Alpaca Finance (ALPACA) skyrockets 1,600% before rapid sell-off: what happened?

Alpaca Finance (ALPACA), the native token of a leveraged decentralized finance platform on the BNB Chain, skyrocketed a staggering 1676% to hit highs of $1.19.

The altcoin’s price had spiked sharply from lows of $0.067. However, ALPACA quickly shed most of the gains, trading to around $0.57 at the time of writing.

 Per CoinGecko data, Alpaca Finance price was nonetheless still up by about 123% in the past 24 hours, despite a 52% dip in the past hour.

Why ALPACA price skyrocketed

The leveraged yield farming protocol, operating on BNB Chain and Fantom, has been on a rollercoaster ride.

After defying turbulence marked by a Binance delisting announcement, the token went vertical. 

While the Alpaca team shrugged off the Binance delisting as “unfortunate”, they reminded users that the token still trades on several major exchanges.

CoinGecko currently lists these exchanges as including MEXC, Gate.io, and Bitunix.

On the market maker mint controversy, the platform noted via X:

A key factor likely behind the token’s pump is its aggressive token burn strategy.

Alpaca Finance recently completed its 214th weekly buyback and burn, torching 188,888 ALPACA tokens valued at approximately $41,500.

This burn reduced the total supply by 18.61%, with over 34.98 million tokens burned to date, creating a deflationary effect that has been active in 132 of the last 138 weeks.

This scarcity mechanism has sparked bullish sentiment among holders. 

Despite Binance’s delisting news, the latest gains mean the ALPACA price has hiked by more than 1,090% in the past week.

Alpaca Finance price outlook

Looking ahead, ALPACA’s price faces uncertainty after its massive rally and recent 24-hour dip. 

The Binance delisting, effective May 2 with perpetual contracts liquidated on April 30, could spark further volatility as traders reposition.

Profit-taking from the 1,090% surge in the past week may lead to a potential dump.

A dip below $0.1 could bring support at $0.06 and $0.02 back into view. In the near term, Alpaca Finance may continue to attract users amid a resurgence in the DeFi ecosystem.

If price holds above $0.50 or the next anchor at $0.25, a new leg up could be a significant one.