Plasma [XPL] loses steam after airdrop surge – Is the ‘new chain’ buzz over?

Key Takeaways

Why is Plasma’s price sliding despite a green market?

Upcoming unlocks, collapsing activity, and a sharp drop in stablecoin TVL weakened XPL’s short-term structure.

What on-chain signals showed XPL’s momentum fading?

DEX volume, daily users, and transaction counts fell steadily through November, aligning with a bearish technical setup.

Plasma dropped more than 11% in recent hours, even as the broader market traded green for most of the day.

The decline put Plasma [XPL] alongside Starknet [STRK], which also posted double-digit losses during the same window.

XPL extended its downtrend after the post-launch hype faded. That early rally had been supported by an airdrop worth about 10,000 XPL for initial users.

As price cooled, on-chain activity followed the same path, weakening the token’s momentum.

What’s driving Plasma token down?

The first wave of selling stemmed from the upcoming unlock on the 25th of November.

About 88.88 million XPL, valued at $18.13 million, was set to unlock, leaving over 80% of the supply still locked. It was the largest of the roughly $80 million in weekly token unlocks across the sector.

Source: DefiLlama

Even so, long-term traction struggled elsewhere.

Stablecoin TVL fell 68% since October and declined 8.24% on a weekly basis. Stablecoin Market Cap rested near $1.82 billion, while overall TVL slipped to $6.695 billion, with bridges contributing $5.79 billion of that total.

Source: Dune

Cumulative Transactions hit a new high, but daily activity cooled.

Transaction Count slipped from 42,398 to 39,725. Daily New Users were only 137, and returning users totaled 1,831.

DEX Volume dropped to $8.39 million at press time from its high of $47.81 million on the 19th of November. Most usage metrics trended lower since late October, a slide reflected in price charts.

Bears extend control

On the charts, XPL price showed that the altcoin was in a bearish structure, trading inside a trend channel. XPL was down by more than 36% for the last five days.

The Bull Bear Power (BBP) was dominant for the last five days, while the net volume was negative $5.07 million. XPL bears seemed to be gaining momentum, and the next target was at $0.15 if dominance was maintained.

Conversely, breaking above the upper resistance would invalidate the current setup, which suggests a drop to $0.15.

Source: TradingView

Altogether, XPL was largely bearish, with sellers showing more momentum. This hinted at more breakdown, as on-chain activity was also following the same trajectory as price.

However, a resurgence in bull action could reverse the direction, though the price had not shown any signs.