The Altcoin Market Is About to Enter a Potentially Volatile Period

The altcoin market is set to experience a period of heightened volatility, as evidenced by the substantial token unlocks scheduled for this week.

Data from Tokenomist platform shows that the total unlock for tokens including ONDO, ARB, STRK, SEI and others, will amount to an impressive $3 billion – the highest since November.

Among the highlights, a large portion of this total will be attributed to Ondo Finance’s ONDO platform, which focuses on decentralized tokenization.

The project is set to release 1.94 billion ONDO tokens on January 18, valued at approximately $2.23 billion.

To provide some perspective on the magnitude of this unlock, it amounts to over 130% of the token’s current circulating supply, which stands at around 1.4 billion.

Moreover, the upcoming unlock of the ONDO cryptocurrency is several times higher than its own daily trading volume, which typically averages between $250 million and $300 million.

At the time of writing, ONDO price was trading at $1.14, down 8.3% in the last 24 hours. During this period, Ondo (ONDO) also witnessed $185,272,661 in trading volume, which marks a 91% increase from a day ago, indicating a recent surge in market activity for the cryptocurrency.

As highlighted by Tokenomist data, the weekly issuance from January 13 to 19, 2025 will see the following unlocks: ONDO (134.21%) – $2.42 billion; ARB (2.20%) – $69.32 million; STRK (2.65%) – $27.55 million; SEI (1.32%) – $21.06 million; APE (2.16%) – $17.32 million; ENA (0.42%) – $11.98 million; PRIME (1.42%) – $10.07 million.

It's important to understand what these unlocks are. They are gradual releases of tokens that were initially frozen. This practice is employed to prevent early investors and project team members from selling large amounts of coins at once, which could cause sudden price drops and market instability. Gradual releases help mitigate these risks.

Therefore, it is crucial for investors to keep an eye on these massive unlocks as they can directly influence the prices of the altcoins involved. Volatility can present opportunities for profit for some, but it also heightens the risk of losses.