HYPE has recently become one of the best-performing tokens in the crypto market. Amid a generally weak market, this token rose to $76.95 on June 16th, hitting a new all-time high, with a year-to-date gain of approximately 179.45%.
On-chain data also shows that large holders have re-entered the market after a brief period of silence, but the spot market has been dominated by net selling over the past 10 days, with significant divergence among short-term funds.
Whales repurchase
Over the past day, some whales resumed increasing their holdings of HYPE. On-chain tracking data shows that an address identified as Garrett Jin bought 71,092 HYPE tokens, worth approximately $5.06 million; another unnamed whale bought 50,000 tokens, worth approximately $3.58 million.
According to data from On-chain Lens, Garrett Jin still has one TWAP buy order in progress, which means that his buying activity has not yet ended and he will continue to accumulate shares according to the set schedule.
Retail investors have driven the recent rally.
The article cites the whales-retail delta indicator, stating that since June 9th, the rise in HYPE has been primarily driven by retail investors. The indicator is currently at -0.095, a negative value indicating that retail investors have more control over the market.
This also explains why HYPE's price remained highly volatile even as it hit new highs. Compared to whales, retail investors trade more frequently and typically take profits faster.
Meanwhile, spot market data shows that during this period dominated by retail investors, whales continued to reduce their positions. Over the past 10 days, the HYPE spot market saw a cumulative net sell of $55.51 million, indicating that overall selling pressure still significantly exceeded buying pressure.
Watch the $79 liquidity level above.
The liquidation heatmap shows a clear area of liquidity accumulation above HYPE. The article suggests that the current dense order book extends to around $79, a level that may continue to exert downward pressure on prices.
In contrast, while there is also liquidity distribution below, its density is weaker, meaning its downward pull on prices is relatively limited. If whales continue to increase their holdings and selling pressure does not expand further, HYPE may still repeatedly test the upper high area in the short term.
Overall, HYPE is hitting new all-time highs while facing significant selling pressure from the spot market. The key to its future performance lies in whether the buying pressure from whales can be sustained, and whether the retail-driven rally will be interrupted by faster profit-taking.
