Stacks ($STX) came under strong bearish pressure on July 25, breaking below a key support level after an extended period of consolidation.

The token lost the $0.16 support level and fell to $0.13, a price area it had not reached since mid-2020. The move marked a six-year low for $STX. As of the time of the source report, Stacks was trading near $0.138 after declining 6.2% on the daily chart.

Binance tag concerns weigh on STX

The decline in $STX was driven in part by market concerns over the token’s tag on Binance. The Stacks Endowment acknowledged the issue and said it was in contact with Binance to resolve it.

Exchange tags can influence token sentiment because they are visible to users at the trading venue level and may raise questions about operational readiness or exchange support during network upgrades. In this case, the concern was tied to a scheduled protocol change rather than a disclosed security incident.

The team said the tag change on Binance was likely related to the upcoming PoX-5 hardfork. It also said other major centralized exchange partners had been informed in advance and had since moved forward in support.

According to Reubs, the tag will be removed once consensus-level changes on Binance are completed. Despite the team’s assurances, the market response remained negative, and sentiment toward the token weakened.

PoX-5 hardfork scheduled for July 29

The Stacks PoX-5 hardfork is scheduled for July 29. The upgrade follows a successful vote and strong community support for SP 044 and SP 045.

Stacks is a Bitcoin-linked smart contract network, and its Proof of Transfer design makes BTC rewards and Bitcoin settlement central to its positioning. That makes PoX-5 important for the ecosystem because it targets staking mechanics rather than only application-layer changes.

PoX-5 is expected to introduce trustless, self-custodial Bitcoin staking. The upgrade is designed to allow users to earn BTC-denominated yield while keeping their holdings under their own keys.

Three days before the source report, the public PoX-5 testnet went live, giving builders an opportunity to test their protocols before the mainnet rollout. The main items to monitor around the hardfork are whether exchange coordination is completed, whether the Binance tag is removed as indicated, and whether the upgrade translates into renewed user activity after deployment.

On-chain activity remains weak

Despite the public testnet launch and anticipation around the upgrade, Stacks’ on-chain activity has continued to decline.

According to Token Terminal data cited in the source report, daily active users fell to 1.1k. The network last recorded such a low user count in January 2026.

The drop in usage indicates that the upcoming upgrade has not yet encouraged users to remain active on the network or attracted new users. Lower network activity can reduce demand for a native token and may contribute to continued weakness in $STX.

Technical indicators show seller dominance

Recent concerns prompted traders to reduce exposure, weakening the market structure and adding to downward momentum.

$STX’s Relative Strength Index (RSI) formed a bearish crossover and fell into oversold territory. At 23, the RSI indicated that sellers had regained control.

The Spot Buy Sell Volume metric also reflected the shift. Sell volume increased to 4.98 million, while buy volume declined to 4.24 million. Previously, buyers had shown relative strength, with buy volume reaching 20.4 million.

With sellers dominating and network demand remaining weak, the source report said Stacks could fall below $0.13, with $0.1 identified as a critical support level. However, if concerns over the Binance tag are addressed and pressure eases, $STX could attempt to reclaim $0.16.

$STX’s fall to a six-year low came even as the PoX-5 testnet went live, with weak on-chain activity, exchange-related uncertainty, and seller dominance continuing to shape the token’s market structure.