APT has risen sharply since the beginning of the year, but some traders expect this rally to be short-lived.
Blockchain Layer 1’s Aptos token, which has surged since the beginning of the year, broke its all-time high on Wednesday. The token, APT, reached $16.46 and is up 350% since January 1
APT recently changed hands at $16.22, up more than 25% over the past 24 hours.
The token’s bull run has outpaced recent moves from the two largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, bitcoin and ether. Bitcoin is up 30% in 2023, while ether is up 34%.
However, the funding rate for the token remains negative, indicating that traders are expecting the rally to be short-lived.
“If traders are willing to open short positions with a high negative funding rate, then they have to believe that the token will fall in price,” said Christopher Newhouse, a cryptocurrency derivatives trader at cryptocurrency market maker GSR. Despite the spike, this suggests that short sellers think the rally may have gone too far.”
Aptos was founded by two Ex-Meta Platforms employees and has garnered some scrutiny for APT token distribution since its mainnet launch in October. Investors and the Aptos Foundation received nearly half of the one billion tokens issued.
Data from Aptos NFT marketplace Topaz shows that collections like Aptomingos and Aptos Monkeys attracted tens of thousands of trading volumes on Monday. According to Topaz, the trading volume of Aptomingos has increased by 250% in the last 24 hours.
