Arbitrum (ARB) Plunges 10% as On-Chain Activity Stalls – Will $0.48 Become the Last Line of Defense?

Arbitrum's native token ARB takes a double-digit nosedive as network engagement falters—raising questions about its near-term price floor.

The Bearish Pressure Cooker

With on-chain metrics flashing warning signs, ARB bulls scramble to defend the psychologically critical $0.48 support level. Another close below this threshold could trigger algorithmic sell-offs from jumpy quant funds.

Liquidity Exodus or Temporary Retreat?

While some traders cite 'profit-taking' through gritted teeth, the absence of meaningful buy volume suggests deeper issues. Even perpetual swaps show dwindling interest—a worrying sign for a layer-2 solution that once promised to eat Ethereum's lunch.

The Cynic's Corner

Another day, another altcoin proving that 'Ethereum killer' is just VC code for 'greater fool theory.' Will ARB stabilize or continue its descent? The chain never lies—but bagholders might.

Key Takeaways

Arbitrum plunged over 10%, sharper than the market’s drop. Falling Funding Rates, Open Interest, and weak network activity drove the fall, though recovering TVL hinted at underlying resilience.

The price action of Arbitrum [ARB] plunged 10% in the last 24 hours, per CoinMarketCap data.

The Ethereum Layer 2 (L2) token was among the top losers alongside Fartcoin [FARTCOIN], Pump.fun [PUMP] and Aerodrome Finance [AERO].

In fact, the broader crypto market slipped 1.75% as total capitalization fell to $3.97 trillion. These drops were driven by falling Funding Rates and Open Interest across the board.

Source: CoinMarketCap

Why is ARB price down today?

Per Tokenomist data, Arbitrum is set to unlock 92.65 million ARB tokens valued at $40.33 million. The amount equated to 2.09% of the released supply.

Over the last three months, 277.95 million ARB entered circulation. With supply now at 5.15 billion, the latest increase of 1.79% signaled short-term bearish pressure.

More on-chain data from Arbiscan showed the activity in the network was in free fall, too.

For instance, the Total Transaction Fees of 11.62 ETH, as of press time, were hit the hardest. They dropped by 74% after the number of transactions fell by 4.72%.

With the New Addresses at 63,413 and only 127 Contracts verified per day, the crash was amplified. The two declined by 46% and 11.8% respectively.

Source: Arbiscan

These signals were a representation of how users had faded the L2 solution.

ARB fights to stay above a flip zone

On the charts, Arbitrum struggled to hold the $0.48 flip zone after facing rejection NEAR $0.60.

Despite the sell-off that began late on the 15th of August and extended into the next day, the overall price structure remained bullish, with ARB still trading above a 10-day ascending trendline.

Bollinger Bands pointed downward, signaling increased volatility.

If ARB can stay above the $0.48 flip zone, a MOVE back toward the $0.60 resistance is possible. However, failure to hold this level could lead to a drop toward $0.43 or lower.

Source: TradingView

The MACD had also turned red. This was more evidence why the crypto was down by more than 10%. The indicator showed that sellers were tightening their dominance against buyers.

TVL, DEX and perps volume

At press time, Arbitrum recorded $1.70 billion in total volume, with DEX trading at $905 million and Perps volume at $870 million. Despite today’s sell-off, the ecosystem showed resilience.

The Total Value Locked (TVL) ROSE to $5.59 billion, trading near December 2024 highs and approaching the all-time high of $6.17 billion.

Source: DefiLlama

Naturally, TVL resilience suggested the altcoin was not entirely defeated. Instead, ARB faced a short-term correction—sharper than peers like Optimism [OP].