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) 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.