Ethena's ENA token has gained nearly 70% since August 17, climbing from $0.083 to $0.166 as dollar-based open interest surged from $113 million to $237 million. Ethena is the DeFi protocol behind USDe, a synthetic dollar introduced in 2024 that pairs staked collateral with offsetting short derivatives positions, and ENA serves as the protocol's governance token. According to Santiment Intelligence, open interest measured in dollars rose from $113 million on August 18 to $237 million. Open interest measures the total value of unsettled derivative contracts — such as the perpetual futures that dominate crypto trading — and is a common gauge of leverage in a token's market. Coin-denominated open interest, by contrast, increased only 23%, showing that much of the dollar-denominated growth came from ENA's sharp price appreciation rather than from new positioning.

Trading Activity Expands

Santiment reported that ENA climbed from roughly $0.083 on August 17 to about $0.141, before extending to $0.1657 on the four-hour chart and subsequently pulling back. Daily active addresses — unique addresses transacting on a given day, a standard measure of on-chain network usage — also increased, reaching 1,946, about 2.5 times the August baseline. Santiment said this was the highest level recorded during the period.

Meanwhile, coin-denominated open interest rose from approximately 1.36 billion ENA to 1.68 billion ENA, an increase that compares with the much larger move in dollar-based open interest. Santiment described dollar leverage as explosive, while coin-based leverage remained ordinary. The difference reflects the impact of ENA's price increase on existing positions.

Separately, the Ethena team withdrew $23.6 million worth of ENA from exchanges on the day of the report. The report did not state a purpose for the transfer; large exchange withdrawals are a routine item in on-chain monitoring. The transaction occurred during the token's sharp price advance.

Four-Hour Chart Shows Strong Momentum

The ENA four-hour chart shows a move from the 0.08-0.09 region toward $0.1537. The latest candle opened at $0.1558 and reached $0.1657, before falling to $0.1364 and closing at $0.1537, a 1.28% decline. Trading volume reached about 290.96 million ENA during the move.

Momentum indicators remain elevated. The relative strength index (RSI) — an oscillator scaled from 0 to 100 that compares the size of recent gains against recent losses — is at 79.42, while its moving average sits around 83.13. The MACD also remained positive, with the MACD line at 0.0170, the signal line at 0.0125, and the histogram at 0.0045.

ENA Faces Resistance After Fast Rise

The 0.1600-0.1657 area represents the immediate resistance zone on the supplied chart, and ENA's recent high of $0.1657 came just before the latest pullback. On the downside, $0.1400 serves as near-term support, with the next support levels sitting around $0.1200 and $0.1000.

The elevated RSI places ENA above the conventional 70 overbought level. The chart data therefore shows strong momentum alongside elevated volatility. The report is a point-in-time snapshot, and the open-interest gap, address activity, and the chart levels above are the metrics against which later readings can be compared.