ENA rises 69% while open interest doubles to $237 million

ENA, the token of the Ethena protocol, has risen sharply in value in a short space of time. Since 17 August, the price has climbed by 69%. Notably, open interest in dollars more than doubled, while the actual leverage measured in coins increased far more modestly. That distinction matters for anyone wanting to assess how risky the current market is.

In brief:

• ENA rose 69% in value since 17 August
• Open interest in dollars doubled from $113 million to $237 million
• Leverage measured in coins rose just 23%, from 1.36 billion to 1.68 billion ENA

Open interest in dollars rises sharply due to price surge

According to data from Santiment, open interest in dollars rose from $113 million to $237 million, an increase of 110%. That sounds like a significant build-up of leveraged positions, but a large part of that increase can simply be explained by the higher price of ENA itself.

Open interest measured in coins grew from 1.36 billion to 1.68 billion ENA, an increase of around 23%. This means new positions were indeed added, but far fewer than the dollar values suggest.

What the difference says about market risks

The distinction between the two metrics is relevant for assessing risk. When leverage in coins rises only modestly while the dollar value increases sharply, that mainly points to the price itself having gone up. The market is therefore less overstretched than the dollar amounts might suggest at first glance.

That said, open interest of $237 million and a price rise of 69% within a few days do draw attention. For comparison: earlier this week, XRP also showed strong movements, with a 41% gain as the best performing major coin of the week, as previously described. Whether ENA can sustain that rally partly depends on whether there is sufficient genuine demand behind the current price move.