- ENA has more than doubled in value since its airdrop last week
- Aggressive stockpiling seemed to have offset the potential deposit-induced selling pressure
ENA, the native token of decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Ethena Labs, has become the new talking point of the crypto-market. While its airdrop made news, what has also kept ENA in the headlines is its price appreciation on the charts.
Investors scoop up ENA
At press time, the token was exchanging hands at $1.34. In doing so, it more than doubled in value since 5% of its total supply was airdropped to eligible holders of the ecosystem’s so-called synthetic dollar, USDe.
In fact, according to Web3 knowledge graph protocol OxScope. institutional investors have been steadily accumulating the tokens since the launch and the pace of accumulation hasn’t dipped yet. This aggressive stockpiling seems to have offset the selling pressure due to recent deposits on exchanges. Here, it’s worth noting how withdrawals have surged especially dramatically over the last two days.
Source: OxScope
The lure of higher returns
The surge in withdrawals followed the announcement of “Season 2” by Ethena Labs, which offers higher rewards for staking ENA with the protocol.
Users who stake a minimum of 50% ENA relative to their USDe holdings would receive a 50% boost on total rewards earned through USDe positions.
Hoping to capitalize on the returns, investors plugged their ENA tokens out of exchanges to supply them for staking.
What next for ENA?
ENA has also been making waves in the speculative market. According to AMBCrypto’s analysis of Coinglass’ data, the Open Interest (OI) in ENA Futures surged to $372 million at press time, indicating a higher number of bets to profit from its future price action.
Source: Coinglass
Realistic to not, here’s ENA’s market cap in BTC terms
More than 50% of the positions seemed to be gunning for ENA’s price increase, as evidenced by the Longs/Shorts Ratio. This is a sign that traders are confident that the bullish momentum will sustain itself.
However, at press time, the social frenzy around the coin was tapering, as seen by the dip in discussions on top crypto-focused social groups. This could impact the participation of retail investors, many of whom are drawn to cryptos due to social hype.
Source: Santimen