Deep Dive
1. Technical Resistance & Profit-Taking (Bearish Impact)
Overview:
PENDLE faced rejection at the 23.6% Fibonacci retracement level ($2.33), a critical resistance zone. The price currently trades below the pivot point ($2.12) and 30-day SMA ($2.01), signaling short-term bearish momentum.
What this means:
- Traders likely took profits after the 3.22% hourly rally stalled at resistance
- MACD histogram (+0.0524) shows bullish divergence, but RSI (50.26) reflects neutral sentiment – conflicting signals caused indecision
- Weak volume (-1.87% price drop vs +1.33% volume rise) suggests limited conviction
What to watch:
A daily close above $2.12 (pivot) could invalidate bearish structure.
2. Security Incident Anxiety (Mixed Impact)
Overview:
Unverified reports circulated about a wallet draining incident and PT/YT token manipulation on September 30, 2025. Pendle confirmed no protocol breach but acknowledged “abnormal minting activity.”
What this means:
- Despite assurances, the incident revived memories of Pendle’s September 2025 exploit scare (-25% drop in 3 days)
- Protocol TVL remains robust at ~$3.5B, but DeFi’s “guilty until proven innocent” mindset amplified selling
- Social sentiment data shows “exploit” mentions spiked 18% in past 48h (The Block)
3. Institutional Mixed Signals (Neutral Impact)
Overview:
Arthur Hayes accumulated $1.75M PENDLE on January 1, 2026, but Polychain Capital exited a $13M position at a loss on December 20, 2025.
What this means:
- Hayes’ move initially boosted confidence, but Polychain’s exit signaled long-term supply concerns
- On-chain data shows whales reduced holdings by 2.3% since January 7
- Pendle’s circulating supply (168.3M) continues growing via weekly emissions (-1.1% rate deemed insufficient by some analysts)
Conclusion
PENDLE’s dip reflects technical friction and DeFi’s hypersensitivity to security narratives, despite strong fundamentals (TVL dominance in yield markets). The protocol’s cross-chain expansion (BeraChain/HyperEVM) and RWA integrations could reignite momentum if traders look past short-term noise.
Key watch: Pendle’s January 10 security audit results – a clean bill of health could trigger rebound above $2.20.