SUI’s $14.8B DEX Milestone Fails to Ignite Price Rally—What’s the Hold-Up?

SUI just smashed records with $14.8B in DEX volume, yet traders are scratching their heads as the price lags behind. Here’s the breakdown.

Decentralized exchange activity on SUI’s network is exploding—so why isn’t the token keeping pace? Market makers might be playing it safe, or perhaps liquidity is being funneled elsewhere. Either way, the disconnect between utility and valuation has crypto veterans rolling their eyes—another day in the wild west of digital assets.

Can rising TVL and on-chain activity fuel further upside?

SUI’s Total Value Locked (TVL) climbed to $2.346 billion, marking a 7.69% increase in the past 24 hours. 

This sharp rise signals that capital increasingly flows into SUI-based DeFi protocols.

On top of that, spot flows showed a mild accumulation bias: $54.92 million flowed in, while $53.61 million exited. That $1.31 million net inflow, coupled with rising TVL, hinted at steady hands accumulating during consolidation.

Source: DefiLlama

Despite robust on-chain signals, caution persists among traders.

Open Interest fell 2.83% to $1.79 billion, showing that Leveraged traders may be taking a breather, either trimming exposure or locking in recent gains.

This moderation in speculative positions reflects uncertainty around short-term direction. 

Price action slows: Will resistance around $3.87 hold?

SUI traded at $3.69 at press time, up 3.98% on the day. Yet, it remained stuck under the heavy $3.87–$4.13 Fibonacci resistance zone.

So far, the price has been consolidating within this range for weeks, unable to break higher. 

The MACD indicator showed a weakening bullish trend, with the signal and MACD lines converging and histogram bars fading. 

Despite favorable DEX and TVL trends, this loss of momentum suggests that market participants are awaiting confirmation before entering aggressively. 

Therefore, unless buyers push through this resistance zone, the price may stay trapped in the current range.

Source: TradingView

Will SUI liquidation clusters block the breakout?

Liquidation Heatmap data revealed dense liquidation risk zones between $3.6 and $3.87, highlighting where short positions are most vulnerable. 

These clusters often act as resistance, as price moves toward them tend to trigger defensive selling or force liquidations. 

Breaking above $3.87 could fuel a short squeeze, accelerating the price toward the next key Fib level NEAR $4.97. However, failure to clear this zone could invite a pullback to the $3.57 or even $3.12 levels. 

Source: CoinGlass

Can SUI convert growth into a decisive breakout?

Sure, SUI’s DeFi activity looks explosive, but its price still hasn’t followed suit.

The road ahead depends entirely on bulls mustering the strength to flip the $3.87–$4.13 range.

Without that breakout, even record-breaking metrics may not be enough to push sui out of this holding pattern.