Uniswap (UNI) struggles below the $6 mark, even as “whales” quietly accumulate.

Uniswap (UNI) has experienced a challenging period on the price chart over the past three weeks. While many altcoins surged strongly along with Bitcoin (BTC) in the first week of January — with some tokens even maintaining an upward trend — UNI has appeared to be quite “out of sync” compared to the rest of the market.

Previously, UNI showed signs of a bullish momentum about a month ago when the “UNIfication” proposal was close to being approved. The vote concluded on 25/12 with an overwhelming majority in favor, well above the minimum threshold, reflecting strong community support.

However, even positive factors such as plans to burn 100 million UNI, Uniswap Labs removing fees on the user interface, or activating fee-sharing mechanisms on supporting protocols have not been enough to give a price boost. UNI’s relative weakness compared to Bitcoin and the overall market is gradually increasing concerns among bulls.

Analyzing On-Chain Signals and Price Actions of Uniswap

Source: SantimentIn a post on X platform, the cryptocurrency data analytics firm Santiment stated that the top 100 wallets on the network are quietly increasing their UNI holdings. In just the past 8 weeks, this wallet group has bought an additional total of approximately 12.41 million UNI tokens.

According to Santiment, this accumulation trend closely reflects UNI’s current price movements. Based on historical patterns, increased accumulation by “whales” is often seen as a signal that the market is preparing for a potential upward reaction in the near future.

Can Uniswap’s price recover from here?

Source: SantimentThe “mean coin age” index over a 180-day period has sharply declined over the past three weeks. At the same time, the “dormant coin circulation” indicator suddenly spiked on 26/12, indicating a large amount of previously inactive tokens have been reintroduced into the market.

Notably, the average coin age has not shown signs of recovery, reflecting that the accumulation process across the network has been quite weak over the past two weeks. Although the 180-day MVRV ratio remains deep in negative territory, the short-term MVRV signals increased profit-taking risks. In fact, this indicator has recently temporarily shifted into positive territory, indicating short-term investors are currently in profit.

However, buying pressure quickly weakened after the “UNIfication” news, causing UNI’s price to reverse downward and lose the $6 level. This movement reflects market sentiment remaining cautious and lacking confidence.

Source: TradingViewOn the daily timeframe, the price trend still leans clearly downward. The inability to sustain the rally after breaking the $6 mark in December, combined with signals from the A/D indicator, shows that buying interest is sporadic and unsustainable.

Currently, UNI is trading below the 20-day and 50-day moving averages. If the price continues to break below the $4.73 level, the downtrend will be further confirmed. For investors expecting accumulation signals from the 100 large wallets, this level could be considered an invalidation threshold for their strategy.

In this context, cautious investors should wait patiently for UNI to demonstrate clearer and more stable strength before considering deploying capital.

SN_Nour