Lighter faces $250mln capital flight after token debut — What’s next for LIT?

The perpetual DEX (decentralized alternate) area is about to enter a brand new dynamic shift after Lighter launched its token LIT. 

The privacy-focused, Ethereum-based perp DEX has been punching above its weight by way of perp volumes recently, a transfer that consultants attributed to aidrop farmers. 

With farming nearly over and after $625 million LIT has been shared with early customers, analysts projected that these merchants will transfer to a different platform, particularly Hyperliquid [HYPE]. 

In line with the analytics agency Bubblemaps, the projection might have been validated amid large withdrawals from the DEX post-TGE (token era occasion).

The agency noted that $250M was withdrawn from the DEX a day after TGE. Amid the capital flight, Bubblemaps questioned, 

“Are all of the farmers leaving?”

Factoring within the deposits, the general web outflow from DEX amounted to roughly $101 million. 

Supply: Artemis

In response, one consumer clapped again at Bubblemaps, calling the withdrawals “regular.” 

“That’s sort of regular. Seeing the $650M airdrop distribution, $250m ain’t big.”

One other analyst countered that the withdrawals weren’t from merchants however from liquidity suppliers. 

Lighter perp volumes sluggish

That stated, Lighter’s perp volumes have fallen off the cliff since late November. The weekly quantity has declined from $66 billion to $31 billion in late December – A 50% drop in traction. 

Supply: Artemis

Price declaring, nonetheless, that Hyperliquid’s perp volumes additionally dropped by half from $41 billion to $26 billion over the identical interval. Briefly, it was nonetheless too early to conclude that Lighter customers have successfully switched to Hyperliquid. 

LIT worth publish blended outcomes

Nonetheless, the $625 million aidrop exerted important promoting stress on the token. After its debut, LIT fell 32% from $ 3.30 to $ 2.20. On the time of writing, the altcoin had recovered 18% to $2.6.  

In truth, one other analyst projected that LIT may rally greater, citing the previous efficiency of rivals akin to HYPE and ASTER after their respective launches. 

Supply: LIT/USDT, TradingView

In the meantime, there have been barely extra folks shorting the altcoin than shopping for it on the derivatives market. In line with Coinglass, 54% of Binance high accounts have been betting in opposition to LIT in comparison with solely 45% eyeing a restoration at press time. This underscored short-term bearish stress. 

Supply: CoinGlass

Remaining Ideas 

• Lighter recorded important capital outflows simply after its LIT token launch. 
• Quick-term positioning was barely tilted in direction of bears as brief bets overwhelmed longs.