Layer-1 smart contract platform Sui’s native token SUI has managed to attract attention in the DeFi sector after recording a 300% increase over three months. The price of SUI and investor interest were overshadowed in October 2023 by South Korean regulators’ allegations of supply manipulation, but recent technical analyses and on-chain data indicate that SUI’s recent upward momentum is based on improving fundamentals.
Why Is SUI Rising?
It is clear that the SUI price has benefited from the recent upward momentum seen in the broader crypto market. More importantly, the health, growth rate, and sustainability of the project ecosystem are also highlighted by changes in the data obtained. According to CoinMarketCap data, SUI’s trading volume increased by approximately 2,200% over three months, surpassing $950 million on January 13.
Data from blockchain data analytics firm DefiLlama shows that SUI’s total value locked (TVL) has increased over the last three months, rising more than 828% from $54.39 million at the beginning of October to the current value of $319.23 million. Sui Foundation General Manager Greg Siourounis commented on the matter, stating that the $300 million TVL is an important milestone and pointed to an increase of more than 2,000% since August 2023.
The protocols behind SUI’s rising TVL include Cetus, a decentralized exchange (DEX) with $62 million locked; Navi Protocol, which has seen a 485% increase to a TVL of $60 million in the last 90 days; Scallop Lend with $54 million, DeepBook with $33 million, and FlowX Finance with $31 million.
A few months after the mainnet launch, Sui managed to attract a series of new projects to the ecosystem, and Solend, a major lending protocol serving in the Solana ecosystem, announced its expansion plans to Sui.
SUI Chart Analysis
SUI price found support around the $0.36 price region and then surged approximately 300%, reaching its highest level at $1.4486 on January 15. All major moving averages are still pointing upwards, and the relative strength index (RSI) is at 68, indicating that market conditions still favor bullish investors.
Resistance at the $1.40 level and the high swing at $1.44 are key levels to watch for upward movement. Other resistance levels could stem from the psychological levels of $1.60 and $1.70.
Currently, the RSI indicates that SUI is largely overbought and that profit-taking could continue in the ongoing correction over the next few days. The first line of defense could come at the 23.6% retracement level of $1.92. Additional support areas could be found at the $1.0 level and the 61.8% retracement level of $0.80.
