THORChain [RUNE] surged by more than 26% in the past 24 hours, ranking first among all gainers in the top 200 cryptos by market cap.
The hype around a network upgrade alongside a broader, stronger crypto market drove the token’s price. As a result, RUNE’s daily trading volume matched the uptick in price, recording a 3x increase, but remained fairly low, in excess of $20 million.
Here is how the THORChain v3.20 upgrade fueled the sudden surge:
THORChain v3.20 upgrade goes live as short liquidations spike
The network announced that the THORChain v3.20 upgrade went live on the 26th of August. This upgrade allows swapping Monero [XMR] and Zcash [ZEC] for Bitcoin [BTC], Ethereum [ETH], and stablecoins.
The upgrade has expanded THORChain’s addressable market as it brings privacy users to a direct connection to crypto. The upgrade comes three months after an attacker exploited THORChain for over $10 million across BTC, ETH, and BSC.
That could increase the chain’s swap volume, with Ethereum and Bitcoin consistently dominating as per data from DefiLlama. The chain averaged $7 million in daily BTC swaps and $10 million in daily ETH swaps.
Thus, it is safe to say the rally was driven by a surge in sentiment following the upgrade and increased user base.
The surge in daily buying volume triggered liquidation of perpetual short orders. As per CoinGlass data, RUNE short positions worth 10x those of longs were wiped out.
With a stronger crypto market and altcoins gaining ground, RUNE could truly shift its market structure. Let’s find…
Can RUNE bulls flip $0.65 into support?
The 200-day EMA shows that RUNE price action has turned bullish on a long-term daily scale. The altcoin was still bearish looking at the horizontal structural levels.
RUNE was still trading below the $0.65 zone, which was the last lower high of the bearish trend. The market structure has shifted from the EMA perspective, but it is yet to confirm by flipping the $0.65 resistance into support.
Bulls tested the $0.65 supply zone but met instant rejection. It is still unclear if they got the zeal to breach the resistance.
However, the CVD showed bulls were positioning with 1.78 million RUNE bought on Binance as of the time of press. Moreover, the Sentiment was at 80, indicating the crowd was convinced the altcoin rally may be sustainable.
Still, it is worth noting that the rally may be short-lived since it is sentiment-driven. Otherwise, if the market structure is shifting, then RUNE may be positioning for more gains.
Final Summary
- RUNE rallies by more than 26% in 24 hours after the THORChain v3.20 upgrade, leading all of the top 200 cryptos by market cap.
- RUNE bulls tested the $0.65 resistance level, which, if flipped into support, would shift the market structure to bullish.
