1inch Investment Fund, a fund closely tied to the crypto exchange aggregating platform, 1inch, has sold 4,685 stETH for 8.54 million USDC at $1,823, according to Scopescan, an analytics platform, on October 24. This move has resulted in a net profit of $1.28 million since the stETH was bought for an average price of $1,550 less than a week ago.
The sale of stETH by 1inch Investment Fund is significant as stETH represents staked Ethereum (ETH) on the Lido Finance protocol. Lido Finance allows anyone to stake their coins and earn rewards without locking their coins for an extended period. As of October 24, Lido Finance is the most popular decentralized finance (DeFi) application in terms of total value locked (TVL). The protocol manages over $15.7 billion of assets, with over 95% of them being ETH.
When users stake their ETH on Lido Finance, they receive stETH in return, which represents the stake amount. The higher the staked amount, the more stETH the protocol issues. This stETH can be traded, transferred, or used as collateral for loans while also earning network rewards.
By selling stETH, 1inch Investment Fund automatically unstaked the same amount on Lido Finance and sold the underlying ETH. However, transferring the underlying ETH can take several days, during which spot prices may change.
It is worth noting that 1inch Investment Fund’s decision to sell stETH comes at a time when the crypto market is showing signs of recovery, with Ethereum rallying towards the $2,000 level. The fund’s strategy is not disclosed to the public, so it is unclear why they decided to sell stETH when market confidence is high.
In terms of Ethereum prices, they have seen a 17% increase from their H2 2023 lows and have been rallying at spot rates. The recent surge on October 23 and 24 has pushed the coin to reach new October highs. However, despite this overall confidence, the failure of bulls to completely reverse the losses from August 17 is a cause for concern.
Ideally, a significant surge above $1,800 and $2,000 could lead to further gains towards $2,100 in the near future. It is worth noting that the fund sold stETH at $1,823, which was around the peak price for that day. The ETHUSDT daily chart shows an inverted hammer, indicating that prices may be moving lower due to increasing selling pressure.
Overall, the sale of stETH by 1inch Investment Fund raises questions about their strategy and the market sentiment towards Ethereum. It will be interesting to see how Ethereum prices develop in the coming sessions and whether they will break the $2,000 level.
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