Why is Ethena up 20% today?

Ethena has been ripping higher all day, continuing its weeks-long climb as fresh capital pours in from whales and institutions.

Trading around $0.5847 at press time, $ENA ($ENA) is up roughly 22% over the past 24 hours. The double-digit surge brings its weekly gain to about 45%, and it’s now up 118% over the past month.

Daily trading volume has jumped 58%, according to CoinGecko, positioning the token as the day’s top performer by a wide margin.

The uptick in price comes as whale accumulation ramps up. Per Lookonchain data, former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes bought approximately 2.16 million $ENA earlier today, worth around $1.03 million, across various platforms.

Hayes’ current $ENA position stands at 7.76 million tokens, valued at about $3.73 million, adding to the broader major accumulation trend among large holders.

But beyond the large-scale investments, another key driver of Ethena’s gains is fresh institutional momentum.

Daily $5 million treasury bid boosts $ENA

StablecoinX, a newly listed Nasdaq firm, has recently begun executing its $ENA-tied treasury strategy, which involves buying $5 million worth of the tokens per day for the next six weeks.

The plan is part of a $260 million allocation, pulled from a broader $360 million capital raise finalized earlier this month, and is expected to take out nearly 8% of $ENA’s circulating supply by the end of the program, per figures from Ethena Labs.

The steady daily buys are keeping strong upward pressure on $ENA’s price. Meanwhile, broader sentiment is turning more bullish as the ecosystem grows through new partnerships and listings. According to DeFi Llama, total value locked (TVL) on Ethena has climbed above $7.19 billion, reinforcing its position among top Ethereum-based stablecoin protocols.

While the token still sits roughly 53% below its all-time high of $1.24, bullish sentiment is building and fueling optimism for a sustained breakout.