Optimism (OP) Hits Two-Month High Following Upbit Listing

Optimism (OP), the native token of the Optimism network, a Layer-2 scaling solution built atop Ethereum (ETH), surged to a two-month high during Asian trading hours today.

This uptick was triggered by Upbit, South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, announcing the altcoin’s listing on its spot trading platform.

Upbit Announces Optimism (OP) Listing

In its latest announcement, the exchange detailed that OP trading will be available in the following pairs: Korean Won (KRW), Bitcoin (BTC), and Tether (USDT). The trading will begin at 16:30 Korean Standard Time (KST) on July 28, with deposits and withdrawals opening within two hours after the announcement.

Upbit advised users to deposit through the correct OP-Optimism network, as the exchange will not support transactions via other networks.

“In order to comply with the Travel Rule, deposits from exchanges that are not listed on the approved virtual asset business provider list cannot be processed. Returns of unsupported deposits may take a long time,” the announcement reads.

The news sparked a rapid market response. The price surged approximately 15% from $0.740 to $0.858. This marked the highest price level since mid-May.

However, the altcoin has shed some of its gains. At the time of writing, OP was trading at $0.80, up 7.10%.

In addition to the price, the trading volume also skyrocketed 309.90% to reach $520.8 million. This indicated high investor interest and activity.

The market reaction is quite typical, especially given Upbit’s impact on the market. Historically, the exchange’s listing announcements have triggered notable price surges in tokens like Maple Finance (SYRUP), Caldera (ERA), Ethena (ENA), and more.

Meanwhile, market watchers are quite optimistic about OP’s prospects. In a latest post on X (formerly Twitter), analyst Daniel Ramsey observed that the price has experienced a breakout from a falling wedge pattern in the weekly time frame. 

It is a bullish chart pattern that signals a potential upward price movement after the breakout. Thus, Ramsey anticipates OP will see significant price gains.

“Full Send. 1TP – $1.490. 2TP – $1.970. 3TP – $2.940,” he wrote.

Meanwhile, another analyst forecasted that OP could reach $5 in the long run. This paints a quite bullish picture for the altcoin.

Nonetheless, the upcoming token unlock may create short-term downward pressure on the price of OP. According to data from Tokenomist, the network will release 31.34 million OP tokens on July 31. This represents 1.79% of the current circulating supply. 

Token unlock events like this can lead to increased selling pressure as the newly unlocked tokens become available for trading. Depending on market sentiment and the demand for the token, this influx of supply could potentially dampen the price, at least in the short term.