After climbing from a low of $0.19, Ethena was rejected at $0.26 and has since declined for two consecutive days. As such, ENA fell to a low of $0.22 before rebounding slightly.
At press time, ENA was trading at $0.23, down 7.27% on the daily charts, indicating strong downward pressure.
Interestingly, after the market retracement, the Ethena team entered the market and tried to pump the altcoin through accumulation.
Team portfolio raises $12 million ENA
According to Arkham data, Team ENA’s wallet collected 25 million ENA worth $5.93 million from Bybit.
The team’s move followed another purchase executed a day earlier, in which the team took out 25 million ENA for $6.25 million. In total, they withdrew 50 million ENA worth $12.18 million over a 24-hour period.
More importantly, both of these activities represent a return to an old model after offloading a significant amount of tokens a week ago.
Source: Arkham
A week ago, the team deposited 40 million ENA worth $8.16 million. Now, after closing the gap created by the sale, the total portfolio holdings have increased to 789.8 million ENA, worth $185 million.
It is important to note that this team’s decision was not an isolated case, as major holders entered the market after the ENA retracement.
Over the past 24 hours, major holders increased their holdings by 171.65 million ENA, while they unloaded only 83.29 million.
In doing so, Holder’s balance change remained positive and stood at 88.36 million ENA, a clear sign of aggressive cash accumulation.
Source: Nansen
With the team’s accumulation, supported by other prominent holders, this signals strong market conviction as they anticipate a market recovery from the current decline.
Historically, increased accumulation by major players followed price appreciation as demand absorbed the resulting selling pressure.
Why did the ENA slip?
Despite the team’s continued efforts, ENA recorded a sharp decline as other market players, notably retail, rushed to cash in.
According to Coinalyze, sellers dominated buyers on January 8, with a sales volume of 22.59 million compared to 15.75 million buying volume.
Source: Coinalyse
As a result, the altcoin recorded a negative buy-sell delta of -6.85 million, a clear sign of aggressive spot selling. Often, seller dominance has accelerated downward pressure on an asset, a prelude to a decline
Can these purchases support the ENA?
Ethena’s attempt to stimulate ENA price action by absorbing the resulting selling pressure has failed so far. In fact, the ENA has fallen below the EMA50, signaling strengthening bearish pressure.
At the same time, its Stochastic Momentum Index (SMI) made a bearish crossover and fell deeper into the bearish zone at 42.
Source: TradingView
This downward spiral suggests a strengthening of the bearish momentum supported by strong seller pressure. Thus, sellers have taken control of the market, making recent purchases insufficient to reverse the trend.
Therefore, current market conditions point to further losses for ENA. Thus, the altcoin could fall to the $0.20 support level.
However, if the team’s efforts are finally felt positively, ENA could reclaim the EMA50 at $0.25 and target $0.30. For this outlook to hold, the altcoin must hold above $0.23.
