Berachain’s momentum fades even after outpacing Arbitrum and Base

After a superb performance pushing it above Arbitrum and Base, the bullish Berachain momentum seems to be cooling off, with its token, BERA, dropping to $6.90 after hitting $9.10 on February 21.

Berachain blockchain has been riding high, with its total value locked (TVL) soaring past $3.289 billion according to DefiLlama, cementing its place as the sixth-largest decentralized finance (DeFi) network, eclipsing Arbitrum’s $2.9 billion and Base’s $3.24 billion in TVL.

However, recent price action and market indicators suggest that the initial Berachain (BERA) excitement may be tapering.

The growing Berachain ecosystem

Berachain’s climb to a $3.289 billion TVL marks a significant moment for the network, which now commands 2.98% of the total value locked across all DeFi protocols.

This surge reflects growing confidence in Berachain’s ecosystem, driven by standout performers like Infrared Finance, a liquid staking protocol with $1.52 billion in TVL, Kodiak, a decentralized exchange holding $1.12 billion, and Concrete, a yield farming platform with nearly $800 million.

These protocols have fueled liquidity and usability, key factors that often accompany a rising TVL.

Notably, Berachain’s ascent past household names like Arbitrum and Base underscored its potential, drawing attention to its unique proof-of-liquidity consensus model, which keeps fees circulating within the ecosystem and aligns incentives for stakers.

Berachain’s bullish price momentum cools off

The BERA token, currently priced at $6.87 as of February 24, has experienced a volatile ride. After peaking at $9.10 just three days prior.

The token has shed 3.0% of its value in the last 24 hours, trading within a daily range of $6.55 to $7.08.

This pullback follows a strong 14.8% gain over the past week and an even more striking 37.4% increase over two weeks, suggesting that profit-taking or market hesitation may now be at play.

With a market capitalization of $736.58 million and a fully diluted valuation of $3.42 billion, based on a circulating supply of 107.73 million tokens out of a total 500.25 million, BERA’s valuation remains robust but shows signs of cooling from its earlier highs.

Looking at its historical performance, BERA reached an all-time high of $14.83 on February 6, coinciding with an 80 million token airdrop valued at $632 million by the Bera Foundation, only to fall 54.4% since then.

However, it has rebounded 41.1% from its all-time low of $4.79 on February 10, illustrating a pattern of sharp swings that have kept traders on their toes.

Nevertheless, the 24-hour trading volume of $267.47 million indicates sustained interest, but the recent dip below $7 hints that the fervor driving its earlier gains may be waning.

The derivatives market also offers further insight into the shifting momentum.

Aggregated open interest (OI) for BERA perpetual contracts has slipped to around $90.94 million, a figure that reflects the total value of outstanding positions across exchanges like Binance ($35.5 million), Hyperliquid ($28.5 million), and Bybit ($19.0 million).

BERA’s presence in the derivatives space represent just 0.15% of the total OI share across all contracts remains modest, suggesting that speculative fervor has yet to fully take hold.

This slight retreat in open interest could indicate a cooling of trader enthusiasm, particularly after the network’s high-profile TVL milestone.

While the data only covers perpetuals the dominance of major exchanges in BERA’s OI distribution points to a concentrated but not yet explosive derivatives market.

For a network with such rapid DeFi growth, this tempered activity might reflect a natural pause as participants reassess its trajectory.

The post Berachain’s momentum fades even after outpacing Arbitrum and Base appeared first on Invezz