Aptos' APT Token Steady After $32M Token Unlock

Prices of Aptos' native token APT were steady on Wednesday at around $7 despite a significant number of tokens being unlocked.

Early Wednesday, 4.54 million APT tokens, worth nearly $32 million, were unlocked, according to data from TokenUnlocks. Tokens worth $22.5 million were distributed to the community members, with Aptos foundations receiving $9.4 million in tokens.

Cryptocurrencies are generally locked up to prevent the big bag holders – usually early investors or even the project's team members – from selling their coins all at once and causing price dumps. Token unlocks are considered bearish, as they free up liquidity and open doors for potential profit-taking by those who receive coins as a part of the unlock.

Although, the latest APT unlock amounted to just 2.2% of the token's total supply of 210.41 million, the dollar value of the unlock was nearly 38% of APT's average 30-day trading volume and had the potential to push prices lower, according to market analyst Ton Dunleavy.

Still, APT is trading flat, at around $7, extending its recent trading range of $6.8 to $7.3. Perhaps, Aptos' proposed plan to enhance the blockchain's capabilities to handle tokenized securities like tokenized real estate and in-game currencies has helped the cryptocurrency stay resilient.

Besides, APT's continued sideways trend is consistent with the market leader, bitcoin's BTC$75,432.21 rangebound trading, ahead of the crucial U.S. inflation report.

Traders now expect a volatility explosion in bitcoin, which could feed into APT and other altcoins.