Lido DAO price falls sharply as whale dumps LDO tokens

Lido DAO’s price has taken a significant hit as the broader cryptocurrency market experienced a notable pullback, particularly in response to Bitcoin’s recent dip to approximately $70,700. On October 31, the price of Lido DAO (LDO) plummeted by more than 10%, bringing it down to around $1.05 before it managed to recover some of its losses. This downturn effectively erased a substantial portion of the gains that Lido DAO had achieved in its recent rally, which saw the token rise from $0.99 on October 28 to a high of $1.15 on October 30.

The overall sell-off in the crypto market can largely be attributed to the market’s reaction to the U.S. Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index for September, which added to the bearish sentiment. Bitcoin, too, appeared to react negatively to the PCE data, further exacerbating the situation. While Lido DAO’s decline mirrored dips seen across various altcoins, additional downward pressure was applied by a significant sell-off of Lido DAO tokens by a whale investor.

According to insights from Spot On Chain, a whale address that had maintained a holding of Lido DAO for three years decided to liquidate its entire position on October 31. This particular wallet address, identified as 0x9244, exchanged all 458,860 Lido DAO tokens—worth approximately $489,600—for 181.6 Ether. This transaction occurred just before Ether’s price fell to lows of $2,549, which represented a nearly 5% decline over a 24-hour period.

Despite this substantial sale, the whale investor actually incurred a considerable loss, as their average acquisition price over the past three years had been $2.50 per token. This unfortunate turn of events resulted in an estimated loss of around $900,000 for the investor.

As it stands, the recent slip in Lido DAO’s price has left its holders facing a staggering 41% decline over the past year, with the token in a consistent downtrend since it peaked at $3.78 in early January 2024. Moreover, on-chain data from IntoTheBlock reveals that a staggering 91% of Lido DAO holders are currently operating at a loss at these price levels, while only a mere 9% are managing to break even. If the price continues to decline, it is likely that an increasing number of holders could find themselves in the red as well.