling pressure to exert some downward pressure on the token’s price. However, despite the substantial sell-off, ENA's price has surprisingly surged.

ENA price continues to rise despite sell-off by spot traders and whales

According to crypto analytics firm Coinsglass, a portion of the selling activity can be attributed to profit-taking, as derivative traders who had bet on ENA’s rally saw significant gains.

Short traders who bet against the altcoin’s price rise saw $905,890 of short positions liquidated.

Moreover, the derivatives market for ENA saw a sharp rise in volume, further confirming the dominance of buyers in the current market phase.

From a low of $334.86 million on Thursday, April 20, total derivatives volume climbed to $662.46 million—nearly doubling within a few days.

Strong fundamentals behind ENA's surge

While the market dynamics and trading activity explain much of ENA's recent rally, the fundamentals of the token have also played a significant role.

One key factor that has likely contributed to investor confidence is the recent performance analysis by ENA's development team, particularly regarding the synthetic dollar (sUSDe).

According to the analysis, sUSDe outperformed a number of traditional and crypto assets, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), 3-month U.S. Treasury bills, and the S&P 500, in terms of yield.

This outperformance could have raised renewed interest in ENA, driving traders to open long positions and further fueling the token's price surge.