Sonic's Native Token, S, Faces Fresh Downward Pressure Following the Abrupt End of Its Five-Year Partnership with Market-Making Firm Wintermute

The split, announced on May 15, has triggered a series of large token dumps that have pushed the token's price sharply lower.

Sonic's native token, S, has come under fresh downward pressure following the abrupt end of its five-year partnership with market-making firm Wintermute.

The split, which was announced on May 15, has triggered a series of large token dumps that have seen the token's price move sharply lower.

Wintermute Dumps 1.5 Million S Tokens in 24 Hours

According to the Sonic ecosystem tracker Intel Scout, Wintermute offloaded 1.5 million S tokens within a 24-hour period. This comes shortly after the firm sold an earlier batch valued at approximately $857,000.

Intel Scout noted that the sales were unsurprising. They pointed out that the activity aligns closely with Sonic's decision not to renew its exclusive market-making agreement with the firm after their extensive years of collaboration.

Earlier in the week, Sonic's Head of Strategy confirmed that the platform is in talks with new partners to continue providing market-making services.

The executive stated that future market makers must align with the blockchain network's broader vision of shifting towards decentralized finance (DeFi) integrations beyond centralized exchange liquidity.

Meanwhile, the situation has an interesting twist as addresses with significant S holdings were also involved in the dumping.

Intel Scout flagged that a wallet linked to FalconX—a digital asset brokerage firm—moved 2.3 million of the 3 million S tokens it recently acquired to Binance. This transaction occurred within the same 24-hour window as Wintermute's dump.

The brokerage firm's involvement in Sonic follows its participation in the recent Optimism token unlock event.

According to DeFi protocol data, FalconX purchased 3 million S tokens at an average price of $0.42 on May 11.

Wintermute's sales, on the other hand, began at a higher price point of $0.5 in early May.

According to crypto analytics firm Glass Node, the selling pressure is largely concentrated within the $0.40-$0.50 price range, where a substantial portion of the token supply is held.

After these sales, the price of the S token dropped more than 8% in the past day and now trades around $0.50.

Over the past week, the token has lost more than 15% of its value.