SUI Extends Bullish Run With 40% Year-to-Date Gain After Supply Unlock

Source: CryptoTale Original Title: SUI Extends Bullish Run With 40% Year-to-Date Gain After Supply Unlock Original Link:

• SUI jumped 40% YTD after absorbing a $65M token unlock without triggering sell pressure.
• Trading volume surged 86% to $1.7B as SUI led daily gainers with an 18% price increase.
• Short liquidations topped $7.16M in 24 hours as funding rates turned positive and momentum held.

The SUI token has started the year with an unexpected show of strength, pushing sharply higher at a time when new supply usually weighs on price. Instead of retreating, the market absorbed it, and price action followed through in a way that has kept SUI near the top of the leaderboard since the calendar flipped.

Supply Unlock Fails to Stall SUI as Buyers Absorb New Tokens

On January 1, roughly 43.69 million SUI tokens entered circulation, carrying an estimated value of $65.1 million. Events like this often bring selling pressure as holders take liquidity. However, that did not happen here. Instead, SUI climbed about 16% on the day of the unlock and continued rising through the first week of the year.

By the latest reading, the token is up roughly 40% year to date and trading near $1.97. The response matters as much as the move itself. Price did not spike and fade. It held, suggesting the added supply was met with real demand rather than short-lived positioning.

Following the 6-day bullish streak, momentum picked up again over the last 24 hours, with SUI adding another 18%, placing it at the top of today’s gainers. Its trading activity also expanded alongside the price move, witnessing its volume surge by 86% to roughly $1.7 billion within the same timeframe.

This behavior lines up with improving fundamentals on the network side. Following the Mysticeti v2 upgrade, Sui’s throughput reached about 886 transactions per second. While network metrics do not impact prices on their own, the timing has reinforced the sense that buyers were comfortable holding through the unlock rather than rushing for the exit.

Extended Base Resolves Higher as SUI Reclaims Key Levels

From a technical perspective, SUI spent the past several weeks carving out a base between roughly $1.30 and $1.64. That area has repeatedly absorbed downside pressure and recently acted as an accumulation zone that set up the current advance.

The recovery gained technical confirmation once the price pushed through the 23.60% Fibonacci level near $1.69 and managed to hold above it. From there, the next reference point sits around the 38.20% retracement near $2.39. Higher up, the 50% level at $2.96 marks a zone last visited in mid-October.

Meanwhile, momentum indicators reflect a market still working its way higher rather than one stretched to extremes. The Relative Strength Index sits near 43. That reading suggests selling pressure has eased, though control has not fully shifted into overbought territory. It leaves room for continuation without implying exhaustion.

Market analyst Rand added context by pointing to a triple-bottom structure that has now played out on higher timeframes. In his view, repeated defenses of the $1.75 region shifted control back toward buyers.

The level had previously acted as a distribution zone during the late-2025 decline, making its recovery more than a routine bounce. His referenced resistance bands sit in the $2.20–$2.50 range, followed by $2.80–$3.10 and then $3.90–$4.00.

Short Positions Unwind as Funding Turns Positive and Liquidations Rise

Derivatives data shows positioning tilting in favor of longs. The open-interest-weighted funding rate stands at 0.0089% in positive territory. That indicates long traders are paying a premium to maintain exposure, a sign of confidence rather than forced positioning.

Liquidations over the past 24 hours underline the imbalance. Total liquidations reached approximately $7.74 million. Of that amount, about $7.16 million came from short positions, while long liquidations accounted for roughly $586.81K.

The skew points to short sellers being caught on the wrong side of the move. As prices pushed higher, those positions were forced to unwind, adding buy pressure back into the market. It’s a dynamic that has supported SUI’s advance rather than defined it.

Taken together, SUI’s early-year rally has been shaped by steady demand, improving structure, and measurable shifts in positioning. The move has unfolded through data-driven changes in liquidity and participation, not isolated spikes, placing the token firmly in focus as the year gets underway.