Deep Dive
1. Steemit Challenge-Driven Demand (Bullish Impact)
Overview: Steemit’s Season 28 Challenge concluded on December 7, 2025, distributing STEEM rewards to content creators and curators. The month-long event incentivized user-generated content, temporarily increasing demand for STEEM tokens to stake and vote on posts.
What this means: Platform-native reward mechanisms often create cyclical buying pressure as users accumulate tokens for governance and curation. While these spikes are typically short-term, they can amplify volatility in low-liquidity assets like STEEM (circulating supply: 538M).
What to look out for: Post-event retention metrics – if engagement drops sharply, it could reverse gains.
2. Upbit Liquidity Boost (Mixed Impact)
Overview: South Korea’s largest exchange, Upbit, resumed STEEM deposits/withdrawals on December 5, 2025, after wallet maintenance. This restored access for 2.8M+ users, coinciding with a 29.6% rise in STEEM’s 24h trading volume.
What this means: Improved liquidity reduces slippage for traders, but the timing overlap with the Steemit Challenge complicates attribution. Notably, STEEM’s price didn’t react immediately to the Upbit news in early December, suggesting the 24h surge is more likely Challenge-related.
3. Technical Rebound (Neutral Impact)
Overview: STEEM’s price rebounded from a 30-day low of $0.0627 (Dec 24, 2025), with RSI hovering near oversold territory (43.59). The 24h rally lifted it above the 7-day SMA ($0.0648), a key psychological level.
What this means: Short-term traders may have interpreted this as a buying signal, though bearish MACD momentum (-0.00068) and resistance at $0.0716 (50% Fibonacci retracement) suggest upside is capped.
Conclusion
STEEM’s 24h gain appears driven by a confluence of event-driven demand (Challenge rewards), technical factors, and latent liquidity from Upbit’s resumption. However, the token remains in a long-term downtrend (-69.4% YoY), with sustainability hinging on sustained platform engagement.
Key watch: Can STEEM hold above $0.0716? A breakout could signal renewed momentum, while rejection here may confirm resistance.