SUI’s $278M Token Unlock Looms—Bullish Catalyst or Liquidity Trap?

SUI’s scheduled token unlock this week threatens to flood the market with $278M worth of supply—just as the altcoin rides a 30-day rally. Will buyers absorb the sell pressure, or trigger a cascade of profit-taking?

Key factors at play:

- Vesting schedules: Early investors and team allocations hit liquidity cliffs this week

- Market depth: SUI’s recent volume surge suggests strong demand, but order books tell the real story

- The VC effect: Private sale participants still sitting on 10x gains may finally cash out

While some traders see unlocks as bearish overhangs, others point to Ethereum’s post-unlock rallies as precedent. One thing’s certain: exchanges will collect fat trading fees regardless of which way the price breaks—because in crypto, the house always wins.

• SUI is set to unlock approximately $278 million worth of tokens this week, which could create selling pressure.
• The price of SUI surged by 23% in the last week, driven by investor confidence following partnerships and the launch of the Grayscale SUI Trust.

SUI is set to unlock about $278.96 million worth this week following a major price surge, potentially creating selling pressure. In the previous week, the price of SUI saw a significant increase. On April 25, the price of Sui surged about 23%, reaching $3.67.

In the past few weeks, the price of Sui has risen by more than 73%, with gains driven by the constant investor confidence after the launch of the Grayscale SUI Trust and Sui’s partnership with xPortal and xMoney to release a virtual Mastercard across Europe.

On the 1st of May, around 74 million Sui tokens, which is also 2.28% of the total circulating supply, are set to be unlocked, according to Tokenomist data. This upcoming release adds new selling pressure at a time when demand has been rising. To date, only 33% of the total SUI supply has been unlocked, which is 3.25 billion, while 1.53 billion tokens are locked and 5.22 billion are TBD-locked.

Sui’s Growing DeFi Momentum Amid Token Unlocks

Sui’s on-chain fundamentals have significantly improved, with the total value locked (TVL) on its protocols rising up to 40% since April and now reaching $1.73 billion, according to DeFiLlama data. The network has also outperformed other top-layer networks in TVL growth across daily, weekly, and monthly periods.

source: defilama

The stablecoin market cap on the SUI network has simultaneously increased from $630 million to $880 million during the same period, with the DEX volume reaching 500 million. Over the last week, the network handled over $3.6 billion in trading, bringing its monthly volume to over $11 billion.

While some traders may take profits and be bearish with the upcoming token unlock, others believe the strong DeFi metrics the Sui network presents can absorb the new supply without facing a downturn.

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