Ethena price pares losses as whales buy after brief USDe peg

Ethena price remained under pressure this weekend after USDe, its stablecoin, briefly lost its peg, and its bullish liquidations jumped. 

Ethena (ENA) token was trading at $0.3670, up by 156% from its lowest level on Friday. It remains about 60% of its highest point in September. 

Whales have bought the ENA dip

Ethena price crashed by double digits on Friday, reaching its lowest level on record as well as crypto market plunge accelerated. It also suffered a $226 million liquidation event as exchanges shut down leveraged trades amid the intensifying sell-off.

Third-party data indicate that whale investors have purchased during the recent dip, suggesting they expect the ENA price to rebound eventually. According to Nansen, whales now hold 45.2 million tokens, up from the Friday low of 39.19 million tokens. 

More data shows that the top 100 addresses boosted their holdings to 13.76 billion, up from this month’s low of 13.67 billion.

Whales likely bought after the team published reports showing that the Ethena USDe stablecoin, which has over $12.5 billion in assets, was adequately collateralized after losing its peg.

In a note, the developers said that the proof of reserves, which are provided by third-party companies like Chainlink, HT Digital, and HT Digital confirmed that it was overcollateralized by about $66 million.

According to its transparency data, the USDe stablecoin is backed by assets like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and liquid stablecoins. These assets are held by companies such as Binance, Bybit, OKX, and Deribit.

Ethena has always been in the spotlight, as some investors still recall Terra, which offered a stablecoin with double-digit yields. It crashed in 2022, costing investors over $40 billion and damaging the reputation of other algorithmic stablecoins.

Ethena price technical analysis 

The daily chart indicates that the ENA price plummeted significantly last week. This crash occurred after the asset formed a double-top pattern at $0.8538 and a neckline at $0.6060, its lowest level since August. A double-top is one of the most common bearish patterns in technical analysis.

The token has plunged below the 50-day and 200-day Exponential Moving Averages. It also moved briefly below the year-to-date low of $0.2221. 

Therefore, the most likely Ethena price forecast is bearish, with the initial target being at $0.2221. Another scenario is where it forms a dead-cat bounce, a temporary rebound that ultimately leads to further downside.