Ethena faces selling pressure amid tokenomics reforms
Ethena (ENA)
Editor:
Eugene Serbin
tradersunion.com reports that Ethena (ENA) is trading at $0.1571, down 7.11% on the day and sitting below its short- and medium-term moving averages. The Ethena Foundation is tightening token supply through confirmed buybacks and structural changes to unlock schedules, including a repurchase of locked tokens from early investors on August 28. Monthly unlocks for venture capital holders have been eliminated to curb near-term dilution and reduce the risk of legacy supply hitting the market.
Ambcrypto and Cryptometer note that a major tokenomics overhaul will allocate 95% of protocol revenue to ENA buybacks once the USDe stablecoin’s supply surpasses $7.5 billion. Bitrss adds that diversification of USDe’s collateral base has shifted most reserves away from crypto derivatives, supporting the protocol’s risk profile. On the hourly chart, ENA trades below the MA-20 at $0.1623 and the MA-50 at $0.1628, while remaining well above the MA-200 at $0.0988.
The Ichimoku Kijun line at $0.166 acts as immediate resistance, with MACD showing bearish momentum and RSI at 48.15. The expected price range for the next two to three trading days is $0.1448 to $0.1789, with a 67% probability of a downward move. If ENA surpasses $0.166 resistance, a bullish scenario is possible, but failure to hold above $0.1448 would indicate potential for additional declines.
How the market reacted
Whalio's own Binance spot order flow for ENA, measured when this story was written up on 29 August 2026. Not the outlet's figures.
Whalio’s Binance spot data shows ENA trading at $0.1624 with a 1-hour buy ratio of 59.9%, contrasting with a 41.7% buy ratio over 4 hours. The 24-hour buy ratio sits at 50.0%, indicating a balanced but slightly shifting sentiment over the longer term. Volume delta reflects this divergence, showing a positive $289,302 in the last hour but a negative -$738,019 over 4 hours. Over 24 hours, the volume delta is slightly negative at -$28,762, with a cumulative CVD of -$1,367,407 at close. This suggests that while short-term buying pressure has emerged, it has not been sustained over the broader 4-hour window. The 1-hour positive delta indicates immediate buyer interest, but the 4-hour negative delta shows that selling pressure has dominated the recent medium-term flow.
The latest daily buy ratio of 48.8% sits at the 47th percentile of the last 281 days, against a median of 49.0% - ordinary for this coin.
Twenty-four hours later
What ENA did over the 23 hours after the story broke. The market moves for its own reasons; this is what happened, not what the story caused.
Was that an ordinary day?
The same Binance spot measurements for ENA, averaged over the days leading up to the story.
Over the preceding week, the 7-day average buy ratio was 50.4%, with the latest day showing a slight dip of 0.5 points. Volume was 1.30x the average, indicating significantly higher activity than usual for this period. The coin saw a 14.3% price increase over 8 days, with a total volume delta of +$11,333,739. This week has been an unusual one for ENA, marked by elevated volume and positive net buying over the multi-day horizon. The current 24-hour buy ratio of 50.0% aligns closely with the weekly average, suggesting a return to typical sentiment levels after a volatile week.