Astar Network (ASTR) price just spiked: here’s the reason

Astar Network (ASTR) price was one of the best-performing cryptocurrencies on Monday as it surged to a high of $0.1637, its highest point since April 25th. The token has soared by more than 250% from its lowest point this year.

Astar is listed in Upbeat

The first reason why ASTR token surged is that it was listed in Upbit Korea, one of the biggest crypto exchange in the country. In a statement, the company said that it would start supporting the USD/KRW pair. This listing will give it access to millions of South Korean traders, who are some of the most active in the industry.

According to CoinMarketCap, Astar Network’s 24-hour volume jumped to over $363 million, with most of them being in Binance, the biggest exchange in the world. Binance supported over $123 million of ASTR tokens followed by Upbit, which handled $86 million. Other top Astar exchanges were Gate.io, Bithumb, and SuperEX.

Crypto tokens tends to pump hard ahead and after being listed by one or more large exchanges. This pump happens because of the hype that emerges and signs after the token listing.

The other reason why ASTR token price is rising is the upcoming marketing for the network’s zkEVM feature, which is powered by Polygon SDK. In a recent Tweet, the developers said that they expect to start the marketing push in the first quarter of 2024. 

Astar’s network has struggled to gain market share in the highly competitive smart contract industry. A good example of this is in DeFi, where its total value locked (TVL) stands at just $48 million. The biggest dApps in the ecosystem are ArthSwap, Algem, AstridDAO, and Avault.

Its mainnet data is also sending mixed signals. According to the Subscan, Astar Network’s EVM transactions rose to over 37k on Sunday, the highest level since November 2022. However, the total volume has been falling.

Astar Network price forecast

ASTR chart by TradingView

Astar’s rally happened in a day when most crypto tokens are in a deep dive. In most cases, these post-exchange listings rally tend to be short-lived. Indeed, after soaring to an intraday high of $0.1680, the token pulled back to $0.1200. 

It remains above the 50-day and 25-day moving averages while the Relative Strength Index (RSI) has moved to the overbought point of 82. The Relative Vigor Index (RSI) has moved to 0.20. 

Therefore, the outlook for the ASTR token is neutral with a bearish bias. This view could see it retreat to a low of $0.08, the highest swing on November 14th.