River Rips 12% Higher as Bulls Shrug Off Overbought RSI

• River adds 12 percent as bullish sentiment holds firm despite a stretched momentum signal.
• Open interest jumps above $108 million, hinting at strong leveraged exposure.
• The token’s 24-hour volume dips 10% while the price stays above $18, and trend support holds.

River extended its new-year surge on Wednesday with a fresh 12% advance in the past 24 hours as buyers continued to assert control despite unmistakable signs of market overheating. The token traded near $18.69 by press time, lifting its market capitalization to roughly $366M and cementing its position as one of the strongest short-term performers in the sector.

The upswing adds to a recovery that began at the early-January lows close to $7. From that level, River broke through the $9–$11 resistance zone that had held for months, converting it into firm support and establishing the base for its broader upward structure. A sharp 31% decline on Jan. 3 briefly disrupted momentum, yet the move proved fleeting as buyers re-entered quickly and restored the prevailing uptrend.

Steady Uptrend Backed by Heavy Multi-Timeframe Gains

Higher-timeframe charts paint an unusually consistent picture. Weekly performance now sits north of 216% from the swing low, a run that would normally cool sooner but hasn’t yet shown signs of cracking. The monthly chart is even more dramatic, posting a gain of more than 340%.

Similarly, on a yearly basis, the advance edges toward 469%, the kind of stretch that keeps traders glued to the order book rather than the calendar. Not to leave out, trend indicators continue to fall in line with that strength.

Source: TradingView

The 20-day moving average sits far below the spot near $8.82, while the 50-day trails around $6.13. Those levels haven’t been tested in days. The distance between price and the averages is wide enough that any pullback toward them would likely be viewed as a normal drift rather than a structural threat.

Momentum Tightens as Volume Eases Off the Highs

Still, the rally has begun to show some strain. The relative strength index has been planted around the 70 overbought levels for most of January, hinting that the rally has been running hotter than usual. The market often takes a breather when readings stay stretched for too long, though timing any cooldown is difficult.

Volume shifts add another wrinkle. River’s 24-hour trading turnover slipped nearly 10% to around $37M, which suggests traders were slightly less active after the latest burst upward. Even so, key technical areas remain clear. Support sits first around $17.35 at the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement, followed by $14.28 at the 50% zone.

A deeper fade would bring the $11.22 region back into view, an area that previously hosted the breakout. On the other side of the chart, extensions map out potential upside levels near $21.71 and later around $25.11 if momentum recovers.

Derivatives Activity Swells as Open Interest Builds

On-chain and derivative flows added a sharper edge to River’s rally, offering a look at where the more aggressive traders have been positioning themselves. According to CoinGlass, Binance’s perpetuals desk carried most of the weight, accounting for roughly $2B of the token’s $3.5B in 24-hour derivatives turnover.

More than 12.9M trades crossed there, a volume profile that hints at traders leaning hard on leverage and pushing liquidity deeper than spot alone could support. The pace of activity, though, also tends to pull volatility along with it. Open interest told a similar story.

Source: CoinGlass

It jumped from about $75M on Jan. 5 to more than $108M, a rise that usually indicates new positions coming in rather than older ones being unwound. That shift often reflects a market leaning confidently into its momentum.

Still, concentrated leverage on a single venue has a way of magnifying every mood swing, and River has not been an exception when that dynamic takes hold.

Related: SUI Extends Bullish Run With 40% Year-to-Date Gain After Supply Unlock

Market Holds Its Structure as Traders Track Key Levels

The concentration of activity around a single venue creates its own tension. Liquidity is deep, but positioning can become one-sided, and that often leads to wider swings. For now, though, the broader structure remains intact.

Multi-timeframe gains, supportive trend levels, and elevated derivatives participation have kept River anchored in a strong posture even as momentum indicators flag exhaustion.

With volume thinning and leverage rising, the next stretch of trading may reveal whether the market wants consolidation or another leg up. Either way, the roadmap is clear, and the reaction around those nearby levels will likely tell the story first.