Several major alternative cryptocurrencies including native tokens of dYdX (DYDX), Optimism (OP) and Sui (SUI) dropped Monday as massive token unlocks weighed on prices amid a generally negative day on the broader crypto market.
Altcoins face almost $650 million worth of increase in their supply through this week, according to data from Token.Unlocks and CryptoRank.
DYDX will see roughly $480 million worth of tokens added to its circulating supply, almost doubling the current amount of tokens on the market. OP, SUI, Axelar (AXL), Immutable X (IMX) and 1inch (1INCH) and Hedera (HBAR) also have large unlocks scheduled in coming days.
Token unlockings translate to an increase in the asset’s supply, releasing coins from a vesting period including to early investors. Large unlocking events usually lead to price declines due to the supply increase outpacing investor demand for the asset, a study by crypto analytics firm The Tie found earlier this year.
Axelar (AXL) dropped 10% in the past 24 hours as about $18 million worth of tokens – some 5% of its market capitalization – were added to its supply Monday during its scheduled monthly token unlock, including to early investors, according to CryptoRank data.
DYDX was down 7% during the same period ahead of the release of $480 million worth of tokens on Dec. 1.
OP declined nearly 6%, with an unlock of $40 million in tokens looming on Nov. 30.
SUI plunged 8.8% during the day as its supply will increase by $48 million over the course of the week.
1INCH fell over 4% with its supply set to increase by almost 10%, or $33 million, on Dec. 1. HBAR and IMX endured 2%-3% declines with each facing $11 million tokens being unlocked this week.
Meanwhile, bitcoin (BTC) was down 0.7% during the same period, while the broad-market crypto index CoinDesk Market Index (CMI) declined 1.5%.
