Aptos crypto gains momentum, hits $8.41 – What’s fueling the surge?

• On-chain data showed that the sentiment around the crypto was bearish.
• Development activity improved and other indicators predicted a rise in Aptos price.

Days after it confirmed a collaboration with a certain project, Aptos [APT] is showing signs of life again. At press time, the Aptos crypto price had increased by 2.10% in the last 24 hours.

This move ensures that the value of the token was $8.41. Like the price, the trading volume jumped, indicating a rising interest in Aptos.

However, the increase was not without cause and could be traced back to a disclosure on the 6th of June. On the aforementioned date, IONET, a decentralized AI computing platform revealed that it had partnered with Aptos.

Not everyone is excited

According to the project, the decision was because it found Aptos  as the perfect layer-1 blockchain to provide a transparent record of AI assets. As a result, IONET has deployed its generative AI product on the Aptos crypto blockchain.

Furthermore, IONET’s founder and CEO Ahmad Shadid mentioned that Aptos’ high speed and scalability was one of the reasons it chose the blockchain.

Currently, Aptos can process 25,000 transactions per second, making it one of the  few blockchains with such capability.

Despite the development, the Weighted Sentiment around Aptos dropped. At press time, AMBCrypto’s analysis of Santiment showed that the metric was -0.493, indicating that most comments about APT were negative.

Should this remain the case, demand for the token might fall. Also, the recent price increase could be neutralized. However, social dominance around the Aptos crypto jumped.

This indicated that discussion around it compared to other assets in the top 100 had improved. But the improvement is no proof of a potential rally, and our finding showed that it could be linked to IONET again.

Source: Santiment

TVL rises but that is not all

Apart from its partnership with Aptos, IONET’s cryptocurrency would be launched on the 11th of June. With a Binance listing approaching, it seemed that market participants were including Aptos crypto in the rising conversations due to their connection.

Another metric AMBCrypto examined was the Total Value Locked (TVL). On the 14th of May, Aptos TVL dropped to $326.99 million, according to data from DeFiLlama.

However, press time data showed that the metric had recovered, and was at $379.91 million. The increase could be attributed to the high level of assets locked or staked in protocols under the chain.

If sustained, the value of assets locked in Aptos could rise as high as $450 million as it was in April. But if the perceived trust falls, the metric could slide again.

Source: DeFiLlama

Meanwhile, development activity on the Aptos blockchain has been increasing. As of this writing, on-chain data showed that the reading was 50.90.

This metric is crucial for any project. This is because it indicates the rate at which new features are shipped out while helping to foster growth and user adoption.

Will APT’s price reach $9?

For the Aptos crypto, this could be a bullish sign. But data revealed that the metric did not have a solid correlation with APT’s price. Therefore, there is no validation of a further price increase.

In the meantime, Aptos’ Funding Rate was 0.01%. Despite being positive, the rate was lower than what it was a few days ago.

Funding Rate is the cost of holding an open contract in the market. If the reading is positive, it means that the perp price is trading at a premium compared to the spot value.

Source: Santiment

On the other hand,  the negative reading means that the perp price is at a discount compared to the spot price. However, since the perp price moved lower while APT price increased, it means perp traders are not convinced of a price increase.

Realistic or not, here’s APT’s market cap in SOL terms

The reasonable inference is that spot traders are getting aggressive. Thus, this could be bullish for Aptos crypto price.

By the looking things, the price of APT could hit $9 in the short term. However, that would only be the case if selling pressure does not come into play.