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The crypto market is once again watching Ethena (ENA) with growing curiosity. In the past 24 hours, ENA dropped nearly 8%, cutting into the gains it built over the past month. While futures traders cashed out aggressively, Smart Money wallets and new investors took the opposite side, betting heavily on ENA’s longer-term upside.
This mix of bullish accumulation and bearish profit-taking has left ENA traders questioning which camp will win in the days ahead.
Smart Money Sees ENA as Undervalued
Smart Money wallets, often described as professional or highly profitable traders, have been quietly increasing their exposure to Ethena. According to blockchain analytics, this group added more than $1.2 million worth of ENA in the past week.
The inflows are a strong sign that some of the market’s most experienced players believe ENA is undervalued at current levels. In fact, their activity coincided with another notable trend: new wallets joining the buying frenzy.
Fresh participants contributed nearly $4.8 million worth of purchases, further strengthening the bullish case for ENA. Such activity usually signals growing retail adoption and confidence that the project’s fundamentals remain strong despite short-term price turbulence.
Spot Investors Build Conviction
The accumulation did not stop at Smart Money and new wallets. Spot investors — those buying the asset directly rather than through futures or options — added major fuel to ENA’s demand.
Data from CoinGlass revealed that in just seven days, inflows from spot exchanges reached $46.45 million. This suggests many traders were pulling their ENA holdings out of exchanges and moving them into private wallets, a common signal of reduced selling pressure.
Backing this view, the Accumulation Distribution Indicator showed that 1.39 billion ENA tokens were absorbed during the same timeframe. Taken together, these figures highlight one clear trend: a broad base of investors is willing to hold ENA despite the recent price drop.
Futures Traders Apply Bearish Pressure
Yet, the bullish enthusiasm in the spot market is clashing directly with bearish activity in the derivatives space.
Open Interest — the total value of outstanding futures contracts — fell sharply by 7.54% in the last 24 hours, dropping to $1.25 billion. That represents nearly $94 million worth of liquidated or closed positions.
The decline coincided with a noticeable increase in futures sell volume, showing that many derivatives traders are leaning toward short-term bearishness. This type of behavior often amplifies volatility, particularly when futures activity diverges from spot accumulation.
Liquidation Map Suggests Hidden Bullish Setup
Interestingly, liquidation data paints a more complex outlook. CoinGlass’ liquidation heat map revealed clusters of liquidation zones both above and below ENA’s current trading price.
However, the heavier liquidation bands sit above the price. This means if ENA begins to rally, shorts could be squeezed out of their positions, forcing them to buy back into the market and adding momentum to an upward breakout.
Which Way Will ENA Break?
The current battle between spot accumulation and futures selling sets up an intriguing scenario.
On one side, Smart Money, new wallets, and spot investors are buying millions worth of ENA, signaling longer-term confidence. On the other, derivatives traders are scaling back exposure, adding immediate selling pressure.
If history is any guide, Smart Money flows often prove to be a leading indicator of where an asset is headed. But in the short term, futures markets can dominate daily price moves.
For now, ENA’s fate may depend on whether bullish spot activity can outweigh derivatives-driven selling. A decisive breakout above the liquidation clusters could trigger a sustained rally, while continued profit-taking in the futures market could extend the recent decline.
Outlook for Traders
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Bullish Scenario: If accumulation persists and liquidation zones are triggered on the upside, ENA could regain momentum and potentially retest its recent highs.
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Bearish Scenario: Should derivatives pressure continue to build, ENA may revisit support levels and erase more of its monthly gains.
Traders watching ENA in early September face a high-stakes game: whether to follow Smart Money and new buyers who see long-term value, or side with futures traders who appear more cautious in the short run.
What is clear is that Ethena has once again become one of the most closely watched altcoins in the market — a token caught between conviction holders and fast-moving derivatives players.
